Why do some people not believe in miracles?

Answer 1

A:

Miracles are supposed violations of the laws of nature, usually assumed to result from divine intervention. The people who believe in miracles are people who follow any of the religions that are based, at least in part, on the performance of miracles. This is most prevalent in Christianity, then Judaism and Islam, but many other religions claim miraculous experiences. Miracles are thought to provide the basis for accepting revelation.

The religious group that most strongly identifies with miracles is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church not only accepts all the miracles described in The Bible, including the deuterocanonical books, but also has a post-biblical tradition of miracles.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "The miracles of Christ have an evidential value," meaning that they are accepted as proof of his divine mission. Anglican theologian Alan Richardson said, "Traditional Christian theology has always regarded the miracles as the rational grounds by means of which reasonable men may believe truths which go beyond the power of reason to establish." On the other hand, the great English philosopher David Hume (Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Of Miracles) 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.

Answer 2

People can have all sorts of reasons for not believing in miracles. Pretty much by definition, a miracle is something that takes place in a manner or by a power that we do not understand. If it is by a means or power that we cannot personally wield, it is impossible to reproduce. Miracles can be difficult to believe when we cannot understand any way they could have occurred. Sometimes it is because the "miracle" is nothing of the sort - it is certainly possible to fake a miracle.

Answer 3

In miracles god works his wonderous deeds through man, even though man has no miraclous power.
Many people actually do believe in miracles. And not just the 'miracle of birth' or 'the fall of the Berlin Wall', but real breaches for good in the normal physical laws governing the universe.

What made a profound impact in me when I was very young was seeing, with my own eyes, someone actally healed (ie cured) as I watched - as someone, a paraplegic all his life, walked again in response to Christ's call. As someone involved in science at a high level all his life I should have been very sceptical - and I was - but, seeing was believing and reluctantly I could not question what my own eyes had seen. So, as far as I am concerned miracles do occur - and far more frequently than some realise.

The problem with modern society is that we think we know better than those who have gone before. This is not only true of belief but also of technology. I can remember Erik von Daniken's book 'Chariots of the Gods' being published where he maintained that early 'advanced civilisations' were anything but advanced, and the 'proof' that we had been invaded by aliens in the past was that the pyramids of Egypt were far to complicated for primitive Egyptians to have constructed, nor was Stonehenge possibly built by the early inhabitants of Britain because they were savages, nor could a host of other artifacts be made by ancient peoples because we are far cleverer than they ever were.

Of course, the reality is very different; we now have a pretty clear idea how the Egyptians built the pyramids and how Stonehenge was made, thanks to modern Archaeology and a real understabnding of the sheer ingenuiity of those ancient peoples. But still there are those alive today who arrogantly still think they are better than those who have gone before.

The same argument can be made of miracles. Many contemporary people are so arrogant and know better that for them miracles cannot occur because they simply don't, and that millions who have witnessed miracles in the past are misguided or deluded. This height of arrogance does not take into account that those who had experienced miracles, though possibly lacking in modern technology, were still streets ahead of modern humanity in philosophy, logic, mathematics, engineering and a host of other things.

So, many people today DO believe in miracles, but those who do not are too often narrow minded, cynical and arrogant, and, unless smething stares them in the face, they refuse to believe. I assume that if any of them are married they they would require a written contract with their spouse too, to 'prove' that their spouse loved them - for love is something else that cannot be proved either way. One just has to look at the evidence and come to a conclusion. Sadly, though, there are those unbelievers who think that they are so important that looking at miracle evidence is too far below them.

Answer:

The very purpose of miracles is to CAUSE people to believe.

Answer 4

Those who do not believe in a god or some other higher power do not believe in miracles because miracles would need just such a god to perform them.

Others do not believe in miracles because they are always too distant in time or place, or they involve things like miraculous cures the like of which often happens by remission and in the absence of a miracle. We can read about miracles in the gospels, but are the gospels true? The early Church Fathers often told of the miracles performed by their colleagues, often raising the dead, but none seemed willing to admit to having performed miracles himself. A noble Grecian who obviously did not believe in these miracles, promised Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, that, if he could be gratified with the sight of a single person who had been actually raised from the dead, he would immediately embrace the Christian religion. The prelate, however anxious for the conversion of his friend, thought proper to decline this fair and reasonable challenge.

A recent example of a miracle that some find hard to believe in was one of the two miraculous cures originally selected for the canonisation of Pope John Paul II. It was found out that the nun, said to have been cured by his intercession, had relapsed, so the Church announced that it had other miracles that it could use instead. This would not seem a very rigorous process to a sceptic.

Answer 5

I think that miracles do not happen, and have never happened. There has never been independent, verifiable evidence of miracles, whether performed by pagan priests or Christians. Miracles, like magic, are happenings in the natural world for which we have no explanation at the moment. Miracles and magic "happened long ago" for most of us, so...

1. Natural occurrences have been described as magical/miraculous because people of the day had no logical explanation - solar/lunar eclipses are a good example, or 2. Whatever the actual event was, it's been exaggerated/mystified in the telling. Can a miracle survive scientific examination? 1. It may be explained by logical means, or it may be left as "described but not explained", or 2. It may be shown to be deliberate or innocent exaggeration. James Randi has shown many "miracles" to be repeatable by conjuring tricks. While it's not an absolute demolisher, Randi's ability to repeat "miracles" by conjuring must cast great doubt on those he's exposed.

my opinion;- I think you should always believe in miracles (but don't rely on them happening) because otherwise everything would be very boring