SearchinMyRoots wrote:
There are many people who claim to have had a "supernatural" experience. Who do we believe?
I hear you.  And like Sophiee said - who's to say that their "supernatural" experiences weren't psychologically- or drug-induced?  So if what you're hearing about clearly violates the written word of God, then it's wise to stay clear - no matter how compelling the story.  But when you start to have those experiences personally, and it's no longer hearsay, and you know darn well you've never used LSD, etc., then maybe it's wise to pay attention.  After all, God used supernatural experiences to convince many people in the Bible that He was real, and that their beliefs - or lack thereof - needed... adjusting.

Again - I'm not trying to convince you to believe Dr. Brown, but only trying to explain why he sticks with his beliefs.   
Arikm7 wrote:
EVERY religion trumps a mystical element.
Again, I hear you. But from my observations, most of those claims (including those made by Christians) are highly subjective and personal.  They might convince other people who want to believe the thing they're selling in the first place, but they ultimately don't offer any greater compelling evidence than the competition - which is usually a net zero.  Personally, I'm not satisfied with that.  So I usually keep stories like that to myself.  They're a gift from God, and meant for me, to draw me closer to Him.  They're not for "proving" that my approach to God (a.k.a., religion) is better than yours.

But you know what else?  I really believe in a God who wrote the laws of physics, and can do with them - or break them - as He sees fit.  I believe every one of those stories in the Bible that shows God's awesome power.  And that's what I think might be compelling.  I mean, if you walked right up to Stephen Hawking, in all his atheistic glory, and were somehow able to deliver him from the ravages of ALS by simply invoking the name of your God, you'd have my interest - and probably Stephen Hawking's as well.

Well, that's the kind of stuff that happened back in Elijah's day.  And it's the kind of stuff that reportedly happened in the early days of the church.  But we've apparently lowered our standards quite a bit, so that now we expect to convince other people of the validity of our "religion" by claiming universal miracles as our own.  But guess what? Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, and even Satanists all recover from the flu from time to time.  So it's gonna take something a little more compelling than that to get the attention of an unbeliever.  In the meantime, and failing verifiable demonstrations of the supernatural, we're supposed to do good works and love each other. You know - bear fruit?

Anyway... sorry for rambling. 

Note: Forum rules require me to make the following disclaimer.

This post is not Jewish teaching, rather it is Mark's personal opinion as a non-Jew.