Are miracles real

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Though we don't see miracles such as, "The feeding of the five thousand" today, miracles are still occurring, just on a smaller scale.

All over the world, GOD's people are being miraculously healed & protected every day.

A Google search will reveal many of these, sometimes recording multiple eye-witnesss accounts.

GOD's Spirit is alive & active.

Yes, miracles are real!
Yes.

Answer 2

Miracles are happening every day. If you are asking about miracles of sorcerers and magicians then you can find many of them around the world. There are some who claim to miraculously cure diseases and ailments while there are others who actually cure people through the miracle of science. There is a man in India whose devotees claim that he is a god and that he performs miracles. There are also many ordinary people who create their own miracles through nobility, compassion and dedication.

Answer 2

In addition to the above excellent response, I think that when referring to 'a miracle' it is customary for most people to refer to an event, usually for the good, for which there is no rational explanation except to believe that there is some form of (divine?) intervention, despite the much fuller response above. Whilst there are certainly many miracles happening today of the sort stated in the above answer, there are also those miracles that simply have no rational explanation. As a person who has been involved in science all his working life, I once found it very difficult to accept that miracles (of the supernatural kind) can actually happen. However, I can only speak from personal experience when I say that one of the major factors that led me to becoming a Christian is, when I was a teenager, actually seeing someone healed before my eyes, from being a well-known paraplegic in the neighbourhood, from birth, to someone who, after being prayed for, walked again and is still walking today. It really pained me as a rational person not to have been able to explain what I saw, despite going over the facts for ages, but I do indeed believe that a miracle occurred then, and they still do all over the world - if only we would recognise them.

Answer 3

To each person, it is different in their eyes as to whether or not miracles exist. If you don't believe in miracles then more than likely you don't believe they exist. Since no one can tell you what you believe, no one, other than yourself, can give you the answer you feel in your heart is true. They can make a guess on what you feel is true, but only you know the answer.

Answer 4

It is possible. The concept of miracle can be said to be incoherent or contradictory if and only if our philosophy of science holds that a law of science is a necessary truth regardless of it's conjunction to other states of affairs. A miracle then would by definition have to be concieved of as the suspention of some scientific law or set of scientific laws. Thus the concept of miracle would then necessarily be false, it would be a contradiction, and incoherent.

However, if it is not the case that a law of science is a necessary truth regardless of it's conjunction to other states of affairs, then one cannot speak of miracle as an incoherent concept. Moreover, it is not logically possible that a law of science can be a necessary truth without regard to it's conjunction to other true states of affairs. Indeed, all beings and phenomena within the causal universe, that is to say, within the actual universe, without regard to their conjunction to other states of affairs are contingencies. This includes the laws of science, which can only be concieved of as necessary truths if expressed within conjunction to other true states of affairs. In other words Scientific laws can only be considered necessary, if expressed conditionally. (ie. when we say "the law of gravity dictates that the apple must fall to the ground" it is not a necessary truth that the apple must fall to the ground, indeed the truth of the statement that "the apple must fall to the ground" is conditional. It is the consequent that follows from specific antecedent states of affairs.)
Thus one cannot say that the concept of miracle (insofar as a miracle is conceived of as some occurrence within the natural order, which is in principle, inexplicable in terms of the relevant natural causes operative at the time and place that the event occurs) is impossible, without the presupposition that there are absolutely no antecedents which cannot in principle be explained in terms of "natural laws".

Answer 5

A:

The great English philosopher David Hume (Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Of Miracles) believed that miracles must be thought of as possible, but says there is no evidence sufficient to establish that any of the claimed historical miracles actually occurred. He says that Christianity is only founded on miracles in the sense that it requires a miracle of faith for anyone to believe it.

Another View:

Yes, miracles do indeed happen. And according to the Scripture in Jesus Christ's case, the Father answered His every prayer and backed up His every command - an amazing list of physical cures, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead coming back to life.

One of the major objections to miracles is that they violate natural law. Critics argue that natural law is immutable, therefore natural law cannot be violated. And if there was no God, then this might be true. But where did the laws of nature, physics, energy and matter come from? How did they originate? Did these laws of such incredible precision and orderliness create themselves? Those who deny a Creator have no answers.

Consider one of the many complex and highly developed organs in any human or animal and ask: 'How does the eye see?' Charles Darwin thought this 'miracle of sight' the greatest challenge to his theory. He simply could not explain it because the eye is simply incompatible with evolution:

"To suppose," he admitted, "that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances . . . could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree" ( The Origin of Species, 1859, Masterpieces of Science Edition, 1958, p. 146).

Yet the Bible tells us plainly why we hear and see - a daily miracle for most:

Proverbs 20:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 Ears that hear and eyes that see-

the Lord has made them both.

Psalm 94:9

New International Version (NIV)

9 Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

Jesus told us the eye is:

Matthew 6:22

New International Version (NIV)

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

Answer 6

A:No less a person than Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, said that miracles do not happen. Because he admired the Christian ethic but not its claims to miracles, he created the "Jefferson Bible" by removing most of the Old Testament references and anything that proclaimed Jesus was divine or that a miracle had happened. A:Yes, some times miracles happen.

Answer 7

According to Judaism, the answer is yes. The Hebrew Bible records a number of miracles that God wrought for the Israelites. Many of these had millions of witnesses (Exodus 20:14), sometimes including other nations as well (such as when the sun stopped for Joshua, which is recorded among widely-scattered ancient peoples).

Answer 8

No, miracles don't happen today, in days past or in days to come. Miracles are an attempt to explain the outcome one does not expect because of a failure to understand probability or science. The concept a miracle (a change in the laws of the universe just to benefit you and perhaps harm someone else because you win, not them) does not appear to be reasonable of equitable. An example is someone saying that it was a miracle that they escaped a plane crash while the families of their fellow dead passengers might not feel as licky.

Answer 9

No, miracles are not real - not even the miracles of the gospels. If we look at the Gospel of Mark, the first New Testament gospel to be written and therefore the most likely to contain historical miracles, we can see evidence of miracles that were obvious literary creations. Mark's Gospel was developed around a parallel structure, a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, as shown in the following table: A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Just to choose a few examples of well known miracles (I have highlighted these events in the above table, for ease of reference): The Transfiguration of Jesus, when he was seen talking to Moses and Elijah (events B' and D') mirror the baptism of Jesus and the forty days in the wilderness. The miraculous voice from heaven (events C and C') come at just the right time and in just the right context to achieve the author's literary intent. Event K, in which Jesus rebukes the wind and thereby calms the sea, is mirrored by event K', in which Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John. In each case, the miracle meets a literary need and is therefore unlikely to have been literally true. Other examples can readily be identified from the above table.

In Acts of the Apostles we find mention of miracles performed by Peter and Paul. In each case Paul's miracle was matched by at least one even more awe-inspiring and worthy miracle performed by Peter. Paul had never mentioned performing miracles, but decades later we find Acts attributing miracles to him, with Peter always performing another, somewhat similar but greater miracle and doing greater service for the Church.

During the early years of Christianity, pagans and Christian apologists seem to have had a "gentlemen's agreement" to accept the truth of each other's miracles but to claim even more awe-inspiring miracles. After Constantine, the pagan miracles were consigned to history, while Christian miracles of the period became part of Christian lore.

Answer 10

All religions, past and present, have claimed to produce miracles and prophecies. So-called miracles are proof that people are prepared to believe in a higher power, whether that power is the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, or some other god presumed to have performed the miracle.