The Truth.

           At the end of my last post, I presented the question, "How can we know the truth?"  Wayne Grudem states in Systematic Theology that "one purpose of miracles is certainly to authenticate the message of the gospel."  (359)  But how do we authenticate miracles?  In reality, miracles must be accepted with a certain amount of faith as well.  Often people who are eyewitnesses of miracles have less trouble believing miracles than those that merely hear of the miracles second-hand.
                My personal opinion of the existence of miracles is that of a believer.  I believe miracles are initiated by the power of God.  However, I agree with the verse written in post four that miracles will not prove the existence of God to those who do not desire to believe.  Timothy McGrew states "a positive nor a negative claim regarding the existence of God can be established on the basis of evidence for a miracle claim alone."  But as to the existence of miracles themselves, I start with a belief in the existence of God which is the basis of my faith.  This belief leads to the belief in miracles themselves.  Much evidence has been documented on the existence of miracles but this will not be believed unless the observer incorporates a certain amount of faith into the equation.  This evidence, for me, merely reenforces my belief in God, the validity of the scriptures, and miracles themselves.

http://www.humblewalk.org

Resources:
McGrew, Timothy.  "Miracles."  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  2 July 2011.  Web. 29 October 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu
Grudem, Wayne.  Systematic Theology S.E. Grand Rapids Michigan; Zondervan 1994

Evidence.

               Evidence: the barrier at which many supernatural phenomena stop cold.  Do we have solid proof?  Some believe that there is much evidence, even in their personal lives, of the influence of miracles.  A transcript of a BBC broadcast by Roger Bolton (written on April 6, 2006,) contains the story of a woman named Katie Prang who, eleven years prior to the writing of the article, had been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.  As a last resort, Katie requested prayer from her church.  "I received prayer on the Sunday morning, and played hockey that afternoon....It had to be a miracle."  Her doctor attributed the "miracle" to a faulty diagnosis but she remains adamant that she was healed miraculously.   
              Bolton presents the following argument against miracles, "On sceptic told me he would believe in miracles if an amputated leg began to grow back.  Why, he wondered, are so many of the cured conditions invisible to the eye?"  From the Christian perspective, the reason many miracles are "hazy" so to speak is because those uninterested in believing would not believe regardless of how much evidence there is presented in the miracle. In John 12:37-40 it explains this unbelief, "Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in front of them.  But they still would not believe in Him...They can't turn to the Lord.  If they could, He would heal them."  So is this evidence real evidence, or is it merely fabricated by religious fanatics?  Bolton noncommittally states "just don't ask me what I believe, because I'm still making my mind up."  How can we know the truth?

Resources:
Bolton, Roger.  "Modern Miracles."  BBC News.  6 April, 2006.  Web. 28 October 2011.  
news.bbc.co.uk

"The Holy Bible: New International Version."  Walk Thru Bible Ministries, 1992

Water Into Wine

           How can we prove the existence of miracles if they defy all laws of nature (McGrew)?  In all honesty, we cannot.  There is no solid proof for miracles which is probably why miracles are so controversial.  Many believe that miracles must be believed in an act of faith.  Whether the reader is a believer or not, it would help us to know more background information on miracles. 
           In the Bible, many miracles have been documented.  Jesus Christ, the One Who started Christianity and Whom Christians believe to be the Savior of the world, performed that which many believe to be miracles.  In the Gospel of John Chapter 2, documented is what is considered the first of his miracles; the changing of water into wine.  The event started when Jesus was attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Weddings, being huge events, were expected to have a large amounts of wine for the guests.  Wine was considered a sort of delicacy, so when the wine store was depleted, Jesus' mother said to Him, "They have no more wine."  Jesus reluctantly complies after first requesting that she not involve Him.  There were six stone jars nearby and Jesus tells some servants to fill them with water.  They do so and he tells them to "draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."  The master tasted it and the water had turned to wine!  He did not know where the wine had come from and was shocked because the wine tasted much better than the rest of the wine the wedding banquet had been provided.  The master of the banquet spoke to the bridegroom, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
               The believability of the Bible, however, is also controversial and thus evidence of miracles provided in the Bible might not be affirmed by all as solid evidence.  In next post, I will delve into modern "evidence" of miracles so we may see on what believers of miracles base their belief.

 http://www.childrenschapel.org

Resources:
McGrew, Timothy.  "Miracles."  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  2 July 2011.  Web. 17 October 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu
"The Holy Bible: New International Version."  Walk Thru Bible Ministries, 1992

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.

 www.christ-pictures-images.blogspot.com/

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.

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