Example One:
I am a retired neuro-psychologist.
I confirm that extensive recovery from stroke in children is quite common. I add that medicine defines several levels of consciousness. Hearing is among the first things to return after full coma. Automatic behavior (such as making the sign of the cross) is to be expected while partially unconscious. The child’s response was a sign that consciousness was returning; it was not a result of the prayer. BTW, some forms of automatic behaviour, such as the eyes following an object around the room, occur in those will no cerebral cortex whatever.

Example Two:
I agree with Leo’s point: if this was a miracle then the divinity who provided it is wantonly capricious. Moreover, his marketing strategy is extremely poor and his moral development leaves a lot of room for improvement. A superior moral being could be expected to perform miracles which assisted huge numbers of children, not just the a few children here and there whose parents are religious. How about providing manna from heaven to feed all the starving children of the world, regardless of the beliefs or financial status of their parents?

Example One. There is nothing miraculous about coming out of a coma. The description is absolutely consistent with what you would expect from someone going through the usual stages of increasing consciousness. Seen it many times.

Example Two. An ex-Christian Minister that I know was not so lucky. He lost his religious beliefs largely as the result of the what happened to him and his family after he accidently ran over his baby in the family driveway. The child did not survive. Neither did the father’s marriage.

I am sure that the child was not completely unscathed by the accident and will suffer from some degree of post-traumatic disorder. What kind of twisted but powerful being would allow such a thing to happen in order to “prove” their existence to someone who apparently needed no proof? A better “miracle” would have been to get the priest to act responsibly and check behind his car before backing out. Not a god I could respect.

Ah… but in the end You still did end up leaving it… which proves, I guess, that the Calvinists [and pagans] were after all right about predestination: no matter how hard You’ve tried to “work” Your way up by clinging to the faith (against God’s fore-ordination) You weren’t able to. 8) Tsk-tsk… well, at least You gave it a shot… but it just wasn’t meant to be…

Yep. I’ve got plenty of bite marks on my tongue too.

It may be a little easier for me to go to church as we go to an Eastern Orthodox Church. I’m quite sure that the whole family would have quit the faith years ago if we’d stayed in Protestant churches. I do still have to be careful not to LOL in the middle of a sermon though.

re post #47: Nice to know you’re a truly free agent isn’t it?

Great. Apparently the cosuffering didn’t do much because God is still watching those children die horrible deaths while they cry out to him for help. Since God’s son suffered, innocent children must suffer unspeakable atrocities too. If I witness a child being tortured and do nothing I am party to the crime. God sees it all, has the power to stop it, yet does nothing.

The problem of suffering isn’t why I am at this precipice of unbelief though. It’s the scriptures themselves that have revealed the fissures in the foundation. It’s difficult to be honest about what you will find and still go on believing.

I am slowly moving into a backup plan.

Good on you. Hope it works out well.

Every day I want to tell my son that it’s not all true, but I don’t know how to go about it. Is it better to wait on that too?

Especially since your wife still believes there is no hurry on that. It could cause friction with her if you pushed it on the lad. My kids still don’t really know (though they have suspicions). If your son asks questions, try to answer honestly.

I do see a lot of good come out of faith,

Good. Too often de-converts jump clear over to the view that the faith/church is all together evil. There’s no balance, honesty, or perspective in such a view.

I’m in a culture that is rife with gambling, alcoholism, child abuse, domestic abuse, corruption,…..
Every day I see people on the street corners whose eyes were plucked out as children so they could beg for the gangs in horrible conditions. Every day here thousands and thousands of children are sexually abused in prostitution rings.

I’d say you should look to move if you get the chance.

If God is real, I am open to returning to the faith. Like so many here my prayer is ‘God reveal yourself to me’. I need more than 2nd hand miracles and stories. I need more than an ancient book

Right on. Be like the apostle Thomas.

God cosuffered with creation, and did not stop those who wanted to hurt and murder him to do so.