Could God Heal an Amputee?

Could God Heal an Amputee? This question is one of the latest being asked by atheists and skeptics. They say that God could prove he exists, once and for all, by restoring someone's lost limb. They point out that millions of Christians pray for healing every day, but nothing "irrefutable" like such a restoration has ever been verified. Every prayer answered, they say, can be explained by natural forces. In my life, I've seen God do many wonderful and remarkable things, but I must admit, they all have at least a seed of doubt that they could have occurred without divine intervention. I've prayed for hundreds of people who got better, but don't people get better all the time — some without being prayed for? So, the skeptics want an irrefutable, verifiable miracle. I will submit that even if they were presented one, they wouldn't believe it. They would claim the photos were altered or the video was fake. What would it take to convince them? How about this: God appears as a man, walks among us, claims to be God and performs miracles to prove it, including his own resurrection. That should do it and that is exactly what he did!What skeptics really want is for God to appear in the sky today and show his face. He did that already. He is not going to return for every generation. He was born once and died once, fulfilling more than 450 Old Testament prophesies.We have the witness of the apostles, who were eyewitnesses to his life and resurrection. They saw him, heard him, touched him. They wrote down what they saw and we have their record. We can know that record, the New Testament, is accurate because each word has apostolic authority, early church verification, and an enormous amount of copies. Is there a seed of doubt about this? Sure, the passage of two thousand years does that, but the evidence is on our side. When John the Baptist had doubts about Jesus being the Messiah, Jesus told him to examine the evidence (Matthew 11: 2 - 5). God invites us to examine the evidence to this very day, and it is more than enough to support our faith.God does answer prayers. He does remarkable things. But he has chosen not to reveal himself again in an empirical, irrefutable, undoubtable way. Perhaps it is because he wants us to have faith in him. He said in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please him without it. We live in a fallen world and God is a rewarder of those who seek him. He has veiled himself so that only the humble will find him. That's the way he wants it right now and that settles it. In heaven, there will be no shadow of doubt, but on earth the righteous will walk by faith — and faith exists only where doubt is a possibility.For those of us who believe, God is as present as the air itself. We experience him as real as any friend. We see him answer prayers and think nothing of it. Sometimes we feel let down, sure, when prayers are not answered like we thought they should have been. But when we realize that all things work together for our own good — and that means everything causes us to become more like Christ, a man familiar with suffering — and when we realize the joy of seeing God glorified in our weaknesses — our faith is restored. Oh, and don't worry, God will show his face again just like the skeptics require, but when he does, he will not be a meek and mild Savior who dies, but a conquering king who reigns forever.