I am a devout Christian who tries to follow the Christian path, but I have to wonder about miracles attributed to Jesus - walking on water, feeding of the 5000, causing the blind to see, healing the 10 lepers, etc. My guess is that in those ancient times such stories spread quickly because of the devotion of the early Christians. All the mystery religions of that era had such miracles. We even have legends about our national heroes - e. g., Washington could never tell a lie. And consider all the myths abroad about the assassination of JFK or the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Even the modern mind can easily fall prey to false and even wild stories.
Many Catholics today get all excited about modern-day miracles, often involving apparitions of Mary. Excuse me if I am a doubter. And evangelicals can become enamoured with evangelists who claim to cure everything from arthritis to cancer. No wonder so many people scoff at religion. Too often reasonable people simply find its claims unreasonable.
Two quick points:
(1) To survive, Christianity and Islam need to discard many of its pious myths inherited from ancient times. These myths often serve as valuable parables with keen spiritual insight (such as the Adam and Eve story). Only a small percentage of Jews believe their traditional myths. Most Jews I know feel an ethnic connection to their history but have little association with Orthodox Judaism.
(2) To survive, Christianity, Islam and Judaism need to find peace among themselves. It is quite outrageous that these Abrahamic religions, sharing so much in common, are so often enemies. If we all cleaned up our respective acts, emphasized peace, justice, humanitarian outreach, and what we share in common, what a different world this could be.
Keep smiling.
