Ever experienced/witnessed a miracle?

[sohackedoff]

Have you ever experienced or witnessed a miracle? If so, please share.

My mum, a committed Christian, had ulcerative colitis. She'd had it for years and was on the verge of having a colostomy bag fitted. She received prayer and was healed.

[RestlessTraveller]

Was your mum also receiving medical treatment?

[gabsdot]

I have witnessed and experienced events that I would define as miraculous. It's usually action combined with prayer and faith
e.g. my friend was expecting a baby who was not expected to live due to a medical condition (I can't remember but involved enormous tumours on baby's brain and heart).
The baby did survive and has thrived. She has had some medical treatment and medication. She just started school. Her parents have enormous faith and they (and I) believe strongly that prayer was instrumental in her recovery.
Often people who don't have faith explain away these events but for a person of faith God's hand is very evident.

[forburylion]

Not being goady but could somebody explain this to me - if God heals in response to prayer, but he also loves everybody, would he also not heal those who don't pray?

[dodobookends]

When my committed Christian mother was groaning in agony in the last stages of terminal bowel cancer, she said to me: "I must have done something so wicked in my life for God to make me suffer like this".

She prayed, and had a whole church full of people (and an archbishop) praying for her.

If God heals in response to prayer - er no, that doesn't happen.

[HermioneWeasley]

No, but I have experienced coincidences and surprises which if I were religious, I might have attributed to divine intervention (confirmation bias).

I suggest you listen to "thank you god" by Tim Minchin for a thorough de bunking

[user1474781546]

My father was gravely ill in hospital. My mother, a born again christian was told by her pastor that is she prayed hard enough and trusted god enough then he would survive.

He died a few days later.

Decades later my mother still feels responsible for his death, feeling that it was her lack of faith and trust in god that killed him.

There is no evidence to show that christians or people who are prayed for have any better medical outcomes. Unusual or unexpected turns of events happen with or without prayer.

[BertrandRussell]

What did your mother's doctor say about it, OP?

[ayeokthen]

My dad's car was hit by a train on an unlit level crossing in the Highlands. He walked away with a bruise from his knee to his groin from the steering column. He told us it was a miracle and I believe him.

[Microwaste]

I have never understod this way of thinking. I'm an atheist but was brought up Catholic. Do you not think that at least some of the almost 1000 people who died in Haiti last week prayed to be saved? Why would a god decide to save an individual but not thousands of innocent others? And even if there was a god capable of doing such a capricious and arbitrary thing, why on that basis would it be an entity worth revering?

[Mybeardeddragonjustdied2016]

I am not religious at all. I went to a place in Brazil with my aunt where I saw people have cataracts removed by a man with the power of prayer and a knife and other bizarre procedures done. No way can I explain what I saw. It was some religious house and gardens full of people of all nationalities and was most odd. He is on the Internet if you fancy a peek.

[Lessthanaballpark]

I've heard people talking in tongues. I wish someone would explain that to me (scientifically of course) because it freaked me out.

[user1474781546]

bertrand- about what , the praying? He didn't know.

[user1474781546]

ayeokthen- why was his car hit in the first place? Not much of a miracle then.

[CrabbyJo]

Totally with Microwaste

[Lessthanaballpark]

"Why would a god decide to save an individual but not thousands of innocent others? "


Well I don't believe in God but I'm guessing it's like being in a call centre He has to prioritise some calls over others.

[user1474781546]

lessthanaballpark- "talking in tongues" is just people muttering rubbish. No one has ever started Talking ancient Hebrew or any recognisable language, so no scientific explanation needed.

[user1474781546]

Sorry bertrand, just realised that question was not directed at me.

[Lessthanaballpark]

User i really wish that were true bit the person who did it is the most honest person I know, absolutely crap at languages and wouldn't have what it takes to consciously make up a string of nonsense syllables which actually sounded entirely genuine.

There must be some bizarre psychological explanation but I've never found one. It's the 0.01% in my being 99.99% sure there is no God.

[greenfolder]

My dear sister in law was a gentle soul and true believer. She died within 6 weeks of cancer diagnosis leaving behind a disabled husband and autistic son. She had a whole town praying for her and went to church every Sunday for 54 years.
My dad had half of America praying for him through some kind of prayer circle. He promptly popped his clogs. To be fair he may have done this just to prove there was no God as he was a life long atheist.

[BertrandRussell]

No, I meant what did her doctor say about her cure?

[BertrandRussell]

Apparently, glossolalia is very similar to a phenomenon that appears in some people with schizophrenia. A disassociation between the language centers in the brain. It can happen when susceptible people are in an emotionally charged environment and go into a trance like state.

Remember Occam's razor. Which is more likely- a succepible person's brain going temporarily awry under strong suggestion from a charismatic pastor and a wound up congregation or God deciding to randomly communicate in a completely incomprehensible way to Pentecostalists in Penge?

[Lessthanaballpark]

"To be fair he may have done this just to prove there was no God as he was a life long atheist."



Thanks Bertrand I will have a dig into that. Although the person, whilst lovely, isn't really susceptible because she was quite suspicious of some people in the church who were obviously faking it. Plus she wasn't led by a leader in a congregation because she was sitting in front of me on her own at home.

It was all very bizarre but I trust something happened because I trust this person 100%.

Maybe one day I'll ask her. It just doesn't pop up in general conversation!

[WaitroseCoffeeCostaCup]

I suggest you listen to "thank you god" by Tim Minchin for a thorough de bunking

Did you mean to be so rude?

[user1474781546]

Why is that rude Waitrose?

[claraschu]

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=thank+you+god+tim+minchin&view=detail&mid=3FACCC7BE8AA7BF602783FACCC7BE8AA7BF60278&FORM=VIRE

I love "Thank you God". It is brilliant.