Miracles

CS Lewis wrote an entire book on miracles.  What could I possibly add?  Maybe not much, but I never let that stop me.

What are miracles?  Any thing that appears to violate the laws of science (i.e. nature) would be miracles.  Consider things such as:

• Virgin birth
• Water walking
• Sudden healing of lifelong illnesses on command.

Not all miracles are this way.  Some miracles are merely natural phenomena sped up greatly.  Consider things such as:
Turning water into wine (wine always comes from water plus grapes, which also are mostly water)
Multiplying food (fish come from other fish, and bread from unground flour).

Miracles should NOT be confused with statistical anomalies or low-probability occurrences.  The odds that YOU will win the lottery are small, but the odds that someone will win it (eventually) are close to 100%.   It's not a miracle when someone wins, it is only a miracle if someone predicts it in advance.  If that happens we quickly become suspicious that:

• The game was rigged.
• Some trick occurred just as in "magic trick" where we were fooled.

So, is there evidence for miracles?   Yes, there is.  Keeping in mind the above caveats,  miracles do occur and they are often stark enough to make the news.

Why would miracles occur?  Maybe they don't occur argues the hardened skeptic, perhaps all miracles, even those that make the news have a scientific explanation.

What explanation?

We scientists don't yet know, but we can figure it out.  Have FAITH in science.  We'll figure it out in time.

Why would miracles occur?  I think there are several reasons:

1. Miracles demonstrate that the world has outside influences,
2. That faith in science is simply faith in something compared to faith in something else,
3. To raise questions about nature:  Is nature all there is?  Apparently not.
4. To cause some people to look beyond the reality of matter, time and space as we perceive it.

There are lots of miracles in the world.

• It is a miracle that we live on this tiny blue dot in this vast cosmos.
• It is a small miracle that any of us survive the onslaught of microbes that assault us daily.
• It is a miracle that some folks would be their faith in science, when science has betrayed us so often.

Do I believe in miracles?

Absolutely!

But what about science.  Yep that exists too, and I have FAITH that both have their uses.