The term “religion” is traced to the Latin religare, which means, “being bound.” This idea may reflect a concept prominent in biblical literature. Because it crosses so many different boundaries in human experiences, it causes a great deal of controversy. The central views of defining what religion is suffer two conflicting sides. On one opposing view of religion is more of narrower aspects, where they tend exclude many belief systems. An example of a narrow definition of religion is commonly seen as the “belief in God”, excluding polytheistic religions and atheistic religions. Another opposing view of religion is more of a vague aspect that suggests any and everything about a religion. An example of a vague …show more content…
definition of religion is seen as a “worldview,” however, not every worldview qualifies as a religion. But the overall concept of the term religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe. Christianity is the most popular form of religion that is practiced worldwide. It is the largest religion in the word, with around 2 billion followers. Christianity was founded in the early 1st century AD, with the teaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Throughout life we have been taught about the miracles of Jesus Christ. But do we really know who Jesus Christ is? Or what miracles He performed? Lets begin by analyzing who Jesus Christ was. Jesus was considered, as the prophet. A prophet is the one who has the responsibility of spreading the teaching of the God to the humanity. According to the Old Testament, the coming of Jesus was foretold by the prophecies. They foretold of his miraculous birth, His sinless life, His many miracles, His death and His resurrection. Jesus is often referred to as the Son of God, who is literally God Himself, the Divine living within human flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. By His suffering and death, He paid completely for the sins of all who believe in Him. He set us free from the certain judgment and eternal punishment of God that was to fall on all of us. During Jesus’ lifetime on earth, He performed many miracles. In modern text, the term miracle is an event that appears incomprehensible by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural (Webster’s Dictionary). In the bible, however, the term miracle is described more loosely as “signs” and “wonder” or acts of powers that are attributed to God. It’s a supernatural intervention by God, either directly by Him or through His agent, in the course of nature or the affairs of people. Miracles over the centuries have been claimed as marks of power, holiness or divinity. The miracles of Jesus proved to be a compassionate and effective healer. It served the purpose of revealing the truth. Before the happening of these miracles the human race were deprived of the information about the knowledge of the spiritual world.
For millions around the world, the belief that Jesus Christ worked miracles is almost as important as the belief in God himself. In the bible, the Gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, describes Jesus’ 35 miracles he performed. Each of the miracles he performed is broken down into four different categories: Miracles Over Nature, Miracles of Resurrection, Miracles of Healing and Miracles Over Demon Powers. The Miracles Over Nature is a miracle performed over natural things. Jesus conducted about eight nature miracles. The Miracles of Resurrection is when Jesus had the power to resurrect people from the dead. The Miracles of Healing is a miracle Jesus performed to restore the body back to health. Jesus performed about seventeen individual healing miracles. The Miracles Over Demon Powers is one of a more complex condition. No matter how great the manifestation of demon powers in the ministry of Jesus, they could never hold their own against Him. The demons tried their best to be on the same level as Jesus. They tried to convince others that they had the same level of power as Jesus did. The attempt was to discredit Him and make Him look like He was one of them. When Jesus performed miracles over the demon powers, he would not allow demons to speak unless spoken to. He then commanded then to be cast out the host’s body. He performed about seven exorcisms. These miracles were not performed for mere entertainment. It was performed to show people that he is truly the Son of God who was long awaited.
The thirty-five miracles that were mentioned within the four gospels of the bible were not the only miracles he did, but the specific ones the writers selected whom was guided under the Holy Spirit to represent his ministry. Stories such as Turning of Water into Wine (John 2:1), Stilling the Storm (Matt. 8:23) and Walking on the Water (Matt. 14:25) are examples of His miracles over nature. According to the book of John, the gospel story, Turning of Water into Wine is commonly known. As stated in the chronological history of Jesus’ miracles, this was the first miracle he performed. The story takes place in the village of Cana, in Galilee. Jesus, His mother Mary, and His disciples were guests at a wedding. The wine supply ran out and through the convincing of His mother, Jesus had six water pots filled to capacity with water. He then had the master if ceremonies to taste the water, which he had now turned into, wine. The importance of this story is to depict the miracle of creativity. It showed the importance of the creator and the powers of the creator. In the book of Matthew, the gospel story Stilling the Storm, is a story about Jesus and His disciples who got into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. A horrible windstorm occurred that caused high uncontrollable waves. The waves beat into the so that the boat was being flooded. The disciples fearing for their life woke up Jesus who was sleeping in the stern. He commanded the wind to be still. Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. This miracle is one of the miracles that had to be studied and understood. The study of this miracle will prove the point that it showed discipleship. It also shows the fact when humans face difficulties at that time they should have a complete faith in God. According to the book of Matthew, the gospel story of Jesus Walking on the Water is one of the most known miracles Jesus performed. After feeding the 5000 people, Jesus made His disciples get into a boat and to travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As he dismissed the crowd, he went to the mountain and prayed. By this time the boat was far from land and was being tossed around by the wind and waves. Early in the morning He came walking towards His disciples on the sea. When His disciples saw this, they became frightened and thought it was a ghost. Peter asked Jesus to prove that He is truly alive by commanding him to join Him on the water. Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water. But he noticed the strong wind; he became frightened and began to sink. He cried out to Jesus to save him and so He did. Jesus told Peter that he has little faith in Him. The miracle depicts how strong faith should be in God. Due to Jesus’ ability to walk on water depicts his strong belief in God.
The most common stories of healing are Restoring a Servants’ Ear (Luke 22:51), Healing a Blind Man (Matt. 20:30), and Healing a Deaf Mute (Mark 7:31). The gospel story of Jesus Restoring a Servants’ Ear is found in the Gospel of Luke. The story is about Jesus and His disciples were on the Mount of Olives after Passover dinner. After taking a moment to pray, Jesus found his disciples sleeping. While He was awakening them, a crowd came let by Judas. Judas greeted Jesus with a kiss. Jesus replied why kiss the man who you are going to betray. The people around Jesus saw what was going on and asked Him if they should strike. Then one of them struck the servant of the High Priest and cut off his ear. Jesus saw what happened and demanded it to stop. He touched his ear and healed him. They seized Jesus, led him away and brought him to stand before the High Priest. This was the last miracle Jesus performed before his death. It was done on the night of his capture and trial, just hours before his crucifixion. The use of swords in the passage is symbolic. The sword represents one or two things. It represents violence and the use of force is unnecessary. The act of violence should not be taking into one’s hand. The quote “All who take the sword will perish by the sword” (v.52) suggests that those who commit acts of violence for personal enjoyment will face punishment by the authorities. In contrast to using swords as a force that is unnecessary suggests that Jesus and His disciples did not need to be physically protected. According to the bible, God states that He will never use force to carry forward the plan of redemption. The gospel story Healing a Blind which is found in the book of Matthew, is a story about Jesus travelling to the town of Jericho and on his way there he spotted a blind man along the side of the road. When the blind man was told that Jesus was passing by, he cried asking Jesus to have mercy on him. Jesus went to the blind man asking him what does he want Him to do. The blind man asked Jesus to restore his eyesight. This was granted and immediately he received his sight. This story represents Jesus’ response to sympathy of pleas. This shows Jesus as a kind-hearted and loving man who serves to help others in need. These pleas were given with faith in his ability. The gospel story of the healing of the deaf mute is found in the gospel of Mark. This story is about a deaf man who had a speech impediment that was brought to Jesus in seek of healing. Jesus took the man aside from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Jesus then looked toward the heavens and immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke clearly. This gospel story represents Jesus’ healing power. He was able to make the deaf hear and the mute to speak.
Jesus also performed miracles where he resurrected people from the dead and also casted out demons out of people.
It’s apparent in the stories of the Raising of Lazarus (John 11:43) and Casting Out an Unclean Spirit (Mark 1:23). The gospel story, Raising of Lazarus is found in the book of John. Jesus got a message that his friend, Lazarus, was very ill. Jesus stayed two days longer in the town He was in before setting out to Bethany, which was the town Lazarus lived in. Unfortunately by the time Jesus got there, Lazarus been in the tomb for four days. Martha, Lazarus sister blamed Jesus for not getting there in time. He told Martha that her brother will rise again and asked to be led to his resting place. Jesus asked Martha to remove the stone that blocked the entrance. When the stone was removed, Jesus looked upward and prayed to the Father. He cried for Lazarus to come out and to astonishment the dead man came out with his hands, feet and face wrapped in a cloth. He commanded Lazarus to be unbounded and to be set free. The Raising of Lazarus from the dead is a sign of the New Life that results from putting our faith in a Living Savior instead of in the dead promises of the world. The gospel story, Casting Out an Unclean Spirit, is found in the book of Mark. There was a man in a synagogue with an unclean spirit that was crying out for help. Jesus commanded the spirit to come out. The unclean spirit caused the man to shiver while crying out with a loud voice coming out of him. Everyone was amazed at what they had just seen. Almost immediately the news spread. What does this say about the power of Jesus? This proves that Jesus is Lord over demons. The stories in the gospels of the bible provide the complete understanding of the importance of the miracles of Jesus
Christ.
However, many people did not believe Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. The Pharisees disliked Jesus because He told them that He was God the Savior. He told them they were sinners, and that God would punish them if they did not repent. The Pharisees objected saying He was speaking blasphemies “only God can forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6). They detested Jesus because many people followed Him. Even though many people followed Jesus, they did not believe His teachings. They followed Jesus only to watch Him heal people or to watch Him drive out demons from people. Because many people did not believe His teaching, Jesus began to teach the people parables. A parable is a story that teaches truths of God. For people who did not believe in Jesus, they would not understand the parable. But for those who did believe in Jesus, they would understand the parable and learn more about God. The more they learn about God, the more they believed the miracles Jesus had done. They realized that He did what other people can’t do. He healed people, including the blind, crippled, deaf, and even raised people from the dead. He had power over objects where he created food out of thin air, enough to feed crowds of several thousand people. He had the power to walk on water and to calm down the storms.
The power of miracles as evidence rests in the nature of the acts themselves. The specific details in the bible, serves the purpose to prove the convincing nature of the evidence. The bible provides conclusive evidence that the miracles actually did occur. Miracles were often done in the presence of unbelievers, false teachers, and even false miracle workers. It occurred at a specific point in time and was always successful. In addition, the bible has the testimonies from other people who personally witnessed the miracles.
The four gospels of the bible depicts the emergence of the miracles of Jesus were known by the humans but no one was able to convey the messages of the God as messiah. The world was trapped in the darkness. There was no ray of light for the guidance of humans. There were no hopes for the human life, the basic teachings of life and its values were not known by the humans. Every person did what he or she wanted to do. So Jesus’ miracles revealed a path for humans to follow. Through the understanding of these teachings the humans were able to make certain set of rules according to the teachings of God.
The miracles of Jesus are very different from other miracles than the ones in other religions. His miracles focused on drawing the attention of humans towards humanity and its values. Jesus acted as a messiah of God, or a prophet of God, by using the miracles as teachings to the human race. His responsibility of the teachings was to make the humans understand the meaning of humanity. The miracles of Jesus were a breath of fresh air for the humans. The miracles forced the humans to think about the qualities that God possessed. The thinking of humans was crude before the emergence of the miracles of Jesus. It showed the meanings and importance of the teachings of God. The messages conveyed through these miracles showed you could live a comfortable life if living accordingly to the teachings of God. It revealed that humans should have respect of each other and they should show sympathy and kindness. The teachings and messages of these miracles stressed on the facts that a human should consider the values and the feelings of the other persons as well. He also stresses that those people who understand the teachings and the messages of God would be able to organize their lives. Those who disbelieve the teachings and the messages of God would be left alone in darkness and could never emerge out from the darkness.
Therefore, before Jesus and his miracles the world was entrapped in the darkness and the humans had no guidance. The humans were deprived of the teachings. So God sent Jesus as a Messiah to spread His message for all mankind to follow and obey. These message granted peace, happiness, love, and prosperity for humans if done as follows. Jesus’ miracles were specifically demonstrated to show that He is truly the Son of God. The miracles provided knowledge and lessons, which was the ultimate source for guidance and the means of one organizing their life. The messages that were conveyed through the miracles were the rules that should be followed according through God. The miracles of healing, of nature, resurrecting the dead, and exorcisms showed how powerful and truly divine Jesus was. It proved that no ordinary man could do what He did. His miracles were free of emotional rituals, magic, trickery, and hypnotism. Jesus Christ performed miracles to confirm the Kingdom of God was at hand and demonstrated his power over nature and evil. It served to declare and God’s existence and sovereignty.
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