Dr Paul Allen

This is a question commonly bandied about among Christians who feel the age of miracles is past. Its weakness lies in the implication that the miracle-working power of God is like magic, and that the signs and wonders of God’s power can be divorced from the gospel message.  Let us recast the same question in terms of salvation: If Jesus is the Son of God with power to save, why isn’t the whole world Christian? The immediate answer is that salvation is dependent upon man’s response to the gospel message. Potentially, what both questions ask is possible, for potentially, every human need has been met in the grace of God revealed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ died for all men. The intent of God to establish a society on earth where every need is met through His love and grace is clearly revealed in New Testament teaching. It is called the kingdom of God. Jesus demonstrated it in His ministry, proclaimed its proximity, and we pray for its manifestation every time we pr...

Image via Wikipedia One of the remarkable things about this miracle of Jesus walking on the water, and the  disciples  being rescued from the wind and landing strangely safe at their desired haven, is that nothing is made of it in the rest of the Gospel .  We are in the middle of  chapter 6 , and the entire chapter is devoted to unfolding the implications of the miracle of the feeding of the 5 thousand. So that miracle gets a whole chapter of attention and explanation. This miracle gets none. So John is not telling this miracle as a way of setting the stage for a long dialogue about Jesus ' ability to walk on water . Instead this miracle is embedded in the story of the feeding of the 5 thousand. This miracle in John's mind served that story. John is telling the short and amazing incident of Jesus' walking on the water to clarify or underline something in the story about the loaves and fish. Here's a clue what that might be. So far as we know, the people that Jesu...