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Miracles cannot happen
Before we can decide whether or not miracles can
happen, we must first define what a miracle is. Basically, a miracle is an
event that cannot be normally explained through the laws of nature. In the
context of Christianity, miracles are the product and the work of God who
created the natural laws as well as the universe.
However, vital to the discussion of whether or not miracles can occur
is the issue of a person's presuppositions. If someone believes that there
is no God and also believes in what is called naturalism - that all things
in the universe are subject to natural physical laws - then miracles are
defined out of existence. That is, the universe is defined in such a way
as to make miracles impossible. Therefore, if someone says that miracles
cannot happen, then it is most probable that he denies the existence of
God and/or believe in naturalism along with its companion, evolution.
On the other hand, if someone believed that there was a God and that
God is involved in the world, then it is easy to acknowledge that miracles
can occur. If God created the universe as the Bible states (Gen.
1), why can't God also
intervene in our world and perform miracles? Take the resurrection of
Jesus, for example. With an atheistic, naturalistic presupposition the
resurrection of Christ could not occur since people simply do not rise
from the dead, no matter what is said. Therefore, the account of Jesus'
resurrection must be wrong. Either the Bible is untrustworthy, the
witnesses collaborated on a lie, Jesus never died, He only appeared dead,
His body was stolen to make it look like He'd risen, or someone else died
in His place. Either way, the non-God, non-miraculous presupposition
would not allow the skeptic to believe in the resurrection of Jesus,
especially after three days of being in the tomb. It just could not have
happened, no matter what. The problem is that with this kind of
presupposition, objectivity can be thrown out the window. This is
especially ironic since many atheists consider the Christians to be the
ones who lack objectivity.
Weigh the Evidence
If someone believed that
miracles were possible because he believed that God exists, then all he
needs to do is look at the Bible, weigh the evidence and decide to believe
or not believe in miracles -- like Jesus' resurrection. Again, consider
Jesus. From the accounts of the eyewitness testimonies in the Gospels we
can see many people believed that Jesus rose from the dead. After all,
the Romans, who were expert at crucifixion, killed Jesus, and put guards
on the tomb. Yet, the tomb was found empty. The disciples who had all
fled and were in hiding, suddenly started proclaiming that Jesus had
risen. These same disciples risked life and limb in order to teach that
Jesus had risen. Why would they do that for a lie that would cost them
their lives, their livelihood, their family ties, etc., unless it really
happened?
Since Christians do not have a presupposition that excludes the
miraculous, we are able to look at the resurrection of Christ as recorded
in the Bible, weigh the evidence, and make a choice to believe or not
believe. Of course, Christians by default believed in the resurrection of
Christ.
Logic
Finally, it would be basically
illogical to state that miracles cannot occur. This is because in order to
logically state that miracles cannot occur, a person must either know all
things in the universe so that he can rightfully state miracles cannot
occur, or he must have some logical proof why miracles cannot occur, or
possess a sufficiently sophisticated knowledgebase to conclude the
miraculous cannot occur, etc. Furthermore, it is not enough to state that
there is no evidence for the miraculous since a person's experiential base
is limited. It may very well be that miracles have occurred and this
person is simply not aware of it.
Therefore, at best someone could simply say "I do not believe that
miracles occur because (insert reason)." At least this leaves open the
possibility that they may occur. And if they might indeed occur, why not
have the possibility that Jesus who claimed to be God (John
8:58 with
Exodus 3:14), who
fulfilled Old Testament prophecies (i.e.,
Psalm 22:11-18;
Isaiah 7:14;
9:6,
Micah 5:1-2, etc.),
who predicted his own death and resurrection (John
2:19-21;
), appeared to people after his
public execution (Luke
24:39;
John 20:25-28), did indeed
actually rise from the dead? Since the eyewitness accounts have been
accurately transmitted to us, would it not be logical to believe the
witnesses who described what they saw? It would seem so.
Can miracles occur? Yes, they can because there is a God in the
universe.
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