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About miracles
Quotations about miracles.
Definitions of the word "miracle."
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Quotations:
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Anon: "“Miracles are natural. When they do
not occur something has gone wrong."" | |
St. Augustine: "Miracles do not happen in
contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known to
us of nature." | |
David Ben-Gurion: "In order to be realist
you must believe in miracles."-- | |
Bernard Berenson: "Miracles happen to
those who believe in them. Otherwise why does not the Virgin Mary appear to
Lamaists, ...[Muslims], or Hindus who have never heard of her?"
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Albert Einstein: "There are only two ways
to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as
though everything is a miracle." | |
Nancy Gibbs: "For the truly faithful, no
miracle is necessary. For those who doubt, no miracle is sufficient."
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David Hume:
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"There is not to be found, in all history,
any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned
good sense, education and learning, as to secure us against all delusion
in themselves." |
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"No testimony is sufficient to establish a
miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood
would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish." |
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C.S. Lewis: "Miracles are a retelling in
small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world
in letters too large for some of us to see." | |
Charles Lindbergh: "In wilderness I sense
the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to
trivia." | |
Peggy Noonan: "I think miracles exist in
part as gifts and in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat
world we see." | |
Thomas Paine: "All the tales of miracles,
with which the Old and New Testament are filled, are fit only for impostors
to preach and fools to believe." | |
Baruch Spinoza: "As nature preserves a
fixed and immutable order; it must clearly follow that miracles are only
intelligible as a relation to human opinions, and merely mean events of
which the natural cause cannot be explained by a reference to any ordinary
occurrence." |
What is a miracle?
The word "miracle" is derived from the old Latin word "miraculum" meaning
"something wonderful." 1
The term is often used in casual conversation to refer to any extremely rare
event. Examples are a person spontaneously recovering from an advanced cancer,
or a person surviving a vehicle accident that would normally be expected to result in
their death. However, dictionary definitions of "miracle" generally refer
to some event that could not have happened except after the suspension of the
laws of nature by some supernatural power. It is in this sense that we will use
the term here.
Definitions of "miracle:"
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Wikipedia: "... a striking interposition of divine intervention
by a god in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of
Nature is overruled, suspended, or modified. ... 1 |
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The Order of Time: "An exception to the laws of nature escaping
scientific verification since it cannot be repeated at will but is dependent
upon the necessity of grace. ..." 2 |
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Calvary Chapel, San Bernardino: "an event in the external world brought
about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating
without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and
designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and
the truth of his message." 3 |
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Innvista: "An event in the natural world, but out of its established order,
possible only by the intervention of divine power." 4 |
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teAchnology: "An event that cannot be explained by the known laws of
nature and is therefore attributed to a supernatural or divine power." 5 |
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Random House Unabridged Dictionary:
- "An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that
surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a
supernatural cause."
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"Such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God."
6
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References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
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"Miracle," Wikipedia, at: at: http://en.wikipedia.org/
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"Definitions of filognostic terms," The Order of Time, at:
http://www.theorderoftime.com/
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John Miller, "Theological terms and definitions," Calvary Chapel, San Bernardino, at:
http://www.calvarysbd.com/
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"Theological Dictionary," Innvista, at:
http://www.innvista.com/
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"Hanukkah Vocabulary Quiz Worksheet," teAchnology, at:
http://www.teach-nology.com/
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"Miracle," Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. at:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
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Copyright © 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2008-JAN-18
Latest update: 2008-JAN-18
Author: B.A. Robinson
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