"Is it irrational to believe in miracles?"
"Is it irrational to believe in miracles?"
By Christopher L. Reese, Op-ed contributor
Christian Post,
Philosophers and sociologists have observed that in the wake of the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, we now live in a disenchanted age. Many modern people believe the universe is governed exclusively by impersonal physical laws, and that the sacred and transcendent are illusory ideas belonging to a bygone era.
According to Richard Dawkins, for example: "The 19th century is the last time when it was possible for an educated person to admit to believing in miracles like the virgin birth without embarrassment. When pressed, many educated Christians are too loyal to deny the virgin birth and the resurrection. But it embarrasses them because their rational minds know that it is absurd, so they would much rather not be asked."
Some who propose to speak for Christianity adopt the same viewpoint. Lutheran theologian and New Testament scholar Rudolph Bultmann declared, "It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles. We may think we can manage it in our own lives, but to expect others to do so is to make the Christian faith unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world."
Against the backdrop of our modern naturalistic worldview, it's unsurprising that many today reject miracles out of hand. Yet there are good reasons to spurn this skepticism and to believe that miracles can and do happen. Christianity is founded on miracles (chiefly, the incarnation and resurrection), and if miracles were refuted, Christianity would crumble (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:13–14).
What is a miracle?
Before discussing whether miracles are possible, we should first establish what we mean by a miracle. Christian philosopher Robert Larmer's definition is helpful:
"A miracle [is] an unusual and religiously significant event which reveals and furthers God's purposes, is beyond the power of physical nature to produce in the circumstances in which it occurs, and is caused by an agent who transcends physical nature."
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