Peace all.
Peace idolfree.
I'm not sure about your question concerning where was another Moses for the Jews persecuted by Hitler or for people in Africa. If I in any way implied that one group of people was more deserving of rescue than another, my apologies. That was not my intention. I was addressing only the specific incident of parting the Red Sea.
As to how Jesus healed the sick or for Moses touchng the sea with his staff and the waters parting, that goes to what I was trying to say (but obviously didn't quite do so very clearly ). Moses and Jesus didn't do those things on their own--God performed the miracles through them. God can do such things with ease, even if they are still on the edge of our "reason" and within our realm of comprehension, especially as we grow in knowledge.
It's as if we are allowed to glimpse the inner workings of some things without necessarily being able to duplicate the results or, at least, duplicate them without a lot of effort. But this much I do know--we must first know that something can be done before we can begin to try it on our own. Awareness happens when God does something extraordinary for humans to witness. Perhaps miracles are a way for us to know, when we are ready, what wonderful things can be achieved.
Webster's defines "miracle" as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs" or "an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment."
While the definition of "miracle" may stay the same, our definition of "extraordinary event" changes as our knowledge increases. Our ability to understand concepts evolves and we learn in stages, according to what our minds can accept. I had to learn classical physics before studying quantum mechanics and relativity. And people who went on to grad school know far more than I do.
You slid in their the statement "and tales of such events are accurate", how so? Were are these events rerpoduced? I am sure all of the religious and non religious world for that matter would pay to see these events reenacted, but it just doesn't happen. These events will always stay hidden in some lab because sticks don't EVER turn into snakes.
And man will never fly or travel to the moon or harness the power of the atom. Yesterday's lab experiments currently light our homes, keep them warm or cool, and allow us to travel to all parts of the globe with relative ease, as well as venture beyond our planet's atmosphere.
If I were to travel back in time and try to explain nuclear fission to someone who hadn't yet learned to start a fire whenever they pleased, I'd be considered crazy. They couldn't understand what a lightbulb is, much less the need for electricity. So what purpose would there be for trying to manipulate an atom--something which can't be seen. Quite impractical for people to pursue such a fantastical tale, much less believe what I was saying. Overall, we tend to develop knowledge that will be used in some way...articles of convenience for a time.
They would, however, probably be intersted if I were to use my Bic and start a campfire in seconds. But how would I adequately explain such a thing? For a simple dollar lighter, I'd first have to explain what plastic and metal and butane are. Then there'd be no way to duplicate that same lighter in the Stone Age. Ah, but the good thing might be that in lighting the fire, I could possibly "spark" the imagination of a Stone Age scientist who realized fire could indeed be harnessed and put to good use as needed, which begins the process of discovery. (And don't get me into a causality argument here--it's just a very simplistic example.)
So perhaps it would take a tremendous explanation, involving basic concepts we don't yet understand, to explain to us how to turn an ordinary staff into a snake. And it seems we've yet to find a practical use for such a skill. Therefore, mankind will have to wait patiently until the day when "sticks-to-snakes" are within our realm of understanding. Even if that day should ever come, once again, it's very likely we would only be able to duplicate the action with considerable effort and expense. Still, we have an example of when such a thing occurred, so we can see that it's possible.
We may not always be able to duplicate such feats, which God does with ease, but they are understandable in some cases.
Well than Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny can also be understandable using that basis. They just don't duplicate such feats all the time for everyone.
Once we learn how to do certain things, we get better at them. I have more memory storage capacity in my tiny MP3 player than the biggest computer made at the dawn of that era. Therefore, it's quite conceivable to me that God, in His inifinte Power and Wisdom, can work miracles through His prophets with ease...for the benefit of those who need such miracles at that time, as well as providing us with examples of what is within the realm of possibiities. (As for pursuing what we have no knowledge of, I tend to think that applies to matters of pure speculation--such as the number of years the people and the dog were in the cave.)
Finally (yes, Virginia, there is a "finally"), we don't have to talk about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Instead, we could talk about quarks and neutrinos or maybe electron clouds and quantum jumps...or superstring theory, where there's plenty to challenge the mind and stretch the boundaries of human reason.
