Miracles

Question 1

Define the realist view:

Answer 1

The stance that miracles are seen as real events brought by God.

Question 2

Define the anti-realist view:

Answer 2

The stance that miracles are an interpretation of the mind. They may be seen as symbols, as something that lifts the spirit or transforms the community.

Question 3

Explain the realist understandings of the world:

Answer 3

1. That scientific theories give us true (or approximately true) descriptions of the world.
2. That they give us knowledge of things we believe to exist but cannot observe.
3. That the world is mind-independent: it exists the way it is, regardless of what we think.
4. Applied to miracles, a realist account sees them as real events brought about by God (or someone empowered by God). Exists as a real being, transcendent and unobservable, who creates and cares for the world.

Question 4

What beliefs do scientific realists accept?

Answer 4

• The best scientific theories that we now have give us true (or at least approximately) descriptions of the world.
• These theories also give us true (or approximately true) descriptions of things we believe to exist but which cannot be observed. For example, we have no direct observational evidence that quarks exist, since no one has seen an isolated quark, yet the indirect evidence for their existence is so overwhelming that for a realist it can be considered a proof. The “Standard Model” of particle physics does not make sense without quarks, so they must exist in some manner.
• The world is mind-independent, meaning that the world exists, and is the way it is, regardless of what we think.

Question 5

When a realist informs us that a miracle has taken place, they are…

Answer 5

1. …Telling us something that has happened in the external world.
2. Telling us about the nature of the event.
3. Making a claim about the supernatural cause of the event.

Question 6

Summarise and evaluate Juliane Koepcke’s plane crash survival miracle:

Answer 6

• In 1971, Juliane Koepcke was on board Flight 508 from Lima to Pucallpa when it crashed in a thunderstorm, killing all 6 crew members and 85/86 passengers. Juliane was the sole survivor. She sustained injuries, including a broken collar-bone, but survived a nine-day journey through the jungle, in order to reach help.
• This is another realist example of a miracle seen as “extraordinary coincidences of a beneficial nature”.
• This miracle is criticised because why did God help her yet not the other 91 victims? Were they less worthy, or can he only “pick and choose” one person to perform a miracle on? This raises questions about God’s omnibenevolence and omnipotence!

Question 6

Summarise and evaluate the West Side Baptist Church explosion miracle:

Answer 6

• The West Side Baptist Church gas explosion happened in Nebraska in 1950. The explosion demolished the church and would have killed its choir, but all 15 members were late (each for different reasons) for choir practice on that day and so all avoided certain death.
• This is a realist example of a miracle seen as “extraordinary coincidences of a beneficial nature”.
• This miracle is criticised because what role did God play in it? Did he manipulate all 15 choir members to be late? And if he did, what about all the other countless victims that die at the hand of gas explosions around the world?