Unit 4 - Miracles

What is meant by miracle?
1. A miracle is an event performed by God that breaks the laws of nature
2. Break the laws of nature
  1. Events that do not normally happen and that break the laws of science
  2. Example: when the sun stood still to give the Jews time to defeat their enemies
3. Coincidences
  1. When the laws of nature are not broken, but multiple things happen at the same time to create a good outcome
  2. Example: Stairwell B, when 16 people survived the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre
God
1. Revealed
  1. Love
    1. Miraculous healings may prove that God wants to help people and so loves them
  2. Immanence
    1. Miracles show that God is active in the world and therefore immanent
  3. Knowledge and power
    1. Miracles that break the laws of nature prove that God is powerful enough to break these and the fact that he performs these proves that he knows enough to know when to act to cause a good outcome
2. Work in the world
  1. Buddhists and Atheists reject miracles from God because they don't believe in God
  2. Hindus believe that miracles are direct intervention by Brahman or the other Gods
  3. Christians believe that God works directly in the world through miracles, though some of the miracles were performed by others such as Jesus
  4. Jews believe that God works in the world, particularly for their benefit
  5. Muslims believe that only Allah can perform miracles and the biggest miracle is the Qur'an
  6. Sikhs believe that saints and prophets can perform miracles, but they should only be used to help others
Humans
1. God
  1. Humans cannot perform miracles without the help of God
2. Hindu
  1. Miraculous powers can be gained from receiving positive energy from the universe
    1. Very similar to Buddhism
3. Buddhism
  1. Many Buddhists don't believe in miracles and just think that miraculous events are just proof that our knowledge is incomplete
  2. Others believe that people receive these powers when they reach enlightenment
4. Sikh
  1. Prophets and saints can perform miracles but only to help others
Scripture and tradition
1. Islam
  1. The Islamic scripture, the Qur'an, is thought of as a living miracle, as it is a guide directly from Allah on how to live your life
2. All religions have miracles within their scripture and/or tradition
3. Buddhism
  1. The Buddha's jealous cousin, Devadatta, released an elephant to try and kill him, the Buddha simply touched the elephants head and it became tame
History and personal experience
1. Miracles often happen in times of great trouble, for example: war
2. Faith Healing
  1. Curing people through spiritual means, for example: prayer or mental practices
    1. The cure could be sudden or happen over a period of time
Evidence
1. Lots of people see the miracles happening
  1. Example: Ganesha drinking milk
2. People may experience miracles for themselves
3. Many miracles were recorded at the time
4. There are too many accounts for none of them to have happened
5. Miracles still 'happen' today
6. There has been research conducted into to powers of prayer to heal
7. Many miracles have been investigated and no scientific proof has been found
Problems for believers
1. Not God
  1. There is a possibility that God did not give the power to perform the miracle, and it was actually one of the many evil forces at work in the world
  2. For an event to be a miracle there must be a good outcome, this would never be the result of evil
2. Too much importance
  1. The miracle worker could get money and fame, and God's message would be lost
  2. God would only chose people who weren't seeking money or fame
3. Unfair
  1. Why do God pick and chose who he helps?
    1. Example: He cures one person of cancer, but none of the many other cancer sufferers in the world
  2. Miracles give hope, for the benefit of everyone
4. Transcendent
  1. If God is transcendent (outside of time and space) it is not possible for him to work in the world
  2. Some people say that God is both transcendent and immanent, so he could work through people
David Hume
1. Never enough evidence
  1. The laws of nature have been around for hundreds of years, you would need a lot of evidence to go against them, and this will never happen
  2. Miracles are the exception to the rule, so there will always be less evidence for them as they are very rare
2. Unreliable witnesses
  1. Witnesses are biased, they desperately want miracles to happen, so they may exaggerate
  2. Witnesses are always interviewed and the situation looked into, and then a judgement is made based on the reliability
3. Uneducated witnesses
  1. Miracles are often reported by primitive people who have no knowledge of science
  2. Most nations have recorded evidence of miracles, regardless of their education level
4. Dependence
  1. Religions depend on miracles to prove them to be true, all religions can't be right, so they cancel each other out
  2. Many miracles just support beliefs that the religions already have
  3. The religions aren't in competition

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Unit 4 - Miracles

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