Unable to Believe in Miracles
As a general thing, a man who says he does not believe in miracles has no well defined idea of what he is talking about. He does not know just what he does believe, or just what he does not believe, in that sphere. Ordinarily he is simply expressing an inclination to doubt something that he does not understand, without having fixed in his own mind the limits of the belief or of the unbelief he is talking about. Many a Bible reader of to-day seems to be as poorly informed in this matter as Bishop Colenso or as Ernest Renan, both of whom, in their books of unbelief, made blunders in referring to the claims and statements of the Bible text that would be unworthy of the average pupil in the junior department of a well-conducted Sunday-school. To say that one does not believe in miracles is
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to suggest that the doubter lacks an understanding of himself, and of what he is talking about.
One of these doubters said to me as a probable believer:
“I value the Bible for the truths it teaches, and for its wise counsel as to important duties. But I am free to say that I do not believe in the Bible stories of miracles. I count those as Oriental fictions, not to be taken as reasonable fact.”
“Do you refer to any particular narration in the Bible as incredible, or are you making a general statement?*’
“I mean that I do not believe in such a thing as a miracle. I believe that all things are within the course of the known laws of nature. Any event claimed as outside of the laws of nature is not to be accepted as true. I cannot believe it”
“Then you do not believe in any future state — any continued existence after this life?”
“Yes, I do believe in that as probable, loo
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although yet unproved. But that is in another realm than this. In another life the laws of nature as we now understand them may not limit all possibilities.”
“Then you are willing to admit that there may be in the universe possibilities beyond what we now call the laws of nature? But you are confident that God never permitted any child of his, whether Moses, or Joshua, or Elisha, or even Jesus, to exert any power in God’s service except within the limits of nature’s forces as we perceive them. Is that what I understand to be your claim?”
“In a sense, that is what I believe.”” Is it not possible that some of God’s servants of old were familiar with, or were directed to act in accordance with, the workings of natural forces, in ways that seemed wonderful or more than natural to observers of then, yet which are well understood to-day in the light of modern research and of scientific discoveries? For example, the crossing of the Red Sea by
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the Israelites; the overthrow of the walls of Jericho by the marching host; the going forward or backward of the shadow on the dial in the days of Hezekiah — as explained by Professor R. A. Proctor; and various other Bible wonders.”
“Of course, I am ready to admit that any event called a miracle in the Bible that is shown in the light of modern discovery to have been within the scope of the laws of nature can be accepted as true. But those are exceptional cases. What I disbelieve are the unnatural or supernatural miracles, of which there are so many in the Bible narrative.”
“Yet all these miracles which are explained to us by modern science had their supernatural side or phase shown in the Divine directions or interposition given as to time or place, which unaided men could not have known about.”
“I believe that God often gives to a child of his a prompting or guidance that may affect his most important interests. Yet mnable to Mclicvc in flQitacled
these are always in the line of the laws or forces of nature.”
“Yes, the Bible miracles differ from other Oriental wonders in that the latter are unnatural, while the former are simply supernatural, — directed from above nature. It is in this that the Bible miracles are wholly unlike such stories as those in the Arabian Nights and other Oriental works. The Bible miracles are never unnatural, or anti-natural, while they evidence a supernatural power, — a power above nature.”
“But I do not think that there is any place for a special * miracle ’ in our present sphere, when God’s ordinary laws are operative under his control, and in accordance with his plans.”
“Are you sure you know what you mean when you say ‘miracle*? At least three different Hebrew and two Greek words are in the common version of the Bible translated ‘miracle.’ These words mean severally * a wonder,” something wonderful,’ ‘an act of power,’ ‘a sign.’ Do you
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deny or doubt that Moses or Joshua or Elijah, or that Jesus, in some cases performed wonders, or did acts of power, or wrought what were signs or tokens of their representative character or mission?”
“Of course I do not. I have never
doubted that.”
“Then you do not mean that you deny or doubt all * miracles ’ in the strictest meaning of the words thus translated in the Bible?”
“I admit that there is an ambiguity as to the meaning of the word ‘miracle,’ as ordinarily used.”
“Yes, it is evident that you, like a great many other doubters, including Bishop Colenso and Ernest Renan, and even men who are called scholars and thinkers, and who would not want to be called culpably careless or ignorant as writers or speakers, have used pivotal words with reference to important truths that do not mean, or even fairly indicate, your views or position as to Bible truth.”
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“But I used the English word * miracle;’ and I intended it to be understood in the sense in which that word is commonly, or popularly, used. I do not believe in miracles in the sense of something not to be accounted for in the ordinary or established workings of the course of nature, and claimed to be wrought by the direct exercise or intervention of divine power. Such miracles I cannot believe in, even if they are recorded in the Bible.”
“Yet you have said that events recorded in the Bible, which seemed at the time to be miraculous, and which in the light of then you could not have believed, have, in the progress of human knowledge, been shown to be wholly credible. That you still admit.”
“Of course I do. I deny the claim of events that are not to be accounted for except by a direct interposition of divine power, and that obviously are not within the established order of nature. Those I cannot accept.”
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“If it had been said a few years ago that one man had communicated with another at a distance on or over the ocean without a connecting wire or cable, would that have been counted a miracle?”
“With our knowledge of then, we should have been likely to say that it was claiming miraculous power, and the fact might have been doubted by one who had not positive evidence of it.”
“But in our day one has no hesitation in believing it.”
“Of course not.”
“Is your claim, then, that your belief as to miracles is contingent on your measure of personal knowledge, or on evidence that is satisfactory to yourself, with an explanation that will convince you as to the forces of nature newly brought in play? In other words, that your measure of belief in the miraculous is a sliding scale, which depends on your growing progress in material knowledge? Must you be prepared by intellectual attainments for any fresh
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disclosure of God’s goodness or power before you can accept as true what is claimed by others as a result of science or as an act of God’s love and power?”
“I am glad to believe that I am constantly making progress in knowledge and faith. I see, in these days, the reasonableness of many things that our fathers spoke of as miraculous r
“You admit, then, that your doubt about miracles is more indefinite, less surely limited, than you counted it in the beginning of our conversation; that it has changed from time to time in the past; and that it is still liable to change in certain undisclosed particulars.”
“Strictly speaking, that may be so as to my use of the word. But I say confidently that God’s course in nature is established; that God does not interpose his special power for the benefit of one of his children in the manner suggested by the word ‘miracle,’ or ‘miraculous.’ In other words, I do not believe in special or par-Wow to Deal with JS)oubt:5
ticular providences as often claimed and pressed.”
“It seems unnecessary for us to discuss this question any farther. It is pleasant to know that you believe as much as you do in God’s love and power as back of all the workings of what we call the established or ordinary forces of nature. Your present doubt seems to be one of faith and its direction, rather than as to the miraculous in the sphere of human activities. As to that, we differ widely. Not wishing to discuss it, I desire to state my own belief on the subject, and to leave that before you as my testimony as to what God is to me, and what he is ready to be to whoever trusts him.
“With God there is neither great nor small. His providences, as affecting us, are both general and particular. In him we live, and move, and have our being. We are as dependent on the exercise of God’s personal power for the next breath we draw as are the stars in the courses “Ulnablc to JBelicve in fHicaclcs
dependent on his keeping in play the great forces of the universe. In the Bible, which tells of these “miracles” in the line of God’s plans for his children, God invites us to tell him of our needs, and to trust him for their full supply. Myriads of trusting souls have turned to him in their time of need, and have had those promises more than made good to them. Of course, God employs the forces of the universe when he would answer the prayers of a child of his who in faith asks for help. But God is not limited to the self-action of those forces. God has at least as much power of direction as a telephone operator when he uses the force of electricity in sending a message to an apothecary for a vial of spirits of ammonia for a person who feels faint. God can act in particular cases as well as in sweeping generalities. He has more love and power than has a telegraph operator or an electrician.
“Personally, I will say gratefully, that, for more than half a century of experience
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in the Christian life, I have lived in confidence in those specific promises, and God has never failed me. More surely than the most devoted father, the tenderest mother, the wisest physician, God has ministered to me in supplying me with specific directions, often including detailed counsel, not to be accounted for by any known law of nature, — directions including my personal actions and the course of others, affecting my life, my health, my business affairs, the interests of the community. These were not merely remarkable occurrences; they were miracles, events out of the known order, and wrought by the intervention of divine power. As to the continuance of this mode of life I have no doubt, while God continues to be God, and his children continue to need and to trust him. Does this sound ’ miraculous ‘? I think so.”
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