a{n alleged} miracle that serves no purpose or is actively evil. For example, in the Apocryphal New Testament, in the book *Protevangelion*, XI. Mary's immaculate conception has caused immense turmoil for Joseph and Mary, not merely because Joseph assumes Mary has conceived with another mortal, but also because she does so far too soon. This is therefore resolved by more miracles, that fail to convince anyone (xi.
19). In XIII., Joseph has to get a midwife, and finds that
time has stopped (so he can find her quickly?). But in the following chapter, the midwife is
useless and Mary delivers miraculously too. So there was no point at all to the miracle.
Other examples: a story in the Talmud of a slain holy man's blood, which bubbled miraculously on the
spot where he was killed. Nebuchadnezzar is
said to arrive there after his conquest of Jerusalem and demand to know why the blood bubbles. When he finds out, he believes he has to appease the spirit of the holy man and so he "sacrifices"
80,000 people on the spot where the blood bubbles. Wouldn't God
stop the
bubbling just to get Nebuchadnezzar to
stop murdering people there?
If
Bush was a perverse miracle sent from God to
punish our
nation for its wickedness, then would it not have been more godlike to make us less wicked--instead?
