Another Thread on Miracles (Lee Strobel book)

There’s a lot about the “name” of God or Christ that Christians today miss. Marvin has a serious point, and it goes back to the command to not take the Lord’s name in vain, a command that has next to nothing to do with saying His name but a lot to do with calling ourselves His. It’s like what my high school wrestling coach told everyone on the team: you are now a wrestler, part of the team, and a wrestler acts with honor – on and off the mat! – so act through the day in ways that will make your teammates and coaches proud of you.

Then there’s the fact that on occasion in the Old Testament the Name of Yahweh is spoken of as though a person, referring to the essence of Yahweh, and other times almost like a place people can be in – bizarre to us, but part of the understanding of what taking the Name and praying in the Name mean.

Given the above, we are to do both. I liked the way a Methodist pastor prayed for the new members of the legislature once: “Lord, guide these poor fools that we poor fools have elected . . . .”

3 Likes

My former pastor, a mentor. Several decades ago. He was at death bed of fellow Christian. He witnessed the person momentarily talking to someone he couldn’t see. It’s obvious it was a angel. Getting ready to take Christian to paradise.

Luke 16:22. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham bosum.

About 15 years ago. I used bad judgement. In second gear, going up small hill. The ice was covered over by snow. Almost to the top. The car started to slowly go backwards. I felt a impact from back of the car. Car moved forward, and I safely made it home. I can testify in truth, angels are very real.

Matthew 18:10. See that you don’t despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

I was just talking with some colleagues about the Hebrew concept of “Name” and how it informs translation decisions in the OT. In Psalms, for example, references to God’s name are inextricably linked to the covenant. Invoking God’s name (reputation, honor, character) is a way of reminding God of his covenant faithfulness and his promise to love and protect his covenant children and a way of reminding the covenant people of their responsibility to uphold their end of the promises. The power is in the bond of that covenant, not in some magic incantation of syllables or something. Misusing God’s name is a way of failing to be covenant children because it disrespects the bond and the two-way responsibilities the bond entails.

4 Likes

I was once with some friends in a car crossing the Golden Gate Bridge when traffic ahead of us suddenly slowed to almost a stop. We were following 'way too close, and the driver stomped on the brakes while saying there was no way we weren’t going to crash. But the car decelerated hard, and we came to a stop only a small distance from the truck ahead. We judged the distance in which we’d come to a stop by counting car lengths, and did the math – and the car had stopped in just a fraction of what it should have taken given the conditions (road surface, tires, car mass, etc.).
I’m still not sure if I imagined a faint giant hand grasping the front of the car, but I wasn’t sure then, either; what makes me wonder is that all of us asked, “Did you just see a giant hand?”

1 Like

Something fascinating is that there are passages where the Name is treated as a person. Our modern minds tend to just slide over that, but that just shows how far the usual modern worldview is from that of the ancient Hebrews.

I’d flip that: failing to be covenant children is misusing the Name because it betrays the label we have taken to ourselves.

2 Likes

It amounts to faith. Thomas would not believe Jesus resurrection, unless he saw him, and put his fingers in hole of Jesus wrist. It comes down to faith. Either you have faith or you don’t.

I once ran over a dog. It was dead. Torn into several pieces. Before I could get the body off the road about 5 other trucks ran over it. So I grabbed a shovel and collected it all into two five gallon buckets. The kids of the house in front of which it happened came running out and crying. There was three kids. One kid was not crying but suggested that we all pray. So we prayed. The liquids and flesh in the bucket begin to bubble and I saw a ghostly form of a dog come out of the ground. It went into the buckets and a strange mist rose up. A moment later the dog crawled out of the bucket. Then I only saw two kids. They were laughing and dancing and the mother came out. I could not think of how to explain it and so I told the mom the third kid was gone. She said she did not have a third kid just two. While driving home I knew that third child was an angel who help helped resurrect the dog.

1 Like

A spectacular story. I have to say that when I hear this kind of stories, the ‘inner sceptic’ rises and makes me question the story.

Although, I do have one experience where a small bird had gone to a mouse trap and the head had partly caved in. When I lifted the bird with a crushed head in my hand and prayed, the bird rose and flew away. I do not know if it lived afterwards and I do not expect that anyone would believe this incident, although it is a true story.

It happened during the time when I was a young believer and had a child-like faith, up to the point of being ridiculously naive. For some strange reason, many of the miracle-like answers to prayers that I have experienced happened during those years.

2 Likes

Hi Christy, your comment reminds me of how I once told you how much I would love to see Zondervan Academic do a course on Covenant Theology… maybe you could pass the word along :slightly_smiling_face:

By the way, I finished America’s Religious History by Thomas Kidd and began Dr. Licona’s course Jesus, Contradicted. Super bien!!

1 Like

Not strange at all, I think; my experience had been much the same.

2 Likes