What could I sell that everyone wants, could I offer you eternal life, could I sell you prosperity?
To omit miracles from a spiritual belief would at first glance appear to make the whole context of Western religion lose its footings.
What story would we have? The escape of the chosen people from servitude in Egypt, without the parting of the sea.
You would be left with the practical history we all live day to day. One indicator that someone is selling you snake oil are the miracles that come with the promises, yet people accept the story as told and once a week they show up at Church. How many of us take an empirical look at the religion we practice
Starting with Genesis you can work your way through the Bible and time after time we are confronted with accounts that we would never accept in our day to day lives.
I can assure you that we buy these stories for the same reasons we buy the snake oil. We are in search of simple solutions that violate the harsh truth we must live with. We don't wish to do the work required to solve issues on our own. We follow a dogma laid down to us by an authority, in the same manner we once accepted Santa Clause. We expect gifts for proper behavior, we expect solutions from our masters, as well as from our lord.
The 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza would agree that you should take and empirical approach to the study of scripture. In the 12th century the Ranbam - Maimonides has a difficult time accepting miracle s, but what can he do, they are the underpinning of his people's belief.
St Thomas Aquinas points to pride has the first sin, and as the source of all other sins of which - I quite agree. It is this love of ourselves our narcissism that drives us to turn to miracles and magical solutions to solve our shortcomings
Pride can be blamed for the fact we overlook the greatest miracle we will ever know. The creation of a single human being. Consider that from the genetic material of two gametes we have the Inception of a child that may someday write something like the Republic.
A single human life has 37 plus trillion cells working in common to create a thinking individual. There are only 200 to 150 billion stars in our Galaxy. Each cell in our body was created and can replicate itself, it collaborates with other cells to give you the ability to watch this video and think about what is said.
Given enough time, most stars in the universe will either move away from us at the speed of light, or fall into a black hole. The relation between life, and the universe, is one where life will increase what it does, all while the universe vanishes.
We don't know of any other life, other than that which we see on earth. Although the probability is high, that there is life elsewhere in the universe, life, by comparison to the universe, builds complexity, and is rare.
In fact, a human being is an extremely complex point in time. It is the product of billions of years of hard evolutionary work, and a vector that produces a future which will extend to the end of the universe.
There is no doubt that each life is eternal, and is a miracle that far surpasses any magical miracles that could be conjured or imagined.
The Kabbalist will wonder on the tetragrammaton, the use of Hebrew letters to conjure magic, and miracles, yet they overlook the simplest act of a child reading a fairy tale as far more wondrous.
We focus on the creation of the universe, genesis.. But, we ignore the creation of an infant, which happens every day. Instead we abuse life, we seek power over others, we look for Miracles to assist us in the domination of the less fortunate, all for a larger portion at the table.
St Tomas Aquinas was correct pride is the cause of all other sin.
It is pride that makes us think of ourselves, and forget the importance of both children and neighbor
Without the need of any miracles, a study of science and physics will bring anyone to the conclusion that God must exist.
The question is how do we describe this God. Any honest thinking person must find it difficult to accept religious dogma.
Physics will not permit miracles, and if anything God must be rational.
We have evolved but our religion has not, the Kabbalist did continue to evolve their belief, but they created chaos, and further complexity.
You will find God in simplicity - like love of neighbor, or love of enemy. You will find God in those acts that help others, not in your prayers for a larger slice of pie. You will find God in the concept of equal justice, in the practical approach to the common ideal.
The word for Church comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word Kirka or circle. The word used in the bible is the Greek word Ekklesia which was the governing body of Athens. The Church was intended to be a place of action, where the faithful would meet to decide what would be done for the following week.
I suggest if you are a Christian - govern yourself accordingly, govern your community according to the words that are written in your testament. The very last thing you need are your people waiting for miracles.
You either fix the problems you see, or you are the problem.