Miracles: Understanding Miracles

By Times of India

Miracles: Understanding Miracles

"Those things are properly called miracles which are done by divine agency beyond the order commonly observed in nature ( praeter ordinem communiter observatum in rebus )."

A miracle, metaphysically speaking, is never a mere coincidence - no matter how extraordinary or significant. If you miss a plane and the plane crashes, that is not a miracle unless God intervened in the natural course of events causing you to miss the flight!

A miracle is a supernaturally (divinely) caused event - an event (ordinarily) different from what would have occurred in the normal ('natural') course of events. It is a divine overriding of, or interference with, the natural order.

As such, it need not be extraordinary, marvelous or significant, and it must be something other than a coincidence, no matter how remarkable - unless the 'coincidence' itself is caused by divine intervention (i.e., not really a coincidence at all). Miracles, however, are ordinarily understood to be not just products of divine intervention in the natural order, but extraordinary, marvelous and significant as well.

Thus, Aquinas says a miracle is "beyond the order commonly observed" and Dr. Eric Mascall says that the word 'miracle' signifies in Christian theology a striking interposition of divine power by which the operations of the ordinary course of nature are overruled, suspended, or modified.

Technically speaking miracles are not violations of such laws but instead are positive instances of those laws. This is because laws of nature do not, and are not meant to, account for or describe events with supernatural causes - but only those with natural causes. Once some event is assumed to have a supernatural cause it is, by that very fact, outside the scope of laws of nature altogether and so cannot violate them.

Only if one disregards the possibility of supernatural causes, can known exceptions to laws possibly be regarded as violations of laws. However, in such a case there might be better reason to suppose that the exception simply shows what was taken to be a law is not really a law, rather than, the exception is a violation of a genuine law of nature.

If a miracle is not a violation of a law of nature, then how is it to be defined in relation to laws of nature?

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See also: Metaphysical Principles, Definition of Metaphysics, Metaphysical Techniques, Miracles, Creating Miracles Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, Peace of Mind, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)