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Main text part 1, The Gospels,
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The question of the "miracles".

Jesus did not act in order to satisfy anyone’s thirst for sensation. Neither did he act to force people to believe through external events. His entire path was guided by an inner clarity that told him what he had to do in each case - and not "because of this or that circumstance, in order to achieve this or that effect". Cures were often "signs" that stood for something larger and more fundamental. During the healing of the person born blind at the Sabbath Jesus answered, that the reasons are not sins, "but that the works of God be seen". (John 5, 6-9; John 6; John 9, 3 ...).

At the same time, a disruption of obsolete ways of thinking and a pondering over the deeper importance of such actions were definitely desired side effects. Jesus recognized the fact that there are people who need to be able to monitor, count, measure and weigh as in the case of Thomas, who represents "the scientific type" among the disciples. When he got the opportunity to test whether in fact Jesus Christ was standing in front of him, Jesus said: "Be not unbelieving, but faithful" (John 20, 19-29). Jesus wanted Thomas to apply his new experience by pondering so honestly and deeply that the root of his doubt disappeared and something dawned on him. The fact that Jesus still had to say this afterwards, does not mean, that Thomas was a sceptic, now "slain" by the external reality and "forced to believe", even by fear of punishment. It rather means that even after that, Thomas kept his ability, to reach new convictions autonomously . This kind of dealing with facts and thoughts is not condemned here, as some interpreters misunderstood because of lacking knowledge of human consciousness. In spite of that, Thomas still had to learn that there are other ways of convincing oneself apart from considering the physical facts.

Jesus knew what was right for Thomas. He did not want to force anybody. That would have been too much like a court and there is no intention to provoke him into refusing something that he was not mature enough to decide on.

It is worth reading the "St. Thomas’ Gospel" too. it is an apocryphal collection of precise quotes of Jesus, no matter if it was written by Thomas himself or not. This text was also accepted by spiritual Christians in Egypt and elsewhere, but not by some teachers of the early Church.

Correspondingly the "miracles " of Jesus were not the main point of his activity either. Often he only did it in order to help, after being asked, without crowds gathered, and he "threatened" people not to tell anything.

When today, however, theologians and others from the school of Bultmann's "theology of demythologizing" still try to explain away these miracles as symbolic descriptions, it is clear that they are simply adapting their ideas to the mechanistic view of the world and human nature usual in the 19th century and that they did not even take later scientific activities into consideration. Later trends in quantum physics, in biology and biophysics, innatural healing and parapsychological investigations, in astrophysics and so forth have long since reached a stage of development that remove the "inconceivability" of biblical events. This does not have to represent a search for a "proof of the existence of God": other levels of perception would be responsible apart from the scientific ones.

One thing that remains correct on this theological school is that it does not consider a scientific verifiability as a necessary condition for having faith.

The time of one-sidedness, of the old French "philosophy of enlightenment" is over. Also scientists are now able to have faith without becoming schizophrenic. In a time where the people do not hesitate to believe the facts known from parapsychology, such as individual abilities to bend spoons from a distance - in spite of some charlatans enough facts remain. It would be absurd to deny such abilities in the case of Jesus Christ. Jesus worked for other reasons and not simply for the fun of bending spoons, Today however, many different experiences suggest that Jesus was actually able to penetrate all natural forces - and that it is just important in the present time to contemplate this phenomenon; for our contemporary view of human nature, for a holistic, integrated, or Christian healing and so on. Such a spiritual viewpoint of Jesus is not contrary to the perception of Jesus as the "Son of Man", who wanted to give a visible example for the individuals and their social relations or the community. Often, it was only this apparent contradiction that led to the refusal to accept the "miracles ", because those concerned then think they have to ward off wrong tendencies that lead away from a human and social Christianity. In reality, it would take both of those things to show an approximate picture of the real (constructive) "radicalism" of Jesus and his connection to the will and therefore also the power of the creator.

Looking at the healing activities of Jesus we can also study another specific aspect of his teachings. He not only refers, as some healers of the present, to "cosmic energy", that they feel running through themselves, but he also refers to the belief in becoming healthy through him, ultimately by God through the visible person of Jesus. The energy is not an abstract force here; at the same time it is an effect of Christ’s being. For example, in the eastern Yoga, energy is often considered as something isolated. Today healing can also be accomplished in the initial sense by prayer and with regard to that innermost part of the human being, connected with Christ, who wants people to be healed and become more complete, - who then can do even "greater things than he" (John 14,12-13).

But the spiritual healing itself and the psychological and spiritual advance combined with that still depend on God’s grace, which no one can force, no matter how much we try to prepare for it.

Concerning the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" see also 1. Corinthians 12, 7-11; Acts 2, 17-20; and the chapter "The Whitsun event" in this book.

 

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