by Mr. Lalrinzuala Nghaka (Zuala), Ministry Associate with Reasons to Believe APAC
You might have come across certain arguments from the sciences claiming that miracles are a thing of the past and that science has better explanations as to why such events might occur. It is also human nature to look for natural explanations when strange events occur. For example, a child might claim to have seen a ghost, the parent however will give other seemingly natural explanations that the child might have imagined or even mistaken a normal thing for a ghost.
Many scientists and philosophers claim that the idea of miracles have been done away with because of the arguments made by the 18th Century Danish philosopher David Hume. It is the general understanding that Hume’s arguments have not been answered. Let’s take a closer look.
Argument 1 – Miracles are a violation of the Laws of Nature
Rene Descartes, Sir Isaac Newton and other scientists of old were thinkers who described nature in a mechanistic way identifying certain principles of the working of our universe. These laws seemed to describe the workings of the universe uniformly if there were no external factors that disrupted such workings. Hume’s claim was that if a miracle were to occur, the laws of nature would have to be broken which seemed very unlikely and probably does not (or cannot) happen.
Response – The term ‘Laws of nature’ can be interpreted many ways. If I had a ball in my hand and let go of it, it would be expected of the ball to fall to the ground due to gravity. But, if someone decided to catch the ball mid-air then it would mean that there is an intervention to what was expected earlier – the ball falling to the ground. Mathematician John Lennox describes a miracle as a divine intervention of God.
Another way to interpret the ‘laws of nature’ would be to differentiate this law in a prescriptive or descriptive sense. Judicial systems prescribe laws moral laws that would be expected to be followed by its citizens, any action that is contrary to the laws would be a violation and have consequences. However, scientific laws are different in the sense that these laws describe what would be expected in nature in the normal course of events when no external factors come into play. Thus, a miracle would be a divine intervention, unexpected in a normal course of events and has some cause behind it – a Divine Intervener.
Further, the argument of the violation of the laws of nature seems to be a war of worldviews. A naturalistic worldview does not allow any space for a divine being intervening in nature but a theistic worldview does offer the possibility of miracles even if the chances are slim.
Argument 2 – The occurrence of a miracle is improbable
Hume also argued against miracles from probability which might make it seem as if miracles are improbable.
Response - Jerry Gills states: "The degree of probability of an event does not settle its actuality. Many highly improbable events do actually occur." This means that just because something seems improbable it does not make it impossible.
Allow me to tell you about my story. Back in 2016, a trade fair (an international trading market) was established for about 2 weeks in my hometown. A lucky draw was also organized in this trade fair which could be entered for 20 bucks (INR). The lucky draw did have prizes the first prize being a car. People entered the lucky draw competition in hopes of winning the prize and of course, I tried out my luck too and to my surprise I won the first prize out of say 1,00,000 entry tickets (of course there was a lot more, putting this number for references sake). The chances of winning the car was only 0.001% but somehow this percent was on my side. To the person who didn’t win, this percentage made it impossible to win, but to me, this percentage was enough to make it an actuality. Improbability does not necessarily make it impossible.
Argument 3 – One cannot trust testimonies
Hume other contention was that because people tend to gossip or exaggerate testimonies they cannot be trusted.
Response - It is true that people tend to exaggerate about many things and testimonies about miracles seem too fantastical to the listener. However, philosopher C.D. Broad, "some of the most important natural laws would have never been discovered." – if we rejected testimonies altogether. The scientific enterprise functions through testimonies of discovering certain aspects of the universe with the attempt to falsify such claims. The miracles in the Bible especially the greatest of them all – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, offers us not only reliable testimony that people chose to die for this claim but also encourages us to falsify and verify the event (1 Corinthians 15)
These are some of the arguments and responses that have been covered to help us understand if miracles can/do occur. Understanding the nature, scope and purpose of miracles would even help us to further investigate what miracles really are which I hope would bring us to the article.
About The Writer
Lalrinzuala Nghaka (Zuala) currently serves as Ministry Associate with Reasons to Believe APAC. He is also an Associate Scholar with Reasons to Believe. He has an immense interest in the relationship of Science and Faith and has contributed to Apologetics books and Magazines published by the Aizawl Theological College. He is also a student of Science and Religion a field which he is pursuing after his Masters in Biochemistry.
