Miracles
- Created by: harrysidneyjack
- Created on: 08-03-22 18:10
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- Miracles
- Maurice Wiles
- Wiles was a Christian who argued against the miraculous. His disbelief in miracles stems from God’s morality – not from science or physical improbability
- Arbitrary or Partisan
- Arbitrary: God makes decisions that are not based on reason
- why should we dedicate ourselves to him as our Lord and Saviour?
- Partisan: God decides when and who to perform miracles for because he loves certain sects of people above others.
- God cannot be omnibenevolent and is arguably unfair
- Biblical Stories indicate God interacts with the world, some miracleswere crucial (the virgin birth & the resurrection of Christ.)
- Arbitrary: God makes decisions that are not based on reason
- Wiles’ Argument
- 1. Miracles have to occur infrequently otherwise they would cease to be violations & laws of nature would loose their meaning
- 2. If God can enact miracles, why did he part the red sea but allow 6 million Jewish people to die in the Holocaust?
- 3. evil events which have not been prevented by God raise questions about God’s omnipotence & goodness
- 2. If God can enact miracles, why did he part the red sea but allow 6 million Jewish people to die in the Holocaust?
- 1. Miracles have to occur infrequently otherwise they would cease to be violations & laws of nature would loose their meaning
- Anti-Realist
- Miracles are not literally ‘caused’ by God. They are symbolic and only make sense for a believer
- Realist
- Believers actually believe God has caused a miracle.
- Natural law
- For
- Aquinas: miracles are events that “God produces outside the usual order established in the creation”
- Against
- Humes: a miracle is “a violation of the laws of nature"
- miracles may not be a violation of laws, because we could be able to explain this event in the future by gaining knowledge of its natural causes.
- Spinoza claims that miracles are ontologically impossible becauseGod perfroming a miracle would contradict his own laws of nature
- Humes: a miracle is “a violation of the laws of nature"
- For
- R. F. Holland suggested that a miracle is nothing more than an extraordinary coincidence that is seen in a religious way.
- Maurice Wiles
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