"It is especially
important to emphasise
the symbolic character
of these symbols,
because they are often
understood
literally...(with the result
that) the whole relation
of God becomes a nest
of absurdities"
May solve problem of
evil - God doesn't
intervene because he
cannot or is bound to
laws of nature
If God did perform miracles, he would seem to act immorally
"...not merely implausible and
superfluous from the
standpoint of human
explanation, but religiously
unsatisfactory in their view of
their apparently occasional and
highly selective character"
"It would seem strange
that no miraculous
intervention prevented
Aushwitz or Hiroshima,
while the purposes
apparently forwarded
by some of the miracles
acclaimed in the
traditional Christian
faith seem trivial by
comparison"
Swinburne: God
bends the rules to
benefit his children
If God did intervene
selectively to save some,
but not others, then the
problem of evil would be
unsolvable, because there
would be no reason why
God couldn't intervene all
the time
"The direct intervention
of God, however rare
the occasions of it,
would...have disastrous
implications for our
understanding of the
problem of evil"
Hebblethwaite: "It would also
prevent him from appealing to
the God-given structures of
creation, and their necessary role
in setting creatures at a distance
from their creator and providing
a stable environment for their
lives, as an explanation for the
physical ills which can afflict
God’s creatures.
"For the critical
[bible] reader today
the miracle
tradition can is
highly problematic"
Jesus refused Satan's trap (in the desert)
of using a miracle as evidence of divine
power, as it would produce a miracle with
no religious context
This shows that we are
mistaken to try and use
accounts of miracles as
proof of God's power
The biblical accounts of miracles are myths
presented to expess something about God
Inconsistent with certain biblical
stories (e.g. Joshua 10, where God
calls him to lead Israelites and
conquer promised land
There is only one
miracle: creation
itself
Deism: God creates
the universe and
leaves it to work
through it's
natural laws
Allows belief in God
without expectation
of him acting through
prayer, giving more
personal connection