Posted on 4/5/2010, 5:57:17 PM by NYer
Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, a hematologist, lapsed Anglican and firm atheist, was desperate for work in the mid-1980s when she took on a small contract in Ottawa to interpret a set of laboratory slides for a colleague and write a report.
She was given no information about the patient and assumed her report would be used in a malpractice lawsuit, which is common for that kind of blind medical analysis.
Instead, her findings and subsequent oral testimony became the last piece of “evidence” of a miracle in the 200-year cause for canonization of Marie-Marguerite d’Youville, the first Canadian to be made a saint.
That an atheist scientist would be conscripted to the cause is not unusual in the complicated business of proving sainthood.
Dr. Ronald Kleinman, also an atheist, was a top pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital in March 1987 when he treated a little girl who was moments from death. The result of what he witnessed that day became critical medical evidence that led to Edith Stein being declared a saint.
For the religious, this is the time of year to think about miracles. During Passover, Jews remember God’s miraculous intervention to free their ancestors from slavery; Christians remember the ultimate miracle of Jesus rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.
In an increasingly secular society, the word miracle is thrown around easily, with phrases like “miracle cures” and “miracle landings” used as stand-ins for what are essentially remarkably lucky tales of human survival.
To the non-religious, the very notion of “proving” a miracle as a requirement of sainthood seems a bit absurd, for how to prove something that defies explanation?
(Excerpt) Read more at network.nationalpost.com ...
“What really blew me away was the Church really seemed interested in not being a dupe,” said Dr. Duffin, now a professor at Queen’s University. “So in fact the Church was lending credence to science.”
A teacher my daughter had in high school several years ago was recently diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. She went for surgery last week and when they opened her up, they found no sign of cancer. Nothing. Many people had been praying for her. Was it a miracle or perhaps a faulty initial diagnosis? I don’t have any idea but the teacher and her family are thrilled. Praise the Lord.
What about cases where people belonging to other faiths, see apparitions and miracles based on those particular faiths? Plenty of Muslims, Buddhists and others would stake such a claim, too.
A humble and contrite heart he will not ignore.
>What about cases where people belonging to other faiths, see apparitions and miracles based on those particular faiths? Plenty of Muslims, Buddhists and others would stake such a claim, too.
Plenty of Muslims are having dreams/visions of Jesus these days, too. :)
Hehehe... wonder how they react to their “prophets” faces being revealed.
As for visions, do they see Jesus as a blonde-haired Caucasian or as the typical swarthy Middle-Easterner?
:^)
>As for visions, do they see Jesus as a blonde-haired Caucasian or as the typical swarthy Middle-Easterner?
Probably as a Middle Easterner; I mean He is/was a Palestinian [geography] Jew. I don’t know the details of the visions, just that there are some really interesting stories there that indicate the Holy Spirit is alive and well [and doing God’s work] on planet Earth.
A bit hypocritical there aren't we? "I'm prepared to believe there are truths we don't know but I know one of them can't be God". Just what is the rational basis for her athiesm then?
Would a REAL image of Jesus be recognized as such by most Christians? Or would they say, “wow, looks like some swarthy Middle-Easterner” and write it off as just an interesting face?
This is something my wife and I argue about. All the Jews I've known have been fair-skinned and Jesus even comes from the line of David, who is described in the bible as being"ruddy" ("having a fresh, healthy red color" - dictionary.reference.com). I'm not so sure we can assume the population that currently resides in Palestine represents the Hebrew people of the old and new testaments.
I know a Jewish guy who had red hair as a youth, and a tinge of red in his hair; when I mentioned the “ruddy”-ness of David he was intrigued and went to go look it up.
There is little doubt that Jesus was, by our modern standards, not white; nor would any Jewish person from the Middle East of those days be as pale skinned as a Ashkenazim Jew or a Northern European.
Neither do I think the face of Jesus would resemble Jim Cavezal any more (and quite possibly less) than the face of Sasha Baron Cohen.
As such, I do not think the “miraculous” face of Jesus would be recognized as such by most Christians.
Neither do I think there are such “miracles” produced in order to make an image on an item that people will “make unto”.
No, there is nothing comparable, not even vaguely, in any of the other faiths to the strict, lenghty, and exhausting scrutiny conducted by some of the most prestigious scientists in the particluar field of the cure by the Vatican panel including an opposition voice previously known as “The Devil’s Advocate.”
Besides, the cure must be immediate, verifiable by scientific sources, and unaccountable by natural causes. This is why it takes several long years and countless pieces of documentation to confirm an authentic miracle or apparition.
The article talks about the intervention of saints, not visions. That would be a separate topic, I suppose.
On the contrary. This is the oldest image of our Lord ..
Christ Pantocrator - 6th century
Most images of Jesus have in common a number of traits which are now almost universally associated with Jesus, although variants are seen. The Shroud of Turin is now the best-known example, though the Image of Edessa and the Veil of Veronica were better known in medieval times.
Line them up and what do we have ...
There are startling similarities between the icon and the image we see on the Shroud of Turin. There are, perhaps, too many similarities for it to be a mere coincidence.
The general placement of facial features including eyes, nose and mouth. In fact, when a transparency of the Shroud face is superimposed over the icon, there are no significant variations.
The hair on the left side (your right) falls on the shoulder and swoops outward. The hair on the other side is shorter.
The eyes are very large.
The nose is particularly thin and long. The face is gaunt.
There is a gap in the beard below a concentration of facial hair that is just below the lower lip.
The neck is particularly long.
As Arthur C. Clarke, inventor of the communications satellite and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, states:
“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”
- Arthur C. Clarke’s First Law
There is no rational basis for anybody’s atheism.
yep, and that's why so many violate the law of non-contradiction when defending their atheism. (as with this woman) That Dawkins does this so often shows he has never studied the basic rules of logic.
And that person who painted that image knew what Jesus looked like how?
That most subsequent images were based upon that image is hardly surprising.
Perhaps they were working off of another image(s) that have been lost to history?
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