Do you believe in miracles?

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by pamela

i find the Turtle to truly be a miraculous creature possessing a supernatural ability to make me laugh

you are too kind m'lady. i stand on the shoulders of humorous giants and i waste deep in Miraculascatus bulpuckiassii at that. to whit & to wander & to wonder.

a poignant refrain for the op:

Originally Posted by Deteriorata

You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
Whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Deteriorata

[Boerseun]

I do not believe in miracles, and have voted accordingly.

I do believe, however, that the human propensity to believe in such things boils down to a failed understanding of causality, and the enumeration of favourable circumstances.

For instance, Pam, I do think it's awesome that your son's medical bills got paid. But you will remember that one instance, because it very rarely happens. You will not remember the thousands of other bills that you had to pay - because that almost always happens.

[pamela]

actually boerseun, that was the second time it happened. The first time was about 7 years ago to the tune of 3400.00. Strange indeed, eh? The only part that is miraculous is that it happened to me.Two random acts of kindness on the part of the billing department and monies available is the verifiable cause.Nothing supernatural just the good nature of mankind

[velasoraptor]

I think miracle is just another relative term.
e.g. for someone who is living in jungle(away from any kind of modern civilization) things like cellphone, TV etc. are miracles.

The 'miracle' is an event/object for which your known knowledge fails to provide any logical explanation.

one thing (object/event) can be beyond logical explanation of one for him it is a 'miracle' while for other the same thing(object/event) is perfectly fits in his ideology and has exact explanation for existence(object)/occurrence(event) for him it is a scientific 'fact'.

e.g. car(object)/solar eclipse(event) etc.

similarly miracle is relative to time. for us the car is very common fact but not for people at time of Jesus. or for us the idea of teleportation, time travel, immortality etc. are miracles but believe me they will be the common facts of tomorrow(near future).

[maikeru]

When I read the thread title, that old McDonald's song, "Do you believe in magic?" popped into my head. Ugh.

I do believe that science is nothing short of, and simply is, miraculous. Perhaps that won't sway believers but it works for me.

[Southtown]

I think the question boils down to chance vs. providence. While chance is reasonable, it does nothing to improve one's hopes for the future. And since both optimism and pessimism can influence the people around us, I believe that optimism will at least keep us from putting people off.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Southtown

I think the question boils down to chance vs. providence. While chance is reasonable, it does nothing to improve one's hopes for the future.

if that were true there'd be no gambling.

[Southtown]

Originally Posted by Turtle

if that were true there'd be no gambling.

Well, touché. I was just saying that our outlooks can often influence what happens to us in life. I guess it's untrue to say that people can't find hope in chance.

[lemit]

When I read the title of the poll, I was offended. It took me a long time to calm down enough to vote an obvious "no."

Then I read Pamela's quoted definitions. They described what I think the word "miracle" should mean, something we do not understand or did not expect, as opposed to the definitions I expected, that a miracle occurs somewhere outside the reach of science. The miracle occurs in our psyche, not somewhere in a world as malleable as any surrealist painting. Miracles don't happen; we experience them. The laws of nature do not take a break to allow us to have an easier life; it just looks that way to us, the way hills look steeper when you're going down than when you're going up and stars seem to move because your head is moving. (Have I made my point?)

It's nice to know the battle I constantly prepare myself for is not against quite as much institutional complicity as I thought; that uphill fight isn't as tough as I expected--but I'm not going to look back.

--lemit

[REASON]

I my experience, the term "miracle" is not used to describe just any unexplained or unusual phenomena or occurrance. It is only used to describe an unexplained or unusual occurrance that has a positive or happy outcome.

I'll use Pamela's example above:

Pamela discovers that her medical bills are mysteriously paid off = miracle
Pamela discovers that her medical bills are mysteriously increasing = mistake

No one refers to an unexplained tragedy or disaster as a miracle. Miracles are associated with feelings of joy arising out of unexplained events that people assign to the glorious power of god. It is a way in which they reinforce their belief in the supernatural.

Of course, I don't believe in miracles and voted no. I live in a world of cause and effect and believe there is an explanation for everything, even if we are yet incapable of understanding the reasons.

Thus the value of scientific inquiry.