Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark T. Sandrock) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Christians abetting Satan? (Was: gulf crisis, spiritual help...) Message-ID: Date: 3 Oct 90 07:15:42 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: School of Chemical Sciences, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lines: 54 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article johnw@sag4.ssl.berkeley.edu (John Warren) writes: > ... >Don't start with the mistaken notion that miracles, of course, >can't happen. It is more intellectually honest to suppose that >they might. > It all depends upon what one means by the word "miracle". I have experienced (what to me are) miracles in my own life, and I also know that many of the miracles attributed to Jesus did actually take place, although not necessarily all of them. I do believe, however, that *every* happening in Creation must necessarily take place within the framework of the Divine (or Natural) Laws. Jesus, Himself, also said: "I am come to fulfil the law, not to overthrow it." In the case of Lazarus, for example, it so happened that his soul had not yet severed itself from the physical body (the severing of the "silver cord"), and so it was *possible* for Jesus to call the soul back into the physical body. This happening is entirely in accordance with the Natural Laws which came into existence with Creation, and which govern every happening in Creation. If, on the other hand, the soul of Lazarus would have been already severed from the physical body, it would have been *impossible* for anyone, including Jesus Himself, to recall the soul back into the body. This is the Law. If one wants to say that "with God, all things are possible", then the narrow interpretation of this idea can be refuted, for instance, with the old saying: "Is it possible for God to make a stone He cannot lift?" This question is not so trivial as it might sound at first... The real meaning is this: "Can God act arbitrarily, against His Own Will?" The answer, of course, is that a perfect God could not and would not ever act against His Own Will. And since the Natural Laws are nothing other than the expression (or manifestation) of God's Will in Creation, it stands to reason that God could not and would not "violate" His Own Laws! This is why Jesus had to say that He had come to fulfil, not to overthrow the Law. To expect other from God is but a reflection of our own limited viewpoint, and is not (at least in my book) intellectually honest. It is actually based more upon wishful thinking than upon intellectually rigorous consideration of the nature of God and His wonderful Creation. Regards, Mark Sandrock P.S. The source of my knowledge is the work, "In the Light of Truth", the Grail Message, by Abd-ru-shin. And this work, not I, is the sole authority for questions of a spiritual nature. -- BITNET: sandrock@uiucscs Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Internet: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Chemical Sciences Computing Services Voice: 217-244-0561 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801