Dear friend,

The Bible is true, 100% true. When you refer to the Bible you are dealing with a library of books and letters which include many different types of writing.

• Some is historical
• some allegory
• some poetry and song
• some prayers
• some pastoral advice from the leaders of the Church to different communities
• and more.

Therefore each part must be given a context so as not to interpret it incorrectly and in other parts, we may not have the whole picture, so we can't make certain factual assertions.

It is easy to see how we could take something the wrong way; for example, the story of Adam and Eve includes allegory to make its point. There is little doubt that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is allegorical and doesn't involve illicit apple picking.

That being said, the same error applies in the other direction. Things that are historical, are often taken as fiction. This is particularly true with respect to the Life of Christ. There has been a movement for decades to undermine the authenticity of Jesus' Story, when it is factual, accessible, and corroborated by extrinsic evidence.

Also, keep in mind the world was different then. History spanned great lengths of time, whereas our modern history, since, Christ is relatively short so much appears compressed into a short span, but it is not.

People who lived in days of Bible times generally saw no more miracles than you or me. Still even in our own time there have been amazing miracles that astonished thousands of people simultaneously, like the miracle of Fatima, where 70,000 people witnessed the sun fall to the earth and the sky change colors, the torrential rains left the earth bone dry and more. Read about that if you want a modern miracle of biblical proportions.

Look at all the Marian apparitions if you want to see something that is no less significant than the wonders of the Bible. The Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing to many warning of great chastisements the world will face, and the great blessings of peace if only men should turn to prayer.

We live in a world where men avoid God and instead prefer evil. Miracles happen every day but few have eyes to see them. God is loving and patient, but I fear our time is racing toward catastrophe and we will see events of Biblical proportion, maybe of the darkest variety, because we are drifting further and further away from God. If you want to see God's intervention in a miraculous way, pray for the changing of hearts toward truth, love, and goodness.

This is only sign and miracle we need now.

Peace,

Bob Kirby

Dear A. —

Actually, the word magical certainly doesn't apply. A miracle is not magic. Magic is sorcery and demonic even if it's so called White Magic. It involves using spells and items to cause the spirits to do what you want. It is strictly forbidden in the Scriptures.

In Christianity or Judaism, we pray according to God's Will asking Him to perform a miracle and exercising our faith in Him. If we use relics or similar items, it is because they are points of contact for our Faith that God uses to help us. This is quite the opposite of magic.

That said, miracles happen today more often than you might think by the power of the Holy Spirit. People get healed of incurable diseases through the intercession of the living and the saints in Heaven. Demons get exorcised and, yes, people are also raised from the dead.

You have to understand that Bible narratives cover extended periods of time. Let's say your reading the book of Acts and in almost every chapter you read of some kind of miraculous event and it seems like it's happening every day or every week. Nevertheless, the book of Acts covers a period of 20 or more years.

• If you are Catholic and attend Mass, you witness a miracle every single time. At Mass, time is suspended. We are all at once present at that Last Supper, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and present in Heaven participating in and witnessing the Eternal Liturgy taking place as described in the Book Revelation chapters 4 and 5 and Hebrews 12 and, of course, bread and wine, become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
• At a Baptism, we witness someone who was born spiritually dead, become spiritually alive in Christ.
• At Confirmation, we witness the Holy Spirit empowering believers with gifts . . . some of them extraordinary gifts like healing, tongues, and prophesy . . . just like in Acts Chapter 2 on Pentecost.
• At an Ordination, we see union of being between a man and Christ, where the man souls becomes configured to Christ, so that when He speaks the words of institution at Sunday Mass:
  
  
  "This is Body. This is the Chalice of My Blood."
  
  it's not the man speaking. It's Christ Himself.

Tell me:

• Is it a greater miracle to heal someone's body, or to heal someone's soul?

Christ basically posed the same question, when they brought Him a cripple and He responded by saying your sins are forgiven.

• The crowd was dismayed but what did He say?

Which is easier to say or do forgive a man his sins or tell him to get up and walk. And then Christ said,

So that you might know that Son of Man has authority to forgive sins:

Get up, pick up you mat and walk. — to cripple.

So on the Sacramental level we see miracles every day.

John