To Believe or Not to Believe

                 Skeptics of miracles are bound to wonder, since a miracle defies the laws of nature, why do people insist on believing in them?  We have already defined the accepted definition of miracles, but the religious definition of miracles differs slightly.  Wayne Grudem, a professor at Phoenix Seminary and the president of the Evangelical Theological Society defines miracles in his book Systematic Theology as "a less common kind of God's activity in which he arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself."  (Grudem 355)  This definition will give us a little more information into why Christian believers of miracles believe.  Regardless of whether there is evidence or not (we will delve into evidence of miracles later on in this blog,) those who believe in miracles believe because they feel miracles will not only provide proof that God exists, but also increase the world's wonder and awe of Him.
                On the other hand, the question may arise, why are skeptics adamant that miracles DON'T exist?  There are some that proclaim miracles cannot occur because they are naturally impossible.  But then there are others, as Timothy McGrew of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states, "the more common arguments for this conclusion are more modest; rather than setting out to show the existence of God to be impossible, they typically invoke theological premises to show that if there were a God, then miracles would not occur."  But for the purposes of this blog, we will focus on pitting the disagreements between believers of the existence of miracles and those who completely deny the existence because we are examining the actual existence of the supernatural phenomena of miracles.  So with that in mind, let us examine the skeptic's interpretation.  David Hume, author of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding says that a miracles "is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined." (Hume 86–87)
               Why are miracles so controversial?  What types of miracles have been "performed?"  Can we prove them?  Answers to these questions and more will be forthcoming.

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Resources:
Grudem, Wayne.  Systematic Theology S.E. Grand Rapids Michigan; Zondervan 1994
McGrew, Timothy.  "Miracles."  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  2 July 2011.  Web. 19 October 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu
Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Ed. Tom L. Beauchamp. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.