Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Abounding Miracles: Help My Unbelief

Abounding Miracles: Help My Unbelief

Last updated on: August 9, 2017 at 6:29 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Abounding Miracles: Help My Unbelief 2017-08-08T22:08:44-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have known marriages destroyed by unbelief and souls saved by unbelief.

The lover that cannot trust the beloved, who needs more proof than we can provide, destroys something beautiful looking for certainty. Unbelief can kill. Yet suspicion keeps us safe from danger when the flimflam from the grifter begins the pitch. We are unsure, we ask hard questions, and so we are saved from ruin. Unbelief can save. Notice though that the two results, while both good, are not quite equally good. Unbelief is inferior to belief, because while both can kill if misplaced, only belief can bring life.

You can save a soul from error with unbelief, but you cannot create a new soul. Creating beautifully requires love and love is a matter of belief. You are never, quite, sure, when you love a person, because of all the possible errors that broken people can make even if the Beloved is as perfect as God.

This trust between persons is fragile, but it must still be rational. You can hope for love, but one needs more than hope, a person needs faith, a reasonable trust, in the beloved. How do I know? I am not sure, but best reason and experience suggest that the beloved loves me and has done good for me. I am not sure, but love believes as soon as reason gives consent.

The overly skeptical is different. Instead of believing all he can, this man tests, weights, doubts to the point of missing opportunity. He would rather miss love, than be cheated once. “Better,” he thinks, “to never have loved a loser, than to have made a mistake and lost.”

This is sad.

So it is when I am asked to prove that what seemed to me to be a “miracle,” the good actions of the Beloved God, was a miracle. Why do we start with doubt?

I do not use God’s actions in my life to prove God exists, because God exists. I find the doubts of God’s existence, the counter-arguments, the quibbles, the qualms unconvincing. I tried them out. God is there, not silent, and I love HIm. When I ask Him to do a good thing, and it happens, then I assume the good God acted. He often uses natural means. Would it have happened “anyway?”

Maybe. God is after all good and might have sent the good gift to me anyway. How could I know? My summertime interlocutor asks of the miracles I have seen:

With any examples that you may have given, can you tell me what methodology one should use to make sure that it’s God doing such things and not the result of something else happening?

There are books on these topic. Here is my favorite, but let’s pause and ask why we would ask this question.

If I used these personal “miracles” as a reason for believing in God, then the question might be just. However, I believe in God for other reasons. If God no longer did miracles, as some Christians falsely believe, then I would still love and believe in God. However, if there is a God, and if I ask God to act, and then God does act, then I believe God has acted. Why wouldn’t I?

Of course, just as with any person sometimes I credit God with actions that were just the result of chance or the good actions of some other person. Yet what is the harm of this? My Dad felt called by God to give away our car. He told nobody. The day was coming when our car would be be gone . . . off to bless someone who needed it more than we did. Dad prayed. Just before we were to be without a car, God told someone that was not even in our church to give Dad a brand new car. It came just in time. This had never happened before to Dad and has never happened since.

Why doubt God acted and used people to help Dad?

I don’t ask an atheist to return to sanity based on this event, but I see no reason to doubt God existed. That would be like asking Hope if she really loves me when she gives me a gift or if she is up to something or worse still looking about for another gift giver! I choose the simple explanation: if I ask God and it happens, then thank God.

Why doubt? What is gained? If I did not think there was a God, I would not talk to God to start. That would be mad. If I do talk to God and He answers, then to say: “Ha! Was it God?” strikes me as bizarre. If I am wrong, and God does not exist, and Dad got the car just then by chance, then no harm has been done. If God had not sent a car, we would not have been able to pretend He did! Instead, we waited, God acted, and we were thankful.

This is belief and it is better than a toxic unbelief that cannot love, cannot be healed.

Imagine a madman given a golden ring who became convinced it must be a fraud. He grinds away the gold looking for the base metal he is sure must be underneath. He grinds until all the gold is gone and he is left with nothing. Instead, the wise man accepts the ring, looks at the evidence, chooses the best mix of glad and reasonable and then believes.

He puts on the ring, wears it for years, and then knows: this was real and it endured.

Miracles abound.

——————

*M is a non-Christian that sent me 55 questions earlier this year. He has asked that I not reveal his or her name. I will write as if “he” is a male, but this is for convenience. I do not know if I will get to all his questions. I try to limit my answers to hundreds and not thousands of words. Here are questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55.

Apologetics

Previous Post

August 8, 2017

Miracles: Happening Now

Next Post

August 10, 2017 Satan is Alive Yet Unwell on Planet Earth!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Romans say about those who are led by the Spirit of God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

They will not sin They will have eternal life They are saved They are the children of God (or sons of God)

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »