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  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

Time skips in Biblical narratives and what that means for miracles


When we think of the Nativity story, we often begin with Gabriel's visit to Mary, when he announced to her that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God. Soon after, barely requiring a set change, there's no room at the inn, and Jesus is laid in a manger. Question: How realistic is this depiction? It's not realistic at all, is it? If we assume Jesus really was born in December, and that Christ was conceived the moment Gabriel left, the initial conversation between Gabriel and Mary could have taken place as early as March.


The Bible is actually full of narrational time skips like this. It covers a lot of time in a little time, sometimes skipping over centuries in a single page. With this in mind, key events seem to happen much faster than they actually did, and miraculous events or periods appear far more frequently than they occurred.


For Christians, this isn't exactly profound. We don't expect God to show up once a year and part the Red Sea. Most of the world will spend most of its history having a fairly "normal" existence. The laws of physics will be maintained, the laws of nature will be obeyed. If you see God at all, it will not be through special manifestation, but through the general revelation of His handiwork; only a fool can deny a Creator when His creation sits before them.


But such fools do exist. They're called "atheists", and one of many arguments they use is that while miracles are so "frequent" in the Bible, they are infrequent in the modern day. But this logic is identical to saying Mary was pregnant for as long as it takes to put up a theatrical barn on a stage.


Rather than demanding God perform a rare miracle, suspending the laws of nature for the sole purpose of convincing them, atheists should instead look to the miracles that have already happened. Chief among these is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite being verifiably dead, Jesus was seen alive again by many witnesses, with whom He actually spoke, verifying His identity with the revelation of His scars (as opposed to "I saw some dude who looked like Elvis at my local diner").


The deeper the Gospels are examined, the clearer it becomes that they are, in fact, reliable historical sources. Indeed, many atheists have set out to refute them, only to return singing hymns to the Risen Lord. Who Moved The Stone, Case for Christ, Cold Case Christianity, these three books alone are written by ex-atheists who examined the evidence, initially seeking to disprove Christianity, only to come to the same conclusion: Christ is risen.


I encourage other atheists to take the same journey, examining the evidence for the resurrection. They will find that although resurrections don't happen every day, this one did happen on a very important day. By believing in this one miracle, atheists can be forgiven for their atheism, as well as their many other sins.

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