JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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"All the essentials of Hinduism would, I think, remain unimpaired if you
subtracted the miraculous, and the same is almost true of Mohammadanism,
but you cannot do that with Christianity. It is precisely the story of a great
Miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically
Christian."2
Miracles not only authenticate Christianity, they are also a part of establishing it:
"Miracles are believed in non-Christian religions because the religion is
already believed, but in the biblical religion, miracles are part of the means
of establishing the true religion. This distinction is of immense importance.
Israel was brought into existence by a series of miracles, and law was given
surrounded by supernatural wonders, and many of the prophets were
identified as God's spokesmen by their power to perform miracles. Jesus
came not only preaching but performing miracles, and the apostles from
time to time worked wonders. It was the miracle authenticating the religion
at every point."3
Philip Schaff, the historian, bears witness to the nature of Jesus' miracles:
"Christ's miracles were in striking contrast with deceptive juggler works and
the useless and absurd miracles of apocryphal fiction. They were performed
without any ostentation, with such simplicity and ease as to be called simply
His works."4
The scientific community as a whole has condescendingly rejected outright even the
possibility of miracles. Their "scientific" objection to the credibility of miracles is based upon
their "discovery" and thus understanding of natural, physical laws by which the universe
operates. According to these laws miracles are simply impossible.
Some of these scientists claim that people who used to believe in miracles did so because
they had a very primitive understanding of science. Such Christian doctrines as the virgin birth
and the resurrection of Christ, for example, were probably the result of a prescientific worldview.
Such reasoning is spurious since people of every age have known that two human parents are
required for conception and that death is irreversible.
Others argue that although people in New Testament times knew that the kind of miracles
performed described in the gospels and the book of Acts were extremely extraordinary, their
openness or predisposition to the belief in the supernatural resulted in their belief in what science
has now proved incredible and thus impossible.
The scientific community today is not as sure of their understanding of natural, physical
laws as it once was. Many scientists do not follow Rudolf Bultmann's pronouncement a
generation ago that "man's knowledge and mastery of the world have advanced to such an extent
through science and technology that it is no longer possible for anyone seriously to hold the New
Testament view of the world."5