Miracles just don't exist.

[MrSpooky]

Miracles are often used as evidence in regards to the proof of the existence of God. There's two possible definitions of what a "miracle" is.

 

The first is "An act of God." While nice and simple, this is a terrible definition to work with, primarily because it's a blatant circular argument. Before one can accept miracles as evidence for the existence of God, one must believe in the existence of Miracles... and before one can believe in the existence of Miracles, one must believe in God.

 

As we can see, the Burden of Proof falls on the shoulders of the Theist proposing the existence of Miracles. Just as one cannot say "psychic powers exist because they have not disproven psychic powers" or "wearing pyramids on your head will cure you of all ills because no one has shown that this doesn't work," one cannot, on the same token, affirm that "miracles exist because no one has shown they do not exist."

 

So the Burden of Proof is on the Theist in regard to the existence of Miracles.

 

This is where we bring in the other major definition of what a "miracle" is... "An event or phenomenon so unusual that it cannot be explained by the laws of nature."

 

One must note that this flies in the face of how rational inquiry works in the first place. The ONLY thing that one can do in the instance of coming across a "miracle" is to say that this phenomenon is CURRENTLY UNEXPLAINED, one cannot, and can NEVER affirm that something is INEXPLICABLE. Before one can affirm that a phenomenon is the result of a supernatural cause, one must affirm that it is NOT the result of a natural cause. This is working with the very definition of a "miracle" in this instance. Because this task is impossible due to the progressive nature of human reasoning, we must conclude that a miracle, by this definition, is UNPROVABLE. And because it is up to the Theist to prove that miracles exist, this internal problem results in the "miracle" dissolving into the realm of irrationality.

 

The second problem with miracles overall is that appealing to miracles is not an answer at all. Just as one cannot say "it's magic!" to explain a phenomenon, one cannot appeal to an unknowable cause with unknowable means to explain a phenomenon. Explanations by their very nature built upwards an epistemic edifice from more basic elements. We get to KNOW an idea because it has describable, established axioms and facts behind it. "An unknowable cause using unknowable means" did it fails on this front. Ergo, a Miracle fails to be an explanation at all.