You don't need a miraculous Jesus
There is a heavy emphasis on miracles in the Bible, but what if none of them were true? Can you still take refuge in a faith without miracles? Do Jesus' teachings still resonate without the magic?
It is hard to separate Jesus from the miracles that the New Testament (Bible) tells us he performed. However, in the reality that we live in “miracles” such as those performed by Jesus simply do not happen. We cannot go to church and cure our blindness. We cannot go to church and suddenly walk again. We live in a world without miracles. In the horrid reality that life sometimes is.
So when we have that cognitive dissonance occur when we try to rectify the miraculous stories of the bible with reality we can often have a crisis of faith. If the stories of miracles are untrue then was Jesus just a liar? Well, it’s complicated. I don’t believe the early Christian writers of the New Testament stories were trying to lie. They were sharing what I can only assume were the popular stories about Jesus.
Otherwise, what is the point of Jesus turning water into wine other than being a crowd-pleaser? Who doesn’t love free wine from their deity? But the reality of the gospels is that Jesus was all about teaching (not miracles) so how well do they stand up?
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
Most of us can agree that most of Jesus’ teachings translate well into an egalitarian modern worldview. What doesn’t translate is all of the miracles. Nobody is coming to make disabled people suddenly be cured. Those stories were added to the early gospel to help popularise the idol of Jesus and the early church. Jesus himself is quoted warning against idolizing him:
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone” Mark 10:18
From the messiah’s mouth. Jesus is (like us) not good. The point is he is an ordinary teacher speaking of God. Did Jesus cure the blind and make paralysed people walk? I can’t say but my world experience says no. My wisdom tells me these stories are there to encourage our faith, like reading bed time stories to little children. To help us compartmentalize the horrors of life. Maybe a miracle will save us all! Until then, if you find comfort in Jesus’ teachings then know that comfort is real even if none of the miracles are.
We are so much more than myths and we deserve an honest (non-miraculous) faith so we can know God better (or have no God at all). It’s always your choice.
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