[Cerek the Barbaric]

Well this topic has certainly swayed far from the original concept...and has taken on a renewed life in the age-old debate of the validity and accuracy of the Bible. Having read all the posts, comments, and opinions expressed so far, I've found a couple of points I'd like to address myself (wow, what a surprise, huh? ).

As for the common assertion made by many mon-believers that the Bible is just a work of fiction/collection of short stories/myths/etc., I have to say that I do understand where your coming from and why you make this claim. Before I was Saved, I often didn't understand the true depth of the stories in the Bible. Noah's Ark, David & Goliath, and other popular stories were just that - really cool stories found in the Bible. But when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I also recieved the gift of the Holy Spirit entering and endwelling in me. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd part of the Holy Trinity we Christians believe in. It is the spiritual aspect of God that allows us to see things from God's perspective rather than our human one. And it is through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that Christian's come to recognize the deeper meaning and lessons of Biblical passages.

Before I was Saved, I just thought the account of Noah's Ark was just a story about God gathering the animals on a boat. After I was Saved, I now see it as a self-contained metaphorical illustration of the Bible's central message of Salvation being found only through faith in God. Not that I don't believe the Ark is a literal story, I most certainly DO believe it happened just as it is written. But I also see a metaphor in the story now that I didn't before I was Saved.

Likewise, I see the stories of David vs Goliath and Job as examples of Christians being rewarded for being steadfast and unswerving in their faith to God despite facing overwhelming odds or tragic conditions. Again, there is a deeper lesson underneath the surface story - but that deeper lesson is often only found through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Without that Divine Interpreter, these accounts would be nothing more than interesting (and somewhat unbelievable) stories.

Also, Yorick gave an account of a girl he knew being miraculously(sp?) cured simply by someone laying hands on them. There is a lady that lives in my own community who has the gift of being able to remove the pain from burns in a similar fashion. I've never met her myself, nor have I witnessed her healing powers firsthand, but my mom has. A former coworker of hers came to work one day with a nasty burn on her arm. She had been making breakfast for her kids and splashed bacon grease on her arm. Anyone who has experienced that knows just how painful a bacon grease burn is. After about an hour at work, her coworker said she simply couldn't stand the pain anymore and she called this lady with the healing powers. Mom said she left work and was gone for about 45 minutes. When she came back, the pain from the burn was gone. The burn itself was not healed, but the it didn't hurt her anymore. There is also a more prominent testimony to faith-healing some of you may be familiar with.

Naomi Judd (mother to actress Ashley Judd), retired from performing country music with her other daughter (Wynona) in the early 90's because she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis B...a very dangerous illness. She had apparantly contracted the disease from a needlestick years before when she worked as a nurse. About 2 years after her retirement, she came back on TV and announced that she had been cured. Doctors could find NO TRACE of the disease whatsoever. Naomi claimed that her cure had been a direct result of prayer and faith.

And finally, I've recounted many times the fact that I was not suppose to survive an emergency surgery I had 6 years ago. I suffered massive internal injuries and poisoning and the surgeon told my wife and mother that nothing short of a miracle would keep me alive past the next 72 hours (his words, not mine). We later learned that there were several hundred people in my hometown and county that were praying on my behalf while I was in surgery.

So I am a firm believer in faith healing and intervention through prayer.