Acting lessons

You wrote:

he (Lewis) merely pointed out that discussing the topic of miracles must first start from that point -- can they occur; and if so, then do they occur.

I think we need something before this, we need to agree on what a miracle is, so:

1. What is a miracle?
   
2. Can a miracle occur?
3. Do miracles occur?

In looking for a definition of what a miracle is I came across the idea that they are attributed with having supernatural causes. Then I looked up "natural" - that pointed me to "nature" for which I got:

the universe, with all its phenomena.

Therefore I surmise that a miracle is an event caused by something which does not have it's origin in the spacetime of our Universe. Okay good - question 1 is answered.

To answer question 2 I'd need to know if there is anything that is not contained within the spacetime of our Universe - this I do not know, nor does anyone else, so at this time the question is unanswerable. I certainly hope that they do occur, but the question is not asking if I hope that miracles can occur, it's asking can they occur.

Question 3 - I guess we need to know if they can occur to answer whether they do or not. Amazing things happen but are they miracles by the definition above? I do not know as I cannot answer question 2.

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It's like accepting a flattering compliment ... most people will try to downplay it, or argue with it. Accepting praise with grace is one of the hardest things to do. We seem to not like receiving something for nothing ... perhaps it makes us feel like we're then indebted or something.

I think this behaviour is learned. As a kid we really do think that there are such things as free lunches, but as we age time and time again we get burned by some hidden agenda of the supposed freebie-giver so eventually we develop a natural caution.

I saw two examples of this today. (1) One at the village fair where my daughter was inticed by a lady on a stall saying "roll up for the free lucky dip" - to win a penny sweet as it turned out - then the person tried to sign my daughter up to a young persons farmers club! Fortunately the minimum age of entry was 10. My daughter is 9, but is so tall she looks 11+ :-) But we had a good chat about there being "no such thing as a free lunch" and the tale told of the "show me" characteristic of people from Missouri,USA ...

(2) A birthday card in a store with an old 50's black and white photo of a young man giving a gift wrapped box to his girlfriend. The girl had a thought bubble coming from her head saying "Now he'll expect sex".

Still, as you pointed out, it's unlikely that anyone can make a truly unselfish act (quote: Nah ... I doubt it.) , so that must extend to giving and receiving? So it's hardly surprising we don't accept a gift with grace because we know it's not borne out of a 100% truthful giving act. Good grace here is probably related to "manners" - where we get into the acting game that we all do with eachother, the face that we show to the world.

PS. Thanks for the insight on the tax situation with Churches over there. Interesting that political campaigning goes on - isn't there meant to be a separation between Church and State? :-) Kind of impossible I know.