The many miracles of Jesus Christ

Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 26

According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus worked many miracles in the course of his ministry, which may be categorized into cures, exorcisms, dominion over nature, three instances of raising the dead, and various others. To many Christians, the miracles represent actual historical events, while liberal Christians may consider these stories to be figurative. Critical scholars generally concede that empirical methods are unable to determine if a genuine miracle is historical, considering the issue theological or philosophical. Islamic scholars also believe in most of the miracles of healing and the miracles of ressurecting dead people to life.

--Types of miracles--

-Cures-

The largest group of miracle stories mentioned in the New Testament are those concerning disease and disability. The Gospels give varying amounts of detail for each episode, sometimes Jesus cures simply by saying a few words, or laying on of hands, and at other times employs elaborate rituals using material (e.g. spit or mud). Generally they are recorded in the Synoptic Gospels but not John.

* Fever - The Synoptics describe Jesus as healing the mother-in-law of Simon Peter when he visited Simon's house in Capernaum, around the time of Jesus recruiting Simon as an Apostle (Mark has it just after the calling of Simon, while Luke has it just before). The synoptics imply that this led other people seeking out Jesus, and him travelling over the whole of Galilee to preach to them.
* Leprosy - The Synoptics state that, early in Jesus' ministry, he healed a leper, whom he then instructed to offer the requisite ritual sacrifices as proscribed by the Deuteronomic Code and Priestly Code. Jesus instructed the ex-leper not to tell anyone who had healed him, but the man disobeyed, increasing Jesus' fame, and thereafter Jesus withdrew to deserted places, but was followed there. Luke also states that later, while on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent ten lepers, who had sought his assistance, to the priests, and that they were healed as they went, but that the only one that came back to thank Jesus was a Samaritan.
* Long term bleeding - The Synoptics state that while heading to Jairus' house (see the section below on power over death), Jesus was approached by a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for 12 years, and that she touched Jesus' cloak (fringes of his garment: Matt 9:20, 14:36), and was instantly healed. Jesus turned about and, when the woman came forward, said "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace." The bleeding is sometimes interpreted as menorrhagia, but most scholars consider that the duration, 12 years, makes it more plausible that something more like hemophilia is being referred to.
* Withered hands - The Synoptics state that Jesus entered a synagogue on the Sabbath, and found a man with a withered hand there, whom Jesus healed, having first challenged the people present to decide what was lawful for a Sabbath - to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill . The Gospel of Mark adds that this angered the Pharisees so much that they started to plot about killing Jesus.
* Dropsy - Luke alone states that, during a Sabbath, Jesus ate in the house of a prominent Pharisee, opposite someone who suffered from dropsy, and Jesus asked the Pharisees that were present if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, but, after getting no reply, healed the man. Jesus then challenged the Pharisees to say that they would not immediately pull out an ox, or a son (or a donkey, according to some ancient manuscripts of Luke), if it fell into a well during a Sabbath.
* Deafness - Mark alone states that Jesus went to the Decapolis and met a man there who was deaf and mute, and cured him. Specifically, Jesus first touched the man's ears, and touched his tongue after spitting, and then said Ephphatha!, an Aramaic word meaning Be opened
* Blindness - The Synoptics state that Jesus met a beggar (Mark gives the name: bar-Timai or son of Timai) who, though blind, still identified Jesus as the Jewish Messiah; Jesus said that the man's faith has healed him, and he received his sight, and was allowed to follow Jesus. This happened when Jesus was leaving Jericho, and Luke adds that there was another healed at the same time. John mentions as similar event that happened near the Pool of Siloam, with the following details:
o The disciples first questioned Jesus whether the man's curse was for his own sins, or those of his parents. Jesus said it was for neither reason, "but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
o Jesus healed him by spitting on the ground, mixing his spit with mud, and putting the mixture into his eyes, then sent him to wash in the Pool of Siloam
o The event happened on a Sabbath, and the Pharisees said, "this man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." They asked the formerly blind man concerning Jesus, who said, "he is a prophet."
o The Jews did not believe that the healed man was the same person as the man who had been blind from birth, and asked his parents if the healed man was their son, and the parents responded that he was, and had been born blind
o Jesus identified himself as the Son of God, and the cured man worshiped him

Additionally, Mark alone states that Jesus went to Bethsaida and met another man there who was blind, and then cured him. Specifically, Jesus is described as spitting in the man's eyes, to which the man responded that his vision is now blurred, and then Jesus touched the man's eyes, and the man responded that he can see clearly now. John's account of the healing of has been argued by some scholars to be a conflation of the account of bar-Timai in Mark, together with the healing method given by Mark's account of the second healing of a blind man.[citation needed]

* Paralysis - The Synotics state that a paralytic was brought to Jesus on a mat; Jesus told him to get up and walk, and the man did so. Jesus also told the man that his sins were forgiven, which according to the Synoptics irritated the Pharisees, and according to John irritated the people in general. Jesus is described as responding to the anger by asking whether it is easier to say that someone's sins are forgiven, or to tell the man to get up and walk. The Synoptics state that this happened in Capernaum, Luke adding that Jesus was in a house at the time, and that the man had to be lowered through the roof by his friends due to the crowds blocking the door. A similar account is given in John and occurs at the Pool of Bethesda; some have argued this is another version of the event described in the synoptics, rather than a separate cure.
* Unspecified sickness - All four Canonical Gospels state that Jesus was asked by an official to heal a person important to them, and although Jesus is somewhat annoyed at being constantly asked to perform miracles, rather than being asked for teachings, he says that the person would be healed, and the official returned home to find that this has happened. The Synoptics state that official was one of royalty, originating from Canaan, and that it was his son who was sick, while the Gospel of John states that the official was a centurion, and that it was the centurion's servant that was sick.

According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus performed many exorcisms of demoniacs. These incidents are not mentioned by the Gospel of John.

The accounts in the Synoptic Gospels are:

* The man possessed by a demon at Capernaum - Jesus exorcised an unclean spirit and forbidding the demon from informing people that he was the "Holy One of God". (Mark 1:21-28, Luke 4:31-37)
* Jesus drove out evil sprits with a word. (Matthew 8:8, 8:14-17, Mark 1:29-39; Luke 4:33-41)
* The man possessed by demons at Gerasenes, whom the people had tried to chain up but had escaped, and lived in caves, and roamed the hills, screaming - Jesus inquired the man's name, but is told by the man/demons that his name is Legion, "...for we are many"; then the demons asked to be expelled into a group of swine, which Jesus did, and thereafter the pigs fell into a lake and drowned. The pig owners tell the townsfolk what had happened, and when the townsfolk see that the man is now sane, they besought Jesus to leave "for they were taken with great fear." The man, on the other hand, informs the whole of the decapolis what had happened. (Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39)
* Jesus drove a demon out of a mute man who then spoke, the Pharisees said it was by the power of Beelzebub. (Matthew 9:32-34, Mark 3:20-22)
* Jesus gave the Twelve Apostles the authority to drive out evil spirits. (Matthew 10:1-8, Mark 3:15, 6:7, 6:13, Luke 9:1, 10:17)
* Jesus said if he drove out demons by the Spirit of God or Finger of God then the Kingdom of God has come. (Matthew 12:22-32, Luke 11:14-23, 12:10;, Mark 3:20-30)
* The possessed daughter of the Canaanite or phoenician woman in Tyre - the woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter, but Jesus says "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The woman replies, "Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table," whereupon Jesus tells her that her daughter is healed, and when the woman returns home she finds that this is true. (Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30)
* The boy possessed by a demon that is brought forward to Jesus straight after Jesus' transfiguration, and who foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, becomes rigid, and involuntarily falls into both water and fire - Jesus' followers cannot expel the demon, and Jesus condemns the people as unbelieving, but when the father of the boy questions if Jesus can heal the boy, Jesus says everything is possible for those that believe, so the father says he believes that the boy could be healed, and Jesus does so. (Matthew 17:14-21, Mark 9:14-29, Luke 9:37-49)
* Jesus had driven seven demons out of Mary Magdalene. (Mark 16:9, Luke 8:2)
* Jesus continued to cast out demons even though Herod Antipas wanted to kill him. (Luke 13:31-32)

-Controlling nature-

The Gospels tell another group of stories concerning Jesus' power over nature:

* The Feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000 - despite the disciples only being able to collect just a few loaves of bread and a handful of fish, thousands are fed, and there are even a number of baskets of leftovers.
* The Cursing of the Fig Tree - Jesus cursed a fig tree, and it withered.
* Turning Water into Wine - at a wedding, when the host runs out of wine, the disciples of Jesus fill vessels with water, but the waiter pronounces the content of the vessels as the best wine that has been served that night.
* Walking on water - Jesus walked over a lake to meet a boat.
* Transfiguration of Jesus - Jesus climbed a mountain and been changed so that his face glowed.
* The Catch of 153 fish - Jesus instructed the disciples to throw their net over the side of the water, resulting in them hauling in the huge catch (for hand fishing) of 153 fish.
* Calming a storm - during a storm, the disciples woke Jesus, and he rebuked the storm causing it to become calm. Jesus then rebukes the disciples for lack of faith.
* Transubstantiation during the last supper, disputed by some sects.

-Power over death-

The Canonical Gospels report three cases where Jesus calls a dead person back to life:

* Jairus' daughter - Jairus, a major patron of a synagogue, asks Jesus to heal his daughter, but while Jesus is on his way, men tell Jairus that his daughter has died. Jesus says she was only sleeping and wakes her up with the word Talitha koum!.
* The son of the widow at Nain - A young man, the son of a widow, is brought out for burial in Nain. Jesus sees her, and his pity causes him to tell her not to cry. Jesus approaches the coffin and tells the man inside to get up, and he does so.
* The raising of Lazarus - a close friend of Jesus who has been dead for four days is brought back to life when Jesus commands him to get up.
* Jesus' own resurrection from the dead.

While the raising of the daughter of Jairus is in all the Synoptic Gospels (but not in the Gospel of John), the raising of the son of the widow of Nain appears only in the Gospel of Luke, and the raising of Lazarus appears only in the Gospel of John. It has been argued by several scholars and commentators that the story of the raising of Lazarus and that of the Nain widow's son really refer to the same event, considered to derive from the raising of the youth in the original Mark.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:20 am

Interesting... of course I have read some of this, but only the christian stories.

I believe in this, look at all the stories. Even though stories can be lies, the stories about the mircales of jesus are told by many people and many religions, that is enough evidence for me to believe it.

What do you think?

Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 26

I'm not a believer, I'm especially weary of so called 'miracles' especially ones found in 2000 year old texts.

But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:44 am

Yeah, that's what I'd expect from you. You believe in the science stuff. But still it's interesting to read all this even if you're not a believer, correct?

Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 26

Yes it is interesting.

As for NoeL, invite him over here yourself and tell him Wink

Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

Ganon, if you're going to steal someone else's work you need to REFERENCE it! I know you didn't write that first post yourself, you simply don't care enough about Jesus' miracles to gather all that info.

Things like this can't be simply dismissed, that's just sheer ignorance.

It' important to note that in those days "leprosy" referred to ANY kind of skin ailment, not necessarily the disease itself. Many illnesses (particularly skin irritations) can be purely psychological, brought upon by stress etc., and a common treatment for such illnesses is hypnosis. There is also cases of hypnosis curing actual PHYSICAL skin diseases. One in particular I can recount from memory (though I can't find a reference online so you'll have to take my word on it) was a boy who had a disease colloquially called "reptile skin". His entire body was covered in scaly, scabby (and smelly) skin, which would shed fairly rapidly. He tried hypnotherapy (the doctor didn't know it was an actual physical disease at the time or he wouldn't have tried it) in which he was asked to imagine his arm with clean, soft, pink skin. Over the next few days/weeks his "scales" fell away to reveal a normal arm. The process was repeated for each part of his body, with a 70-90% success rate.

That shows that you can cure leprosy with hypnosis, suggesting Jesus may have been a hypnotist, though the sheer speed he was able to heal people was phenomenal.

Regarding his resurrection, there's many theories.

I recommend a book called Jesus: The Evidence by Ian Wilson. It's a good read.

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:19 am

I just thought ganon copied and pasted. Confused

Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

He DID just copy and past NC, which is called PLAGIARISM. It's a big no-no.

And blindness, depends again whether it's physical or psychological. Some people have physically perfect eyes, but it's their BRAIN that wont let them see. In such cases hypnosis MIGHT be able to restore sight.

On the other hand, if you have no eyeballs, you probably won't recover your sight.

Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 26

You DO realise that anything found in wikipedia is in the public domain? Which MEANS that you are free to copy and paste and plagiarise and borrow at will...

Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

Try telling that to my uni professors...

Either way, you should cite where you got you information from in case people want to follow it up.

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:24 pm

Geez NoeL, I may be thick at sometimes (that's what you say), but I understand plagiarism. My teachers get all spaz too when I don't reference.

So.... do you believe in all this or not?

Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

Do I believe in what? That Jesus was as he is portrayed in the gospels, and that they're an accurate reference as to what Jesus was capable of doing?

... No. After all the earliest gospel was written 50 years after Jesus' death (I think it was 88AD... don't quote me on that), so as the stories were passed around by word of mouth there was probably a lot of misunderstanding and exaggeration.

That said, however, I doubt the stories were the invention of the author otherwise the book would've been dismissed as false garbage. So that leaves us with the question "Where did these stories come from?"

Try and put yourself in the context of the situation. Some guy in a raggety kaftan is wandering about claiming to be the son of God, and preaching ideas that go against the church... logic denotes he would be ignored more than anything else, yet he somehow managed to gain quite a large following, which grew town after town. Now, if people were claiming that Jesus could perform miracles, yet Jesus never DID any miracles, then you would expect his popularity to go downhill, rather that uphill.

There's also a possibility that Jesus NEVER did any miracles, that it was his strong teachings that made so many people believe that he was the son of God, and the stories of his miracles were invented AFTER his death to elevate his image as "the almighty".

Personally, I believe there is SOME truth to his miracles. I don't think he would have todays following if people weren't 100% convinced that these miracles were genuine early on. The Gospels say Jesus made miracle healings in just about every town he visited. If those stories were made up, that would mean that EVERY town would've had to have someone start a rumour of Jesus performing healing there, AND have it believed by the majority of Jesuits (i.e. Jesus following Jews). If people in Jerusalem were talking about Jesus healing people in Capernaum, and the people from Capernaum said that Jesus never healed there, the whole story would fall apart.

In short, for the whole of Israel to agree that Jesus did these things, it's unlikely that it's 100% boulderdash.

Site Admin Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 26

Indeed I agree of course there is substance behind the miracles of jesus. He did do some things right so that he would gain such a huge following. But what form did these miracles take in the real world (outside of the bible interpretations)?

I think he was a healer, i think he was full of medical knowledge, he travelled far and wide so he knew alot of things, maybe he was even a devout magician, full of tricks and sleights of hand.

In this case the simpler and more logical answers are preferable to the supernatural, because we don't even have a first hand account of all the things he did.

Wether he believed in his own teaching we will never know, but it would have helped him alot had he believed. The muslim prophet muhammed also performed miracles, and so did many other 'prophets' throughout history. I would really like to know how these miracles were performed. Wink

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:59 am

I asked if you believe Jesus did all these miracles. Hey Ganon believes! Yay!

I believe it too, I believe in anything.

Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

Don't do that, that's what idiots do.

I know that Jesus' family didn't believe him, at least not at first. Jesus' mum doesn't pop up much at all until he's being crucified, and there's no mention of his brothers or father.

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:25 am

I'm not an idiot noeL, I believe.

You need to believe too, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY2Hp6KhGf4

Very Happy