'Healing miracles do not happen today' - Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to Christianity in your answer.

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Melanie Underwood                                               Luke                                           RS Coursework 2003

PAPER 1 – CHRISTIANITY THROUGH A STUDY OF LUKE AND ACTS

Section B

‘Healing miracles do not happen today.’

Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to Christianity in your answer.

Christians hold different views to ‘healing miracles do not happen today’, but the agreement and disagreement of this opinion depends very much on what one calls a miracle.

Some Christians consider the first heart transplant and life a miracle. This is because of the idea that God creates everything on Earth, and that, in itself is a true miracle. Therefore, miracles do still happen and will continue to do so until the end of the Earth. But many Christians would disagree with this view, simply because it is too vague.

One reason as to why some Christians believe that miracles do not occur today is because of a change in the perception of what a miracle is. Some of the things Christians taken for granted now, would have been considered as some of the great miracles in ancient times. E.g. Nowadays, being cured from leprosy is just part of everyday life – so much so that leprosy is not even considered a dangerous disease anymore, whereas in Jesus’ time, most people would have considered the prospect of being cured from leprosy completely ludicrous and a miracle.

Therefore all Christians cannot see that certain things are miracles, despite the fact that they are happening in front of our own eyes. A miracle is something that contradicts science, and throughout modern history Christians have witnessed human medical advances that, at that time, have completely contradicted the stated views of that time. Yet these feats have not been recognised as miracles simply because they do not seem to be the product of a supernatural force. This explains why some Christians do not believe in miracles any more.

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David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and Historian who had very strong views on miracles. He defined miracles as, ‘a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined.’ He believed that nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happens in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die all of a sudden. But it is a ...

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