Featured Are miracles always instantaneous?

I’m not sure as to what to think on the OP yet, but I know when people get injured and say had died on the operation table, came back and made a “miraculous” recovery against all odds, would this be considered a non instantaneous miracle?

 

I've seen 2 miracles that weren't instantaneous. The first was in 2000, when my wife was in a schoolbus rollover. She was the monitor on the bus, & she was thrown hard against the ceiling & came down hard on the back of a seat just below the breasts, which smashes all the lower ribs to pieces, punctured both lungs, lacerated her liver, & numerous other fractures & internal injuries. The trauma team told me she will likely die any time, & took me in to say goodbye. (She was unconscious.) But she lived, remaining unconscious for over a month. (but not in a coma) She was in ICU for over a month; hospitalized for 2.5 months. Her mind remained intact, & she slowly regained strength, & even returning to work as a special-ed asst., though on partial disability. Her main after-effect is she has COPD as a result of the lung injuries. She just retired this year from the school system at age 71. And she didn't hesitate to tell the kids in school that GOD kept her alive after sustaining what should've been fatal injuries.

The other was at work, when a co-worker "coded" from a heart attack. The first part was that he went down in front of the boss, who caught him enough to keep him from falling hard to the concrete floor, and the fact that he'd come down from his overhead crane; he generally only came down to bathroom, etc. & he was near my work station. The boss, knowing my background, hollered at me; I realized at once he was in cardiac arrest. I asked a co-worker to holler for help on the radio, as the boss called 911, & began CPR. Soon, 2 co-workers arrived, both former EMTs who knew CPR. I was exhausted, but & "breathed" the man while the others took over doung compressions. Performing bare-handed CPR doesn't save but maybe 1 in 10 patients from death, but we kept it up til the cavalry arrived. (a paramedic squad) They twice defibrillated the man before transporting him. BUT HE LIVED, & made a complete recovery! (He is an asst. pastor, & one of the men who helped me with CPR is one as well.) Had he coded inside the crane cab, no one would've known until we needed the crane, & it would almost certainly have been too late. And he weighs 300 lb. & getting him down the narrow stairs to the crane cam would've been very difficult. Or, he could've stopped the crane away from the stairs, as he often does.

No one can convince me both these events weren't miracles !

 

We are all happy that we are born again, and rejoice in our hearts for the miracle God did for us and know He pays attention to each of us and deals with each of us differently, right?

How many of us just heard the gospel once and we believed right away?

Many of us have had to hear the gospel a number of times and then presented partially or in different ways.

Finally we realized our need and received Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Those "miracles" took long periods of time, in some cases many years.

 

My personal belief is that multitudes of miracles happen all the time. The biggest problem is that we, as a "modern society", won't/can't see a miracle unless it practically slaps us in the face!!
He doesn't have to "snap" His fingers for a miracle to occur; He can perform a miracle over time as in cases where a person is medically declared dead, but still, somehow (?) manages to hold on to life positively.
IMHO, miracles happen everyday, but since we have so many variations of "physical/mental/social/etc." support systems in place - as opposed to same in 3rd world countries - that we simply just don't see any obvious miracles!!
Just my old fashioned beliefs of course!!

 

An OT example is the healing of the Syrian officer Naaman's leprosy.

 

You are right about the first two. There is nothing there that looks like a process, especially when you look at the Greek.

Concerning the third one, this is the one usually brought up with I discuss miracles as instantaneous. But it was not a process, but rather two distinct miracles. Christ did it that way for a purpose, of course, but that's another question.

Every other single miracle in the whole Bible is very obviously an instantaneous event. A miracle is not a human work, but a work of God, reaching down into nature (our space-time continuum, which God exists outside of) to do something humans cannot do. On the other hand, providence is when God works through humans and their circumstances to accomplish His will. Since He uses imperfect humans, the result is therefore human and thus not completely without human error.

 

He was healed instantaneously, but not until the seventh dip.

 

The replaced ear of the servant at the arrest of Jesus.
The resurrection of Lazarus

 

No, the events leading up to salvation are not miracles that take long periods of time. You are referring to what theology calls Providence (See Rom. 8:28). The providence that led up to the actual miracle of regeneration took a long time. Salvation is the ultimate miracle, and it is instantaneous.

 

Bible Study Sheets — Teach Sunday School

Scroll down a bit to “MIRACLES”.

 

Too bad you think the process of being saved is not a miracle.
You think the spiritual seeds that were planted along the way were not supernatural?
The Holy Spirit of Christ was directly involved in the process.

It just took an instant to change your mind.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17

 

;
What in the world? Where did you get that I don't believe salvation is a miracle??? Don't misquote me. Of course I believe salvation is a miracle. But it is not a process, as you said it is. It is instantaneous.

What leads up to salvation may or may not be miraculous. Providence is a process. Salvation is not. God may lead a friend to witness. That is not a miracle. God may have someone hand out a Gospel tract. That is a human action, not a miracle; only God does miracles.

 

The miracle of the never-failing jar of flour and cruse of oil during the drought.
1 Kings 17:8-16

Hallelujah!

 

Right, Providence is not a miracle because it is not instantaneous.

I did not misquote you.

You want the fast only to be miraculous but not the slow.

 

That was a series of individual miracles, not a single process miracle.