Supernatural Objects

An anonymous well-wisher, knowing Bruce’s knee is very painful, left a "prayer-anointed" blanket at our door. 

[Disclaimer: I am a life-long Christian but highly skeptical in regard to unverifiable, supposedly-supernatural objects. I don’t travel to see statues cry or pictures bleed.]

I believe said blanket was blessed by the prayers of other Christians, but what that means I am not sure. So I have a few impertinent questions:

1.  Will the prayers wash out? After how many washings?
2.  Will the prayers spread to other items in the wash?

3.  Should I wash the blanket  separately?
4.  What if I wash it in a baptistery? Would the prayers stay longer?
5.  Will it stay anointed if I give it to someone else, or is it a one-user blanket?
6.  What if both Bruce and I sleep under it? Will the prayers affect us both?
7.  How does the blanket know who to bless, or heal, or save, or anoint?

Meanwhile, another well-meaning couple gave us a vial of "miraculous" oil, extracted from a "miraculous" oil- producing Bible. I believe in anointing with oil as commanded in the Bible, but am again skeptical in regard to unverifiable “miraculous” objects. I have made some assumptions:

1.  Anointing with this oil can't do any harm, even if the giver is deluded.
2.  Any resultant healing should be attributed to God and not to any "miraculous" oil or Bible.

Another Christian couple gave us some no-sugar-added apple butter. I facetiously asked if I should spread some of it on Bruce's knee. The husband, who has a similar sense of humor, said, “Yes, and then lick it off.”

Seriously, I don't believe that "believing all things" (I Corinthians) extends to superstition and flim-flam, but that landscape is gray-ish. Spiritual discernment is a gift from God that ALL Christians need to practice. I pray I do.

Reality?

C. S. Lewis devoted much of his intellectual energy to Christian apologetics, a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views. But in a letter dated December of 1950, he stated, “I do not think there is a demonstrative proof . . . of Christianity, nor of the existence of matter, nor of the good will and honesty of my best and oldest friends. I think all three (except perhaps the second) far more probable than the alternatives.”

Faith, Love, Hope, Truth, Forgiveness, hatred, evil are not scientifically demonstrable, but without them we would not be human.

I Corinthians 13: 1, 13
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. . . .
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

It Never Fails

"Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will." C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

I Corinthians 13: 4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.