Perhaps the fear of the pandemic has caused more people to ask questions about miracles.
Many people believe in a higher power and miracles, according to 2018 poll by the Pew Research Center.Â
âThe vast majority of Americans, 90%, believe in some kind of higher power, with 56% professing faith in God as described in the Bible and another 33% saying they believe in another type of higher power or spiritual force, the survey found. Overall, 79% of Americans believe miracles probably or definitely occur.
When specific prayer requests are answered, they do not always occur as recorded in the Bible.
In Biblical situations, the presence of God was known or his commands were given to the prophets for specific reasons.
Our weekly selection of links across the web.
Scot McKnight
Good morning folks!
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. - No business can master a drive-thru like Chick-fil-A, and a restaurant manager is getting high praise for using the company’s method to help workers at a COVID-19 vaccination site after a computer glitch caused a traffic gridlock.
Mayor Will Haynie said he was notified on Jan. 22 that traffic was backed up for an hour at the COVID-19 vaccination site at Seacoast Church. He called Chick-fil-A Manager Jerry Walkowiak for help, knowing the company had a great reputation for mastering the art of drive-thru.
Reading Old Maps, by Mike Glenn
I want to say a word about my friend, Mike Glenn, who faithfully writes for our readers every Friday. He writes as a pastor. As I read through this what so forcefully struck me again is that he’s a pastor speaking to the church about what it’s going through in this pandemic. No theory, not something that doesn’t matter. Just life as we now know it and words of wisdom for each of us. God bless you Mike Glenn. And I’d appreciate it if you express your thanks to him in the comments on the FB page.
Oakes teaches us to use our imaginations, not to invent things but to enter into that 1st Century world to hear the apostle Paul’s letters and to comprehend those churches.
I spoke above of nuance and analytics. Here’s the context: I have, for instance, often said we can think of a 1st Century church meeting in an atrium or, following another line of thinking, in an apartment or tenement. What does the assembly look like or what happens in the assembly or how does what happen occur if it is an atrium or an apartment on the 3d floor in a poor section of Rome? It is also standard to think that a 1st Century assembly was about 30 people.
Image: Photo by Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash
It is not my “only” favorite song in the hit “Hamilton,” but Non-Stop is one of my favorites:
Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
Write day and night like you’re running out of time?
Ev’ry day you fight, like you’re running out of time”.
Such were the words about Alexander Hamilton sung (if I recall accurately) by his wife Eliza. It was fun, it was true to the perception we were having about Hamilton himself. He was running out of time and was writing up a storm.