A wonderful thing

by | Apr 4, 2013 | 2013 | 0 comments

Do miracles still occur today? In fact, did they ever occur?

About 2000 years ago, arguably the greatest miracle ever, took place. Oh yes, there had been miracles before. A burning bush, not being consumed by the fire. Water turned into wine. A blind man receiving his sight. But this one was the cherry on top of the cake. Jesus of Nazareth, condemned to die, crucified and buried, stands up from the dead. Christ resurrected.

During the 1600s and 1700s there was a lot of vigorous debate around miracles, against the backdrop of the Deist controversy. Deists believed that there was a Creator God, but that after the universe was set in motion he stepped back and let things be, never to be directly involved again. Even today, many philosophers, scientists and others deny that miracles do, or did, occur. They maintain that there is usually a reasonable (or natural) explanation. Did the Red Sea really part miraculously for the Israelites to cross over on dry land, or is there some better geological explanation? Maybe an earthquake caused the sea to subside for a while. Newton showed that much in the universe is predictable and works like a well-oiled clock under a set of natural scientific laws. This Newtonian physics was foundational to the reasoning of Deists and scientists alike.

Can natural laws be broken?

The scientific world basically does not even consider the possibility of the supernatural. Theirs is a naturalistic worldview. The argument often centres on the idea that there are natural laws in effect and these laws cannot be broken. Therefore miracles, which basically contradict natural laws, cannot occur. In some ways we experience this every day. For example, it doesn’t matter how many times you throw a stone off a cliff it is going down, not up.

But in reality, has a physical law been broken when a miracle occurs? For example, every time a massive jumbo jet takes off it appears to break the law of gravity. Obviously it doesn’t. There are simply other natural laws that have come into effect that have a much greater impact on the plane than gravity. In the exact same way, there are arguably supernatural laws that are far greater than natural laws and the former, if employed, could easily override the latter. A good example would be when Jesus walked on water.

We must keep in mind that the ‘laws’ of nature are not the same as the ‘laws’ of the land or of God. In other words, it is wrong (unethical) to murder, steal, or exceed the speed limit according to the laws of the land or of God. However, it is not wrong or unethical to ‘break’ the law of gravity. ‘You shall not murder’ does not compare to ‘you shall not defy gravity.’ Therefore, even in these terms it is not wrong or unethical to break the laws of nature.

As Prof. William Lane Craig states in his book (Reasonable Faith) quoting from or paraphrasing Thomas Sherlock (Bishop of London) ‘The resurrection contradicts neither right reason nor the laws of nature. The so-called course of nature arises from the prejudices and imaginations of men. Our senses tell us what the usual course of things is, but we go beyond our senses when we conclude that it cannot be otherwise. The uniform course of things runs contrary to the resurrection, but that is no proof that it is absolutely impossible. The same Power that created life in the first place can give it to a dead body again – the later feat is no greater than the former’.

That is part of the definition of a miracle. It goes against the natural course of things. Dead men don’t suddenly come to life as a norm. The people in Jesus’ time were not ignorant or stupid, they understood this and therefore realised it was something very unusual that had happened.

What about unknown natural laws?

Some people argue that miracles are not really miracles, but the deployment of some yet unknown natural laws. It is true that we are continually learning of new laws of nature. However, the argument is false because even if we don’t know about these natural laws they would still be in effect. Therefore, if Jesus walking on water or rising from the dead were due to unknown laws of nature, we would still see these phenomena happening all over on a daily or periodical basis as a result of these laws, but we don’t. These are things that cannot simply be explained away along naturalistic lines of thought.

What is the real issue?

Deep down the real issue is usually that people don’t like the idea of a superior being interfering in what’s going on in our universe, let alone our planet or lives. But that is what happened. God broke into human history and got directly involved in our lives when he became human and walked on this earth. In some ways it is no different to an apple falling off a tree. According to Newtonian laws of physics the apple will hit the ground. However, such physics never calculates in the possibility of someone sticking out their hand and catching the apple in mid air. Strangely enough, this clock-work, predictable view of the universe that cannot be tampered with or changed was scientifically proved to be wrong on various levels by Einstein in quantum physics.

Do miracles still occur today?

Although the focus has been on natural laws versus miracles, there are also other arguments to be made for miracles. For example, if God created the universe does he not have the right to change things, or get involved, as he sees fit? Much in the same way as a carpenter, who makes and owns a table, has the right to change the colour of it should he see the need or have the desire.

Miracles were an integral part of the life of Jesus Christ. Wherever he went miracles happened. But then that is to be expected because he was God. A reasonable question then to ask is do miracles still occur today? The guess is that many people would love to see a miracle like water being turned into wine, or a lame man get up and walk. Not to mention a dead person coming back to life. The truth is many people have seen or personally experienced genuine miracles in our modern day. Yet probably the greatest miracle ever, occurs on a daily basis when somebody gives their heart to the LORD and a life is changed forever.

The word ‘miracle’ has its roots in the Latin word mirari, which is ‘to wonder’. In a general sense the word was used to denote a wonderful thing. Could there have been a more wonderful thing than God himself coming down to earth, living amongst us as one of us, dying for our sins and rising from the dead? And then to top that off – giving you and me the miracle of a brand new start in life?

 

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