We all have had times when we could not rationalize an experience we had. Even people among us with the most scientifically bent of mind. We have been in places where we try to attach a far-fetched reasoning for something we know is impossible at our hearts. If you are reading this, you are replaying the reason you gave yourself when you experienced it. Rest assured that you are not alone. Miracles have been around since before any of us was born.
Let us begin by seeing what a miracle is. A miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws. The nature of occurrence of miracles is such that it escapes the realm of scientific laws. Science dismisses it as a phenomenon impossible to confirm. This is because all physical mechanisms can never be ruled out. But our own intuitions are sufficient proof to trust in miracles.
Here are a few reasons to believe in modern day miracles.
Irrefutable proof
The major reason that naysayers cannot trump believers is that there is proof that miracles happen. It is for everyone to see. Modern day miracles do not occur in a spectacle like the ones in the Bible. They are quaint signs that an all-powerful being exists. And that He is watching over us.
Here are some proven and inarguable miracles that may fly in the face of science, but are true happenings.
An unusual path to recovery
A man in Minnesota called Greg Thomas was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. In a move of ultimate despondence, the doctors told his family to prepare for his funeral. He then decided to spend his last days on earth by restoring a run-down church in his community. He would visit the church often and pray for his recovery. Though the restoration project was slow, that’s all it took. Greg recovered from his incurable ailment and in time completed the renovation of the church.
This is not an isolated incident of a modern day miracle. It is commonplace if you have tuned into the right channel.
A guided rescue operation
The most frequent type of miracles that we see today are the ones that spring out of love. Newspaper reports of how rescue operations were guided by unseen hands is not new. Let us look at one such incident that happened in Utah.
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A mother was driving her 18 month-old child and lost control. Lynn Groesbeck slid from the road and drove into the Spanish Fork River. First responder, police officer Tyler Beddoes claimed that he heard someone from the car say “Help me”. This could be written off as a hallucination if he was the only person who heard it. The firefighters who helped extract the infant from the crashed car heard it too. The accident site looked like there would be no survivors. But the voice prompted the first responders to lift the crashed car. They agreed that it was impossible for anyone inside the car to call for help. The responders found the crash fourteen hours after the crash. They were sure that Lynn must have died on impact and the infant could not have called out.
When all hope is lost
Miracles sometimes manifest themselves even when the people involved do not ask for it. This is a reminder that we are always loved, irrespective of our spiritual disposition.
A woman was driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and was at the toll plaza. She experienced the horror of a tractor coming right at her. Her car crashed into the water below on impact of the tractor. She almost gave up hope when she saw her car filling with water. It was then that she had the experience of her lifetime. As she was panicking and flailing, she realized that a “hand pushed her back against her seat”. She then gathered her senses and recovered sufficiently to unfasten her seatbelt and free herself. How can you argue against a physical push that saved this woman’s life?
Physicians experience it too
Doctors head the scientific community in research of the human form. They are the ones that are most acquainted with either the possibility or impossibility of a miracle. It should not surprise you to know that quite a few physicians believe in miracles.
There are many articles and books in popular literature that discuss modern day miracles that might not sit well with scientific professionals. But when the book is written by a medical practitioner himself, its credibility is unquestioned. “Physicians’ Untold Stories” is one such book authored by Scott J Kolbaba. It is an inspiring account of his friends and acquaintances who have had life changing experiences that goes against years of their disciplined scientific study. Being staunch disbelievers themselves, their abrupt U-turn in their beliefs is further proof that miracles did not stop centuries ago. They happen today, in your neighborhood and are just as potent.
Scott Kolbaba presents an unbiased account of nothing short of apparitions that doctors had about their patients who were fighting for their lives. He also documents dreams that surgeons had of their patients they were to operate on. In one case the dream accurately described the future of a patients medical condition. These confessions are from people conditioned to dispossess such beliefs. These experiences sit as a firm reminder that miracles are not a far-fetched idea in this age.
Supernatural is not anti-natural
It is note-worthy that miracles probably cannot be explained by universally accepted natural laws simply because it is out of the scope of today’s scientific advancements. George Henry Hubbard published a paper in 1913 called “The message of the miracles to modern minds”. In this paper, he articulates that anybody who outrightly refuses to accept occurrences that they do not understand, is more of a narrow-minded person than a non-believer. He rightly notes that the then-marvelous is now an effortless possibility. What people categorize as “impossible” is a reflection of the scientific advancement of the age they live in.
An interesting observation he makes is that rejecting modern day miracles is just as bad as disowning any miracles that do not appear in the Bible. It is clear from his thesis that upon expansion of our current clinical knowledge, we will stand to understand the phenomenon of miracles. Nothing should stop us from allowing the truth we feel through personal experiences to reside in our hearts.
He inspects that the most remarkable healing and apparent restoration from deaths recorded in the Gospels have parallels in the works of modern physicians. So accepting that miracles happen is reduced to the acceptance that modern day clinical medicine can heal.
George Hubbard is not alone in his view of miracles. He finds support in the works of Augustine of Hippo. Augustine observed that miracles are not anti-natural. Modern day miracles are only contrary to our understanding of nature. Augustine is among the first few to famously observe that science is not a threat to miracles. On the contrary, he welcomed the advancements in science to help us understand miracles in nature.
Simply because miracles give you hope
A survey was conducted to test the faith levels in the citizens of UK. 77% of the people subscribe to the notion that “there are some things in life that we simply cannot explain through science or any other means”. The survey revealed that 16% of the people believe that either they or someone they know have experienced a “miracle” in life.
Einstein famously said “There are two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” There is no reason to doubt the most popular physicist of our times. The major reason people believe in the existence of miracles is that there is no reason not to. Emotional proof is sufficient to trust in the potency of modern day miracles.
For centuries now miracles have served as a harbinger of hope. It allows us as humans to rise from our seemingly helplessness to reach the unreachable. Though the most common types of miracles push our clinical boundaries there are others that are just as incredible. The tool you need to see the miracles unfold is faith. Faith in your experiences that miracles do happen.
Psychologists have found that the placebo effect can be extended to how a person comes to believe certain notions. So if a person hopes for a miracle, it is most likely that his cognitive equipment will allow for it to happen. So all we need to do is trust our instincts.
Whether people choose to believe it or not, nobody can dispute the fact that miracles do occur. The thread that runs through all miracles that have ever transpired is love. Love of God towards His children. Love of a mother who prayed for her child. Love in its pure, unadulterated form. Trusting in miracles is as easy and difficult as acknowledging the power of love. Rooted firmly in love, modern day miracles do not arrive in glory nor do they stop for the cynical. But serve as a constant reminder that they gently guide us in our most dire times.
