Miracles Are The Proof For Existence Of God

David Hume is one of the world’s most well-known and relevant philosophers, in his time and still to this day. In one of his most famous writings, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, he dedicates a whole chapter to exploring the validity of miracles, based on his own premise (That they defy the laws of nature), a chapter so large, it is separated into two parts. Exploration of Miracles is a large topic for philosophical discussion as it has caught the attention and caused the works of many of the world’s most famous philosophers, such as David Hume, Richard Swinburne and Peter Atkins.

Hume argues that we cannot prove that there is a real world outside our experience, much less that our experience is an accurate representation of that world. He says we need to get outside our experience to see whether it does fairly represent the world, however, its near impossible to do that.

David Hume argues against miracles and states that they are improbable because most are reported by those who deceive others, the sensation of wonder that overrides the sense of reasoning, or because they are inapplicable to our scientific culture today. Hume addresses that in essentially all cases, the probability of a miracle truly happening, in comparison to any one of his listed reason, is highly improbable. He does not implicitly state why miracles cannot occur.

The idea of a miracle and its context depends on the definition in which it is used; the first definition of a miracle is a “transgression of the laws of nature” such as walking on water. This was used by Hume who stated that for a miracle to occur a law of nature must be broken, with this focus on laws of nature he aimed to show that it is irrational to believe in miracles because it is irrational to believe in a violation of any natural law, as by believing in this God becomes redundant. He puts forward the method of proportioning the belief to evidence – if you weigh up the miracle against another option what is more likely? That a miracle, a transgression of a law of nature, has occurred or

David Hume, a Scottish philosopher made the claim the “miracles are a violation of the laws of nature” (Hume). Meaning that through science and reason there is a very limited chance that what some thinks is a miracle is actually one. Though, Hume does say that you can define a miracle as the opposite of what you actually think is a miracle. As the document goes on, he writes that “nothing is an esteemed miracle, if it ever happen in the common course of nature” (Hume). Hume shows that even though we think that certain things have to be miracles it is no feasible that they happen. A miracle can only happen once, so if this thing that people are classifying as a miracle happens over and over again it is most likely not a miracle, but something natural and scare at the same time. If miracles do happen though, they are going against the natural force of nature. However, other writers had different ideas about the importance of miracles with the Christian

He would have come to the proper conclusion if he actually followed previously stated logical reasoning. Here is one of the biggest deviants away from David Hume’s actual argument and weakens Whately’s case. Hume, notes that the witness material is weak for the miracle accounts since their are no direct witnesses, and at that point in history, there was still not enough manuscriptual evidence supports to say whether the New Testament writers were actually writing with in the lifetime of eye witnesses. So, in Hume’s actual argument there was a possibility for there to be that disconnect and decay in the transfer from eye witness testimony to indirect accounts. Also, he puts no effort in ascertaining whether or not there actually was any informational gatherers or not. He just doubts it for no reason, again going back to his frowzy skepticism he is not only doubting the improbably and odd events, but facts and evidence that leads to an oddity. However, though that is a bad argument it is a good analogy for the satire. Since, Hume to my understanding does a similar thing at times. As with the textual evidence for the New Testament miracles he assumes the most skeptical approach because if he does not it has the possibility to lead to miraculous

() Third he states that most descriptions of miracles comes from uneducated, barbarous people, who are not refined enough to not believe such an account. () He also states that civilized societies are not subjected to these falsehoods. Finally he states that every religion has their own accounts of micelles that not align with the miracles of other religions. () Each religion argues against each other and portrays other religions miracles as pharisees. The evidence of miracles counter other religions and don't correspond. () Therefore Hume concludes that there is no rational grounds onto which one could trust in miracles and that they are just based on religious faith, and not in reason.

He says that miracles are further disproved by the fact that most of them are reported by ignorant, barbarous people of past generations. Some of the things that these people have reported as marvelous are common among later generations, so their mysteriousness has been lost and they are no longer miracles. If you are wondering why stories like these do not originate today, Hume says they do, but we rule them out as lies. According to him, people have always had tendencies to stretch the truth and

However, what most individuals seek to find is the miracles that science cannot explain, the type of miracles that are not based on chance, miracles that anyone would hear about and have to say, “That was a miracle from heaven.”

There have been debates whether God is exist since the beginning of time. Many people claim many different things. There say there are three models of ultimate reality: Materialism, Pantheism, Transcendence. Transcendence is the only Ultimate Reality. Transcendence is that there is a perfect being (God). He created the universe. He is not the universe. In Christianity we believe we die physically and when Jesus Christ returns we will be resurrected and join Him and God in the perfect Heaven. God has given us the Bible so that we know right from wrong.

Miracles according to Hume, are a violation of natural law and are not possible. Earman argues that though the occurrence of a miracle may be very low, they can be probable with enough reliable witnesses. Along these lines Hume’s argument of not being able to believe the existence of miracles, would be wrong. Miracles are just one of many ways God tries to make himself evident.

I am often told about the miracle of childbirth. I am often told the miracle of leaves changing colors. I am even told about how miraculous a rainbow is to see. I have on more than one occasion found out that the incorrect response is to explain how that item works and why we see and receive the results that we receive. I have been at a healing session where a lame girl was healed by a miracle and walked. I asked the parent if I could see medical records. Well as it turned out she just did not want to walk that morning. Asking the pastor to then explain how this is a miracle also turns out to the wrong question to ask. However, they all have a similar theme involved. I as a person can explain to you how they happened. While there are things I may not be able to explain to you in exact detail, such as the lift needed and aerodynamics of a jet plane, I can look that information up, learn about it, and explain it to another person. However, I cannot explain how an ax head that would weigh about three pounds manages to float outside of a miracle. I cannot explain to you how a million people could across on dry land and then have the waters crash on the enemies. These are true miracles.

Hume’s second reason in contradicting the validity of a miracle is that he views all of our beliefs, or what we choose to accept, or not accept through past experience and what history dictates to us. Furthermore, he tends to discredit an individual by playing on a human beings consciousness or sense of reality. An example is; using words such as, the individuals need for “excitement” and “wonder” arising from miracles. Even the individual who can not enjoy the pleasure immediately will still believe in a miracle, regardless of the possible validity of the miracle. With this, it leads the individual to feel a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. These individuals tend to be the followers within society. These individuals will tend to believe faster than the leaders in the society. With no regard to the miracles validity, whether it is true or false, or second hand information. Miracles lead to such strong temptations, that we as individuals tend to lose sense of our own belief of fantasy and reality. As individuals we tend to believe to find attention, and to gossip of the unknown. Through emotions and behavior Hume tends to believe there has been many forged miracles, regardless if the information is somewhat valid or not. His third reason in discrediting the belief in a miracle is testimony versus reality. Hume states, “It forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous

In his discussion 'Of Miracles' in Section X of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Hume defines a miracle as “a violation of the laws of nature and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws”1. Basically a miracle is something that happens which is contrary to what would happen given the structure of the universe. He also states

The Miracles have served as the foundation for the historical proof of the existence of the God of the western religions. The leadership of the religions of the West do not want miracle taken lightly and do not want false claims of miracles. These religions will often be the first to investigate claims of miraculous events in order to disprove them! The concern is that if people come to accept the claim of a miracle and it later turns out to be disproved, then those who had come to believe in it might come not only to stop believing in that particular "miracle" that had been disproved but in all other such claims and thus might come to lose their faith altogether. The fear is that people would think something similar to this: "If I could be