Hey everyone!
I'm Gotham Chopra and this is Holy Facts,
the show where we take you on a tour of the
weirder side of religion and spirituality,
from Ouija boards to L. Ron Hubbard.
Today we’re listening to all the people
who say God works in mysterious ways and taking
a closer look at miracles.
So what is a miracle?
No, magnets and long-neck giraffes aren’t
miracles, no matter what the Insane Clown
Posse may have told you.
Most people agree that a “miracle” is
an event that defies the laws of nature, and
is the result of divine or supernatural intervention.
But pinning down exactly what qualifies as
a miracle is tricky business.
One man’s act of God is another man’s
act of science.
Did this driver survive a horrific car crash
unscathed because of divine intervention,
or because of the engineering that went into
the car’s design?
Does this girl become the first known survivor
of rabies thanks to God’s will, or because
of the doctors who were able to put her into
a medically-induced coma and give her potent
medicines?
A young man was in a car accident and declared
brain dead.
It was only as his family began to discuss
taking him off life support that he awoke.
Does he have a higher power to praise or the
doctors and EMTs for treating him in the first
place?
Although medical science seems to play a big
part in many so-called miracles, there are
some stories that do appear to defy any logical
explanation.
In the Netherlands, for instance, a Paralympic
bicyclist was struck by a car while on a training
ride.
Rather than disabling her further, the accident
resulted in her regaining the use of her legs.
So while her survival was largely thanks to
medicine, her recovered use of her legs is
pretty hard to explain without using the word
“miraculous.”
Because we’re so desperate for true miracles,
it’s easy to see the divine all around us,
whether it’s the Virgin Mary appearing on
the side of a house in Texas,
Or on a tree in New Jersey,
Or in a piece of candy,
Or Jesus appearing on a potato chip,
Or on a Walmart receipt,
Or on an episode of the Bachelor,
Are these true apparitions, or are we just
seeing what we want to see because it’s
comforting to have your faith affirmed by
your snack foods and reality shows.
Because we’re so desperate to see miracles
around us, there are plenty of people willing
to create a little magic they try to pass
off as God’s handiwork.
Take for instance the case of the girl who
supposedly cried crystals.
The “tears” were said to be razor sharp
and a spontaneous emission, but one magician
was able to rather easily duplicate the “phenomenon.”
And there are plenty of faith healers and
miracle-workers who claim to be able to generate
a miracle for you on the spot.
But if God truly wanted you to be cured by
a miracle and be able to move your arms freely
without pain, wouldn’t he just, you know,
cure you?
Why does he need to hire a subcontractor to
do a job he’s more than capable of doing
himself?
My take: our entire existence is a miracle.[SB1]
Consider the mathematical improbability of
our existence here on planet earth, and where
you’d be if your great-great-great-grandparents
had never bumped into each other at that church
social.
Check out our other series called “The Rabbit
Hole” – the mystery of our existence is
pretty crazy and falls squarely in my definition
of “miraculous.”
For me anyway, science and technology, our
ability to use reason and logic, our awareness
of our awareness?
These are true miracles.
I think you get the point.
If you don’t, let me know about it in the
comments section or by uploading a response
video.
[SB1]I don’t think we ever did a Holy Facts
episode about the mathematical improbability
of existence … if there was another Chopra
Well show where this was explored, I can put
the reference back in, but it wasn’t HF.
