What does history teach us about miracles in religion?  Almost all religions have similiar miracles.  History teaches us that one can be a believer in miracles but one can not historically verify that they happened.  Many historians in the Muslim, Jewish or Christian faiths believe that miracles have happened but they can say that these miracles happened only as believers, not as historians.  Of course, it is all right for a historian or anyone to be a believer in miracles.

History can say that evidence shows that something happened about 30 C.E. that transformed a small band of disciples so that they changed our world.  This change is evidence of a great transformative power at work.  But historians can not say with certainty that this event was the  raising of Jesus physically or spirituallly from the dead.  They can only say that these early believers claimed that the source to their transformative power was Jesus being raised from the dead.

I believe in miracles, mystery and awe.  I am overwhelmed by them from time to time.  But perhaps some people’s problems with miracles, those who believe in them and those who don’t, is that they think of miracles only as improbable events that violate the known laws of nature.

And perhaps for  some believers and non-believers, their problem with the miracle stories in the Bible is that they believe one must believe in them literally for them to do one any good.  But I say to you that the importance and power of the miracle stories is not in seeing them only as literal history but in discovering the meaning they convey of life and God for oneself.

If miracles trouble you, leave them in mystery, forget the literal questions and demands and ask and answer the question, “What is the inspired meaning of these stories for me?”

When I was about 14 years old, Jesus appeared to me in the middle of the night.  A blue aura surrounded him.  He spoke to me and said, “I want you to be a preacher for me.”

I was fascinated by the vision and terrified at the same time.  I hid under my covers but when I looked out he was still there and he repeated the same words.

Finally, I said,”Yes, I would be a preacher for him.”  Peace filled me.  The terror left me and I fell back asleep.

The next morning I thought it must have been a dream and tried to dismiss it.  But something gripped my heart and said, “No, it was real.”  Again, I affirmed that I would be a preacher for Christ and I did and I am.

Years later, at age 18, I came home from college to help move my folks from that old rent house to a new brick home.  It was the only home they ever owned.

As I cleaned out my old bedroom, the cause of my vision of Jesus dawned on me.  It was a reflection in the mirror on the dresser at the foot of my bed.  A reflection of a phosphorescent blue wax figurine of Jesus that hung over the head of my bed.  It had been there for years.  I had forgotten its existence.

This event gave me insight into miracles.  They do not violate natural law, of which, God is the author.

I define miracle as Paul Tillich and Carl Jung did.  It is an external sign event, often mysterious, that coincides with significant internal attitudes so as to be transformative in its impact.

My vision of Jesus came to have a very rational, scientific explantion.  I do not believe in the literal history of the miracles of my religion but I seek to understand their theological meaning.

In so far as I understand them I live by their meaning.  My life is often full of wonder, mystery, awe and power.  I feel that God asks no more of me than this.

I am a historian and a believer.  I really did see and hear Jesus on that night long ago and I have not and do not recant my vision. 

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