miracles

Question 1

What is a realist?

Answer 1

Refers to a miracle as a real world event that breaks laws of nature or is unexplainable

Question 2

What is an antirealist?

Answer 2

Refers to the impact of an event in the ppl who experience them

Question 3

Who is a realist?

Answer 3

Hume

Question 4

Does Hume believe miracles are subjective or objective?

Answer 4

Objective

Question 5

Who are anti realists?

Answer 5

Wiles, Holland + Tillich

Question 6

What do realists believe miracles are?

Answer 6

Extraordinary coincidence of nature
Brought up by a spiritual power, working through ppl

Question 7

When was Hume alive?

Answer 7

18th century

Question 8

What is Hume’s definition of a miracle?

Answer 8

A transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of a deity

Question 9

What’s an e.g. of a miracle as an extraordinary coincidence of beneficial nature?

Answer 9

Julian Koepcke being the 1 survivor on a plane crash out of 86 passengers

Question 10

How many miracles did Jesus perform? Where is this stated?

Answer 10

37 miracles in New Testament

Question 11

What is natural law?

Answer 11

What is possible + not possible for nature to do on its own

Question 12

What is a miracle in terms of natural law?

Answer 12

Something that couldn’t have happened if nature alone was at work

Question 13

What does John Mackie think?

Answer 13

Doesn’t believe in God but doesn’t think its unreasonable to think a God could break laws of nature

Question 14

What is the problem to the account of miracles being a violation of natural law?

Answer 14

Modern science doesn’t accept that natural laws can be violated
If a natural law is broken is it more likely that it was God or that we didn’t get the law right in the first place

Question 15

What does science think about violation of natural laws?

Answer 15

Natural laws can’t be broken, only revised

Question 16

How else can we consider natural laws?

Answer 16

Probabilistic - shows what’s likely not what’s defo gonna happen

Question 17

What do antirealists tend to believe?

Answer 17

The impact of the miracle over whether its possible or not

Question 18

Does Wiles believe miracles are objective or subjective? Why?

Answer 18

Subjective
Its an interpretation by the mind

Question 19

Why doesn’t Wiles like the idea of miracles as real world events?

Answer 19

It makes God seem like he has. favourites

Question 20

What would an anti realist say about the church explosion?

Answer 20

Its not a sign from God + didn’t break laws of nature but its interpreted that way bc of the impact

Question 21

What is the example of the sunset for the anti realists?

Answer 21

One person may see a sunset as a daily event; another may see it as a spiritual awakenings

Question 22

What is the baseline of an antirealists view of miracles?

Answer 22

It doesn’t matter what happens, if it feels like a miracle, it can be called a miracle

Question 23

What did Holland say about miracles?

Answer 23

Theres nothing miraculous about miracles except the way they’re interpreted

Question 24

What example does Holland give?

Answer 24

• A child rides a toy car onto a railway + is stuck when train due to pass can’t stop
• The train breaks inches from the child
• The mother thinks of it as a miracle BUT the driver of the train fainted + his breaks were applied auto.

Question 25

What does the example from Holland tells us?

Answer 25

The mothers aware that God didn’t;t cause the driver to faint, but she interprets it as God’s response

Question 26

What are Hume’s 4 criticisms of miracles?

Answer 26

• Theres never been a miracle reported by ‘sufficient’/’reliable’ witnesses
• Ppl are nat. inclined to believe anything
• Reports come from ignorant + barbarous nations
• Miracle stories from diff. faiths cancel them out

Question 27

What are 4 counters to Humes criticisms of miracles?

Answer 27

• Hume doesn’t give a def of ‘sufficient’/’reliable’ - vague
• In 18th cent there wasn’t any science to explain stuff like there is today
• Most recorded miracles came from Western countries (e.g. Lourdes)
• Theists tend to believe in their religion only

Question 28

What does Hume say about a wise man? What does this mean?

Answer 28

A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence - we believe 100 accounts over 1

Question 29

Where does Hume’s argument about miracles differ from a Christians argument? Why might he be wrong?

Answer 29

He says the improbability of a miracle defeats the idea that it happened
But the whole point is that miracles are the least probable thing

Question 30

How does Tillich say we should interpret miracle stories?

Answer 30

Look at miracle stories as symbols

Question 31

What does Wiles say the one miracle was?

Answer 31

The 1 miracle was creation and then the universe was left un-intervened

Question 32

What example can be used to question God’s lovingness in terms of miraculous visions?

Answer 32

Why would God send a miraculous vision to Bernadette of Lourdes but not stop the holocaust?

Question 33

What shows significance of Hume’s views in ref to religious beliefs?

Answer 33

• Miracles might be evidence for God’s existence
• Confirms God’s positive attributes
• God’s way of communicating w us
• Theres no point in believing in a metaphorical resurrection

Question 34

What does Reza Aslan argue?

Answer 34

The Gospels exaggerated Jesus as a person + his 37 miracles
Ppl wrote Gospels 100s of years ago + prob wrote stuff to make Christianity seem worth following

Question 35

What shows significance of Wiles’ views in ref to religious belief?

Answer 35

• Wiles’ views make the challenges of Hume irrelevant
• More holistic view
• Claims that Gods 1 intervention led to claims that he was a deist not theist
• Wiles still claimed god was actively sustaining the world