Still on the subject of miracles: why is it that no miracle was ever done by the hands of Luther, Calvin or the other Reformers? Miracles were done through Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and holy men throughout history. The apostles, you say, were special because they were founders of churches? Well wouldn’t someone who supposedly brought back the pure unadulterated gospel after it had been lost for 1,500 years be a pretty important fellow in God’s plan? Important enough to have a miracle or two worked through him? Miracles, whether done through Moses, or a prophet, or an apostle, or a great missionary saint or confessor of the faith are manifestations of divine favor -— of the fact that God is with that man. That no miracles were done through Luther or Calvin is interesting. As Erasmus said, Luther had not even a cure of a sick cow to show. I see supposed cures by protestant ministers all the time on TV. Why would God do miracles through Oral Roberts etc. and never once through the great Reformers? Could it be that the miracles I see on TV are fake? Well, we wouldn’t know, would we? Because umlike the “Romanists”, the Protestant miracles are never subjected to rigorous scrutiny by medical people and scientists. The Church does not accept as genuine any but a tiny fraction of all reported miracles, and that only after painstaking investigation. Moreover, no Catholic is required to believe in ANY particular miracle, except those recorded in Scripture. If Beckwith does not want to believe in these Brazilian miracles, he doesn’t have to. Nor does he have to believe in the appearances at Lourdes or Fatima. So he is not in any sense “stuck” with any such miracles. But he is also not stuck with having to repudiate the first 1,500 years of Christianity.
Sorry, I don’t strain my eyes reading jibberish. Please format your posts if you care to ping me...
Paragraphs, two spaces after periods, etc....
why is it that no miracle was ever done by the hands of Luther, Calvin or the other Reformers?
smpb, your posts are some of the jolliest I've read in months. Thank you for all this fine, convivial target practice.
The reason Luther, Calvin and the other Reformers did not perform miracles is BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GOD.
Nor were they among the 11 apostles entrusted to spread the word of Jesus Christ which they had witnessed with their own eyes.
Apostolic miracles ended with the Apostles. And the reason for that is because CHRIST AND THE WRITTEN SCRIPTURE WITNESSING HIS LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION IS SUPPOSED TO BE ENOUGH FOR US CHRISTIANS.
Those who seek "more proof" just might be given more of something that won't benefit them. Sadly, it will do just the opposite by distancing them from the truth of Christ risen.
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." -- Matthew 12:38-40"Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
The only "sign" we should need is the truth of the resurrection.
Look to Christ and not to rice-paper pills, empty relics, dead saints, wooden statues, vacant rituals and all other assorted manner of voodoo.
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" -- Gal. 3:1
The last miracle recorded in Acts was by Paul and Barnabus. The city thought that the gods had come down and they wanted to worship them. They quickly corrected the people and then they people want to stone them because they were not gods.
Miracles don't go over very well.
EXACTLY. If the protestants are so correct, why would a Catholic papist idolator like Padre Pio be so blessed with gifts from The Lord? If even 1/10 of the stories about Padre Pio are true (and I have a book written by a Lutheran Minister who interviewed witnesses), then there is NO other conclusion than Pio was chosen by Almighty God, much like St. Paul, to carry on His witness.