whether miracles exist while referencing David Hume’s arguments

whether miracles exist while referencing David Hume’s arguments

The Bible and other religious books, such as the Quran, are filled with various examples of the occurrence of miracles. For instance, the turning of water to wine at a wedding in Galilee is known as the first miracle that Jesus performed. Muslims believe that the writing of the Quran is one of the greatest miracles ever to happen. For an event to be regarded as a miracle, it needs to meet two requirements. First, the event should be supernatural in nature, in that it cannot be explained through any scientific justification. The event should also be regarded as an event of divine action, which means that God directly did something or He used a human intermediary. Based on these requirements, a miracle can be defined as an event that cannot be explained by natural causes alone. The purpose of the miracle is usually something beyond natural causes or human action. Although many people believe that miracles exist, there are some individuals such as David Hume who do not believe in the existence of miracles. In this paper, an analysis of miracles will be carried out. The study will involve trying to determine whether miracles exist while referencing David Hume’s arguments.

Miracles

Miracles are events that cannot be explained through either scientific or natural laws. The events are usually attributed to a supernatural being, a religious leader, a saint, a miracle worker, or a magician. Miracles can also be defined based on various concepts. The first concept involves defining miracles as an event that exceeds nature’s productive power. Under this approach, miracles are defined as interruptions that occur to the natural or course order; this definition, however, leaves people wanting to understand the meaning of course or order or nature. The description was, as a result, tightened by St. Thomas of Aquinas, who defined miracles as events that went above the productive power of nature. Nature, in this case, is broadly interpreted to include human beings and any other creatures that are like ourselves.

The second concept defines miracles as violations of the laws of nature; David Hume offered this definition. Defining miracles using the concept of natural laws has, however, elicited mixed reactions, to begin with, the concept of miracles exists at an earlier date before the modern concept of natural law. It is also challenging to define which the miracle is violating natural laws. Lastly, there exist disagreements about the nature and existence of natural laws. There is also a question about the nature of these violations. The third concept defines miracles in the religious context. Some authors argue that miracles are events caused supernaturally and have a tangible religious significance. Various events that violate the powers of nature might be considered as miracles. The events are, however, not considered as miracles if they lack any religious significance. Based on these concepts, a miracle can be defined as an event that goes beyond the powers of nature and is of religious importance.

Miracles are Not Real

The existence of miracles has been debated for a long time. Some people, especially religious people, believe that miracles do exist. Others do not believe in the existence of miracles at all. The truth, however, is that miracles are not real, and we should not believe that they happened. Various arguments can be put forth to highlight why miracles do not exist. The first argument is based on the fact that there is no evidence to prove that miracles do existed. All the evidence found on religious books such as the Bible cannot be confirmed since the Bible was written a long time ago. The Bible is also made up of accounts of several authors who write about their experiences. It is, therefore, difficult to prove whether the information written in various books such as Genesis is true. The information is based on account of one person and not a group of individuals. There is, therefore, a lack of evidence as to whether the information presented about miracles is valid and can be justified.

David Hume is a philosopher who published several arguments as to why miracles do not exist. In one of his arguments, he talks about the evidence that is presented to validate the existence of miracles. Hume states that a wise man aligns his belief based on the provided evidence. According to Hume, it is crucial to support a side that has the most evidence. For instance, we cannot consider Jesus walking on water as a miracle since there is more evidence to support the fact that human beings cannot walk on water compared to that one time that Jesus did. We should, therefore, not believe in the existence of miracles since they lack evidence.

Christians believe that the Bible is real, and every information found in the Bible is true. Therefore, if we were to follow this argument, we would consequently state that miracles are real since the Bible acts as evidence. Miracles are, however, not real since the evidence that is present about their existence weak. Hume states that the evidence is not probable or even certain. The evidence is uncertain due to various reasons. The evidence on miracles is also weak since, in most cases, miracles only occur in certain religions. There is no evidence where miracles have existed outside a religion. This shows that miracles are based on the belief system of religion and are not real. People also have a tendency to believe in extraordinary stories, which makes the evidence supporting miracles to be weak.

Miracles do not exist due to a lack of credible witnesses. In most cases, the occurrence of miracles only has one individual or a group of people. It is difficult to determine the credibility of these eyewitnesses. Hume is also in agreement with this point since he states that witnesses should be intelligent and educated. These individuals should not gain anything from their claim and should have a reputation to lose. A miracle cannot also be said to have happened if it only had one eyewitness. An individual can decide to make up their own story claiming that a miracle occurred while it did not. There should, therefore, be a sufficient number of people for these miracles to be termed as real. Human beings love fantastic things, which makes them want to believe in miracles. Followers also like promoting their religion which makes the claims of miracles to be incorrect. The occurrence of miracles should, therefore, be dismissed.

Before determining whether miracles are real or not, it is crucial to analyze the locations where these miracles originated. Analyzing the locations assists one in determining the type of people who live in those places and the information that they portray. For instance, religion is much more common in developing countries and opposed to developed nations. People in developing nations can, therefore, claim to have witnessed a miracle, and the individuals around them will instantly believe them since they are conditioned by religion to do so. If miracles are genuine, why is it that they do not frequently occur in developed nations? In countries where the majority of the people are enlightened and have knowledge of discerning false information. The occurrence of miracles in uncivilized areas goes to prove that miracles are not real and that these individuals lack knowledge. According to Hume, miracles are unreliable since they only occur in barbarous and ignorant nations. Hume argues that in the Bible, miracles were witnessed by the poor, uneducated peasants, and fishermen, which, according to him, are inadequate sources to claim that miracles did exist.

If all these miracles did indeed occur, they would be similar in all religions; this is, however, not the case since different religions tend to have their versions of miracles. Hume states that miracles are not real since they cancel each other out in certain religions. For instance, he claims that miracles in Islam and Christianity tend to cancel miracles in Hinduism. We should, therefore, not pick miracles of one religion to believe in, but we should instead cancel all of them out. Hume also argues that we need to argue in favor of the lesser miracle. Before deciding whether a miracle is true or not, people need to rely on the lesser truth; for instance, is it a miracle that Jesus walked on water or is the miracle or that the scriptural evidence is false. The lesser miracle, in this case, would be that the scriptural evidence is false. The correct explanation is the simplest one.

One of the main requirements for miracles to occur is that there needs to be a supernatural being involved. In most cases, the supernatural being is usually God. However, how can we argue that miracles do occur when there is no proof that God is real? The first step would be to justify the existence of God, which would then assist one in substantiating whether there have ever been miracles or not.

Conclusions

There has been a constant belief for a long time that Miracles are true. Miracles can be defined as events that violate the forces of nature and have a religious significance. The debate as to whether miracles are real has been ongoing for several years. There are, however, various arguments that prove that miracles are not real and did not occur. David Hume is an example of a philosopher who argues against these events. Miracles have never been there due to the lack of evidence to support the claim. The available evidence is also too weak for it to justify that they did occur. There is also the question of the credibility of witnesses. In most cases, witnesses to these religions are always blinded by religion. These witnesses are also found in uncivilized and developing nations. Miracles are also not real since miracles in various religions cancel each other out, and the existence of God cannot be proven.