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<table class="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout-table gmail-m_-8662595101311431609root-table" style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout-row-margin34090" style="padding:5px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout-row34090" class="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout-row gmail-m_-8662595101311431609widget gmail-m_-8662595101311431609_widget_text gmail-m_-8662595101311431609style34090" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609layout-row-padding34090" style="padding:10px 30px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609text_div33566" class="gmail-m_-8662595101311431609td_text gmail-m_-8662595101311431609td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"><div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> today’s Gospel shows Jesus driving the unclean spirit from the Gerasene
 demoniac</b></span>. What we see here on vivid display is <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Jesus the miracle 
worker. </b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Modern
 thinkers tend to be wary of <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">this dimension</span>.</b></span> For instance, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Thomas 
Jefferson took a straight razor to the pages of <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">the Gospels</span> and cut out 
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">everything that smacked of the supernatural</span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>—miracles, exorcisms, and so 
on.</b></span> The problem, of course, is that he had to make an absolute mess of 
Mark’s Gospel, which is positively chock-a-block with such things.</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Jefferson’s
 contemporary,<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> the great modern philosopher David Hume, wrote a 
powerfully influential text against </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>miracles.</b></span> He claimed that since the 
laws of nature were set, miracles were, strictly speaking, impossible. 
Accounts of them, he
concluded, were the result of the foggy or wishful thinking of primitive
 people.</span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>But
 though<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> God typically lets </span>the universe run according to its natural 
rhythms and patterns,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">what</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">is</span> to prevent </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>God from shaping it and 
influencing it occasionally in remarkable ways, in order to signal his 
purpose and presence?</b></span></span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><br></div>
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