Week 6 Review

From Last Week… The earliest Greek account of Alexander the Great is dated to sometime before 30 BC. Look up when Alexander the Great lived, and compare the time period between his life and his history with the time period between Jesus’s life and the Gospel accounts.

From Last Week… We saw in class that there are over 5600 Greek manuscripts of the Gospels and other New Testament writings; however, there are also more copies in other languages. Look up how many total copies we have of the New Testament documents (the other languages are Syriac, Coptic, Latin, and Aramaic).

From Last Week… Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (the “creed” we mentioned in class). Can you spot any patterns in Paul’s writing?

Signs and Wonders In Defense of Miracles

What is a Miracle? Defining a miracle Done by God, experienced by man Unusual, extraordinary, supernatural “You know it when you see it” “An event in which God temporarily makes an exception to the natural order of things, to show that God is acting.”

The Importance of Miracles Revealing truth (John 14:26) Necessary for the early church Confirm the Apostles (Mark 16:20, Heb 2:3-4) Apostles sent from God with power Confirm Jesus (John 10:37-38) Acting as God, speaking God’s will

Challenges to Miracle Claims Miracles can be controversial Hard to accept for most David Hume—“Of Miracles” 18th century philosopher Lasting legacy Most atheists use his arguments

Three Objections to Miracles Argument in Principle Miracles are objectionable by their nature Argument in Practice Not enough credible witnesses to affirm Competing claims “cancel” each other out Multiple religions with miracle claims

Objection 1: Argument in Principle The argument A miracle, by definition, is a rare occurrence. Natural law is, by definition, a description of regular occurrence. The evidence for the regular is always greater than for the rare. A wise man always bases his belief on the greater evidence. Therefore, a wise man should never believe in a miracle.

Objection 1: Argument in Principle In other words… You should not believe in miracles because what is normal happens more often than what is rare. Answering the objection Quantity vs quality of evidence (numbers fallacy) Uniform experience (circular reasoning!) Past determines the present?

Objection 2: Argument in Practice The argument Miracle claims must be supported by greater historical evidence than ordinary events. If we cannot identify miracles in the present, then we do not have sufficient evidence to believe miracles happened in the past (principle of analogy). Therefore, it is not within the scope of history to study claims of miracles (thereby making Bible claims void).

Objection 2: Argument in Practice Basically… Miracles are outside the scope of history to investigate, therefore we cannot trust miracle claims from the past. Answering the objection Circumstances surrounding miracles can be studied. Assumes the truth of naturalism (begs the question). Evidence must be considered on a case by case basis.

Objection 3: Too Many Claims The argument Several world religions claim the occurrence of miracles. The claims of these competing religions cancel each other out because we don’t know which to believe. Therefore, no miracle claims can be trusted. Ex. Competing witnesses

Objection 3: Too Many Claims Essentially… There are too many miracle claims out there for any to be taken seriously. Answering the objection Not all religions allow for miracles (Islam, Buddhism). Several miracle claims can be explained. The quality of the evidence must be examined.

Question 1 Antony Flew, the famous former-atheist, once added to Hume’s Argument in Principle by stating that the evidence for repeatable events is always greater than the evidence for events that cannot be repeated (like a miracle). How would you respond to this?

Question 2 One aspect of Hume’s Argument in Practice is that we cannot talk about miracles in a historical sense because history is not objective enough to address such claims. Basically, all historians have some sort of subjective bias, so we cannot know for sure what is true and what is not. How would you answer this?

Question 3 One story of Gautama Buddha after his “enlightenment” describes him rising into the air, shooting flames and steams of water from his body, and walking around in the sky. What methods would you use to evaluate whether this miracle claim is true or false?