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Last Updated: Dec 25, 2008 - 8:40:26 AM |
Are angels among us? Do you believe in miracles? Nine out of ten Americans do. Mitch Traphagen Photo
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On Sunday, when firefighters in Denver saw the wreckage of Continental Airlines Flight 1404 smoldering in a ravine off the runway, they described it as a miracle that none of the passengers were killed.
Back in 2006, it was the news the small town — and indeed, the nation — had been waiting for. Word came out that 13 miners trapped in the Sago Mine had been rescued. Church bells rang out in the night and newspapers across the country printed bold headlines. It was called the Miracle In West Virginia.
But the celebration was short-lived. The early reports had been wrong. But for one sole survivor, it wasn't a miracle at all — it was a tragedy. Twelve miners were dead. In her grief, one woman was quoted by news services as asking, "Where is God now?"
For many newspapers, the true story came too late. The next day, thousands of people picked up their morning newspapers emblazoned with bold headlines about a miracle that didn't happen. At least not in the way it was hoped for.
For some non-believers the event possibly justified their lack of belief. Even for some believers — certainly for the woman quoted in West Virginia — the tragedy left a hanging question: What happened to the miracle?
Do miracles really happen?
For many people across East Iowa and the nation, the answer is yes, they do.
Like with most topics of interest today, you can find any answer you seek on the Internet. There are definitions of miracles, there are stories of modern-day miracles and there are stories of miracles debunked by skeptics.
But even the Skeptics Dictionary on the Web isn't willing to close the doors on miracles. Rather than saying they can't exist, they say that most miracles are the result of mistaken reporting or fraud.
But it appears that many Americans would be skeptical of that definition. A recent survey by the Pew Forum found that 92 percent of Americans believe in God and 70 percent believe in life after death. Other studies have shown that nearly nine in ten of us believe in miracles.
“Absolutely,” said Mark Miller of Iowa County Emergency Management Services when asked if he believes in miracles. “I believe we are here to do what has already been set forth for us to do. As far as humans doing miracles, no. But I believe miracles still happen. I believe God sets forth what we are going to do and so if it is a miracle, it is Gods will.”
“Yes, I experienced this a couple of days ago,” said Diane Forsyth, owner of the Ladora Stora. “A gentleman who lives in town asked me if I knew of a family that could use some help. I thought of a family - the husband had been laid off from his job and they both worked and have three kids. I think that is kind of a miracle - that someone would think about someone else - anonymously.”
“Of course!” said Pastor Douglas Morton of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Marengo. “Christmas is all about a miracle - a virgin birth is quite a miracle.” Morton goes on to say that he has witnessed miracles - a brand new life, people who were sick and not expected to survive, yet they did and went on to lead full lives.
Reverend David Looney of Ruskin, Florida, has spent a lifetime studying issues and questions that are difficult to answer.
"There are a lot of different miracles," he said. "Science, the human body — it depends on how you define miracles."
Looney has an academic eye for such topics — but sometimes academia has no firm answers.
"Miracles are mysteries," he said. "If we find a way to pop open the door of miracles then it's no longer a mystery."
Looney doesn't necessarily see miracles as things that part the skies — or something that could necessarily save 12 doomed miners.
"It goes back to free will," he said. "It isn't God's fault that the mines are the way they are. But God was there with the miners. God was there with their families — he was right there whether they came out alive or they didn't. But we framed it in such a way that God was really only there if things went well. It's an emotional issue but I can understand it. If I was there, I would want God to intervene — I would want God to fix it."
Looney doesn't see the lack of a miracle in West Virginia as proof that miracles don't happen. According to him, sometimes the true miracle lies somewhere else.
"Are we supposed to expect God to come in and pluck us out of things or is it up to us?" he asked. "We have the resources — whether it's a hurricane, a flood or a tsunami, we have to take care of each other. We have the caring and love and the resources to help each other but we attribute things to God."
In other words, people count on miracles for things that we could — perhaps should — do for ourselves.
"It seems that some people talk about God as a cosmic bellhop," he continued. "We just give him our orders — this is what I need, God. But God says, 'Hey! I gave you a brain and a body and each other so it's really up to you.'"
Looney related several analogies — from a parent having to allow a child to get hurt while learning to walk to getting presents from grandparents.
"People say that prayer works miracles," he said. "But maybe in that case, prayer just becomes work if we wait for something spectacular to happen. Prayer is part of the relationship with God. I go to the grandparents and I get stuff — they gave me this and they gave me that. But then you realize that you actually get to be with them. That is the beauty and the miracle — just to be with them. Just to be with God."
But there are, however, no hard and fast answers about the nature of miracles — even from someone who has studied such issues for a lifetime.
"In the end, it's a mystery," he said. "In essence, I don't know."
In the eighteenth century, Scottish philosopher David Hume attacked claims of miracles and concluded by saying that "To believe in a miracle is not an act of reason but of faith." Ironically, for many believers, that is precisely how they think miracles exist.
"What do you call a miracle?" asked one resident who asked to remain anonymous. "Is it faith? I've had things happen — I don't know if they are miracles but I feel as though God were trying to tell me something. Yes, I believe in miracles."
Nine out of ten Americans believe in miracles. Given our increasingly divisive society, perhaps that in and of itself is nothing short of a miracle.
© Copyright 2008 by The East Iowa Herald
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