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Page Update:
Saturday, October 5th, 2002
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Discovering Modern Miracles
When is it really a miracle?
There is no absolute means for validation of miracles and acts of God. There are so many miracles that we take for granted and unexplainable tricks of manipulation by clever people that I have a hard time picking my miracles. Still, I need my own miracles in my personal affirmation of God, and I have a long list of unexplainable events in my life that I am convinced have a source in the Grace of God. The northwest American Indians blame such confusion and spiritual slight-of-hand on Raven, the trickster (and creator), whose totem appears in the painting, Conjouring Miracles.
Miracles are personal. Anything that an individual cannot explain may be qualified as a miracle. It is also hard to forget that everything that can be explained is only explainable in a limited way. We often ignore the really big things that are unexplainable, like life and the universe. We have all kinds of interesting ways to control the world around us that are explained by theories of electricity, molecular biology, quantum physics and astral physics, but these are all just that - theories. Electromagnetism can be harnessed to an amazing degree and manipulated to power our society, but we don’t know the fundamental cause of electricity or why it exists. While we have a grasp of genetics, we are at a complete loss to figure out how life began, and how fragile it may be. No one has actually seen or touched an atom and there is no clue as to what is inside them. They behave so strangely that we cannot imagine what goes on in there, although we do understand many aspects of atomic behavior in a predictable way.
The universe exists for some reason and sensibly should have boundaries, but we don’t really know what they are. Despite our best use of our imagination, our explanation of the universe is no better than someone taking a thousand simultaneous snapshots at a baseball game and then letting someone entirely unfamiliar with American culture explain what is going on in the photos. They may have some very good guesses, but it is unlikely that they will be able to write an accurate rulebook for the game or truly understand the passion of baseball fans, which is the reason behind everything that is going on.
The Faithful Skeptic
If the best scientific minds have no more conclusive explanation for why we exist than, “God made it that way,” what hope do we as individuals, lacking the technology to do any investigation, have discerning what is and is not a miracle. One thing we are certain of is that human beings have powers of observation that are easily fooled and wills that can be persuaded. Our mind is efficient at processing lots of information very quickly within the context of what we are doing, but are prone to gross inaccuracies unless we specifically nurture our powers of observation and take the time to use them. We also know that this knowledge of human weaknesses is easy to obtain and used by all manner of people for selfish reasons. For me, if a person can perform a miracle on demand, it is a magic trick, or at least a finely honed skill that is worthy of admiration. If they want money from me, my skepticism is even greater. I believe that if something is too good to be true, that it requires some verification and investigation before acceptance - particularly when human beings are involved in some way. I don’t believe in a lot of “miracles” for this reason.
I have found that occult powers capable of producing items out of thin air, stopping trains, giving sight to the blind or restoring limbs are all part of American society. They are not magic tricks, but rather the skills of engineers, doctors, entertainers and technicians that have learned the secrets of “occult powers” in a classroom or from a book. Modern technology has synthesized the secrets of masters and packaged them in a marketable form that is available by ordering on-line. The new humanity has new rules about a lot of things, including miracles. It is not enough for miracles to be unexplainable; they must also be recognized as a gift of God’s Grace - no matter what technology or amazing circumstances has brought them about.
Discovering Our Own Miracles
Still, we are each on our own path and miracles are personal perceptions. If someone sees the image of the Christ in the bite marks on a pencil and it transforms their life through God’s Grace - I would say that it is a miracle. Yet, to another, a bite mark is only a bite mark. The perception of miracles is primarily a function of the imagination, even if the effect has a lasting and tangible impact. I have seen insignificant tokens (like bite marks in Christ’s image) that have reminded me of God’s Grace and have led to important changes in my life. I have also had someone standing beside me get struck by lightening without having any spiritual affect on anyone involved. We are in a world that is one big miracle. We are living in a bath of amazing grace and are witness to the changing of the ages. It is through the uncountable miracles that the world is shifting from one age to the next; making it difficult to pick and choose what circumstances we wish to claim as pure evidence of God’s Grace.
It is my hope that we all become wiser and more capable of spotting flimflam artists who perform miracles for their own gain, be they from Madison Avenue or come clothed in holy robes. And I hope that each of us looks more closely at the average and mundane of our lives in an effort to see God’s Grace in what we take for granted, the gifts of Raven’s slight of hand.
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