Nothing in our story tells our fellow travelers that there is a way to avoid the world. We are not better, or exempt. Even our “answer” is not an exemption. Our lives will be much the same: birth, death, disease, loss, loneliness, confusion, transition, questioning, trusting. When we point to the cross as the revelation of the God we believe in, we are not pointing at an escape, but at a way through and a hope that there is more.

When we talk about God performing miracles as an answer to prayer, miracles that He (ostensibly) wouldn’t perform for a non-believer, aren’t we asserting more than a hope that there’s something beyond this life? When we circulate an email around saying, “Thanks to all of you for your prayers — Uncle Steve’s cancer was completely healed, and the doctors are saying there’s no way that could have happened,” aren’t we declaring ourselves, if not totally exempt, at least in receipt of Divine Assistance that others don’t receive?

I’m not even talking about “limos for doing God’s work” or the glossolalia of Pentecostals here, although both are extreme examples. I’m talking about the basic question: does repentant faith in Jesus as Christ have any supernatural effect on our lives in this world, beyond motivation and a new outlook? If so, if there really is Supernatural Help on a daily basis, then why isn’t our journey different from the non-believers? Or, if not, then are stories like Peter’s and Paul’s escapes from their persecutors in AotA misleading, or do they just not apply to us?

I hope this question doesn’t seem like baiting; this is something I’ve been struggling with.

[sarcasm]Oh, come on, now. Life has nothing in common with death. The unsaved have only one mission, and that’s to attempt to glorify their master, Satan, even if they don’t know that’s what they’re doing. And we saved never ever do anything that doesn’t glorify God.

Honestly, you’re such a liberal.[/sarcasm]