If miracles did exist then they would occur whether we were willing to believe in them or not.
A miracle = what? Natural disasters were miraculous in ancient times for much of humanity.
Do miracles exist or do we call what we don't know 'miracles' when we're impressed by it?
if by definition a miracle is "something very unlikely to happen", then yes, I believe something that has even the slightest chance of happening might happen.
It all comes down to how likely that thing is to happen.
Well a
miracle is something that occurs through inexplicable means. ( eg. contrary to common knowledge. ) and appears "supernatural". Electricity would probably be supernatural to the right culture, time-period or person, especially if you get creative with it or go back in time far enough. ( Just for example. )
Jesus turning water into wine, if it actually happened would technically count because most people would have to admit they don't know how to or can't turn water into wine nevermind on demand.
Although it doesn't mean it would be a miracle to Jesus. It would be miraculous to the bystanders.
The defintion of the word miracle requires somebody's ignorance first. Otherwise it wouldn't be a miracle.
I MUST believe in miracles...Otherwise I wouldn't be able to believe that I am going to ever be married in the future.
Believe in effort. At least it rewards itself. o_o
But how about you, GBAtemp?
I believe that people believe miracles. I believe that people are prone to beliefs and applying meaning in retrospect to mundane, normal or otherwise meaningless things. Even more so, when their lives are quite bad and they need ( not just want ) the miraculous to exist in their life, because it is that bad.
I believe that despite the cultural message that truth is somehow a good thing, human beings don't actually care that much about truths and they're willing to tell themselves pretty much anything that is not true and not real - even if that means lying to oneself or to others.
If miracles existed I think we would be doing it a disservice by calling it that because it would be too tempting to associate it with other claims that have used the same word in the past to sell snake oil.
If humanity discovered one could heal wounds and illnesses with will-power or self-discipline then we should call it that and skip all terms that exagerate it into anything else; like magic, paranormal, fairy-dust, miracle, power, god, etc. since we'd only be obfuscating whatever there was to know and not helping ourselves at all by mystifying it any further.
if there was such a thing.
I have never heard anyone in my entire life say the word "miracle" that wasn't accompanied by
an attempt to sell me something. Whether it be DVD, a BlueDisc, a book, you name it. That tells me a lot about people and a lot about miracles.
Long story short, it doesn't matter whether you believe in miracles because what's real will be real with or without your beliefs - but as far as what's good for you, it's definitely healthier to live assuming they do not exist and avoid all the ridiculous lies and scams that come from other people until you are proven otherwise or find yourself in a real situation where the question even matters. Until then, it's nothing but lots of cloud talk and compulsive dreaming.
Oh yeah and also scams.
Psionic Roshambo
BigOnYa
Xdqwerty
