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Some of God's earlier form comes back with Jesus. It starts with the Cosmic Conception, then 30 years later there is the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of the dead and the turning of water into wine and so on. A rational look at miracles There are three ways of looking at miracles. We can accept that they occurred as described - God really did manipulate nature. Or we can assume that something natural occurred but which has gained a supernatural perspective in the generations since it happened. Or we can assume that none of the events occurred. The last explanation - that none of the events occurred - seems unlikely. To take one example, archeologists have identified the site of ancient Jericho and discovered the remains of walls that were demolished in historical times. If these were the walls referred to in the Bible, we have to choose whether they were destroyed by God or men. Without proof of God's intervention, we have to assume a natural - in this case human - cause.
And that is a major stumbling-block for believers. For miracles to be accepted, God's handiwork must be both observed but proved. Occam's Razor (always choose the simplest explanation) tells us that any event which can have a natural cause must be considered as a natural event. Most Biblical miracles can and should be interpreted this way. Thus if the first-born in Egypt really died, the cause of death was probably a naturally occurring virus and if the Nile ran with blood it may have been the result of a slaughter of animals upstream. Any miracle must clearly be proved to transgress natural laws. But the only evidence available for any miracle is found in scripture or claims by believers; in other words it is hearsay and unreliable. Evidence that a certain place existed or a certain calamity occurred shows no indication of any supernatural activity. And the fact that no miracles have been proved in modern life (despite the claims of the Catholic church, there is no proof that any saint has ever performed any miracle) suggests that older miracles are no more than myth. Belief in miracles is evidence of nothing more than gullibility. The powerlessness of prayer
The second element of prayer is related to miracles. It is asking God to do something. Sometimes that request appears to be granted, sometimes it appears to be refused. Believers point to "successful" prayers as proof of God's existence - he intervened and performed a miracle - and explain "unsuccessful" prayer as evidence that God didn't think the request was appropriate. (Of course God does not give a reason for his refusals.) Most prayers of request are relatively mundane - for a sick person to be made well or for an evil person to come to harm, for a country to prosper, for the weather to produce good crops and so on. They seldom ask God to contravene natural laws - and because no natural laws are broken, there is no evidence of God's intervention. Correlation is not cause. This means that the granting of refusing of prayers is no different from the tossing of a coin. A prayer that has been granted is nothing more than coincidence. In other words, miracles and prayer are proof not of God's existence but of human gullibility and coincidence. For a detailed look at a specific miracle - Jesus' death and resurrection - click Where did Christ go?. For more discussion of prayer, click A conversation with ourselves. Next: Chapter Two: Section 10 Eternal life
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If God existed, he would... admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create recognize that eternity is meaningless deny both heaven and hell disown all men and women who speak in his name denounce the harm caused by religious "morality" help the human race to thrive without him If God existed, he would be an atheist. What is the difference between science and faith? science is certain of nothing and requires proof of everything faith is certain of everything and requires proof of nothing Which do you trust? "I know there is no God" or "I believe there is no God" ??? Check the answer
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