What is a miracle?

Question

What would you describle as a miracle?

Answer 1

A miracle is an event that cannot be scientifically explained. Some people would explain a miracle as a spiritual happening. Others would just say it was fate. Either way, if science can't explain it then it could be referred to as a miracle. I observed a miracle in the birth of a child that was supposed to die at birth. Her parents, instead of chosing to let her die in vain chose to donate her organs to save others. After the child was born it was confirmed that her condition was terminal as she struggled to breathe. Four minutes after birth and right before the doctor put a breathing tube in to keep her organs alive she took one big gasp and started breathing on her own. The doctor was stunned. There was and still is no explaination for this. She is now a healthy 6 year old.

Answer 2

I would call a miracle something which not only cannot be explained by science, but which flies in the face of science. For example, I had a brain abcess when I was 7. I was in a coma for 4 weeks. There was no cure at the time, and without surgery, I was given no chance to survive, or if I did by some miracle, I'd be nothing but a vegetable for the rest of my life. The night before the surgery, they performed an EEG, and could see the abcess, which was fist-sized. The next morning they were going to operate after performing an angiogram to better pinpoint the location. I remember watching the test--from the upper corner of the room. When the results came back, they were amazed--it was competely gone. They normally open quickly, but mine may have developed a slow leak and my body absorbed it somehow. I now have epilepsy, but I'll take that over being either dead or a vegetable any day. Actually, I did prove them right about being a vegetable in one way--I have a law degree.

Answer 3

A genuine miracle would have to violate the laws of nature in some way – otherwise it would be an event that just LOOKS like a miracle because we don't understand how it is possible in light of the laws of nature as we currently understand them. In other words, a true miracle would have to be supernatural in some way, otherwise it is not really a miracle.

But then we should ask: what is "supernatural"? What does it mean to violate the laws of nature? The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in quantum mechanics would seem to allow miracles from the standpoint of classical Newtonian physics because classical theory did not allow for genuine uncertainty. But given the quantum framework, uncertainty of this sort is now part of our understanding of nature. So what seems like a miracle in terms of one theory may not be a miracle in terms of some other theory.

So what could a true miracle be? Any logically possible event that looks like a miracle would make us think there must be some better theory to explain it, so the best bet for a true miracle would have to be some event that, in principle, cannot be explained by ANY rational theory. Basically, a true miracle must escape the laws of LOGIC, not just the currently understood laws of nature. Violating the laws of logic would prevent the event from ever being explained by the laws of any scientific theory of nature.

So the real question becomes: What sort of event could, in principle, never be captured by logical reasoning? I can suggest one major candidate: Being Itself. The mere fact "that there is something rather than nothing" can never be fully explained by logical reasoning. Being is the GIVEN upon which all logic is based, and thus it can never be the conclusion to any logical argument. Being is the GROUND of reason, and thus is not, in Itself, reasonable. As Heidegger would say, Being is simply "thrown" into existence. There is no possible rational explanation for this. It is just simply the way it is. It is a brute fundamental fact.

At last we get to the bottom line: What is a miracle? Being Itself is a miracle. Every moment of existence is a miraculous event. GIVEN the miracle of existence, we can formulate logical and natural laws to explain how events of one sort lead to events of another sort, but we can never, even in principle, explain WHY there is any such thing as Being at all.

Answer 4

Miracle to me is an effect or extraordinary event without normal human intervention. It would be a miracle if my wish was fulfill, especially if I know there is no way I and anyone could do anything to allow me to achieve it!

Answer 5

Lots of things. The other answerers have provided a number of examples. I offer the definition that a miracle is something made possible by God and/or his angels.
Peace.

Answer 6

That you are alive!

The greatest miracle is how the Universe is so balanced with ebb and flow through out.

That the DNA codes contain all the info for each cell to become what it is supposed to be.

These are real miracles...

Walking on water is a farce!

beaux

Answer 7

An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Answer 8

a miracle is something that will bring joy to your day its something that will make you happy when your sad its the meaning of humanity its the river that never runs dry thats a miracle.

Answer 9

A coincidence.

Answer 10

something that happens at the right place at the right time for no reason whatsoever