5 Reasons why Your Miracles aren't Really Miraculous

5 Reasons why Your Miracles aren't Really Miraculous



1) Our memories are very selective. Amazing moments can take on a life of their own in the future.

True story: I liked this girl in college. One day, I run into her at the bus stop and we start talking. We hit it off. We dated for a couple of years. She was partly the reason I quit medical school and decided to become a teacher. And if I didn't quit school, I probably never would've become a vocal atheist.

If I were religious, that, to me, would be a perfect example of God guiding His hand to make sure we met. In reality, it was just a coincidence. If we hadn't met, if we hadn't dated, then something else would've happened and I just wouldn't have those cherished memories. I would've had different ones. Maybe better, maybe worse.

Looking back, we can always find those turning points in our lives. It's easy to call them miracles. Or to say God guided us in one particular direction. But you could easily explain that as just a coincidence.

2) Other peoples' miracles can sound pretty delusional.

When something happens to us, it's miraculous. When it happens to someone else, it's crazy. When we feel led to make a decision or we think God has blessed us with good luck, it seems perfectly normal to thank God. But when someone else tells you God was speaking to them and told them to quit their job, you think they're weird. You go home and talk smack about them with your spouse!

When someone else says God healed them of a disease, you want to see their medical records. When your cancer goes into remission, God had a hand in it...

3) Christians experience a lot of miracles...

Faith healers on television? Benny Hinn, Peter Popoff...
Incredibly successful pastors? They get their own reality shows
Bestselling books? They get their own bookstore sections!
Everything Snopes debunks? It's something you heard in church.

None of that happens with Muslim imams and hindu priests and Jewish rabbis. They all believe God is divine. They all believe in Miracles. But they don't market miracles like Christians do. Successful Christians love to pretend God's grace had everything to do with their success and not their own skills or luck. It's a powerful story that keeps perpetuating every time something goes right.

4) Miracles have never, ever been proven. There are things we can't explain, but there are no miracles. If you can prove supernatural powers exist, James Randi will give you a million dollars. Even the Catholic Church's supposed miracles that turn a Pope into a Saint are just stories that may lack a natural explanation.

5) If Miracles were real, our problems would be solved.

If God spoke to us and actually intervened and helped us, diseases would be eradicated, and our loved ones would always live, and we'd never get hurt... but as it turns out, miracles are rare, selective, subjective, and unverifiable.