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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | khuck ... thanks for your answers .. | Gal 6:17 | khuck | 103130 | ||
Hi Joel :) I can not dispute or confirm what has happened in your life. Although in all earnest I will admit to you that I am skeptical of stigmata. There are many who trust these incidents and others who are detractors of them. May I ask you please for the sake of my sincere curiosity, 1. What do you equate this phenomena to in your life? 2. Why do you think that God is relating to you in this way? 3. Do you know of any Spiritual benefit of this phenomena to yourself or others? Stigmata: In Imitation of Christ. -Author: Joe Nickell Of reputed miraculous powers, perhaps none is more popularly equated with saintliness than stigmata, the wounds of Christ's crucifixion allegedly duplicated spontaneously upon the body of a Christian. Indeed one historical survey indicated that about a fifth of all stigmatics are eventually beatified or canonized (Biot 1962, 23). The year 1999 brought renewed interest in the alleged phenomenon. Among the offerings were the movie Stigmata (which even contained a brief shot of my book, Looking for a Miracle -Radford 1999); a Fox television pseudodocumentary, Signs from God, which featured a major segment on stigmata (Willesee 1999); and the Vatican's beatification of the Italian stigmatic Padre Pio (CNN / Time 1999). For an in-progress television documentary, I took a new look at the subject. Evolving Phenomenon From the death of Jesus, about A.D. 29 or 30, nearly twelve centuries would pass before stigmata began to appear-unless one counts a cryptic Biblical reference by St. Paul. In Galatians 6:17 he wrote, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Many scholars believe Paul was speaking figuratively, but in any case the statement may have been sufficient to prompt imitation. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is credited with being the first stigmatic-- or at least the first "true" one, his affliction occurring just two years after that of a man from Oxford who had exhibited the five crucifixion wounds in 1222. That man claimed to be the son of God and the redeemer of mankind, but he was arrested for imposture, his wounds presumed to have been self-inflicted. In 1224 St. Francis went with some of his "disciples" up Mount Alverno in the Apennines. After forty days of fasting and prayer he had a vision of Christ on the cross, whereafter he received the four nail wounds and a pierced side. Francis appears to have sparked a copycat phenomenon, since publication of his reputed miracle was followed by occurrences of stigmata "even among people who were much lower than St. Francis in religious stature, and have continued to occur without intermission ever since," according to Catholic scholar Herbert Thurston (1952, 122-123). He continues: What I infer is that the example of St. Francis created what I have called the "crucifixion complex." Once it had been brought home to contemplatives that it was possible to be physically conformed to the sufferings of Christ by bearing His wound-marks in the hands, feet and side, then the idea of this form of union with their Divine Master took shape in the minds of many. It became in fact a pious obsession; so much so that in a few exceptionally sensitive individuals the idea conceived in the mind was realized in the flesh. Thurston believed stigmatization was due to the effects of suggestion, but experimental attempts to duplicate the phenomenon, for example by using hypnosis, have been unsuccessful--except for a related case which appears to have been a hoax. (The psychiatrist reported that bloody tears welled inside the subject's eyelids, but a photograph shows rivulets originating outside the eyes.) |
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2 | khuck ... thanks for your answers .. | Gal 6:17 | joel k | 103516 | ||
khuck... sorry that it has been days since you wrote to me and I have not replied sooner. It looks like you took a little heat about this subject for me. Sorry... In reply tp your questions... 1. I equate it to my life because... I also bear on my body the marks of Christ. 2. like I said ... confirmation of who I am in Christ. 3. the bennifits are clear to me... forgivness... forgivness... forgivness. You may find this harder to understand than you are willing to admit, but there are some people who's life is predestine by God, as a guilt offering, to bring forgivness of sin, through Christ Jesus. The perfect forgivness only comes from Heaven, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but to those that are living in the here and now. There are many things Paul wrote about that he would have had no way of knowing such things if it were not revealed to him, like his own predestination. The marks he had on his body were not new to him, but he had aquired them throughout his lifetime, but seeing that they are the marks of Christ, he could clearly see that God has always had him included in His plan to be who he is now. Paul understood that no one would refer to his days before the encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus as a part of his life that God had determined to be. Because as mankind we natually think of the first part of Paul's life as being ... well not in step with God. And if that were true ... then predestiny has no real meaning. remember this ... if you don't take offense, then there is no offense. You are welcome to ask me any further questions you may have. And if you'd like to do that elsewhere and not on this forum, let me know. Thank you ... Kathy ... Joel k |
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3 | khuck ... thanks for your answers .. | Gal 6:17 | khuck | 103649 | ||
Dearest Joel, Though your apology is very much indeed a beautiful thing to behold, it is not necessary, you did nothing for me to take any heat. I just jumped into the fire feet first (grin) and it is nobody's bad. I would very much like to discuss more with you on this topic Joel. And I think you are correct it is wisest to speak outside this forum (at least for me) I got your email addy from your profile and I will contact you soon. (I have MSN messenger also. Thank you for your patience, Kathy |
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4 | khuck ... thanks for your answers .. | Gal 6:17 | joel k | 103655 | ||
thank you for being so sweet, I hope to here from you soon. joel | ||||||