The Bible is full of miracles, from the parting of the Red Sea to the resurrection of Jesus. But in our modern, scientifically driven world, many people—even within the church—question whether miracles can be real. In doing so, they’ve shifted their faith from trusting in God’s power to merely admiring Jesus as a moral teacher and seeing their faith as little more than “comfort food” to help cope with life.
When belief in the supernatural fades, faith often becomes hollow—a set of ethical principles without the living power of God behind it. This hollow faith leaves people vulnerable to doubts, disillusionment, and eventually walking away from Christianity altogether.
Where does this skepticism toward miracle claims come from? I believe it comes from three sources.
First, I believe in spiritual warfare and therefore, I believe the devil has to be seen as a source — sowing confusion and doubt in this world about God and the Bible. But some reading this may not believe in the supernatural, so let’s jump to the next two.
The second source of skepticism toward miracles is personal observation. If the average person hasn’t seen or experienced a miracle in her life, she is less likely to believe when someone claims to have seen or experienced a miracle in theirs. We can call this a self-orientation bias: Reality equals what I observe or experience. If I‘ve never seen someone rise from the dead, then it’s not possible Jesus rose from the dead. If I‘ve never experienced God speak to me, then no one else has either.
Hopefully, you agree that such a self-orientation bias is intellectually unsound (and that’s putting it charitably). But that is how many people see the world…unfortunately.
Then, there’s the intellectual objection to miracles. This is best exemplified by 18th-century philosopher David Hume. An atheist and major figure in the Enlightenment, Hume argued that a miracle “is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle…is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.” (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748).
Hume’s deep objection to any miraculous claims reflects the prevailing mindset of skeptics (and mainstream academia) today.
Such Enlightenment thinking certainly influenced some of America’s founders, including Thomas Jefferson. The primary author of America’s Declaration of Independence and our nation’s third President had his own Bible–one that excluded the miracles of Jesus, focusing on his teachings instead. To Jefferson, Jesus was an extraordinary moral teacher, but not God.
Jefferson wrote: “I am a Christian in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.” (Letter to Benjamin Rush, 1803).
For Jefferson, the miraculous—healings, resurrections, the virgin birth—was unnecessary and unbelievable. His approach resonates with many people today, including many so-called “Christians.”
I put the word Christian in quotation marks not to offend, but to make an important distinction. There are many self-described Christians who, like Jefferson, embrace (at least from their perspective) the teachings of Jesus (at least some of them), but they don’t embrace Jesus personally–not according to Jesus’ self-proclaimed identity and purpose.
One of the major hurdles people have to embracing Jesus–at least as described in the Bible–is the issue of miracles. Because to embrace the biblical Jesus requires that we accept His virgin birth, His many reported miracles, and His bodily resurrection following His crucifixion. That’s a tough sell for many people in this day and age.
And yet…
It comes down to this…
If God is real, then the supernatural is real and miracles are possible.
It’s as simple as that.
I don’t understand why people make it more complicated than that. Sure, there have been (and still are) false miracle claims. But that’s not the issue here. Of course, you need to be discerning and not gullible.
You don’t have to believe in all miracle claims. I’m simply asking whether you believe there are such things as miracles. I’m asking whether you believe miracles are possible and if they’ve happened.
Do you believe in miracles?
Your answer to that question will shape how you view reality. If there are no miracles, there is no supernatural. There is only the natural universe and the natural world. That’s it.
It shapes how you view life. If you don’t believe in miracles, then we are here because natural forces worked it out that way. We’re not intentional creations of some Supreme Cosmic Being. We are simply part of a complex universe that happens to include us.
It shapes how you read the Bible. If you don’t believe in miracles, then the Bible is merely a collection of ancient religious writings full of the same types of miracles and myths associated with other religions. Is it good literature? Sure. But the word of God? Hardly.
It shapes how you see Christmas. A virgin birth? Pffft. Probably a story Mary told to cover up a scandalous or unwanted pregnancy. Angels? The shepherds probably had too much to drink or some Christians later created the story to make it all look good.
It shapes how you see morality. If you don’t believe in miracles, and thus there is no supernatural, then there is no objective, transcendent moral standard to which you owe any allegiance. Morality is simply our efforts to cooperate with our biological needs, the evolutionary process, and a desire to live in a peaceful and cohesive society.
Whether you believe in miracles will shape your very life.
So, you better know the answer to that question.
I know my answer.
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