Miracles

In his discussions of miracles, C.S. Lewis discusses whether it is morally sound to consider them to be a legitimate part of the handiwork of God. He notes that some critics argue that miracles are violations of natural laws which, being themselves created by God, must be inviolate to His interference. Therefore, miracles of God are impossible.

Lewis answers this criticism in two ways. First, he states that it possible that miracles involve a supernatural causality which in some cases suspends physical laws. But in such cases God acts through created forms, intrinsically and incarnationally, not extrinsically or magically. Thus a miraculous healing is not truly instantaneous or any type of reversal of the physical laws: rather, it is an acceleration and empowering of natural healing processes.

Second, he states that the problem with the critique itself is that it postulates a knowledge of creation and that from which it is composed which the finite mind could not possible understand. In other words, it is the critique of someone who upon discovering that matter is composed of atoms and molecules and so forth decides that it is the orderly interplay of these structures, mechanism and processes that Creation is really all about.

. . .
n the probability of the occurrence of the event being miraculous rather than merely an improbable nature event. However, Lewis notes that this method of evidence gathering is fraught with logical pitfalls such as determining our epistemological grounds for the claim that we know a miracle is more improbable than the most improbable natural event. An example of what C.S. Lewis is discussing can be seen in a recent report of a city in Egypt in which almost everyone in town (most of whom were muslims) swore that they saw The Virgin Mother standing atop a local Catholic Church. Many critics dismissed the even as a "group hallucination." However, arguing from C.S. Lewis' perspective, it can be asked as to who can determine the probability that an entire collective, most of whom were non-Christian, would enter into such a collective determination; and is such a "natural event" as a group hallucination truly more improbable than a miraculous event? If so, on what grounds can this claim be made? Indeed, Lewis points out that the only and only time that a group hallucination hypothesis is ever offered to explain anything is the miraculous. Other than this, all phenomena are explained differently. What he did not state but wha
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
CS Lewis, Creation Lewis, Virgin Mary, Indeed Lewis, Incarnation God, St Anthony, CS Lewis', Blessed Mother, Mysteries Regarding, , sense fitness, cs lewis, innate sense fitness, grounds claim, innate sense, grand miracle, miraculous event, criterion judge, virgin mary, event miraculous, traditional catholic, grounds claim indeed,
Approximate Word count = 1213
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Miracles