How do athiests respond to evidence of God, such as these one?

Question

God's existence is proven valid historically and through miracles. Miracles of the past and miracles now.

There are many miracles that have happened in the past, and many current ones you can even visit. For instance of a present one, go to the city---Assisi, Italy.
At the Church of St. Francis of Assisi (or it might have been the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi), there is a statue of of St. Francis with a watering bowl where two white doves, which are not native to the area, are ALWAYS present, day and night. Whenever one white dove leaves, immediately another takes it's place the same second. Go see it for yourself. How do atheists respond to this?

There are many other miracles. Another example: Our Lady of Fatima. It was performed amidst 70,000 people, INCLUDING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS that came to make sure things didn't go crazy, but they too fell at their face in adoration. You might find this one interesting.

How do atheists respond to miracles, namely the present ones?

At Justsyd: Your statement still does not explain what occurred. Aside from that, the reason why we say it was from God was because it was first prophesized; it wasn’t just a random unexplainable occurrence.

At Bad Libe: You can look for a video or photos, but you may still claim that that may have been temporary or something, and in either case you did not see it for yourself. That’s why I suggest you go to Assisi, Italy and see it for yourself. I’ve seen the photos and the such already, but the best evidence for many atheists is their own eyes personally.

At mpcagk: lol that would be interesting but I bet new ones would come, or something would obstruct your ability to do so.

At rhsaunde: can you please explain how specifically these ones are?

At Rev R: It even states in the Bible, when people question Jesus, that nothing holy would be the fruits of someone unholy. These acts only brought people to faith. How would the devil profit?

At farien3: That is not true. If you want to believe that, you would have to explain why a new white dove would appear each time, instead of the same ones.
There has never ever been another “atmospheric inversion” of this magnitude that happened twice in a row or was experienced by so many people at once.

Answer 1

The same way they did when Jesus himself was doing miracles every day..they saw, and STILL didn't believe...blessed is he who doesn't see yet still believes....

Answer 2

"Miracles" aren't evidence of anything, in fact, the word miracle itself connotes something which requires a high level of scrutiny itself to be considered evidence of anything else. I'm not sure that you've gotten all of the facts straight here... I'm not even sure that the people who have witnessed these things had their facts straight.

To cut right to the meat of this debate if god exists why does he not expose himself in an honest matter? A way in which everyone is allowed an equal and sufficient amount of real evidence to know that he does indeed exist? Please don't give me the line about free will and our ability to accept or reject him. I wager that if everyone knew god was real and could go to him at any time, many would still chose to reject him. Man would still have as much "free will" as he does right now... only then he would have all of the information available to make an informed decision instead of just a shot in the dark and the possibility to misinterpret things to believe that he has found something which, in reality, may not exist after all.

Answer 3

I've been to Assisi twice. Beautiful town. Great restaurants. The two doves in the Basilica belong to the church. When one flies away, there is only one left until the other comes back or until the second one flies away. Eventually they come back because the Basilica is where they live and where they get food and water.

The sun-effect seen by the reported 70k people in 1917 was an hallucination caused by atmospheric inversion after a heavy rainfall. It was misinterpreted by simple, credulous people to be a sign from God.

Answer 4

How is that evidence of God? To me those ain't miracles, but the unknown. Ignorance is not proof of God's existence. How do you know it didn't just happened like how the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution states? Before you counter-argument with "how do you know it wasn't God?". Well, how do you know it wasn't Zeus, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, any other countless deities, or something else all together? What's so hard about admitting to not knowing the answer? How come your type is so hell bent on having to know everything that can't yet be explained through science or other studies? I sure don't know why those stuff work the way they do.

Answer 5

I am a Christian and I'd have to see those doves to believe it.

AND about the Lady of Fatima. Satan comes as an angel of light. Mary is not to be worshiped in any way, this is a sin. When one looks in Revelation and sees what the throne of God looks like it says, God and Jesus at his right hand and the 12 disciples. No where is there a queen! No Mary.
These apparitions of Mary are NOT IMHO from God!
†

Answer 6

I think it's a point of view. You attribute things to God, I don't.

As an aside. Why would God make sure there was always a dove at Assisi, but do nothing about crop failures, war or childhood illnesses? Works in mysterious ways? Very.
.

Answer 7

Like the elderly lady that was cured and got up from her wheel chair and ran down the church aisle, she got outside and both of her hips broke and she spilled down the church stairs fractureing more bones in the process, Doctors say now, (due to her miracle healing) she will never walk again, when 30 seconds before her miracle curing, there was still hope. I think she would have been better off without God's help you twit.

Answer 8

Nothing can make me believe in god until i die. I was raised that way, and cannot fathom the concept of a soul. However, if it turns out that someone else was right then great, I don't really want to die just like everybody else in the world.

And, have you seen any of these miracles?... also, how do they prove gods existence. Maybe there's a special chemical in the birds' waterbowl that draws one bird after another to it. Farfetched, but who really knows the truth?

Answer 9

I never claim that I'm able to explain everything. However, the unexplained does not offer solid proof of a god ... let alone the christian one. Slight of hand and illusion are one thing, and allowing yourself to be tricked by your own mind is another. If you're desperate to see a miracle, you'll convince yourself you saw one. Just look at all the images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that appear in rust oxidation stains and on potato chips. Most modern day miracles are usually investigated and disproven by the Vatican.

Answer 10

All the so called miracles are just natural things blown out of proportion.They are mere coincidence.Any event can be given divine coloring.
Let me put this question to you: Why miracles do not happen today? Why Jesus or Mary or padre pio do not appear to people now?Why dead persons do not rise up!

Answer 11

You have different standards of evidence from us, that's all. You're easily satisfied. You claim that white doves are not native to the area - well apparently there are two that are always there, I'd call that native to the area.

More than likely though it's not true. Where is the video evidence? Not even YouTube? Verification from an independent ornithologist? Birdwatching groups from the area? Bird protection charities?

My response to your "evidence" is to ask to see it. Whenever you're ready. Your hearsay doesn't count for anything.

EDIT

No, my own eyes personally are NOT sufficient. I want experts who can test and verify and explain critically. I want people clever enough to be able to see why something might NOT be the case. If THEY believe something is true, you're on your way to convincing me. As I say, you have lower standards of evidence.

But Farien3 seems to have the right answer for you. I notice you didn't send a reply to him?