I love this story....it is a true story of the mysterious staircase of Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
As the story goes...the chapel was constructed in the 19th century by an architect who died suddenly, and after much of the chapel was constructed, the builders realized it was lacking a stairway to the choir loft. A standard staircase could not fit in the small chapel.
The nuns, desparately needing a way to the loft, prayed for nine days (a novena to St. Joseph--who was a carpenter). On that last day of prayer a mysterious stranger, who was a carpenter, knocked on the door and told them he could build the staircase they needed.
He constructed a spiral staircase by himself, consisting of 33 stairs. After it was completed he disappeared without waiting for his payment. The identity of this man is still unknown.
Architects, engineers, and scientists could not understand how the staircase could stand and balance by itself because it didn't have a central support beam. The carpenter also didn't use any nails or glue.
Another mystery to the staircase was the wood it was made of. The wood used in the staircase does not exist in that entire region.
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What I think is also interesting about this story is what skeptics have to say about it. And I believe what the skeptics say is probably very true also.
Of course, skeptics are quick to debunk anything labeled "mysterious" or "miraculous"...so they add phrases like "As the tale continues..." or that "this legend has improved over time like good wine" and so forth. They point out these details:
*The original architect died suddenly because he caught the eye of the wife of the bishop's nephew, and this nephew shot him.
*The mysterious carpenter was identified as Francois-Jean Rochas because of a death notice in 1895 describing him as "an expert in wood who built the staircase in Loretto Chapel".
*In a log book kept by the nuns, an entry was found for the payment of $150.00 for wood for the staircase.
*The staircase is built in such a way that the inner circle radius is small enough to act as a central support beam.
*The staircase is dangerous and did not have hand rails until added at a later date.
*It is springy.
*The nuns were frightened to climb it, and came down from the stair case on hands and knees.
*The wood used is identified as part of a family that has ten species in North America.
*Although never mentioned, there is an iron brace that stabilizes the staircase.
(And I want to point out here that underneath a picture of this brace, it's stated that it "reveals the 'miracle' is a partial one."......Huh?? Is there such a thing as a "partial miracle"???)
And leave an end note that it is not "miraculous, it's human...quite fallibly human".
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It's as if skeptics want readers to believe that this story is just a bunch of fabrication and legend to stir up minds. To believe that "the fools will be fooled". And that people must be idiots to hang their hat on this stuff. You think?
I wanted to point out what they skeptics say only because I don't feel that any of their points prove that this isn't a miracle. Yes, there are many human elements involved, but isn't that true of most miracles? So what?
The nuns prayed. God heard. God intervened and answered....
At just the right moment!!
It's miraculous!!
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I think a lot of skeptics are athiests. Or, it seems to me that most athiests are athiests for the same reason that skeptics are skeptics. They seem to question the same things.
I've recently heard this saying for the first time while listening to a radio broadcast. The speaker said, "An athiest doesn't find God for the same reason that a thief doesn't find a policeman."
I think that's very true....neither seem to be really wanting to find him.
In a way, I admire skeptics. I really do. They refuse to be made a fool (from a worldly intellectual perspective). Therefore, they will not believe something without hard, concrete evidence. And I can understand that.
It's the interpretation of the definition of "evidence" that makes the difference.
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I think there is a crossing over that has to occur in the heart and mind of skeptics for God to be found. And when that happens, "evidence" will have a whole new meaning. What will be known is something more concrete and more evident than the materialistic, physical definition of "evidence" they once had.
This is why faith and belief is always a personal matter of the heart. It can't be tracked down by bloodhounds, or proved by an equation the same way love between a parent and child can't.
Another thing I wonder...Why do they state that this (the staircase) is "humanly fallible"....as if they're admitting that being human is indeed fallible. I think a lot of people that read, or maybe even wrote these things probably don't believe in God at all...they look for every way to discredit the idea.
So.....why is it that being human is also being fallible? ...I want to ask them...if they don't believe in an infallible devine...
Aren't they comparing themselves to some absolute standard?
Do you really wonder why a theif can't find a cop?
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"The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25
"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." 1 Corinthians 1:27
