The Lewis Crusade is one great blog. I’m glad I just this week discovered it. From what I have seen so far it is intelligently and thoughtfully written. It is thus informative and thought provoking. This is a blog that I must follow regularly. For example:
Perusing [my] blog led me to this site, “The Definative Shroud of Turin FAQ,” and a tangential thought . . .
He then goes on to write (now I have something to think about all morning):
This got me to thinking. We often make a big deal about proving “science can’t explain it” when we talk of miracles.
Yet C. S. Lewis argues in Miracles that most miracles are really a “speeding up” of nature, not a violation of it. God made the laws of Nature, and He doesn’t arbitrarily break His own rules.
For example, says Lewis: Jesus turns water into wine. Water turns into wine all the time. It just usually has to go through a process where it is ingested by grape vines, fills up the grapes on those vines, and then gets mashed out of the grapes.
An example from Lewis’s own life, long after he wrote that book: Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis had bone cancer. In addition to her cancer going into remission, an issue in her health was the strength of her bones themselves. After an Anglican priest known for the gift of healing prayed over her, not only did her cancer go into remission, but her bones began to miraculously rebuild themselves. . . . . And around the same time, her husband developed osteoporosis. “Jack” Lewis always felt that God was taking the calcium out of his bones and giving it to Joy. In other words, it was a “Miracle’ bcause God was doing it beyond the explanation of medical science. But God was essentially giving a supernatural transplant.
After Mother Angelica was healed of her need for braces, Franciscan University Presents did a panel discussion of healings and miracles, and the technical distinction. Fr. Scanlon said that he had been to Lourdes and worked on the claims of miracles there. There are thousands and thousands of authenticated cases of “Healings” from Lourdes–cases that do not quite reach the Church’s formal definition of “miracle” but do meet the average person’s.
I’ve said it before: the question is not whether the image on the Shroud (or on Juan Diego’s tilma, for that matter) can be explained by modern science . The question is whether the explanation would have been available to someone of the time period. There are people who would rather think the Shroud is a medieval photography experiment than accept the idea of its authenticity.
Read the entire posting at MIracles, Mystery and Science « The Lewis Crusade