Miracles happening in today's world? It is all a matter of faith.

Essay by yankee842 November 2003

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Do you believe in miracles?

Do miracles really exist these days? Yet once upon a time when Christ was here on earth they did. Living people experienced these phenomenon's it is all a matter of faith. A miracle is "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent" (Hume, 123n). Theologians of the Old & New Testament religions consider only God-willed contravention of the laws of nature to be true miracles. However, they admit others can do and have done things which contravene the laws of nature; such acts are attributed to diabolical powers and are called "false miracles." Many outside of the Biblical based religions believe in the ability to transgress laws of nature through acts of will in consort with paranormal or occult powers. They generally refer to these transgressions not as miracles, but as magic.

All religions report numerous and equally credible miracles. More telling, though, is the fact that the more ancient and barbarous a people are, the greater the tendency for miracles and prodigies of all kinds to flourish.

...It forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous relations that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous nations; or if a civilized people has ever given admission to any of them, that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors, who transmitted them with that inviolable sanction and authority which always attend received opinions (Hume, 126).

Hume was a historian, as well as a philosopher, and it did not go unnoticed by him that the further back in history one goes, the more reports of miracles ones finds. While there are still many people today who believe in miracles,