Do Miracles really occur?

Do you believe in miracles?

It is kind of interesting how Wikipedia defines a miracle as being tied to religion or the supernatural. When I read the C.S. Lewis book "Miracles", said that miracles are events that occur which are contrary to nature. Going by this criteria, one can say miracles can and do happen. The problem I have with the Wiki reference is that they try to explain the cause along with the effect. If the effect is a miracle, whether the cause is religious, supernatural, or unknown makes little difference, does it?

What is interesting is the Catholic Church has a Congregation for the Causes of Saints that specifically investigates miracles.

Yes miracles can and do happen from time to time. Mostly miracle healing and some similar stuff. And Yes I have witnessed miracle healing and it was even verified by the doctors. There are other types of miracles but this is just one of the more verifiable ones.

Yes, I believe in miracle healings. It is because of the power of the unconscious mind to create your reality. Strong faith and belief are necessary for miracles to occur. People who don't believe will never experience miracles.

reply to post by mapsurfer_


Life is a miracle, just the most amazing one we take for granted. I think it's a miracle a wound heals itself, or a bone mends. We do nothing and it does it on it's own. That's not a miracle to anyone? How about sight?

I don't believe magic miracles or we would see them all the time. I haven't seen anyone touch a person and them be able to see, but I've had laser surgery. I was almost blind...I have 15/20 vision....I cried when I opened my eyes the first time and could see....It is a miracle, just depends who is receiving it I guess.

Peace

Originally posted by TheComte
People who don't believe will never experience miracles.

Wrong.

I'm Atheist and I'm experiencing miracle every day...

The miracle of life.

That very experience hope comes from

When I think of the word miracle, I think of 3 things.

1. It is something that is beyond belief and/or of paranormal stature. Almost mystical in a way of healing or faith.

2. It is something that is so rare it is unbelievable. For example, a man falls from a 20 foot drop and survives without injury.

3. My former football teammates name.

Anyway, I do believe miracles happen, and I believe they happen everyday!

Originally posted by 5thElement

Originally posted by TheComte
People who don't believe will never experience miracles.

Wrong.

I'm Atheist and I'm experiencing miracle every day...

The miracle of life.

That very experience hope comes from

Well, I was talking about miracles of healing.

If anyone is interested in performing miracles, please read "A Course in Miracles" awesome book, .

Everything that has happened happened and what ever will happen happened already... theres no such thing as miricles your life is set in stone

reply to post by mapsurfer_

For the COG (Children of God)..... miracles occur on a regular basis. Their Angels are constantly at work protecting the COG from demonic attacks. My guess is that when all is said and done the frequency that the hand of Yahweh protects and directs the lives of His Children will be a shock to even the COG. Yahushua lived and died to make this so...

I still wonder about what occurred after 3 seperate prayers in my past. The reason that I'm inclined to label the results as miraculas over coinsidental is due to the span of time between the prayer and the occurrance. 1st time was as a young man of about 20 or so. I was assigned to a temporary job that wasn't going to get a paycheck into my possession until after my rent was past due and in addition to this I had zero food to eat. I would eaten at the salvation army if I was off early enough to go thru the line, but I wasn't, so I prayed for GOD to put a bag of beans in my path on the way to or from work that day because I was so hungry. I got on the used bicycle that I'd borrowed and set off on the 4 mile trip to the job site; when almost to the destination I found $227 in the street...on that one I'll divulge no further details other than that this happened in Ca.. Next time I needed a different kind of help. I was having difficulty coping with some marital issues at home and some social issues at work...I prayed for something to give me hope to take the edge off. Happened to be using a bike for transportation at this time in my life also. I should mention that the one kind person at work was a J.W. and that I was contemplating joining their religion, and also that I was secretly a pot smoker. Well upon getting close to the building that I was cleaning at that time something in me said take this street today. About 1/2 way down the street I found about 7 or 8 little 1 gram small bags scattered on the road...my J.W. friend didn't thought that the devil was behind the find, but I still wonder to this day...that night I went to sleep with a profound sense of wonder about the nature of God's charactor. More rescently, but still many years ago I had become depressed about my situation in general regarding a choice that I had to make; I asked God to show me if I should take a certain matter into my own hands or if he was there and could/would help me with my predicament. As soon as I finished praying I went outside to the parking lot to smoke. It was lunchtime and it was dead quiet util I heard this distinct THUMP in the inactive lot. I looked around for the potential cause of the sound when I noticed a dead sparrow on the ground very close to a large metal maintenance shed. I walked over to it and when I reached down to touch it it was still warm leading me to believe that it was what had made the noise by flying into the structure; instantly a bible scripture about us having the hairs on our head numbered and about sparrows not falling to the ground without his knowledge came to mind! By my definition all of these instances are classified as miraculous, but not without years of reflection on my part...this is all true if it helps or even if it doesn't.

Originally posted by rendrag69
Everything that has happened happened and what ever will happen happened already... theres no such thing as miricles your life is set in stone

Wow, we have 5thElement here who is an atheist, and believes in miracles... and this post here which believes the future is set in stone. Maybe I can get rendrag69 to elaborate on that position more.

In the OP, I we trying to keep this simple by just saying that miracles are events that occur which are contrary to nature. There were some people who said that life and sight are miracles, but these things very much occur normally in nature for many species. I'd say that reproduction and propagation of a species is more of a natural instinct.

Many of the instances of miracles involve healing or recovery of a disease or health related issues. On that one webpage, the Catholic church defines 3 degrees of miracles:

The miracle may go beyond the possibilities of nature either in the substance of the fact or in the subject, or only in the way it occurs. So three degrees of miracle are to be distinguished. The first degree is represented by resurrection from the dead (quoad substantiam). The second concerns the subject (quoad subiectum): the sickness of a person is judged incurable, in its course it can even have destroyed bones or vital organs; in this case not only is complete recovery noticed, but even wholesale reconstitution of the organs (restitutio in integrum). There is then a third degree (quoad modum): recovery from an illness, that treatment could only have achieved after a long period, happens instantaneously.

My criteria is much looser and more in line with that of C.S. Lewis who said that miracles are something unexpected that occurs out of the blue. More often than not, accounts of miracles are associated with prayer and the answering thereof.

reply to post by mapsurfer_


Once my finger ran through 60 watts and 50,000 volts of electricity. The Plasma from the arc, burned deeply, suffering a 3rd degree burn.

My finger completely healed in less than 5 minutes... I didn't immediately bandaged it, I had to turn off the equipment, set it aside and find out what caused the problem. Then when I went to wash that injured finger, it had healed completely, no wounds, no scar, no pain, just new skin like nothing happened...

Another miracle? My vision have already deteriorated to worse than 20/20 due to my hobby in astronomy. In recent years, it was restored to better than 20/20 without any corrective measure.

Another miracle? I once suffered a head injury from a bicycle accident. The injury has plagued me for years... Causing troublesome headaches at times. And then its suddenly gone in one night without doing anything!

I also had bloody ulcers because I don't eat like a normal person. It healed by itself.

I used to have a very low IQ when I was young, now I have over 130.

I have more miracles to tell, but I'd like to keep it short... Pray, believe in the impossible, eternally curious and ever learning like a child, do not worry about anything, do not be selfish, don't do what everybody else is doing, don't covet what everybody else have, and live and die for others.

[edit on 18-5-2009 by ahnggk]

Miracle means "to smile".

Peace

Originally posted by letthereaderunderstand
Miracle means "to smile".

Peace

Come hell or high water to add....

Yes, miracles do happen, without doubt.
I have prayed for and seen instant healing a few times plus i have heard many testemonies to that effect from reliable people.

It seems that miracles can just happen by reading some of these posts but i have only experienced it through prayer ministry.

You would be amazed by how many people, even in the church, don't think that miracles happen today,
It's a faith thing and also when i have talked to people about them praying for healing, the main question that i get is "what if nothing happens".

It is an awsome experience though the first time that you realise that God has used you to bring healing to someone. it's a very humbling time indeed.
It's mainly through prayer ministry that my faith grows stronger.

reply to post by mapsurfer_


Well first off i would not use wikipedia for anything due to the fact i can at anytime get four or so of my friends together plan out and win an edit war and wikipedia domminated by the athiest/skeptic crowd. I think the term miracle is a bit subjective, some may think that a single mother raising 2 good kids alone is a miracle and some may think a cancer dissapearing is a miracle. I believe in miracles but my expectations may be lower than most.

Originally posted by mapsurfer_

Do you believe in miracles?

Indeed, many things appear to be miracles in life, like experiencing things in dreams which are otherworldly for instance. Without the knowledge of aerodynamics seeing a plane fly is a miracle. In other words: Knowledge and sofia unravels the mysteries behind life, the universe and otherworldly experiences called miracles. Everything can be understood and explained and believed in, given the right setting, context, insight or knowledge and technology. My grandfather always said "nothing is imposible, the impossible only takes more time". The bridges and skyscrapers we build today would have been impossible to build 400 years ago, since the technology of the day didn't allow it. And given noone around had seen it, few would believe it to be true that in a couple of hundred years we would live in kilometer tall towers and be moving through the air from New York to Paris in a couple of hours, that we would be able to contact anyone all over the world instantly via cheap handheld devises, and moving beyond the sky into heaven, into the vastness of space, the final frontier, to the planets and the stars. "Ye are gods" David says in one of his psalms. It's more believable or even understandable today than back then I guess. The tiniest idea can turn the whole world upside down and reshape our understanding of life, the universe and everything else. A spark can turn into great fires, a germ or a virus or a cell can destroy or change life as we know it and until we know it all, we will have to live with the occurances of miracles.

[edit on 20/5/2009 by Neo Christian Mystic]