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Add to FavoritesYes, I definitely believe in miracles. Miracles represent a prominent element which form and define spirituality. Their esoteric and enigmatic entity allows us to continue to believe in God and to realize that He cares about us and does not forsake us. Miracles can function as mechanisms by which individuals can be reminded of the importance to persevere and not to abandon hope. Without the belief in miracles, the connection to the faith may at times feel lost.
I believe that in many respects miracles and Catholicism are codependent. After all, in the process of learning about the religion and listening to the Gospel, we hear the stories of the miracles written in the Bible. It is through these stories that we remember important events and their consequent messages. For example, when Jesus created enough bread and fish to feed all of the people, this was a miracle because at the beginning, there was barely enough loaves and fish to even feed one person. At first there was despair; there was worry; their was hardship. Yet in creating the abundance of food, Jesus demonstrated to the people that he would take care of them. He demonstrated to them that he would allow them to carry on with their existence. Upon hearing this part of the Gospel, we once again recall our connection to hope and to faith. This simple story demonstrates that even in the most frightening or hopeless situations, God is always there and in some way will help to mitigate the horrors of reality.
Nevertheless, miracles help to relate spirituality to human thought and behavior. They form a connection between reality and spirituality. The most pulchritudinous quality of a miracle is that it can transcend to these values of faith. By listening to or analyzing the miracles of the Bible, we are able to make connections between the messages of these events and the events that we encounter each and every day. The most common motif is hope.
Miracles told within the Bible are usually dramatic events that we do not typically observe on a daily basis. However, a possible reason for this is that dramatic occurrences are directly proportional to greater impacts placed within the mind. Therefore, during the time when Jesus was alive, He wanted people to understand the virtues of morality, so the component miracles were very dramatic. Yet within life now, we have the Bible and are able to read about these events whenever we choose. Therefore, it is our objective to find miracles within the small components of life. The definition of a miracle can be interpreted in a variety of different respects. A miracle can be extraordinary, or it can also be meaningful. There is no single way to regard something that is already so abstract. Miracles can perhaps be evaluated in comparison to other miracles, but in the end, sometimes just the fact that a person did not die when they should have, or when an occurrence does not end as awful as it could have, can be considered as a miracle.
In teaching people the truth, Jesus used miracles. The miracles recorded within the Bible are evidence to me that miracles do exist. Times change and different lessons regarding the values of life are to be received at different times. A person does not have to rise from the dead in order for me to determine whether or not I believe in the existence of miracles. Being religious or spiritual is about having faith. Having faith is about believing in things that we cannot see. A miracle is something that I, as well as many other people, have never actually observed. Yet I still choose to believe. I believe in miracles the same way that I believe in God. I would not have it any other way.
Learn more about this author, Miranda Pierson.
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No
I don't believe in miracles, but I'd better be clear on what I consider a miracle. According to Mirriam-Webster, a miracle is defined as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs". And there's the problem right there, the D-word.
For something to be a bona-fide miracle, it would have to be divine in origin. Now, I'm no fan of religion, and don't believe in any kind of supreme being or deity. But let's, for the sake of argument, assume that there is. We'll focus on him being some kind of Judeo-Christian figure, being as they're the ones who focus on miracles, particularly the Catholic church.
Now, according to Christian doctrine, Man has free will. God does not interfere in our actions. This is usually a neat way of explaining why an omnipotent being would choose to allow suffering and evil in the world; it's not his choice, it's ours. By our own actions, we can put an end to such things. Alternatively, by our sins, we're the ones who cause the problems in the first place. But either way, it's up to us to sort them out.
Now, if that's the case, why do miracles occur? By the definition above, they have to be both extraordinary and divine; they're an example of God directly intervening in human affairs, in such an unambiguous way as to leave no other rational explanation for the occurrence. Why is it that this particular blind man who could suddenly see, or this child who survived a head on car crash suddenly warrants the very specific attentions of God? Some would argue 'God has plans for them later in life', or words to that affect. But again, free will; if our actions are decided only by us, we can't have any Fate or Destiny to fulfill.
And why act so specifically? Almost all recorded miracles are either paranormal displays (statues weeping and such), or amazing cures of diseases with no such cure. Why should they only happen to specific people? Are the people who remain blind, or die in car crashes somehow undeserving of the attention of God?
Finally, isn't it equally miraculous when something happens that's extraordinary but results in the deaths of people? Say a freak power surge shorts out a traffic control system and dozens of cars pile up, causing multiple fatalities. The manufacturers assure us such an occurrence couldn't have been forseen, that it was a million to one chance that it could happen. Does that qualify as a miracle? It's up there in the probability stakes. And what if this God had somehow prevented that from happening, and business went on as usual. That would certainly qualify as a miracle, but no-one would even know.
I believe it was Richard Fortey who used to have a little anecdote he opened his speeches with sometimes, along the lines of how, on the way to the auditorium or lecture hall, he'd happened to see a car with the licence plate 423DGC. "Imagine," he would say "the chances of me seeing that particular plate! How incredible!" The point is, if you look hard enough, you can find improbable coincidences in anything. It doesn't mean that they have any significance.
There are a lot of things that happen in the world that we don't have an explanation for. Some of them probably don't have an explanation to give, even if we could understand it. Some of them seem like the most impossible things. This doesn't mean we shouldn't ask how they happened, or ascribe them to some vague sky-spirit and leave it at that. A 'miracle' is a handy way of washing our hands of a situation, instead of asking questions.
Learn more about this author, Dave Simmons.
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