Natural or Supernatural?

Well, I haven't done this for a while. I've been pretty busy as of late running around with tons of stuff like bowling, basketball, and work. But of course, those are different stories...

Actually, one of the events does tie into this post. After coming back from work Saturday, I ran into a few friends that were attending Supernatural. Basically, Supernatural on Campus is an event that is meant to be a revival of Pentecostal gifts. For the official facebook link, it's this: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=355100311527&ref=mf.

I ate dinner with a few of my friends that were there and they told me stories about what they had been told/learning and their experiences going throughout the Festival of Books that was on campus. It was definitely interesting to hear, and I was surprised by their boldness and conviction.

Humm, for those of you who have known me from high school, which I assume is most people who read my entries, I am somewhat of a natural skeptic. Miracles today always seem like such an interesting topic to me... Where to start...

Let's start off with the existence of miracles. Yes, I do believe miracles exist. In fact, arguably all of Christianity is based off of Christ's resurrection, which is known as the greatest miracle. Jesus himself was known to perform many miracles, and then also the Apostles were known to perform miracles after the Pentecost. Like I said, Supernatural is meant to copy the Pentecostal gifts, and thus be a "revival" of sorts.

Hmm... Now I've established miracles existing back then, how about today? Yes, I believe that miracles still exist, except they are possibly not as common. Yet, part of the definition of miracles is a supernatural event, and I don't think those are meant to be that common haha. But, I have heard stories such as miraculous healings and other wonders from all around, including in a movie titled 1040 Jonny Chue mentioned.

I guess the skeptic in me starts to ask what events really are miracles or just natural happenings? I remember in 10th grade I was doing community service for an event called Help One Child. During the middle portion of this event, we were setting up cups. Mrs. Pipkin, our Bible teacher, was also there helping out. Well, it turned out that we had 5 tables left or so, and then went Mrs. Pipkin counted cups, apparently we didn't have enough. Yet, she soon counted again and there was another, which she quickly deemed a miracle from God.

Now, the idea that probably comes to your mind, which also came to mind, is did Pipkin make an error when counting and thus we actually had the right number of cups without a miracle? I figured she simply had miscounted, since, if I remember correctly, I had my eyes on the cup and had counted that we had enough originally.

This certainly doesn't disprove miracles but it's not an affirmation of my belief in them either. There have been other attempts to discredit miracles, other than just natural skepticism, by giving them a scientific and natural basis. One example I heard of was that all previous instance of demon possessions could simply be linked to psychological disorders. Thus, there could be a natural explanation for these things, and thus they are not really miracles.

Hum, this is where my confusion settles in. Miracles I always thought of as super divine things that couldn't really be explained physically. For instance, being blind and then seeing is something we can't explain naturally, and neither can rising from the dead. Are things that we give a natural explanation to (assuming that the connection between demon possession and psychological disorders is accurate) really miracles, then?

One answer I've heard is yes. The thing is, society is advancing and becoming continually smarter and smarter in terms of scientific advancement. Thus, one day we may be able to even explain healing of the blind or even revival of the dead. So, even though we may be able to explain it naturally, divine intervention is still the cause behind the natural explanation. For example, even if we do tie demon possession to psychological disorders, divine intervention is still required for a person to be instantly healed of any psychological disorder.

With this explanation, it can still be had that miracles do exist today, even if some people don't perceive it that way. But, at this point it does become hard to attribute what events are natural and what events are supernatural. I guess you could say all events could be supernatural where the situation seems to have changed, but that means accepting the cup example I mentioned previously. This might be supernatural, but I am still skeptical about that. Another possibility is to say that only the big events are supernatural, but what exactly is a big event, then? There could be things that typically aren't physically possible, such as healings, but many other small things could still be miracles, yet we just aren't aware of them, so to speak.

Hum, I don't exactly have a clear answer for this, which is something that does bother me. I am more inclined to go with the second answer, for with the first everything in life could be attributed to being a miracle. I guess this is a possibility, but that would seem to defeat the definition of a miracle being supernatural, in my opinion. I've probably even established a false dichotomy by giving these only two options, but I currently can't think of any more, which is a problem...

Anyways, ignoring the definition of miracle, I guess it's weird to think that they can happen today, as I mentioned somewhat in the beginning. It's somewhat of a personal error, but I have trouble sometimes remembering that stuff in the Bible actually did happen. I don't mean that I believe that it's false, but that it actually happened not too long ago. This is weird to explain, but it's sorta like looking at a history book. I know all the stuff did happen, but going to the site and having a closer look at things that have happened, such as the killing fields of Cambodia, just makes it click all the more... I just have personal trouble registering all the stuff that did happen sometimes, since it seems all so crazy, even though I do believe it. Hmm, that's a really weird sentence, but hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say.

Anyways, since the Bible is part of the past, there should really be no reason for why miracles can't happen today, as many people believe they do. Maybe there is a distinction that should be made between miracles that happen naturally and miracles that people perform, for it is much easier for me personally to believe and recognize the former over the latter. I guess one of the biggest questions is why did miracles stop being performed? The Apostles were supposed to have done it like crazy, so why was there on one after them?

According to how much we trust some accounts of history, there still were. Many saints back in Medieval times were supposed to be known for miracles (Some have argued that these accounts may be fabricated/elaborated, but there is still the possibility), and miracles are even supposed to still be performed today in Asia according to 1040. Thus, I guess it mainly depends on personal bias and how much people want or refuse to believe... Of course, even if miracles are performed, people might not believe. Jesus says this somewhere in the NT, and it does make sense, for there may be miracles happening all around us and yet we may be refusing to recognize them as supernatural. So, it seems that miracles still can and do happen today, but it is something that I personally have trouble wrapping my head around. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that miracles exist and that they can still happen today, it's just odd to think of how pertinent the Bible is in today's context, which is something I personally all to easily forget. Humm, weird stuff...