Difference between revisions of "Argument from Miracles"

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While there have been miraculous claims made by Christianity and all of the world’s religions, they all share one commonality -- they are all bound by the law of cause-and-effect. While miracles may defy physics, they never violate causality. Since effects can’t be more than the sum total of its causes, miracles thus require a supernatural cause to render its supernatural effects.<ref name="Kreeft">P. Kreeft, ''Faith and Reason:  The Philosophy of Religion'' (Recorded Books, 2005).</ref> Miracles are necessary for religious belief, because people need to be reminded that the process works.  
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All of the miraculous claims made by Christianity and other world religions share one commonality -- they are all bound by the law of cause-and-effect. '''Miracles may defy physics, they never violate causality.''' Since effects can not be more than the sum total of their causes, miracles thus require supernatural causes to render its supernatural effects.<ref name="Kreeft">P. Kreeft, ''Faith and Reason:  The Philosophy of Religion'' (Recorded Books, 2005).</ref> Miracles are necessary for religious belief, because people need to be reminded that the process works.  
 
*The Israelites feared and believed in both God, and his servant, Moses, simply because of the wondrous feats they performed to defeat the Egyptians (EXO 7:10-12; 8:7; 14:31).  
 
*The Israelites feared and believed in both God, and his servant, Moses, simply because of the wondrous feats they performed to defeat the Egyptians (EXO 7:10-12; 8:7; 14:31).  
 
*Jesus only performed miracles to convince others of his divinity (MAT 11:2-5; JOH 4:48, 5:36, 20:30-31; ACT 2:22; HEB 2:4), because that was the only way to attract followers (JOH 3:2).
 
*Jesus only performed miracles to convince others of his divinity (MAT 11:2-5; JOH 4:48, 5:36, 20:30-31; ACT 2:22; HEB 2:4), because that was the only way to attract followers (JOH 3:2).
Christians ''need'' to believe in miracles because they need something to believe in, since Christianity doesn’t have much else to offer:
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Christians ''need'' miracles so they can have [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5uamDMoW4o something to believe in], since Christianity doesn’t have much else to offer:
 
*[[Creationism_is_False|The biblical creation story conflicts with most, if not all, of the sciences]].
 
*[[Creationism_is_False|The biblical creation story conflicts with most, if not all, of the sciences]].
 
*[[Points_of_Contention_with_the_Life_of_Christ|The gospels contradict themselves]].
 
*[[Points_of_Contention_with_the_Life_of_Christ|The gospels contradict themselves]].
 
*[[The Bible is not Credible|Christian tradition is mostly usurped pagan stories, beliefs, and practices.]]  
 
*[[The Bible is not Credible|Christian tradition is mostly usurped pagan stories, beliefs, and practices.]]  
*Thomas Paine argues that scripture cannot be a revelation -- while it may have been a revelation to the author, the act of writing it makes it into a second-hand account.<ref name="Paine"> T. Paine, ''The Age of Reason'' (Cosimo Classics, 2007).</ref>
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*Thomas Paine argued that scripture cannot be a revelation -- while it may have been revealed to the author, their copied manuscripts are second-hand accounts, told by those authors and translators.<ref name="Paine"> T. Paine, ''The Age of Reason'' (Cosimo Classics, 2007).</ref>
  
However, the most powerful argument against divine miracles comes, ironically, from the Bible itself, which warns that miracles, signs, and other wonders are the hallmarks of false prophets, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3rLof2cnzg who are trying to make themselves look credible]. These Satanic people (LUK 11:19; 2THE 2:9) will only deceive you (REV 13:13-14) and turn you away from God (DEU 13:1-3). Likewise, anyone who performs miracles and claims to be the Christ is just one of the many false Christs who will appear from time to time (MAT 24:24). The idiom of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” was originally coined by Jesus, to explain the behavior of these people (MAT 7:15).
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The most powerful arguments against divine miracles ironically comes from the Bible itself, which warns that miracles, signs, and other wonders are the hallmarks of false prophets, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3rLof2cnzg who are trying to make themselves look credible]. These Satanic people (LUK 11:19; 2THE 2:9) will only deceive you (REV 13:13-14) and turn you away from God (DEU 13:1-3). Likewise, anyone who performs miracles and claims to be the Christ is just one of the many false Christs who will appear from time to time (MAT 24:24). Jesus coined the idiom “wolves in sheep’s clothing” to describe these people (MAT 7:15).
  
 
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Many miracle stories are exaggerations or hoaxes meant to attract followers. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Bethlehem Star of Bethlehem] was likely a white lie (“pious fiction”), written by the author of Matthew, or penciled in by a forgotten monk-copyist, to make the Gospel coincide with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Prophecy Star Prophecy] which the other Gospels overlooked. John freely admits that his Gospel was propaganda (JOH 20:31).
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Many miracle stories are exaggerations or hoaxes meant to attract followers. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Bethlehem Star of Bethlehem] was likely a white lie (or “pious fiction”), written by the author of Matthew, or penciled in by a forgotten monk-copyist, to make the Gospel coincide with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Prophecy Star Prophecy], which the other Gospels overlooked. John freely admits that his Gospel was propaganda (JOH 20:31).
 
Additionally, many “miracles” have rational explanations. While it seems unlikely that all of these unusual events occurred by chance to members of a specific ethnic group, in relatively small part of the world -- but biblical genealogies demonstrate that these events took place over a 4000-5500 year period. Each “miracle” is spaced apart by several generations of un-noteworthy dirt-farming, which credits the idea of their being freak occurrences. This is one reason why the Bible actively discourages its own readers from paying attention to the genealogies (1TIM 1:4; TIT 3:9). For example:  
 
Additionally, many “miracles” have rational explanations. While it seems unlikely that all of these unusual events occurred by chance to members of a specific ethnic group, in relatively small part of the world -- but biblical genealogies demonstrate that these events took place over a 4000-5500 year period. Each “miracle” is spaced apart by several generations of un-noteworthy dirt-farming, which credits the idea of their being freak occurrences. This is one reason why the Bible actively discourages its own readers from paying attention to the genealogies (1TIM 1:4; TIT 3:9). For example:  
 
*Much of the miraculous healing which occurs after praying to saints are attributable to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_remission spontaneous regression/remission]. A small percentage of cancer sufferers are able to “just walk it off,” without anyone’s help.  
 
*Much of the miraculous healing which occurs after praying to saints are attributable to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_remission spontaneous regression/remission]. A small percentage of cancer sufferers are able to “just walk it off,” without anyone’s help.  

Revision as of 00:09, 11 May 2018

Hippocrates.png

All of the miraculous claims made by Christianity and other world religions share one commonality -- they are all bound by the law of cause-and-effect. Miracles may defy physics, they never violate causality. Since effects can not be more than the sum total of their causes, miracles thus require supernatural causes to render its supernatural effects.[1] Miracles are necessary for religious belief, because people need to be reminded that the process works.

  • The Israelites feared and believed in both God, and his servant, Moses, simply because of the wondrous feats they performed to defeat the Egyptians (EXO 7:10-12; 8:7; 14:31).
  • Jesus only performed miracles to convince others of his divinity (MAT 11:2-5; JOH 4:48, 5:36, 20:30-31; ACT 2:22; HEB 2:4), because that was the only way to attract followers (JOH 3:2).

Christians need miracles so they can have something to believe in, since Christianity doesn’t have much else to offer:

The most powerful arguments against divine miracles ironically comes from the Bible itself, which warns that miracles, signs, and other wonders are the hallmarks of false prophets, who are trying to make themselves look credible. These Satanic people (LUK 11:19; 2THE 2:9) will only deceive you (REV 13:13-14) and turn you away from God (DEU 13:1-3). Likewise, anyone who performs miracles and claims to be the Christ is just one of the many false Christs who will appear from time to time (MAT 24:24). Jesus coined the idiom “wolves in sheep’s clothing” to describe these people (MAT 7:15).

We could pray over the cholera victim, or we can give her 500 mg of tetracycline every 12 hours. (Christian Science doesn’t not believe in the germ theory of disease, they’d rather see their children die that give them antibiotics.) We can try nearly futile psychoanalytic talk therapy on the schizophrenic patent, or we can give him 300-500 mg a day of clozapine. The scientific treatments are hundreds or thousands of times more effective than the alternatives.[3]
—Carl Sagan

Many miracle stories are exaggerations or hoaxes meant to attract followers. The Star of Bethlehem was likely a white lie (or “pious fiction”), written by the author of Matthew, or penciled in by a forgotten monk-copyist, to make the Gospel coincide with the Star Prophecy, which the other Gospels overlooked. John freely admits that his Gospel was propaganda (JOH 20:31). Additionally, many “miracles” have rational explanations. While it seems unlikely that all of these unusual events occurred by chance to members of a specific ethnic group, in relatively small part of the world -- but biblical genealogies demonstrate that these events took place over a 4000-5500 year period. Each “miracle” is spaced apart by several generations of un-noteworthy dirt-farming, which credits the idea of their being freak occurrences. This is one reason why the Bible actively discourages its own readers from paying attention to the genealogies (1TIM 1:4; TIT 3:9). For example:

  • Much of the miraculous healing which occurs after praying to saints are attributable to spontaneous regression/remission. A small percentage of cancer sufferers are able to “just walk it off,” without anyone’s help.
    • Of the millions of pilgrims who have visited Lourdes, only 65 have ever been “miraculously” cured (as of 1997). Of these, only 3 were cured of cancer -- if anything, their pilgrimage made them less likely to be spontaneously cured.[3]
    • Spontaneous regression/remission makes sense because only miracles only address certain diseases and conditions, while ignoring the rest (e.g., Amputees never fully regenerate their limbs; Down’s Syndrome has never been cured -- ever -- by anything from god or man.)[4]
    • Pat Robertson’s style of healing is statistical, not mystical; he just lists combinations of names, places, and ailments, then declares people cured. Getting such a combination to line up in the US market is entirely analogous to playing 370,000,000 slot machines at once; he needs no divine intervention to hit that jackpot.[4]
    • Praying for healing is unnecessary, since an all-knowing God will know who is sick and suffering.[3]
  • Stories of demonic possession can be attributed to migraines, epilepsy, and/or Tourette’s Syndrome. Any of these diseases can trigger mystical visions, transcendent feelings (i.e., the sensation of leaving the body) and the sensation of being controlled by otherworldly forces. Epileptic seizures and Tourette’s can make their sufferers appear possessed (with uncontrollable seizures and unintelligible shouts), and closely match the symptoms of demonic possession as described in the Malleus Maleficarum.[5]
  • The gift of prophecy is just people ad-libbing. Upon hearing recordings of people (or even themselves) speaking in tongues, those with the gift of prophesy fail to produce the same “translation” twice. [5]
  • Much of God’s wrath (e.g., the destruction of Jericho; stopping the River Jordan) is attributable to earthquakes. These are a common occurrence, since the entire region rests on a fault line.
  • Isaiah’s miracle of briefly reversing a sundial was due to a passing cloud which refracted the sunlight.
  • Sodom and Gomorrah were likely destroyed by the comet or asteroid impact which created Umm al Binni Lake. While this accurately describes God’s power and wrath against the residents of those cities, it was also inadvertently extended to countless innocent people the world over. Even conservative estimates place this impact at an order of magnitude greater than the Tunguska Event. This impact likely triggered the 4.2 Kiloyear Event, which disrupted or destroyed most civilizations; Old Kingdom Egypt, Sumer, and the Indus Valley Civilization all simultaneously fell due to this event. Many surviving cultures responded by developing a sudden interest in astronomy, and with building large stone structures.
  • Manna was the discarded cocoons of the trehala manna mealybug (Trabutina mannipara):[6]
    • The cocoons themselves are golden or brown colored, and are a nutrient-rich protein source.
    • The beetles secrete trehalose, a white crystalline carbohydrate, which is still used as sweetener in fine Turkish cuisine.
    • An insect-based origin explains why Moses was so adamant against hoarding manna -- because eventually “it bred worms, and stank” (EXO 16:19-24).
  • The resurrections of Lazarus and Jesus were cases of premature burial. This was more common in the past, since pre-1900’s medical science was basically voodoo.
  • The Plagues of Egypt were brought on by the environmental catastrophe following the Minoan (Thera) Eruption, a volcanic eruption so powerful it destroyed the Minoan Civilization and inspired the myth of Atlantis. This event introduced colossal amounts of dust and particulate ejecta into the stratosphere -- 4 times as much as the 1883 Krakatoa Eruption, and 100 times that of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens Eruption. The resulting weather pattern disruptions stopped the rains, causing the Nile to slow and stagnate, leading to insect swarms and algae blooms, which in turn, spread disease and caused a population boom for insect-eating frogs. Global weather patterns were disrupted, and airborne particulates served as nucleation sites for hail. The environmental impacts of the later “plagues” were equally inflicted on all Bronze Age civilizations; even the Chinese reported summer frosts and famines at this time. Simulations of these disrupted weather patterns have shown their winds were sufficient to part the seas.[7]

References

  1. P. Kreeft, Faith and Reason: The Philosophy of Religion (Recorded Books, 2005).
  2. T. Paine, The Age of Reason (Cosimo Classics, 2007).
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 C. Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (Ballantine Books, 1997)
  4. 4.0 4.1 J. Randi, The Faith Healers (Prometheus Books, 1987).
  5. 5.0 5.1 B. Radford, in Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion edited by R. Kick (Disinformation Books, 2007)
  6. J. Emsley, The beetle cocoon that was manna for Moses, [Online]. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-beetle-cocoon-that-was-manna-for-moses-1306263.html. [Accessed 6 MAY 2017].
  7. BBC, Computers show how wind could have parted Red Sea, [Online]. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-11383620. [Accessed 6 MAY 2017].