Are They Real?

               Should we believe or criticize?  Is there real documentation or is it merely a fabrication from the minds of religious fanatics?  How can we know?
               Because of the large amount of conspiracy theorists and insanely radical religious leaders, there is also a large amount of skeptics.  According to Timothy McGrew of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a miracle is "an event that is not explicable by natural causes alone."  This may be one of the reasons that many are skeptical of miracles; they do not understand miracles and feel they cannot trust them.  Philip Hefner of Newsweek Magazine wrote on May 1, 2000 that the idea of miracles is problematic for him because "it raises a specter of chaos and unpredictability."  The word that stands out most in this quote is "unpredictability."  Humans tend to criticize that which they cannot understand and/or have no control over.
              So are miracles merely invented by superstitious religious leaders or ambitious charlatans?  Why then do so many people believe in them?  Is there real documented evidence?  I hope to answer these questions and more as we delve into the mysteries of miracles and their origins in the hope of obtaining the truth regarding them.

Resources:
Hefner, Philip.  "Why I Don't Believe in Miracles."  Newsweek Magazine.  1 May, 2000.  Web.  17 October 2011.
McGrew, Timothy.  "Miracles."  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  2 July 2011.  Web. 17 October 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu