I was recently posed a question to which I gave a rather short “off the top of my head” answer, but got me to thinking about and researching more thoroughly.

Then I was asked a similar question again a couple of weeks later, so here is my rather lengthy answer to both which are:

1) “Why should I believe any of the miracles in the Bible actually happened?”
2) “Can miracles happen today?”

I’ll give my response to the first question now, and the second in pt.2.

I usually respond to the question with one of my own, “Why shouldn’t I believe the miracles recorded in the Bible actually happened?”

I do this to get the questioner to clarify why he objects to a belief in miracles. The great majority of people asking why they should believe the Biblical account of miraculous events ask from a perspective that denies the possibility of miracles as ‘anti-scientific’, or impossible violations of the laws of nature, or that the Bible is just a bunch of made-up stories with no historical foundation.

I have found that without exception, once I’ve gotten a skeptic to voice the foundational reason they disbelieve Biblical miracles, it has boiled down to “miracles can’t happen, so miracles didn’t happen”. Continue reading →