The fourth teaching was of God giving new life. This was shown when Jesus raised people from the dead. The daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader, was raised a short time after death. The widow of Nain’son, this was an act of compassion around a woman whose son was being taken to the burial ground. The raising of Lazarus, who had been dead for many days, he was the brother of Mary and Martha and a friend of Jesus’ who lived in Bethany. This was a very detailed eye witness account of a raising. All these showed how death came because of sin, and how Jesus rose them therefore he had the power to be able to forgive the sin.
b) Explain how this teaching on miracles may affect and influence a believer.
Christians believe undeniably that God still performs miracles today. This conviction grows out of a firm belief that the miracles recorded in the Bible were historical events–not myths or folk stories. There is no indication in Scripture that miracles have ceased or will cease in the present world. Because there are confirmed instances of miracles happening today, such as at Lourdes in France, they believe with certainty that God still performs miracles. They believe that Jesus Christ is the greatest worker of miracles, and he "the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
Miracles have been defined all the way from simple unexpected happenings to things that cannot be explained by human understanding. Some might loosely describe awe-inspiring life processes as miracles (e.g., "the miracle of birth"). Some define a miracle as "a violation of the laws of nature". But Christian believers define a miracle as "a supernatural event by which God reveals himself to humankind." They may believe that these events are not always a violation of nature, for God sometimes uses nature in unusual ways to reveal himself miraculously to humans.
Christians believe faith is an essential element in recognizing a miracle. A scientific approach cannot prove or disprove the supernatural validity of a miracle. To the skeptic, this may prove to them that miracles do not actually happen, but are real only in the minds of those who choose to believe a miraculous explanation of an event. But the opposite is also true. Only someone who believes in the existence of a supernatural God may be able to recognize the hand of God at work. To one who denies the existence of God, an unexplainable event is just that–unexplainable either because of some unknown natural activity or because of a fraudulent deception made to look like a miracle.
To the born again believer (John 3:3,7, 1 Peter 1:23), the salvation experience–in which God forgives sin and accepts the redeemed believer as a member of the family of God–is the greatest of all miracles. But that is not what most people mean when they ask if God still performs miracles today. They refer to miraculous events such as are recorded in the Old and New Testaments: the dead being raised to life, supernatural provision at a time of great need; protection from injury or death by a supernatural intervention. There have been authenticated accounts of each of these biblical miracles in the 20th century. It must be acknowledged, however, that the dead being raised to life is seldom seen. The few occasions where this has happened are possibly to remind believers of the resurrection power that will one day make alive those who have died in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17). The bible says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27, NIV). So if there should be an isolated miracle of life being restored after death, it is only for a time because everyone is destined to die, unless Christ returns before they die again.
Probably the most immediate miracles that Christians would mention, when asked for evidence that miracles still take place, would be instances of God’s intervention to interrupt sickness and dying to restore health and physical well being until a natural death takes place. Pentecostal believers have seen many documented instances of divine healing when medicine and doctors had reached the end of their ability to provide natural healing.
The Pentecostal experience of speaking in tongues, in which a loving Holy Spirit prays through the Spirit-filled believer, though not generally described as a miracle, is believed to be a “supernatural revelation of God’s presence in the life of the believer”. So also are the other gifts of the Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12. One of those gifts, all of which are still observed in the Pentecostal church, is the working of miracles. For these reasons, Christians firmly believe that God is still alive and working miracles today to reveal himself to humankind and call all people to salvation and a closer relationship with their Creator.
c) “Miracles are simply conjouring tricks and have no place in religious belief in a scientific age.”
Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to the religion, which you are studying in your answer.
Christians may agree with this statement as in the ‘modern world’ miracles are less common and some are disproved by science, also some Christians may believe that only Jesus had the power to perform miracles as the bible says how he was given power by God and he could feel that power draining him when he healed some one. This is demonstrated when the old woman touches him and he says to the crowd “Who touched me? I felt some of the power drain out of me” (from the message).
Christians may disagree with this statement as science can actually help prove miracles. This is the case at Lourdes, as when a miracle has taken place the Catholic Church will send a “Devils advocate” to disprove the miracle by any means necessary. The advocate will often prove the miracle by use of scientific methods, or by examining the medical history of the person who may have been healed. Also in the bible God sent the holy spirit to the disciples to allow them to heal them “…and it descended on them like a flame above each off there heads…” this shows us that the bible says that not only Jesus was able to perform miracles. Jesus said “ if you have faith it will happen…” showing us that miracles can happen as long as the person has faith that they will be healed or the miracle will occur because of the power of God.
I personal think that science has actually added in the proving of miracles, even though less miracles are reported to off happened, ones that are have usually been proved to have been true by the aid of science. More miracles happen in the modern age where people are put in a situation which stops them from otherwise potential fatal situations, such as people being in a house on a hill when a flash flood occurs; whereas in biblical times miracles were based around health as there wasn’t as much medical knowledge as there is in modern times. Therefore, there are still miracles today just in a different form to those reported on in the bible. People have faith in god in certain situations just as they have faith in doctors in medical situations.