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Miracle

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For other uses, see Miracle (disambiguation).

According to many religions, a miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning 'something wonderful', is a striking interposition of divine intervention by God in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of Nature is overruled, suspended, or modified. Although many texts and people confirm witnessing or prophecize various events which they reffer to as 'miraculous', there are no scientifically confirmed occurrences of miracles. People in different faiths have substantially different definitions of the word miracle. Even within a specific religion there is often more than one usage of the term.

Sometimes the term miracle may refer to the action of a supernatural being that is not a god. Thus, the term divine intervention refers specifically to the direct involvement of a deity.

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[edit] Miracles as viewed by different religions

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Different religious traditions and doctrines are divided on their views of miracles. Some religions view miracles as the provenence of their deity or deities only, while others report ongoing miraculous occurrences. Some faiths subscribe to the belief that miracles happened in the past, but do not currently occur. There is also division within sects, and between the religious leadership and the followers of many religions.

[edit] Christian views of miracles

The description of most miracles in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and in the Christian (which use both the New Testament and the Old) are generally the same as the modern-day definition of the word: God manipulates the 'laws of nature'. Examples of God's miracles include raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, returning a shriveled hand to normal, cleansing leprosy, calming a storm, and walking on water. Many of these were performed by Jesus Christ.

A literal reading of the Biblical accounts shows that there are a number of ways this can occur: God may suspend or speed up the laws of nature to produce a supernatural occurrence; God can create matter out of nothing; God can breathe life into inanimate matter. The Holy Bible does not explain details of how these miracles happen, except that they require faith.

Today many Orthodox Jews, most Christians, and most Muslims adhere to this view of miracles. This view is generally rejected by non-Orthodox Jews, liberal Christians and Unitarian Universalists.

Some events commonly understood to be miraculous may not be instances of the impossible. For instance, consider the parting of the Red Sea. This incident occurred when Moses and Israelites fled from bondage in Egypt, to begin their exodus to the promised land. The book of Exodus never says that the Red Sea split in an immediate fashion, and the "waters [as] a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left" could be figurative. The text might rather be interpreted to say that God caused a strong wind to slowly drive the shallow waters to land overnight. In this scheme there is no claim that God pushed apart the sea as it is shown in many films; rather, the miracle would be that Israel crossed this precise place, at exactly the right time, when Moses lifted his staff, and that the pursuing Egyptian army then drowned when the wind stopped and the piled waters rushed back in.

Early Christian writers of the first few centuries appear to take the biblical stories of miracles at face value. In addition, they report additional miracles that happened in later centuries. The purposes of miracles vary, but recurring themes are miracles done for the benefit of a person, such as physical healing, or raising from the dead; miracles done to prevent or discourage some evil from happening, such as Herod Agrippa being consumed with worms upon inviting people to worship him, or various martyrs being found unusually difficult to kill, such as not being touched by flames (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; or Polycarp of Smyrna); and oftentimes to increase the faith of those who witnessed or later heard of the miracles, whether the faith of current believers or unbelievers moved to convert to Christianity after witnessing a miracle.

Miracles are central to most of Christian theology; they are a pillar upon which the reasonableness or credibility of the truth of the religion is set to stand. Although most Catholic and certain Protestant theologians believe that the existence and certain limited properties of God can be proven philosophically and/or scientifically, these theologians explain that other elements of their beliefs have come from statements made by God either directly or through a person who proved that the statement was coming from God by performing a bona-fide miracle. Jesus did them for those who believed. They were done for all types of people, not just Jews. C.S. Lewis, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, and Christians who engage in Christian apologetics have argued that miracles are reasonable and plausible. [1] [2] [3][4][5].

There have been a large number of Catholic Christians, philosophers, and clergy who have discussed a wide variety of ideas concerning the nature of miracles. These ideas vary from strict literal acceptance of the Biblical text, to neo-Aristotelian rationalist interpretations of miracles. In some Catholic views, a miracle is an unnatural occurrence that is brought about by divine intervention. Saints like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony have been credited with hundreds of miracles during their lifetime and thousands after their death. Many Catholics believe that dead saints are still performing miracles, by interceding on behalf of the sinner before God.

[edit] Islamic view of miracles

Main article: Islamic view of miracles

Muslim scholars categorized miracles into 6 distinctive term which varies from one another. These six miracles/magic works have been differentiated according to different terminologies and its unique characteristic on behalf of those who perpetrated it in many occasions. Those six occurred at the time of crisis in both Biblical and Islamic time especially in time of disapproval, desperation, agony, reconciliation, disbelief and many more.

Six Miracles:

  1. Irhas
  2. Mukjizat
  3. Istidraj
  4. Sihr
  5. Karamah
  6. Maunah

Irhas-Technically Irhas is seen as an extraordinary occasions or works that happen to those Prophets (Nabi) before becoming a Messenger (Rasul). There are the three type of Irhas: -those mentioned in the scriptures and are not allow to be questioned. -signs of prophethood narrated by sages, scribes or learned man by the way of inspiration, personal experience or eye witnesses. -miracles that happened during the birth of Muhammad. In many stories told in the Quran God Himself prophesies many miracles during Jesus time especially during his infancy. Jesus was told to have speak to the Jews when he was a baby that he shall become the messenger of God and that his mother (Mary) was a good woman:

"[3:46] "He will speak to the people from the crib, as well as an adult; he will be one of the righteous."

and in another chapter God said:

"[19:27] She came to her family, carrying him. They said, "O Mary, you have committed something that is totally unexpected.
"[19:28] "O descendant of Aaron, your father was not a bad man, nor was your mother unchaste."
"[19:29] She pointed to him. They said, "How can we talk with an infant in the crib?."
"[19:30] (The infant spoke and) said, "I am a servant of GOD. He has given me the scripture, and has appointed me a prophet."
"[19:31] "He made me blessed wherever I go, and enjoined me to observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat) for as long as I live."
"[19:32] "I am to honor my mother; He did not make me a disobedient rebel."
"[19:33] And peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I get resurrected."

In the case of Muhammad a learned Christian from Bilad al-Sham (old Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine) called Bahira saw the signs of his prophethood and told his uncle Abu Talib to return to Mecca avoiding any contact or confrontation with the Jews because the Jews will definitely become furious if they found that the last awaited prophet was among the Arabs and not from the Jewish descendant.

Mukjizat-Literally Derived from the Arabic word 'A'jaza' which means to weaken, discredit and undermine the opponent. Technically means any extraordinary situation occurring only onto by Messengers (Rasul) of Allah during their holy mission in order to disprove the unbelievers or in some occasion to help the believers in desperate time and also for the purpose of reconciliation. In the Quran God tells us the story of:

-the burning of Abraham by Nimrod (Namrud) (Abraham turned out to be unharmed by the giant inferno in fact he was comforted by God Himself):

"[37:97] They said, "Let us build a great fire, and throw him into it."
"[37:98] They schemed against him, but we made them the losers."
"[37:99] He said, "I am going to my Lord; He will guide me."

-Moses's staff turned into a giant serpent and eat all the magician magical snakes:

"[7:107] He threw down his staff, and it turned into a tremendous serpent."
"[7:117] We then inspired Moses: "Throw down your staff," whereupon it swallowed whatever they fabricated."

-the plagues warned by Moses to Pharaoh which later on brought so much devastation and destruction onto Egypt in order to undermind Pharaoh's arrogance:

"[7:130] We then afflicted Pharaoh's people with drought, and shortage of crops, that they may take heed."

"[7:131] When good omens came their way, they said, "We have deserved this," but when a hardship afflicted them, they blamed Moses and those with him. In fact, their omens are decided only by GOD, but most of them do not know."

"[7:132] They said, "No matter what kind of sign you show us, to dupe us with your magic, we will not believe."

then God further explained:

"[7:133] Consequently, we sent upon them the flood, the locusts, the lice, the frogs, and the blood - profound signs. But they maintained their arrogance. They were evil people."
"[7:134] Whenever a plague afflicted them, they said, "O Moses, implore your Lord - you are close to Him. If you relieve this plague, we will believe with you, and will send the Children of Israel with you."

-the twelve springs for the 12 tribes of Israel:

"[2:60] Recall that Moses sought water for his people. We said, "Strike the rock with your staff." Whereupon, twelve springs gushed out therefrom. The members of each tribe knew their own water. Eat and drink from GOD's provisions, and do not roam the earth corruptingly."

-the parting of the Red Sea to save the Hebrews from Pharaoh's armies:

"[2:50] Recall that we parted the sea for you; we saved you and drowned Pharaoh's people before your eyes."
"[7:138] We delivered the Children of Israel across the sea. When they passed by people who were worshiping statues, they said, "O Moses, make a god for us, like the gods they have." He said, "Indeed, you are ignorant people."

-the Manna and Quail in the field:

["2:57] We shaded you with clouds (in Sinai), and sent down to you manna and quails: "Eat from the good things we provided for you." They did not hurt us (by rebelling); they only hurt their own souls."

-Prophet David (Daud) ability to bend and flex iron by his own hand and make swords out of it:

"[34:10] We endowed David with blessings from us: "O mountains, submit with him, and you too, O birds." We softened the iron for him."
"[34:11] "You may make shields that fit perfectly, and work righteousness. Whatever you do, I am Seer thereof."

-Prophet Solomon ability to converse and understand language form the animal kingdom and also control wind:

"[21:81] For Solomon, we committed the wind gusting and blowing at his disposal. He could direct it as he wished, to whatever land he chose, and we blessed such land for him. We are fully aware of all things."

-Jesus ability to raise up the dead, curing the lepers and people who born blind, give life to bird made of clay all by God's permission:

"[3:49] As a messenger to the Children of Israel: "I come to you with a sign from your Lord - I create for you from clay the shape of a bird, then I blow into it, and it becomes a live bird by GOD's leave. I restore vision to the blind, heal the leprous, and I revive the dead by GOD's leave. I can tell you what you eat, and what you store in your homes. This should be a proof for you, if you are believers."

-Muhammad ability to split the moon by his finger. The most astounding of all is the miracle of the Quran which is beyond supremacy since Quran is the all living miracle which surpass those before it.

Istidraj- Technically Istidraj means a power given by God to the unbeliever causes by arrogance, pride, hatred to harden their heart and make them become more astray. Such thing happened to Pharaoh, Namrud, Satan the Anti-Christ and many more. This thing can still occur in our time if the person happened to be an arrogant, disrespectful, ungodly person:

"[89:10] And Pharaoh who possessed might."
"[89:11] They all transgressed in the land."
"[89:12] They spread evil throughout."
"[89:13] Consequently, your Lord poured upon them a whipping retribution."

Sihr-Black Magic, Witchcraft, Wizard, Voodoo, Sorcery, Shamanism, Warlock, Wicca, Soothsaying, Fortune-telliing, Hypnotizing are in the category of Sihr. Black magic or dark magic is the branch of magic that is used to perform evil acts or that draws on malevolent powers. Many believe that those under the category of Sihr are blameworthy, blesphemous and satanic because it is mostly associated with Satanism, Demonic possession, Jinn and Spiritualism. Sihr is mostly involving the Satanic rituals alas the performer invoke the evil spirit to help them with their work. Putting spell on another person in order to make him or her suffer from diseases, mental-illnesses, family dysfunction, demonic possession and many more. Sihr is seems to be the most popular and devastating act in human life. In Islam this practice is totally haram because it leads to Shirk and apostacy:

"2:102] They pursued what the devils taught concerning Solomon's kingdom. Solomon, however, was not a disbeliever, but the devils were disbelievers. They taught the people sorcery, and that which was sent down through the two angels of Babel, Haroot and Maroot. These two did not divulge such knowledge without pointing out: "This is a test. You shall not abuse such knowledge." But the people used it in such evil schemes as the breaking up of marriages. They can never harm anyone against the will of GOD. They thus learn what hurts them, not what benefits them, and they know full well that whoever practices witchcraft will have no share in the Hereafter. Miserable indeed is what they sell their souls for, if they only knew."

Karamah-In Islamic philosophy, irfan, and mysticism, keramat (کرامت also کرامات) is a "thaumaturgic gift" akin to the miracle of prophets. Whereas miracles can only be performed by prophets and are a testament to their prophethood, keramat can be learned and performed by other human beings, though under very special circumstances.

Maunah- Literally means Help. A help granted by God to His faithful, devoted normal people in any way He wants by expected or unexpected mean. Such things happened to many Muslims throughout the world for example the beautiful story of the Seven Sleepers:

"18:9] Why else do you think we are telling you about the people of the cave, and the numbers connected with them? They are among our wondrous signs."
"[18:10] When the youths took refuge in the cave, they said, "Our Lord, shower us with Your mercy, and bless our affairs with Your guidance."
"[18:11] We then sealed their ears in the cave for a predetermined number of years."
"[18:12] Then we resurrected them to see which of the two parties could count the duration of their stay therein."
"[18:13] We narrate to you their history, truthfully. They were youths who believed in their Lord, and we increased their guidance."
"[18:14] We strengthened their hearts when they stood up and proclaimed: "Our only Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never worship any other god beside Him. Otherwise, we would be far astray."

Miracles are found to be common in Islamic beliefs and traditions. It is believed that all miracles are done by the will of Allah (God). The Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, talks about miracles that happened to people, tribes and prophets. Miracles are not described as "miracles" in the modern definition, but large uncommon events all performed by God's will. Some examples of miracles include events that happened in the life of the prophets of Islam such as Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son Ishmael, the sudden appearance of the Zam Zam well to Hagar (the wife of Abraham) when she was desperately looking for water for her baby, Jesus who was able to speak as a child and cure lepers, the parting of the Red Sea as Moses and the Israelites fled from slavery in Egypt, and many more miracles are discussed. Also things that humans can not accomplish, but were done by God are also considered miracles, such as the Qur'an itself including many scientific, mathematical and other discoveries inside it. See [6] for more information.

[edit] Hindu views of miracles

Hindus believe in divine intervention of God and that all of their deities and many of their saints and yogis have performed miracles.

There are countless examples of miracles in Hinduism from ancient times up to the present day.

The ocean allowing a floating bridge to be built on itself to let the armies of Lord Rama cross, child Prahlada, an ardent devotee of the Lord, not being able to be killed by many means (fire, trampling by elephants etc), physical healing by saints, fire walking, and disappearance of the physical body on entering the sanctum of a temple (Saint Mirabai, Andal) are just a few examples. The lives of saints, the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as numerous other Hindu narratives showcase miracles. For example, Lord Krishna, raised from the dead, Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, who was born stillborn. In modern times, there were several incidents of Hindu milk miracle were observed.

Recent famous saints, such as Raghavendra Swami and Sai Baba of Shirdi, are said to have performed many miracles during their lifetime and are believed to continue to bless their devotees to this day.

[edit] Jewish views of miracles

Summarised by Maimonides:

"...Our Sages... said.. as regards miracles:... that the miracles are to some extent also natural: for they say, when God created the Universe with its present physical properties, He made it part of these properties, that they should produce certain miracles at certain times, and the sign of a prophet consisted in the fact that God told him to declare when a certain thing will take place, but the thing itself was effected according to the fixed laws of Nature." (Guide for the Perplexed 2:29; but see below.)

In this view, when the walls of Jericho fell, it was not because God directly brought them down. Rather, God planned that there would be an earthquake at that place and time, so that the city would fall to the Israelites. Instances where rabbinic writings say that God made miracles a part of creation include Midrash Genesis Rabbah 5:45; Midrash Exodus Rabbah 21:6; Midrash Koheleth; and Pirkei Avot 5:6.

[edit] Miracles as supernatural acts

The annual miracle of the fire that doesn't hurt has been attested in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since the 5th century.
The annual miracle of the fire that doesn't hurt has been attested in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since the 5th century.

In this view, a miracle can be defined as a violation of laws of nature by God or some other supernatural being.

  1. There are events that seem to be miracles.
  2. In the absence of a plausible, parsimonious scientific theory, the best explanation for these events is that they were performed by a supernatural being.
  3. Therefore, there is probably a supernatural being (i.e., God) that performs what appear to be miracles.

This may been seen as a subversion of Occam's Razor, which is usually employed in the advancement of science, rather than its denigration.

Many adherents of monotheistic religions assert that miracles, if established, are logical proof of the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and all-benevolent God. A number of criticisms of this point of view exist:

  1. While the existence of miracles may imply the existence of a supernatural miracle worker, that supernatural miracle worker need not be an omnipotent, omniscient, and all-benevolent God; it could be any supernatural being. That is, it only proves that gods might exist, not that there is a monotheistic God.
  2. Some argue that miracles, if established, are evidence that a perfect God does not exist, as such a being would not want to, or need to, violate his own laws of nature. Catholic theologians do not accept this reasoning; they conclude that the miracles are from an omnipotent God, because they accept as already logically proven (through concepts like the prime mover) that there must be a single omnipotent, omniscient, God, when speaking philosophically. (However, Catholic theology does not depend on philosophical arguments for God, but rather Revelation.)
  3. Laws of nature are inferred from empirical evidence. Thus if an accepted law of nature ever appeared to have been violated, it could simply be that the accepted law was an erroneous inference from an insufficient set of empirical observations, rather than a supernatural disruption of the true course of nature.
  4. All claims of miracles are premature until such time as complete knowledge of all natural laws is held by all making and examining the claim and the miracle is demonstrated to be not natural. As all claims of natural laws are falsifiable and therefore complete knowledge is impossible, it is not now nor has it been nor ever will it be time to claim that an event has broken a natural law.

[edit] Philosophical Views

[edit] Aristotelian and Neo-Aristotelian views

Aristotle rejected the idea that God could or would intervene in the order of the natural world. Jewish neo-Aristotelian philosophers, who are still influential today, include Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon, and Gersonides. Directly or indirectly, their views are still prevalent in much of the religious Jewish community.

[edit] Hume's views

According to the philosopher David Hume, 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." <ref>Miracles on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>

[edit] Non-literal reinterpretations

These are held by both classical and modern thinkers.

In Numbers 22 is the story of Balaam and the talking donkey. Many hold that for miracles such as this, one must either assert the literal truth of this biblical story, or one must then reject the story as false. However, some Jewish commentators (e.g. Saadiah Gaon and Maimonides) hold that stories such as these were never meant to be taken literally in the first place. Rather, these stories should be understood as accounts of a prophetic experience, which are dreams or visions. (Of course, such dreams and visions could themselves be considered miracles.)

Joseph H. Hertz, a 20th century Jewish biblical commentator, writes that these verses "depict the continuance on the subconscious plane of the mental and moral conflict in Balaam's soul; and the dream apparition and the speaking donkey is but a further warning to Balaam against being misled through avarice to violate God command."

[edit] As products of creative art and social acceptance

In this view, miracles do not really occur. Rather, they are the product of creative story tellers. They use them to embellish a hero or incident with a theological flavor. Using miracles in a story allow characters and situations to become bigger than life, and to stir the emotions of the listener more than the mundane and ordinary.

[edit] As commonplace events

Littlewood's law states that individuals can expect miracles to happen to them, at the rate of about one per month. By its definition, seemingly miraculous events are actually commonplace.

[edit] In Japanese philosophy

An excerpt from Hagakure, the Book of the Samurai:

When something out of the ordinary happens, it is ridiculous to say that it is a mystery or a portent of things to come. Eclipses of the sun and moon, comets, clouds that flutter like flags, snow in the fifth month, lightning in the twelth month, and so on, are all things that occur every fifty or one hundred years. They occur according to the evolution of the Yin and the Yang. The fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west would be a mystery, too, if it were not a daily occurrence. It is not dissimilar. Furthermore, the fact that something bad always happens in the world when strange phenomenon occur is due to people seeing something like fluttering clouds and thinking that something is going to happen. The mystery is created in their minds, and by waiting for the disaster, it is from their very minds that it occurs. The occurrence of mysteries is always by word of mouth.

[edit] Contemporary claims

Followers of the Indian gurus Sathya Sai Baba and Swami Premananda claim that they routinely perform miracles. The dominant view among sceptics is that these are predominantly sleight of hand or elaborate magic tricks.

Some modern religious groups claim ongoing occurrence of miraculous events. While some miracles have been proven to be fraudulent (see Peter Popoff for an example) others (as the Paschal Fire in Jerusalem) have not proven susceptible to analysis. Some groups are far more cautious about proclaiming apparent miracles genuine than others, although official sanction, or the lack thereof, rarely has much effect on popular belief.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and References

<references />

  • Colin Brown. Miracles and the Critical Mind. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984. (Good survey).
  • Colin J. Humphreys, Miracles of Exodus. Harper, San Francisco, 2003.
  • Krista Bontrager, It’s a Miracle! Or, is it?
  • Eisen, Robert (1995). Gersonides on Providence, Covenant, and the Chosen People. State University of New York Press.
  • Goodman, Lenn E. (1985). Rambam: Readings in the Philosophy of Moses Maimonides. Gee Bee Tee.
  • Kellner, Menachem (1986). Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. Oxford University Press.
  • C. S. Lewis. Miracles: A Preliminary Study. New York, Macmillan Co., 1947.
  • C. F. D. Moule (ed.). Miracles: Cambridge Studies in their Philosophy and History. London, A.R. Mowbray 1966, ©1965 (Good survey of Biblical miracles as well).
  • Graham Twelftree. Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study. IVP, 1999. (Best in its field).
  • Woodward, Kenneth L. (2000). The Book of Miracles. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-82393-4.
  • Andrew Dickson White (1896 first edition. A classic work constantly reprinted) A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, See chapter 13, part 2, Growth of Legends of Healing: the life of Saint Francis Xavier as a typical example.
  • M. Kamp, MD. Bruno Gröning. The miracles continue to happen. 1998, (Chapters 1 - 4)

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

cs:Zázrak da:Mirakel de:Wunder et:Ime el:Θαύμα es:Milagro eo:Miraklo fa:معجزه fr:Miracle it:Miracolo he:נס ka:მირაკლი hu:Csoda nl:Wonder ja:奇跡 pl:Cud pt:Milagre ru:Чудо simple:Miracle fi:Ihme sv:Mirakel yi:נס zh:神蹟

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