![]() Early human beings had no such concept-except perhaps for individual deaths and the repeated rising and setting of the sun. That is, for an event to be declared “supernatural,” we must first have some concept of the “natural,” the ordinary course of events. T he miraculous has meaning and definition only by comparison with the nonmiraculous. ![]() And yet, surprisingly, some recent proposals in physics reveal that believers and nonbelievers may have more in common than they think. Such radically different attitudes represent radically different views of the world, which are largely impervious to argument or appearance and have some resonance with our deeply polarized society today. When believers and nonbelievers discuss or witness a seemingly miraculous event, they find little common ground, as if one is speaking French and the other Swahili. This prevailing view was articulated to me recently by the Nobel Prize–winning biologist David Baltimore: “If I could not find any way out of believing that a miracle had occurred, would I then believe it to be a miracle? I think the answer is that I would still not believe it to be a miracle, only some outcome that I can’t understand.” (Scientists dismiss the Miracle of the Sun as the result of local atmospheric effects, spurious images on the retina brought about by staring at the sun, and self-delusion.) If no logical or rational explanation immediately presents itself, most scientists will conclude that a scientific explanation will eventually be forthcoming, rather than abandon their commitment to a totally lawful universe. In contrast to this widespread belief in miracles, the great majority of scientists firmly and unequivocally reject anything “supernatural.” Given some ostensibly miraculous event, almost all scientists will insist on a logical, rational, “natural” explanation. According to Pew, 65 percent of Americans believe in miracles not necessarily connected to God. Many miracles are associated with God, but not all are. It was the first experience I had that made me conscious of a mystical entity that has intentions and is aware of me always.” These are just two accounts from the roughly 200 million miracle believers in the United States today. Even at the age of six and never having been told of guardian angels, I knew it was something of such ilk. It was a ball of light about six feet off the ground, motionless and accompanied by a warm gentle breeze. The violinist and musician Bonnie Rideout wrote to me about her first miraculous experience: “An unexplainable light appeared before me in the alfalfa field. “I have NO doubt it was a miracle,” she said. A woman recently described there how her brother’s stroke and paralysis in March 2019 had been cured overnight by prayer. Hundreds of people write in to the evangelical Mario Murillo Ministries website with reports of miracles. ![]() Not just the parting of the Red Sea or the resurrection of Jesus or the splitting of the moon by Muhammad, but “supernatural” phenomena in the world of today: such things as ghosts, voices from the dead, instructions from God, accurate prophecies, sudden recoveries from grave illnesses, telekinesis, reincarnation. ![]() According to the Pew Research Center, as many as 79 percent of Americans believe in miracles-events that lie outside natural law and any explanation by science. To start with, a few friends recently told me about personal experiences that they thought were miracles. I’ve had miracles on my mind for a number of reasons. Others, however, declare that they have seen the smiling face of the Virgin herself swear that the sun turned around on itself like a wheel of fireworks, that it fell almost to the point of burning the earth with its rays. One can see the immense crowd turn toward the sun … and we hear the nearest spectators crying, “Miracle, miracle! Marvel, marvel!” Before the astonished eyes of the people … the sun has trembled, and the sun has made some brusque movements, unprecedented and outside of all cosmic laws-the sun has “danced” … The greatest number avow that they have seen the trembling and dancing of the sun.
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