Do you believe in miracles? – Part 1

When most people talk about miracles, they’re most likely speaking about an event that came from a supernatural or divine source: a chance encounter with somebody who saves the storyteller from a bad situation, an apparition of a religious figure like the Virgin Mary or Christ appearing to a large group of people, inanimate objects coming to life’ and displaying odd behavior, etc.

Personally, I don’t believe in miracles. There may well be a supernatural force behind some of these occurrences but, at the same time, there are too many alternate explanations to give much credence to any religious experience I’ve heard of so far. And some of these explanations may be just as far-fetched to some as a divine experience is to me.

Take the case of somebody who gets involved in a car crash. A mysterious person appears at their side, pulls them from the wrecked vehicle, and disappears mysteriously. After ruling out a really crafty human, the first conclusion some people arrive at is that it was an angel was sent from Heaven to save them. But, who’s to say that it wasn’t a time traveler from the future? A distant descendant curious about their great-great-great grandfather and toying with timelines? Sure, it sounds ridiculous to most people but, within the realm of science, time travel could be a possibility. And what about alien intervention? Though I personally think they’re unlikely to interfere (if they even exist), it’s possible that more technologically advanced life forms from other planets could cloak themselves in the form of a human and perform the above task.

Also, though it wouldn’t apply to the above scenario, extra sensory perception (ESP) and telekinesis (the ability to move objects with the mind) may have origins in portions of the brain that haven’t been discovered by the average citizen or science yet.

And, of course, there are the more down-to-earth explanations as well. Experiences that happen to a single person could be the result of a hallucination. Drugs, mental illness, sleep deprivation, and physical illnesses can all cause people to see and hear things that aren’t there.

Also, a lot of people desperately want to believe in things outside of their everyday experiences. There’s also quite a few other individuals and organizations who realize that they can profit from the first group or who just find it amusing to deceive others. Trickery and deception can be easily used against the first group who often don’t thoroughly investigate the scenario. People who are less technologically savvy may not realize that an apparition they saw was simply an image displayed by a cleverly placed camera.

This sort of deception isn’t necessarily even caused by humans either. Natural phenomena that hasn’t yet been discovered by science may have played a part in many of these events.

Miracles could very well be the work of a god or gods or supernatural entities but, personally, I think it’s wiser to rule out causes from the physical plane before looking to a spiritual one for answers.