miracles ?

miracle : an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs

merriam webster

There is something missing in that definition . They have forgotten to include that the divine intervention is caused by God although perhaps that’s what is meant by divine . Note that :

1. The concept of miracles presupposes , rather than sets aside the idea that nature is a self-contained system of natural causes . Unless there are regularities , there can be no exceptions to them .
2. A miracle is not a contradiction . A man walking through a wall is a miracle . A man both walking and not walking through a wall at the same time and in the same respect is a contradiction .

God performs miracles but not contradictions ; not because His power is limited , but because contradiction is meaningless .

Those who deny miracles at an intellectual level are those who do so for philosophical argument to prove that miracles cannot happen because you cannot believe in miracles without believing that a miracle-worker exists . Therefore , here , we have to argue the possibility of miracles and that they are possible if there is a God even though not everyone who believes in God believes in miracles .

Miracles are possible but that does not mean that God may choose to actualize this possibility .

For those bent on denying miracles , how could anyone justify so strong a claim as that whether or not there is a God , no miracles have ever happened in the entire course of human history ? Did they examine every alleged miracle story , sift through all the evidence on a case-by-case basis ? How then can such a claim ever be justified ?

Thus , we need only consider the question of the philosophical possibility of miracles before investigating the historical question of their actuality . Logically , the possibilities are :

1. If miracles are possible , then they can be actual . That we know .
2. If they are actual , then they are possible . That we know .
3. But if they are possible , we do not yet know whether they are actual .
4. And if they are not actual , we still don’t know whether they are possible .

There are two sides to which we can question the possibility of miracles . God , and nature .

First , there is no defense against miracles in God’s nature , no assurance that God could not work a miracle . For if there is a God , He is omnipotent . There is no obstacle for Him to do so except the matter of His free choice .

Secondly , if God created nature in the first place , who is to say that He didn’t create it in a way that he could intervene ? (addressing to the argument that if God needs to perform miracles , then He is an incompetent Creator) . Thus , if nature is open to the possibilities of existing or not existing , then it is open to the possibilities of containing miracles or not containing them . In other words , miracles are not a contradiction or violation of natural law because it is still within His limits of authority .

Some argue that belief in miracles equates to the disbelief in science . I beg to differ . Let’s say a scientist witnesses a cure to an AIDS patient . He may research and exhaust every possible medical explanation to no avail . He may employ every methodological progression he knows and try to find every empirical evidence possible to support those medical explanations to no avail . At the end of the day , that doesn’t mean that he no longer believes in science , but he understands their limitations .

Efforts to concretize belief in miracles are a matter of personal will but the point of typing what i have typed is to argue the philosophical possibility of miracles and thus open the way to the historical investigation of their actuality . So go ahead . When you have sifted through all the evidence to disprove every miracle story throughout all of human history , let me know . Perhaps then i will not believe in miracles .