larni writes:
"Is it then fair to say that there has to be belief for a miracle to occure and that the divine relies on the 'belief quotient' before it can actuate miracles?"
Yes. All things are possible to him that believe. Faith the size of a mustard seed will move mountains. The bible never really stops stressing the importance of faith. Faith is nothing more than the measure of how much you believe in what ever you believe. I believe that the person being healed's faith is important but also the faith of the healer. In Jesus's case, I believe his faith was so high that if he spoke it, it happened whether or not the "healee" (person being healed. lol) believed it or not.
I don't claim to have all the answers, as some on this site do, but I believe that Jesus's one and only motive for performing miracles
was obeying orders from his father. Satan tempted Jesus to perform vain miracles and he refused saying don't tempt God. That would lead me to believe that miracles were not done through his own will,but through the will of.... you guessed it.... God. I also believe that the purpose of alot of his miracles were to simply show us (us is a nice way of saying ya'll) "non-belivers" or "unfaithful" the power we posses because of God. When he did miracles he told us we can also do these things if we believe. Of Course Man is so arrogant that we(again not including myself) feel if nobody walked on water yet that it's not possible. So we had to be shown a little bit(through Jesus) to see if we would believe the rest. Well.... do ya? I will admit I'm still trying to bend a spoon; but I will not give up.