Article 6
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Investigating Miracles
What Is A Miracle? I think the only truly definitive words concerning miracles are 'impossible' and 'purposeful design' rather than merely 'unusual'.
'Normal' Miracles The 'usual suspects' of typical miracles are the healing miracles - recovering from cancer, tumours disappearing, etc etc. The more traditional miracles would be the ones concerning those unable to walk and using crutches and then suddenly throwing away the crutches and being able to walk without help. There seems to be no definitive method of investigating these occurrences. One question could be - are these recoveries totally 'impossible'? They may be strange. They may be unusual. They may be wonderous. They may be stupendous. They may be totally unexpected. But are they actual miracles - are they actually impossible? I don't think one could say so. The fact is, the body heals itself: bones mend, muscles grow etc. We need something more definite. We need to start the investigation from a totally different perspective. We need findamental principles.
Impossibilities
Miracle Type One: Extended Lifespan A lot of miracles could be described as an improvement of health so that a person doesn't die as expected and is cured and thereby continues to live. I think we can all agree that many people do not want to die. Many people would like to prolong their life. So a simple question could be: 'how many people who have gone to Lourdes etc have lived to the age of 180 (just to take a random number) for example? Even without much investigation I think we can all agree that no one lives to be 180 years of age. No one has ever lived to be 180. Now the question is: has anyone ever prayed to live longer than the usual life-span? - the answer to that would seem to be a definite 'yes'; one can presume that people have prayed to love longer than the nor,mal lifespan. And yet no one has lived to reach 180 years of age. If there was a god who 'performed' miracles there should be at least a few people living to that age. I think I can safely say that there is no one at all, not even one person, who is 150 years of age. If there was - well that WOULD be unusual, maybe even possibly a miracle (though as to who should get the acclaim for bringing this about would still be a mystery). But there are none. Yet even if there was a person living to 150 years of age it souldn't, even then, be necessarily considered as being totally impossible.
Miracle Type Two: New Limbs It is often stated, and taken as true, that many people have had various healings through the intersession of god; otherwise known as miracles. Usually these miracle sites have their collection of crutches which were left behind by those cured. But let's look at what would actually be a true miracle. The simple question is this: how many people have gone to Lourdes or other 'holy' place with one limb (arm or leg) and subsequently returned with two? I think I can safely assume that NO One has ever 'grown' a second limb (to replace a missing one) ever ever ever. Presumably this god would not be confined to specific miracles but could do ANYTHING it wanted. Therefore if it ever 'performed' a miracle then why not in the odd case or two give a person an extra limb? There could be no arguement against god doing that. That is - if god ever performed a miracle. I would think that even those who 'believe' in miracles would realise that growing an extra limb has never, and will never happen. THAT is impossible and no matter how much one talks of miracles no one would expect that to occur - ever.
Supposed Miracle At Pilar, Spain 1640
It has been brought to my attention a supposed miracle where a leg DID grow, so I was interested, to say the least! In 1640, 19 year old Miguel Juan Pellicer fell off the cart he was driving, and the wheel ran over his right leg beneath the knee. They had to amputate the leg. One night after he had returned home to live with his parents his parents noticed that two feet were poking out from the end of the bed. Miguel had two legs again! Not only that, for his wasn’t just a new leg, but was the very same leg that had been amputated two and a half years previously, bearing the scars of old wounds including the surgical removal of a cyst. When people investigating the 'miracle' dug up the coffin holding the amputated leg it was gone - the leg was no longer there. It is up to ever individual to decide what they WANT to believe. All I will say is that rationally speaking, if there was a god and 'he/she' wanted to give the boy a leg then why dig up the old leg? Why not create a brand new healthy leg? The only logical reason is that this WASN'T a miracle. There is nothing here to demand a re-questioning of, or make me somehow believe in, a god and in miracles. Now, if there actually had been a NEW log - then THAT would have been thoroughly interesting - though not necessarily proving a miracle, attributed to god, or whoever - taking into account the playing card scenarion, and the holy gloves scenario below. But I can assure you, that will NEVER happen! It is up to you to either attempt to be rational or to 'wallow' in useless and meaningless irrational childish hope. Conclusion These two contenders - extended lifespan and new limbs, for miracle-hood have never been performed, as far as I know. If either of these things happened, these would without any doubt whatsoever be considered as being miracles - especially the latter. Yet they have never happened. There is no logical reason why they shouldn't . . . except in the case where there haven't ever been any actual miracles at all. Then it would make sense. So although you can talk about, and hope for, and wish for, miracles and the intersession of god (or whoever) etc but reality tells us they don't happen.
The Playing Cards Scenario Yesterday (7th April 2007) I heard an item on the news which said that a nun was miraculously cured by the late pope John Paul. I suddenly realised that there is a very simple scenario to put the truth of these occurances into correct and realistic perspective. I call it the 'Playing Cards Scenario'. For this scenario I claim that I can see into the future and to prove so I will predict what card will be next when I turn it over (I have a pack of cards face down on the table). How can I prove that? Simply by stating the name of each card before I turn it over and do so for the whole pack. Let us try the experiment! I state that the next card will be the TWO (it doesn't matter what suit it is for this example). I turn over the card and see that it is a KING. I then state that the next card will be a TWO and turn over the next card and it is a SEVEN. I carry on predicting a TWO and after 9 cards it IS a TWO. Therefore I CAN predict the future and predict what card will be next! I carry on and keep predicting a TWO and after another 10 cards another TWO turns up - this must prove that I can predict what the next card will be. I continue doing so for the rest of the pack of cards and another 2 times I will be correct in my predictions! The question now is - does this mean that I can predict what the next card will be, and thus can predict the future? Just in case you are a bit slow, or confused, the answer is NO - this does NOT demonstrate that I can predict the future. One could describe the fact that I did predict the 4 TWOs which happened to turn up as being totally random occurances and therefore not demonstrating my powers of seeing into the future. So let's go back to this nun who was cured by John Paul. One can presume that at least some thousands of people have prayed to John Paul seeking 'divine' intervention. If it was the case that ALL those prayers were answered then there would be a very strong case for thinking that John Paul still exists and has power to intervene and help people in this life. But if it is the case that only ONE person's prayer was presumed to have been answered and all those others who prayed were ignored then the idea that it was a miracle is very weak or even non-existent - it should be described as being a totally random occurance. Also if there was an intervention by John Paul in the nun's case then it would mean that John Paul purposefully and with consideration did NOT help (and did NOT want to help) all the others who prayed to him for help. If it was the case that John Paul had the power to cure people then why does he not help everyone? The answer could only be that he doesn't want to help everyone. Think about it!
The Holy Glove Scenario There is one very rational doubt associated with miracles which most believers fail to recognise. Imagine I have a holy glove. I go to one sick person and touch him with the holy glove but he isn't cured. I then go to another sick person and touch her with the holy glove but she isn't cured. I then go to another sick person and touch him with the holy glove but he isn't cured. I go to another sick person and touch her with the holy glove but she isn't cured.... I keep doing this 20 or 30 or 40 times etc and then suddenly someone - one individual - recovers from what was considered as being a terminal illness. So what conclusion can we come to? Most believers will jump to the conclusion that the holy glove has cured that person. But how can anyone know that it was the holy glove that made the difference? The holy glove didnn't make any difference in the preceding 20 or 30 or 40 times, so the rational conclusion would be that it WASN'T the glove which effected the 'cure'. If it were the case that EVERY individual who was touched by the holy glove was cured THEN it would be fairly rational to attribute the cures to the holy glove. But if it is the case of a 'ONE-OFF' incident then it is madness to GUESS that it was the holy glove which cured that one individual. The fact is - it could be anything which effected the cure. The cure could have happened on account of the day name, or the particular date, or the position of the planets, or something the person ate, or the weather, or the zodiac positions, or radiation from a sunspot, or a change of bed sheets, or something in the water, or radiation from the radio, or even just the body repairing itself. If there was an unexplained recovery it would be ANYTHING at all which helped or caused it. The only reason to believe it was the holy glove is because YOU WANT TO BELIEVE THAT. YOU WANT TO BELIEVE IN MIRACLES. There is absolutely NO rational reaon to believe in miracles.
In conclusion, there are no miracles. This is real life. There is no magic. There is no god. There are no miracles. To believe in miracles is to be like a child, to think like a child, to dream like a child and, above all, to ignore reality and have hopes which are utter irrational. Lou Gogan Updated: 21st May 2012
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