Are there miracles in other religions

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Conway, D. Miracles, evidence, and contrary religions. SOPH 22, 3—14 Download citation. Issue Date : October Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Richard Swinburne on Miracles. Swinburne, Richard. S winburne looks for historical evidence as proof for the existence of miracles in 2 steps. First he questions whether there could be evidence of a violation of natural law.

Swinburne asserts that something occurring that defies prediction based upon natural laws does not automatically constitute a miracle. He argues that the event must also be non-repeatable under similar circumstances, for if an event can be repeated we would have to institute a new law of nature or, at least, revise the existing law to include an exception under certain circumstances. Thus, Swinburne concludes that if an event defies the laws of nature as we know them and we are unable to revise the laws or create new ones that will consistently predict similar such events, then the original event is indeed a miracle.

Contrary to Hume who argued that proof would be testimony of witnesses which would be finite , Swinburne argues that historical proof for a miraculous event would consist not only of testimony of witnesses but also a study of the effects of said event. He claims that one would have to experiment to see what other event, if any, could have caused the same effects. Thus, for Swinburne, proof is easily infinite. However, in order for an event to be a miracle, it must also have been caused by a god.

Swinburne argues that if an event that violates the laws of nature in a way so that the event is similar to actions that a human is capable but occurs when no human is making such actions, the event must have been performed by a rational agent without a body god.

Additionally, Swinburne points out that if an event occurs as a direct response to prayer to a god, there is additional proof for the existence of that god. While Swinburne argues that it is logically possible for a miracle to occur, he does not specify that such an event has. In fact, since these things are not discernable through the natural world, Swinburne argues that God is, in some way, expected to reveal these truths to mankind.

Swinburne argues that in order for a prophet to convey the message of a God, sometimes the message will have to be conveyed through the truth of the time period, in order for it to be on the same level as the recipients of the message. For instance, if God wanted to convey the message that he controls the orbit of the earth to a society which perceives the earth as flat with a dome over it that contains the sun, moon and stars, he might do so in a manner that accepts their belief in the flat world.

Swinburne argues that it is the message that is important, not the history and science surrounding it. Swinburne also argues that although the history and science surrounding the message does not have to be wholly true, the message which the prophet is claiming as a direct communication from God must contain no falsity. However, this is only slight evidence, for one can conceivably teach things that are both deep truths and at other times teach falsities.

Although some of what a prophet claims can be easily proven true or false with evidence that is readily available, there are times when a prophet might convey things that are beyond our capacity to obtain independent verification for.

One such instance occurs when prophets speak of life after death, which many of them do. Swinburne admits that we must still use evidence in order to determine the truth of such a claim, and he provides what is acceptable evidence through analogy. Swinburne likens the prophet to a messenger who visited the king of a far off land in the days prior to the technology that allows for speedy communication of messages and quick travel. When the messenger returns with a message from the king there are certain evidences that could show that the message did indeed come from the king.

For instance, the message could contain a prediction of a future event which the king would have control over but the messenger would be unable to influence. Additionally, the messenger could return with an item that could only have been given to him by the king so as to prove that the messenger met with the king.

Additionally, the prediction would have to be of an event that occurred by the hand of God, thus a miracle. Finally, Swinburne gives evidence showing that God would become incarnate through a prophet.

The prophet must behave in the manner that God would behave in, were he to be limited by the constraints of human-hood. Although one cannot be certain as to in what way God would live as a human, Swinburne argues that this life would certainly have to be one of holiness and sacrifice. However, Swinburne points out that many men lead holy and sacrificial lives.

Faith and Reason. Joe Nickell, Examining Miracle Claims :. Spontaneous Remissions in Medicine. Weeping Statues.

Weeping Paintings. Miracle pictures in Islam. Virgin Mary on Wall. Nun Bun or Mother Theresa Bun stolen. Miracle Tortilla. Are there reasons to think that the reports of Miracles are not reliable?

Can the reports of Miracles be accepted as being true? Can Miracles ever be verified? Do claims of Miracles need to be authenticated?

Can reports of Miracles be used as support for a belief in a deity, the supernatural realm? Outcome Assessment. This argument or proof does not establish the actual existence of a supernatural deity.

It attempts to argue for the existence of such a being by offering evidence that is highly questionable and for which there are alternative and often more plausible explanations. While the argument can not be used to convert a non-believer to a believer, the faults in the argument do not prove that there is no god.

The Burden of Proof demands that the positive claim that there is a supernatural deity be established by reason and evidence and this argument does not meet that standard.

The believer in god can use this argument to establish the mere logical possibility that there is a supernatural deity or at least that it is not irrational to believe in the possibility that there is such a being but the argument does not establish any degree of probability at all when there are alternative explanations for the reports of experiences offered. The veracity of the reports has not been established. This argument or proof has flaws in it and would not convince a rational person to accept its conclusion.

This is not because someone who does not believe in a deity will simply refuse to accept based on emotions or past history but because it is not rationally compelling of acceptance of its conclusion.

Proceed to the next section on proof based upon psychic phenomena. Proceed to the next section. What is the best way to proceed when there is a report of some appearance of a religious figure on a wall or pancake, etc Should the process favor a more natural explanation until proven otherwise? The best explanation would be the one that has the best fit with facts or the explanation that is best supported by claims that are themselves each well supported by other well supported claims.

This is a process of explanation that rests heavily on the use of reason and the insistence on evidence to support claims about physical events or a physical state of affairs.

So any appearance of any phenomena that is detectable by the senses should have an explanation concerning how the physical state of affairs has come about to produce that appearance to human senses. The burden of proof concerning physical claims is with those making the positive assertion. The explanation must also avoid the pattern of thinking that if one cannot prove that X is not the cause then X is the cause. One can not appeal to the absence of evidence or proof as constituting the basis for any conclusions.

If one cannot prove what caused phenomenon P then one must withhold accepting the conclusion that any particular cause C is the cause of P. If there is a claim that phenomenon N natural event-perceived by the senses was caused by factor S supernatural cause then there needs to be evidence to support the claim. So the explanation of an event such as the appearance of a figure resembling what someone thinks of as a figure from religious history would need to have evidence to support it.

In the absence of physical evidence, then the preponderance of the evidence is support of explanations of phenomena of a similar type might be given "preferred" status until subsequent evidence supports another conclusion.

Using the resort of a supernatural explanation has so many "gaps " in that it is less preferred in the absence of strong evidence in support of a naturalistic explanation or the holding of the expectation of a naturalistic explanation to be forthcoming.

The supernatural explanation has no physical evidence natural to support it and no explanation of how it is that non-physical entities cause physical events in the natural realm. There is also the very important question to be answered in this particular case of why it is that anyone alive thinks that they known just what Mary looked like. Why assume that the image is the image of any particular historical or or mythical entity?

This is a case of a simulacrum. If you can not explain the event or phenomena by use of a natural explanation then it is a supernaturally caused event involving the spiritual or supernatural beings A B, C, etc This is a habit of mind that is quite strong as it has consequences thought to be beneficial by the holder of the habit.

Chapter 3: Philosophy of Religion. Overview I. Introduction II. The Questions I II. Problems with Miracles IV. Final Questions I. Introduction Many but not all of the religions of the world have as part of their traditions claims of Miracles.

The Questions The questions are: 1. A deity? The supreme Being? Problems with Miracles The Problem of Definition Exactly what constitutes a miracle is a matter for careful consideration , given the importance of the reports of such events, should they be correct and truthful. Unusual or Extraordinary Event Some consider any unusual event as a miracle or at least an unusual event with a positive outcome, e. Cases: A. No explanation Some consider events for which there are no explanations as miracles.

Can you give an example of a miracle that would be an event for which there are no alternative explanations but that it is the work of the Single Supreme Being GOD and that is because it is clearly a violation of the laws of nature that no other power could bring about? The people Christian missionaries once went abroad to convert are now their children's playmates in the school yard back home.

Diversity, in other words, has moved well beyond the categories of race, class, and gender to include the richer, more challenging, and more comprehensive category of religion. Religions are powerful symbol systems that define reality for those who live in their embrace. Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus all share the same experiences; what makes them differ one from the other is the insight into the meaning of those experiences.

We cannot afford ignorance of what our next-door neighbors, or even the Bombay sales manager just an e-mail away, may believe about the nature and destiny of humankind. In some ways, all religions are the same, though not in the ways that the young assume when they take spiritual flight. All religions have saints. Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus no less than Christians venerate relics.

Only Jews do not; nor do they, like others, venerate images. But all religions do have martyrs. And in all religions save, again, Judaism saints are far more likely to be celibates who renounce marriage and family life. Imagine, then, a Jew bent on leaving a demanding Hebrew God behind, only to find more than one avenging deity in Hinduism. Imagine a Christian who is looking for a religion without the threat of hell discovering that Buddhism has five or six of them.

Imagine a Hindu who admires the soothing, therapeutic Jesus now offered in many Christian venues discovering a Christ who demands of his disciples that they follow him to the cross. The integrity of religions is violated, therefore, when they are not presented entire.

An engagement with miracles in other religions is one way to discover how different religions really are. Consider how God healed Naaman the Syrian from leprosy 2 Kings 5 or the angelic vision of the unbaptized Cornelius Acts God may act in the life of a non-Christian in order to increase his faith in a divine, personal being as a preparation for the gospel. Such an act of providence would obviously be one small part of a larger plan to bring the person to belief in the one true God.

Skeptics are wrong when they assert that miracles claimed by other world religions nullify the authenticity of Christian miracles. This is a hasty and unreasonable conclusion. Miracle claims exist outside of Christianity, and these claims emphasize the need for careful examination of each claim. Thus, miracle reports should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and should include consideration of their theological, philosophical, and historical merits. At the same time, they should remember that God may have good reasons for working in the lives of non-Christians.

All in all, the case for Christianity remains unshaken, firmly bolstered by its rich history of miracles by and through Jesus Christ. If the miracle is authentic, we should rejoice—God never makes mistakes and always acts toward the true good of mankind according to his will. Skip to main content Accessibility feedback article. Download Share. Alternate causes For every miracle claim, possible supernatural and natural causes should be considered.