Prayer

[Catholic_Lady]

Then let's talk about the NT only.  You're saying that "need" has changed, as I understand it.  Miracles were "more necessary" during early Christianity.  In what way has need changed?  What was the "need" for miracles back then?  Was it to convince people?  Why is there no need to convince people today?  Was the "need" just enough to get the ball rolling on Christianity?  Then why are there still miracles today if that need no longer exists?

For the spread of early Christianity, would be my guess. A couple examples are when the disciples were traveling around and spreading the word, each person heard the message in their own language. Also, what happened to Paul, who then went on to write part of the gospels. I imagine trying to spread a new faith 2000 years ago when you're just a small group of poor people would be very hard. I imagine that's why they had all that extra help spreading the word that we don't have the need for anymore today.    

To give you an idea what the previous Catholics I've talked to are like, I'll give you some examples.  The first was an unwed pregnant teen who I heard say, "I can't use birth control because I'm Catholic".  Really?  Wasn't there also some rule about sex before marriage, you dumb twit?

If you're unmarried and having sex, whether or not you use contraception becomes a moot point. The point of not using contraception is so you can give yourself to your spouse and vice versa in complete fullness through sex in its most purest form. Which doesn't apply when you are having sex with someone who is not your spouse. Sounds like your cousin is very young and doesn't quite understand that.

I got a second cousin out of that one.  Another thought that "proof" God was real could be seen in the sun and in babies.  He also thought he was more open minded than me because his beliefs were absolute, even though I was agnostic at the time.  Still another, who also mentioned Fatima to me, believes in every third world claim of miracles.  Some BS about blood liquefying on command.  It has all the hallmarks of a hoax.  There are about 20 known examples, almost all from the same area, tests on one sample proved it would liquefy at a certain temperature suggesting it's a clever mix of wax and oil and the Catholic Church does not recognize it.  Still another told me that if he stopped believing in God he wouldn't work for a living.  He would just kill people and take what he wanted.  No, he wouldn't, because not only was he just a tiny guy, he was also one of the most decent human beings I have ever known.  But when he tried to imagine "not believing" in God all he could muster was "rejecting" God in his head.  So that's where I'm coming from and why I'm so anxious to talk to a Catholic who's at least somewhat intelligent (not that you are only "somewhat intelligent", just that I don't know you that well, but you seem intelligent so far).

Wow. Sounds like you have an interesting family lol.

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The obvious ones like being healed from an illness, Jesus' rising from the dead, apparitions which told people some specific information, have their obvious purposes. As for the rest, I really don't know. I don't know why God chooses to send signs of His existence to specific people. I've had something supernatural happen in front of me that I would call a miracle, and I wonder all the time what the purpose of it was, or why it happened to me. I really don't know.

I gather this is not a conversation you would like to have in-depth, and that's okay.  Brevity aside, you have managed to answer much of what I was asking.  Though it does bring up more questions, I will refrain from asking them.  I am curious as to what this miracle you saw is, but perhaps that's too personal.  I used to be religious and I know how personal an experience can be.

I don't mind answering. 

But I just really don't know what the purpose is of miracles that don't necessarily *do* anything. There is a lot about the world and about God's motives that we still don't understand and probably never will in this life. We can only theorize on some thing and hope that it can help us gain a better understanding.  

As for my own experience, I've only told a handful of people so don't feel offended lol.