How come the Christians aren't raising the dead in India, Thailand,
Indonesia, where the Tsunami has hit?

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead..."

This is an opportune time to show God's power.
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In the Gospels, Christ raised only a handful of people from the dead,
each time with a specific lesson in mind - eg. Lazarus had been dead
for four days (meaning he'd have been in a real state of putrefaction.
 My own father's body was not found for four days either, and in the
words of an uncle who helped to clean up the mess, "It was pretty
grim, I can tell you".  I didn't get to see his body fortunately, but
the mattress on which he had been lying had a dark brown stain the
full length of the body.  I could even see how he was lying, and it
was the way in which I often saw him in earlier times, since we all
have our favourite sleeping postures).

The Centurion was commended on his faith for his servant's healing,
since he understood and accepted Christ's spiritual authority, since
he had so much military authority of his own.  The Centurion had no
special personal power of his own, but found, that by the mysterious
thing called "authority", that when he said "go", a man went. 
Likewise Christ had "authority" over life and death, spiritual beings
and nature.  When He said "Get up", dead bodies came back to life and
got up.  The only way that is going to happen if we say those words is
if Christ allows the authority to pass to us, for a particular
purpose.  But He is not a deux ex machina.

The father of the young girl was used as a demonstration of the lack
of faith of the people generally.

And Peter's mother was rather a central figure.  Mind you they had a
vicar's tea party later to celebrate.

There may have been others - I'm too lazy to check.

The problem of the phrase about moving mountains is one of advertising
- all too often we find that the Bible does not quite live up to its
marketing campaign.  However from time to time such miracles do
happen, but they are not common.  Generally however the miracles
served to demonstrate Christ's divinity.

We, as mere humans, cannot expect to perform the same number of
miracles.  Although the Apostles used to perform miracles after
Christ's death and the following Pentecost.

The Catholic Saints of long ago were reputed to perform miracles also.
 Unfortunately these reports need to be taken with a grain of salt.

And as Christ said, "Even if somebody were to be raised from the dead"
the people will still not believe because they do not believe the
witness of the Scriptures regarding Christ.  Make no mistake - if a
Christian really were to raise somebody from the dead beyond any
shadow of doubt, you would not have a massive wave of conversions. 
What you would have would be a seven day wonder and a huge media
circus, which would soon be forgotten in the wake of newer events.

Finally what would be the point of raising all the dead, apart from a
lovely reconciliation for the families of course.

I know what you are getting at - the Scripture seems to promise
something, but doesn't deliver.  Yet Christ could not even save
HImself - His nature kept Him pinned to the cross to pay our penalty. 
How do you reconcile that with a demand to raise everybody just for
our visual benefit?

Maybe there will be a day when someone raises a dead person.  But I'll
bet a pound to a penny that it becomes a sensation, intense at first,
then gradually fading into the distance like somebody once again
spotting Elvis at the local supermarket.


And the people still won't believe.

God expects more faith than that.  In fact His favourites go through
times when He seems to have disappeared altogether and to have
abandoned them.

As Christ plaintively cried from the cross, "Abba, Abba, why have you
forsaken me?"

Bob Crowley.
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