Introduction
The miracle is a significant element of all religions; it is described in sacred literature works of different times and nations. It means that, despite the level of the mankind’s cognitive development, the miracles have a common background. As a rule, a miracle is defined as “an event that is not explicable by natural causes alone” (McGrew, n. pag.). In other words, the notion of the given phenomenon is not comprehended by human beings and, therefore, is explained with the help of religious dogmas. Therefore, it is not surprising that people, who are exposed to critical thinking, argue that the nature of miracles is not like the religion claims it to be.
Body
One of such curious thinkers is a famous philosopher, David Hume. The chosen thinker states that a miracle is “a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent” (Russell, n. pag.). Hume emphasizes that the will and activity of the Lord are needed for a miracle to happen. That is why, one may presume that Hume implies to the necessity of the existence of the miracles’ prime cause. I agree with the statement that the Universal order is arranged by God and based on cause-effect relations. What is more, the acceptance of Deity as the underlying cause seems to be reasonable. In addition, in order to make an unbiased claim, one should observe and study various opposite views.
For example, many researchers argue about the scientific nature of religion-based miracles. In particular, described in the Bible “the crossing of the Red Sea”, in fact, is claimed to be accomplished thanks to the work of waves that created the sandbar (Bailey, n. pag.). It is hard to deny that the chosen explanation sounds reasonable and even though there is no approval that it is exactly what the Bible describes, there are no credible reasons to think otherwise.
Besides, another arguable manifestation of a miracle is so-called “cleansing lepers” (Bailey, n. pag.). In objection to its sacred nature, people point to the lower contagiousness of the given disease either now or during the ancient times. Probably, the strongest example of a miracle is the central idea of Christianity – the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is known to be vastly argued, but the contemporary evidence regarding miraculous resurrection is not reliable enough either to reject or proof the occurrence of wonder. What is more, given the fact that the Bible was rewritten and translated for many times, the initial meaning might be lost. In addition, people may accept some phenomenon as a miracle if they lack alternative explanations. Nevertheless, the inability to present logical explanation is not supposed to mean that it does not exist. Furthermore, an interesting thing is that nothing similar has ever been recorded ever since. In other words, if a miracle happens as a consequence of Deity’s will, then it would be reasonable for such phenomenon to be repetitive.
Processing the scrutiny, it is relevant to question why people, animals and miracles that have a similar prime cause (the same creator), nonetheless, are subjected to the different laws of existence. The scientists of the 17th-18th centuries decided to harmonize such differences (Harrison, 537). In particular, instead of contrasting the wonders to the laws of nature, the scientists, among whom there was a famous Newton, pointed to the similarities of both concepts and encouraged others to search for miracles in ordinary matters (Harrison, 537). The given explanation is wise because it is aimed at making up religion and science; however, more important thing is that the chosen presumption seems to be valid. It brings back to the belief that religious wonders occur because of the Lord’s action and, besides, the miracles, in fact, happen much more often than most people think. For instance, even though they are not described in the Bible, it is a miracle that the birds pave the roots (Louis, 1), and the tortoises swim half of the world in order to find the proper place for the reproduction. Moreover, it can be considered as a greatest wonder that people feel the moods of their dear ones and know when someone thinks about them. Hence, one should consider that the knowledge of the mankind, assembled in the science, is not advanced enough to explain the miracles with the help of the scientific terms (Louis, 4).
Continuing to tie a material and spiritual worlds, many people reveal an assumption that, in fact, human beings are the sources of the happening miracles. The given presumption may be supported by the individuals’ presence each time the wonder happens. On the other hand, religion explains it as a wish of God to facilitate their life. Besides, the chosen assumption does not explain why the same kinds of miracles do not happen on a regular basis. The individual character of most reported miracles seems to imply more to the misinterpretation of the certain phenomenon rather than to their abnormal nature.
Conclusion
On the contrary, the manifestations of the biblical miracles as well as numerous reports of contemporary religion-related wonders, for example, healing by praying, presume that the wonders are as real as the objects of the material world. At the very least, even the biggest skeptics struggle to present relevant and irrefutable facts that would reject the notion of miracles. Therefore, I prefer to consider the religious miracles as those, created by the Lord, until the otherwise is proven.