More On The Subject of Miracles .

I will continue with the last blog, where the reader asks:

“How does someone decide a story is a literal truth?….’ 

I don’t think I can answer that.  What I will say is, the story is pervasive, in the Old Testament.  Most of these stories are always up for interpretation.  We do know that stories like: The Creation Story, The Great Flood, Jonah and the big fish, have been questioned for many years; as to their authority and truth. 

What most scholars believe is that these unbelievable events/stories are in place to convince the Hebrew people of the totality, unlimited, possibility of God.  The story is to make their minds open to God’s power and supreme truth.   The main message of these stories:  

                                      “Nothing is impossible for God.”

These theme stories continued in the New Testament as well.  The Christmas story is one of them.  From the Angel Gabriel speaking to the young Mary.  And the amazing truth, of who the child was that she would be carrying.   Even the Easter Event.   These New Testament stories are include the dreams and visions of the Apostle Paul ( to give just a few examples). 

They are all stories that witness to God presence among the people here on earth.  

The other part, of story telling, is the parable.  Which has both a truth, and a description of cultural values and traditions, that work against God’s will.

You see, what the person on the street doesn’t know, is that you need to have more information to exegete anything that is written on the pages of the Bible.  This is due to the various languages and the content in which that language it used.  Like mentioned in my first blog on miracles; where you can't take the English word for a greek word's meaning.  The ancient languages, have multiple meanings, over and against, the English transliteration.  

What I have chosen to do is to believe, not the story alone, but what that story tell us about God’s truth.  I read all of scripture in that way.  Whether truth,  fact or fiction, of the stories in the Bible.  These storied, and events, give us a complete picture of who God is and what God has to offer us.  If we are willing,  to put aside our own cultural conditioning and logical thinking, we hear in these storied a truth.  

I believe that the Bible was written, all those centuries ago, to help us today to know the significance  and the importance of God.  

Just like we used stories to tell our children, and grandchildren, about better ways to live through story.  The gift of analogy and metaphor are wonderful ways to express a truth.

I will continue with another of you new wonders tomorrow:

"Are only place miracles ‘happen’ is in Bible stories or directly from God?  I guess I didn’t know that."