R.C. Sproul in The Invisible Hand, "Christianity is a faith that is based upon and rooted in miracles. Take away miracles, and you take away Christianity."
This depends on how one defines miracles. In my tradition (Vineyard) there is a strong belief in our active participation with God's works in our world. Yet, there are a variety of ways that folks see this happening - not all are that helpful. The capricious interventionist God, for instance, is often evoked in understandings of miracles - that is a God who is distant, but sometimes deems to alter reality in some way. I think much more helpful, and apt for this Christmas season, is that incarnational God who enters creation and works with and through humanity (all of creation really) to accomplish what we sometimes call miraculous. The language in vogue for this is naturally supernatural - that is, what we often call miracles such as healings, life transformations, unexpected provisions, etc., are what Christians should experience normally as they participate with God in God's work. I find this way of approaching "miracles" avoids the fatalism of the interventionist God and the anti-supernaturalism of theologies that deny the miraculous (or worse make the miraculous merely the work of humanity).
When I think of miracles I think the primary miracle for Christians has to be the incarnation of God which establishes the norm for all of God's miracles.
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This depends on how one defines miracles. In my tradition (Vineyard) there is a strong belief in our active participation with God's works in our world. Yet, there are a variety of ways that folks see this happening - not all are that helpful. The capricious interventionist God, for instance, is often evoked in understandings of miracles - that is a God who is distant, but sometimes deems to alter reality in some way. I think much more helpful, and apt for this Christmas season, is that incarnational God who enters creation and works with and through humanity (all of creation really) to accomplish what we sometimes call miraculous. The language in vogue for this is naturally supernatural - that is, what we often call miracles such as healings, life transformations, unexpected provisions, etc., are what Christians should experience normally as they participate with God in God's work. I find this way of approaching "miracles" avoids the fatalism of the interventionist God and the anti-supernaturalism of theologies that deny the miraculous (or worse make the miraculous merely the work of humanity).
When I think of miracles I think the primary miracle for Christians has to be the incarnation of God which establishes the norm for all of God's miracles.
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