Miracles In The Modern World

In a recent thread, James wrote:

Are miracles occurring today? If so, are they identifiable as being the work of specifically the Christian God? If so, how?

We have a long history with James, assuming he's the same person who keeps posting under that screen name and frequently acts the way this James has been acting. He goes on, later in the thread linked above, to ask other questions. He keeps shifting topics, and he often asks questions that have already been answered. He also has a tendency to ignore questions that are asked of him, all the while expecting others to answer his questions. Despite James' misbehavior, there are some larger issues involved that are worth addressing.

The subject of modern miracles is a big topic. It's something I occasionally study, but it's not at the forefront of my priorities. Others could address the topic far better than I'm able to. As Steve Hays mentioned in the thread linked above, the New Testament scholar Craig Keener has been working on a book that addresses the subject. I would expect that book to address some of these issues more broadly and more deeply than I could. But I do want to make some comments on the topic and recommend some resources.

Keener discusses some of his own experiences with miracles in his commentary on John (The Gospel Of John: A Commentary, Vol. 1 [Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003], p. 267). In his recent book on the resurrection, Michael Licona mentions that Keener has told him that he's "discovered medical documentation" for some of the miracles he'll be discussing in his upcoming book (The Resurrection Of Jesus [Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2010], n. 31 on p. 143).

We've addressed miracles in the modern world in many previous threads. See my discussion of the paranormal here and the larger thread by Steve Hays that I link there.

Gary Habermas has often addressed this subject. He has a large collection of articles and interviews at his web site, and many of those address the issue to some extent. He's done some research on near-death experiences, and he sometimes discusses modern reports of healings, for example. Here's an article in which he addresses near-death experiences. Here's a page that has a recording of a program he participated in regarding Jesus' resurrection, in which the subject of modern miracles came up. Look for the October 27, 2006 "Live With The Infidel Guy" listing. See, especially, the third audio file under that heading. He discusses a book he's been writing that, like Keener's, addresses the subject of modern miracles.

Another line of evidence is answered prayer. See, for example, Roger Steer's biography of George Muller, Delighted In God! (Wheaton, Illinois: Herald Shaw Publishers, 1981).

Or take fulfilled prophecy. By its nature, fulfilled prophecy would be more prominent at some times in history than others (the first coming of Jesus, His second coming, etc.). And sometimes the fulfillment would span centuries or millennia and would be only partial at a particular time in history. In our day, we see the ongoing fulfillment of what was predicted about the influence of Israel on the world and the influence of the messianic figure in Isaiah 52-53 (Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 52:15), for example. What was predicted in Genesis 12:3 and what Paul saw fulfilled in some measure in his day (Galatians 3:8) has expanded even further since then. The spread of Christianity, Israel's reemergence as a nation in the twentieth century, and the centrality of Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, in world affairs have prophetic significance and are largely modern developments.

Those are several lines of evidence for supernatural activity in the modern world. Much more could be said. But I want to move on to address some related issues that often come up.

What about more powerful miracles, like the parting of the Red Sea and Jesus' resurrection? Where are the modern equivalents? How do we know that the Christian God, as opposed to some other entity, has been behind the modern phenomena discussed above? Why doesn't He give us more evidence?

Again, these are big questions that I'm only going to address briefly here. We've discussed such things in the past. Those who are interested in reading more can search the archives.

Remember, the Bible doesn't limit itself to the most powerful of miracles, nor does it claim that all types of miracles will occur during all times in history, nor does it claim that every phenomenon that we classify as a miracle is performed by God. Often, people ask questions about modern miracles with some assumptions in mind that aren't Biblical assumptions. Defending a Biblical worldview doesn't require an acceptance of those unbiblical assumptions.

Much of what the Bible reports, such as visions, exorcisms, and healings, are reported in the modern world as well. And sometimes what's reported today is on the more significant end of the spectrum, such as a resurrection (in the sense of resuscitation) or some of the mediumistic evidence documented by Stephen Braude. And it would make sense if the most significant of miracles, like the parting of the Red Sea and Jesus' resurrection, would be reserved for the most significant historical moments. Why should we expect them to occur every day or even every century or every millennium?

Furthermore, it's not as though the average critic of the supernatural is willing to accept visions, healings, and contact with the dead or demons, for instance, but is unwilling to accept something like the parting of the Red Sea. Usually, the critic is skeptical of the supernatural in general. I think the request for more significant miracles is often disingenuous. The people making the request often don't accept lesser miracles even when they're given a lot of evidence for them. Asking for more doesn't explain what they already have.

And that raises the issue of how much we need. There's a difference between sufficient evidence and exhaustive evidence and categories between those two. If a woman's husband gets home from work late one evening, and she asks him why he was late, how will he respond? Let's say he was late because he stopped at the bank on the way home. Could he provide evidence by showing her a receipt and getting some footage from the security cameras at the bank? Yes. But would she want or need that much evidence? Probably not. She'd probably take him at his word, accepting his own testimony as sufficient evidence. All of us distinguish between sufficient and more than sufficient evidence in our everyday lives. Sometimes we provide people with more evidence than they need, and we're often ignorant of how much is needed, but often we knowingly provide people with less evidence than we could. For one thing, it's often an unwise use of time and other resources to provide more than what's needed. God would know how much evidence each person needs, He doesn't share our ignorance, and He has means of reaching people other than through something like a healing or a resurrection. It's not as though such miracles are the only means by which He can persuade people. God isn't a human who's trying to discern the best method of reaching as many people as possible, largely ignorant of their circumstances and the outcome of His efforts. He has more to work with (Acts 17:26-27).

Asking for modern miracles doesn't explain past miracles. The fact that the miracles occurred in the past doesn't change the fact that evidence for those miracles exists today. But we do have a lot of evidence for supernatural entities and activity in the modern world.

And Christianity doesn't claim that God performs every miracle, so a Christian wouldn't have to argue that every miracle has been performed by God. Sometimes an activity we would classify as supernatural comes from a demon or some other being who isn't God, and sometimes we don't know who was involved. Something like an answer to one of George Muller's prayers or a modern fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy could be associated with the Christian God in particular, but nothing in the Christian worldview requires that other sources not be involved or that we would even be able to identify the sources involved in every case.