BETTER THAN SILVER, BETTER THAN GOLD (9 OF 56)
Scripture: Acts 3:1-11
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Better than Silver, Better than Gold (9 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 3:1-11
Read Acts 3:1-11
Three years ago, a former atheist, now a New Testament scholar, named Craig Keener published a massive two-volume work of over 1,200 pages entitled Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. In this work, Keener argues against the modern naturalistic dismissal of miracles and points instead to the philosophical bias of those who simply wave claims of the miraculous off as impossible. Furthermore, he pulls together numerous modern claims for the miraculous and points to the staggering number of people today who claim to have seen or witnessed the miraculous. In an article he wrote for Huffington Post, Dr. Keener offered the following statistics concerning modern belief in miracles:
Various polls peg U.S. belief in miracles at roughly 80 percent. One survey suggested that 73 percent of U.S. physicians believe in miracles, and 55 percent claim to have personally witnessed treatment results they consider miraculous.
Even more striking than the number of people who believe in miracles is the number who claims to have witnessed or experienced them. For example, a 2006 Pew Forum survey studied charismatic and Pentecostal Christians in 10 countries. From these 10 countries alone, the number of charismatic Christians who claim to have witnessed or experienced divine healing comes out to roughly 200 million people. This estimate was not, however, the most surprising finding of the survey. The same survey showed that more than one-third of Christians in these same countries who do not claim to be charismatic or Pentecostal report witnessing or experiencing divine healing.
And the reports in these countries appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. The survey did not include China, where one report from the China Christian Council over a decade ago attributed roughly half of all new Christian conversions to ''faith heali ...
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 3:1-11
Read Acts 3:1-11
Three years ago, a former atheist, now a New Testament scholar, named Craig Keener published a massive two-volume work of over 1,200 pages entitled Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. In this work, Keener argues against the modern naturalistic dismissal of miracles and points instead to the philosophical bias of those who simply wave claims of the miraculous off as impossible. Furthermore, he pulls together numerous modern claims for the miraculous and points to the staggering number of people today who claim to have seen or witnessed the miraculous. In an article he wrote for Huffington Post, Dr. Keener offered the following statistics concerning modern belief in miracles:
Various polls peg U.S. belief in miracles at roughly 80 percent. One survey suggested that 73 percent of U.S. physicians believe in miracles, and 55 percent claim to have personally witnessed treatment results they consider miraculous.
Even more striking than the number of people who believe in miracles is the number who claims to have witnessed or experienced them. For example, a 2006 Pew Forum survey studied charismatic and Pentecostal Christians in 10 countries. From these 10 countries alone, the number of charismatic Christians who claim to have witnessed or experienced divine healing comes out to roughly 200 million people. This estimate was not, however, the most surprising finding of the survey. The same survey showed that more than one-third of Christians in these same countries who do not claim to be charismatic or Pentecostal report witnessing or experiencing divine healing.
And the reports in these countries appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. The survey did not include China, where one report from the China Christian Council over a decade ago attributed roughly half of all new Christian conversions to ''faith heali ...
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