Are atheists just one miracle away from belief?
I was talking with Max and Angela, both in their early 20’s,
who made it appear that way. I asked
about their beliefs in the hereafter, and Angela told of a recent incident,
miraculous for it’s improbable timing, that turned her from atheism to a belief
in some sort of spiritual or supernatural realm, though she is unsure what that
might be.
In June, her stepfather, whom she loved and admired, had
passed away and after hearing the terrible news she had taken a train to the
hospital in the suburbs. On the way the
woman in front of her lifted the hair on the back of her neck to reveal a
tattoo of her stepfather’s name. Angela
saw this as a sign from her stepfather, and now sees other such coincidences as
signs of his spiritual presence, though she also agreed that her belief-changing
miracle could be written off by others as a coincidence.
On the other hand, Max described himself as a devout atheist
who turned from fantasies about Greek gods to atheism because of his belief in
the rational and cause/effect world of science, where most everything is
thought to be able to be explained.
So should just one miracle turn an atheist into a believer,
at least a believer in the supernatural?
Would a similar incident like Angela’s be as convincing for Max? Or might he just belief because of the
eyewitness testimony of people around him who have experienced miracles? The
miracles that bring people to spiritual awareness are often small signs that
occur at just the right time, improbable but not impossible, personally
meaningful for the recipient but not to many others.
Why is it that not everyone experiences miracles? It may not seem fair, but we all must deal
with the hand we have been dealt. Miracles
and signs are presented in the Bible as a gift, not a right. God doesn’t owe us miracles to prove Himself
to us, and it would be wrong to demand them or reject God because we feel we haven’t
seen one personally.
Jesus, who told the devil that one should not “put the Lord
to the test”, criticized the Pharisees in Matthew 16 by saying “You know how to
interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot
interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for
a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Subjecting God to scientific testing and interpretation is
not the same as judging physical events, such as “interpreting the appearance of the sky” to
determine if it will rain tomorrow. The
One who created order and natural laws to keep creation orderly is certainly
above being judged by those laws. Proverbs
17 tells us “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord
tests the heart.” We are able to test
and refine natural things such as silver and gold, but it is foolish to expect
to apply those same tests to the supernatural.
We have been given scripture as our guide, and if we do we will find
that according to the Bible not all in the spirit realm is of God. And instead of putting God Himself to the
test, we will do well to keep in mind that He is the one who “tests the heart”.
But, although some people see or experience other miracles,
everyone has experienced one to which we are held accountable – the miracle of
existence. Despite the fact that even
children know that something can’t come from nothing, well, here we are. We know there is a Creator because we are
surrounded by the creation. To deny this
basic miracle is to suppress the truth for some other agenda. Jesus also said we are given another, more
specific miracle – His resurrection after “three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth”.
Atheists are without excuse for judging God to be
nonexistent, generally because of creation, and specifically because of Jesus’
resurrection. They are not “one miracle
away from belief”, because they have already been given all the miracles they
need.
All the miracles they need, but, as most any atheist will
tell us, not all they want.
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