[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

First let me say that by "miracle" I basically mean an unusual event caused by supernatural intervention.


[/ QUOTE ]

You're leaving something out. My claims concerning miracles are those reported in the Bible. The reason is that all Biblical miracles are done in the context of God identifying Himself, revealing His will, authenticating His prophets and apostles. Though answered prayer may be considered a miracle it isn't a public event done on God's initiative to demonstrate His authority, and as with healing can often be explained through natural causes.

I know of no Biblical miracle that didn't have God's testimony to some human(s) that He was the one doing the miracle. In other words, miracles didn't just happen out of the blue - they were done with a purpose and were identified as God's activity, usually by God Himself. Pharoah knew who was causing the plagues, the people knew Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the apostles did their miracles in the name of Christ and by His authority. There was never a question about whether the event occurred and never a question about its source.

There is a story in the New Testament that is probably a parable about a rich man who died and was suffering in the afterlife. He asked Abraham to let him return to earth to warn his brothers. Abraham said that his brothers had Moses and the prophets (i.e., the Bible) and if they would not believe that they wouldn't believe if someone returned from the dead.

I know of no instance that God used a miracle to convert someone in the Bible. Even Paul's Damascus road experience wasn't a miracle per se, it was the appearance of Christ to Paul, which included communication identifying Him and telling Paul what he was supposed to do. But that was clearly an exceptional instance.

If you're sitting around waiting for a visitation from God, well, maybe He will grant it to you. If you're sitting around waiting for someone to flip heads 100 times in a row what difference will that make to you? You will run it through your Bayes' calculator and raise the probability of the supernatural 17% and maybe the existence of God 5% and maybe the truth of Christianity .03 %. God knows this. From the Bible He tells you you have enough evidence now. I don't think you're going to get an identifiable miracle and I don't think if would matter if you did.

Do you really think all your miracle calculating means anything? Aren't you just trying to convince yourself that you're reasonable to ignore the claims of God because He won't give you a miracle?