Further redefining of miracles

[Hagoth]

I'm really starting to get annoyed with the recent redefining of miracles. A search of conference talks shows an increase from 4 mentions of the word "miracle" in the decade from 1900-1909 to a high of 192 mentions in the 1990s, with this decade currently sitting at 126 and poised for a new record, considering the recent ramping-up of miracle redefinition. This decade looks like it will also set a new record for "miracles."

I was kind of half-listening to the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional and I kept hearing the word miracles popping up. I can't remember who said it, but one example of a miracle was of someone who thought of an old friend at Christmas. Really?

On the other hand, with the bar set so low, we can all look forward to a holiday season that will be chock-full of miracles of this magnitude, so maybe I'll just put my dictionary aside and enjoy a season of "miracles."

[Palerider]

Ask them to cut off an arm or some other member of the body and then restore it, so that we may know they come with power..

See Hagoth, the only people who require the sort of thing you're suggesting are inspired by THE DEVIL!!

Pretty convenient way to forestall members asking about miracles don't you think?

By the way, is it sinful to seek for a sign? Or is it sinful to seek for a sign so that "they may consume it upon their lusts"?

Hmmm......

[Corsair]

This recent redefition of miracles is going to bite them in the tail. For one thing, it's like the famous scence from "The Incredibles". Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, no one will be. The further problem is that I can insert my clearly self-serving "miracle" as evidence for God's favor about my choices. "I didn't pay tithing and I got a raise!"

Plus, there is the pain from righteous people who clearly could use a miracle and simply won't get one. I live in a ward that had two teenagers die from cancer in the past 5 years. Then we had another teenager die in a car accident while coming home from a church sponsored youth activity. There were all awful tragedies with lots of righteous tears as the ward came together time after time to comfort those that stand in need of comfort.

But nobody was talking about miracles during these painful incidents. None of these three temple rec holding fathers and mothers received the one simple miracle they wanted more than anything else. They just wanted their child back to do all the childish teenage things that every other teen in the ward was doing.

I am all for taking a sober look at the Problem of Evil and Suffering. These are parts of mortality that mature adults have to face. Every time that some general authority cheapens the price and appearance of miracles it makes these situation far worse.

[Hagoth]

I know I've told this story before, but It's useful to reopen your tool bag once in a while.

A lady in our stake was asked to go on the fireside circuit to tell the story of her miraculous healing from cancer after a priesthood blessing. She and her husband talked about how being such good people and obeying the commandments made the miracle work. The son of the recently-deceased stake patriarch raised his hand and said, "my parents were both good people who kept all of the commandments and had lots of priesthood blessings and they both died from cancer this year." Uncomfortable silence.

Sadly, the miracle lady also died of cancer not too much later, which I guess would be the real miracle from the Henry Eyring perspective. It was really sad to watch all of this happen, and I can see how pulling putative "miracles" out of the hat can help people get through painful experiences, but is that really for the best when the miracles ultimately produce no discernible results? This is not a rhetorical question. I wonder whether people are better off believing that mundane things are miracles or are they better off facing up to reality and trying to deal with it on its own terms.

It all came crashing down on me when the Holy Ghost told me to bless my mom that she would recover from her cancer, but then she died a horrible and painful death. As a TBM I had no option but to blame my own apparent unworthiness. God obviously wanted her healed and I let her down, probably because I didn't have 100% home teaching stats or I had lustful thoughts of something.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

I have watched extended family go through the re-defining of miracles after one of their teen children was in a horrible accident and became paralyzed. After several priesthood blessings where the Dad (and higher church authorities) kept promising that they would walk again someday it became a huge piece of my existential journey. Now the expected miracles are much smaller in scope and much more coincidence based. The teen is held in high regard for keeping faith in such trying circumstances. I suppose someday the promise could be fulfilled, but it will be science that comes through.

[Not Buying It]

Yeah, it's a miracle when President Monson announces a speaker who isn't there in a meeting and the guy shows up before the meeting ends. Wow. The Church is true. Let's see, what other miracles have they talked about lately? President Monson knows a guy who put his arm to the square while stranded on a raft in WWII and commanded a boat to come rescue them. Wow. The Church is extra especially super true.

When the Brethren blather on about their un-miraculous little coincidences, I find it hard to be impressed when I live in a vast, magnificent universe full of genuine miracles:

Every drop of rain that falls
The Sahara Desert says it all
It's a miracle
All God's creations great and small
The Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal
That's a miracle
Test tube babies being born
Mothers, fathers dead and gone
It's a miracle

We're having a miracle on earth
Mother nature does it all for us
The wonders of this world go on
The hanging Gardens of Babylon
Captain Cook and Cain and Abel
Jimi Hendrix and the Tower of Babel
It's a miracle. - Queen

[nehor90210]

What caused the bar to be placed so low for what constitutes a miracle? Personally, I blame the advent of Miracle Whip.

[Corsair]

What caused the bar to be placed so low for what constitutes a miracle? Personally, I blame the advent of Miracle Whip.

Leaving the one true Mayonnaise for Miracle Whip will often cheapen the miracle of the one true sandwich.