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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: the Temptations (not a singing group)
Message-ID: <4681@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Apr-85 23:37:01 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.4681
Posted: Tue Apr  9 23:37:01 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Apr-85 06:28:11 EST
References: <450@cybvax0.UUCP> <4644@umcp-cs.UUCP> <456@cybvax0.UUCP>
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
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In article <456@cybvax0.UUCP> mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) writes:

>In article <4644@umcp-cs.UUCP> mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) writes:

>> Now wait a minute, take the thing in context!!!!  It IS Satan he is talking
>> to, after all.  Why shouldn't God refuse to work miracles for Satan?  Why
>> shouldn't he justify it with scripture?  Seems to me you are demanding to
>> see miracles on demand.  Isn't that just a wee bit presumptious?

>No, JC is talking to me, and uses as his excuse his story of refusing to
>work miracles for Satan.  "Why just the other day, Satan asked me to do
>just that" he says.  Needless to say I am discomfited because he is
>implying I am like Satan to ask such a thing.

That's an odd interpretation, and one which I have never heard anyone posit.
In the traditional intepretation, the meaning of the incident is that Jesus
turns away from the temptation to use his powers to rule the world.  This is
cetainly a very real option, for Jesus, being Godhead, could simply override
anything with his power.  He has to choose not to.

>And you're damn right I'm asking to see miracles on demand.  I'd say the
>presumption is on the part of JC claiming to be a miracleworker.  If I
>was wrong, my apologies would be sincere and I wouldn't need further
>evidence.  However, I certainly wouldn't ask anyone to believe on less
>evidence than I insist on for myself.  The way many apostles and the like
>must have.

Well, Jesus certainly is within his rights not to work miracles simply
because people demand them.  He has every right not to be treated as a
laboratory specimen.

I personally do not rely on the miracles to support my faith (except the
important two: the incarnation and the resurrection).  It's the testimony of
one generation to the next that is ultimately the principle reason for
belief, just as it is for any other historical notion.

Charley Wingate   umcp-cs!mangoe