Posted by:
erikdelfrie
(
)
Date: July 05, 2020 11:14PM
Hi everyone. I have been out of the church for a few years. Went on a mission to NJ in 2002-2004. I am in a rare debate with my family about the the church. It started with me asking why the priesthood leaders don't go to children's hospitals and heal them. Also, why aren't amputees ever healed?
I was told it is because that would go against the purpose of life which is to be tested by faith. If everyone saw such miracles they would all join the church.
I brought up the story of Elijah who did a competition with the priests of Baal to prove who worshipped the real god. The people of Israel had turned to worshipping Baal, and even their king Ahab worshipped Baal. This test was done in front of a crowd who didn't know which god to worship. Elijah was able to do a miracle and Baal's prophets weren't so the crowd then chose to worship Jehovah.
I asked why the crowd got the privilege of seeing proof of God and didn't need to be tested by faith. I was told that when God does miracles it's typically to reinforce those who already have faith (reinforcement learning), or to course correct when things are too far lost like in Elijah's story which prevents the loss of his people while creating a learning experience that later generations can take on faith.
I don't have an answer for this. However, I remember hearing someone give advice to atheists that they shouldn't debate the consistency of religious beliefs in this way because it is too easy for a theist to pull an excuse out of thin air as to why a seeming theological inconsistency is actually consistent. Any thoughts? Thank you.