Do Miracles Really Exist?
From ancient times, man has invented stories that represent real facts, but are also extraordinary at the same time. These are stories that are usually spread by different religions. They tell of unlikely situations, which are almost always related to the miracles of healing.
All religions, including the most reflexive like Buddhism, include such stories. Some of these stories include teleportation, apparitions, disappearances, prophetic messages, apocalyptic announcements, and much more.
To believers, all these “miracles” signify the value of evidence or testimony of the existence of a divinity. Religion is a matter of belief, and belief is precisely something to be believed when there is no evidence. However, believers often consider these types of narratives to be fundamental and factual.
Philosophers and scientists are skeptical when it comes to such manifestations. Their main criticism is that believers systematically refuse to accept genuine verification methods for such phenomena. Those who almost always confirm these are the same religious people or believers, and they do this through methods that are actually not scientific.
Miracles and Marian apparitions
Among the stories of miracles disseminated by various media, the so-called ‘Marian apparitions’ stand out. Regardless of the sacred value the Virgin Mary may have for believers, the nature and messages spread by these apparitions are always striking.
There are patterns that often appear in the stories of Marian apparitions. They almost always occur among very modest people with little education and never among ecclesiastical or scientific authorities. Believers will say that Virgo chooses the simplest people because they are more virtuous. But this fact should not be overlooked.
On the other hand, taking into account the messages these apparitions carry, we must conclude that the virgin has a clear political stance. We are talking about a politicized virgin, who in 1917 clearly took a position against the Soviet Union or for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Medjugorje). Mexicans have also indicated that the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe coincides with the great effort of the catechization of the Spanish colonizers in Mexico.
The fact remains that the Virgin Mary only appears in America and Europe, never in Africa, Asia or Oceania, just as the fact is that the Virgin’s messages are actually threats. They are heralding terrible events for the world and are pushing for change through religion and prayer. There are even priests who doubt the authenticity of these apparitions, seeing them as situations closer to paganism than to religion itself.
Miracles and the desire to believe
Religious belief is an intimate subject that deserves the highest respect and is part of the freedom of conscience that every human being has. There are hundreds of known cases of people being cured of a disease thanks to their beliefs.
The religious people will say they are miracles, verifying the intervention of God. However, non-believers will say that these are psychosomatic disorders, which directly affect the nervous system. In other words, the ‘cure’ is actually autosuggestion.
Most people who report these “miracles” are not lying. They really experience what they claim to experience. There is, however, reason to think that this is all happening within the mind, rather than in reality itself. For example, there are cases of hysterical blindness that can indeed be cured just as they arise: through a strong psychological experience.
There are also cases where some kind of fraud is apparent or at least a desire to believe that it goes beyond the evidence. There are numerous instances where religion has to admit that a mistake has been made that science points out. Thus religion had to admit that the theories of Copernicus, Galileo or Darwin are true. In turn , science has never had to withdraw for the sake of religious beliefs.
Everyone must be a believer or an atheist, whichever the conscience dictates. True faith, however, needs no miracles to be apparent, let alone fear to remain. The same goes for atheists.
Perhaps we should all understand that there are daily miracles that are much stronger and more valuable than extraordinary events. Being able to live, breathe, love, laugh, suffer and succeed in spite of everything are the great miracles that we should all celebrate every day.
