Faith: Where are Today's Miracles?

This is one of the biggest questions and stumbling blocks non-believers, and believers alike, have. Why should I believe in God? I only believe in things that I can observe, and I haven’t observed miracles, so I can’t believe. I have learned for myself that the reason I’m not seeing these results is because my actions belied my desires. I didn’t wish to see the miracles because I wasn’t willing to do what it takes to see them. Let me explain what I mean. First, let me set the stage of assumptions.

Assumptions of the need for miracles

The argument breaks down this way:

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob performed miracles
We can then infer that it’s in God’s nature to perform miracles
Miracles are evidence of the presence of God.
If we can observe no evidence of miracles, we can infer that no miracles have been performed.
If there is no miracle performed, then how can we infer the presence of God?

I have heard this argument many times from my atheist and agnostic friends. I understand it. It is a question I have wrestled with myself. Believers and non-believers start from the same premise here; the Scriptures are true. Assuming the scriptures are true and that the stories where miracles are described are describing actual historical events is the bedrock of the argument. Even when we start there, we still have to be able to justify why we don’t see more (or any) miracles today.

The Problem of Protons

While these are tough questions, I do have to point out that the arguments, in the way I presented them, don’t necessarily follow each other. For example, 4 does not follow 3. If I observe no evidence of miracles, I might be able to infer that no miracles have been performed, but that is not a logical necessity. It would be like saying, because I have never seen a proton I can infer that protons don’t exist. But is this true?

Anyone familiar with physics and chemistry would agree that this isn’t true. They would also agree that the very fabric of the universe depends heavily upon the presence and properties of protons. We have vast fields of scientific disciplines consuming equally vast amounts of labor devoted to cataloguing and discovering the properties of protons. Yet, how many of us have actually seen a proton? How does a proton look? Smell? Taste? Feel? Sound? We are willing, without question, to assume that what we are taught about protons is true, without subjective observation, because we trust what these disciplined authorities have said they learned. We trust them because what one scientist has learned and recorded can be repeated independently by another. We trust them because their results agree.

Authority and its value

This is the very nature of authority in general. Repeated results establish authority. If someone can repeatedly produce a result, authority is established in the process or the person, or both. This is trust. This is how we exercise in the world of science and collective learning. If I can stand on a giant’s shoulders, I can focus my sphere of influence using the landscape above the ground instead of having to re-invent the learning of others. This value shows up in so many places that it’s nearly invisible to us. The fact that you’re even reading this depends upon the unseen work of innumerable people. Yet we blithely make these assumptions without even being conscious of it most of the time.

This is especially true when it comes to what we are taught in school. I would argue and assert that the bulk of what we are taught in school is taught with the intended purpose of elevating each student up the side of the scientific giant so that when they’re done they can begin to contribute to further discovery and innovation in that sphere. We attend school to “catch up” on what has already been learned, discovered and innovated upon by our intellectual predecessors.

I think this exercise has tremendous value. It’s how we progress as a society and is, in large part, the reason why the poorest taxpayer in the United States today is far more well off than the richest tax-collector that might have existed five-hundred years ago. We have elevated ourselves to a new standard of living complete with running water, electricity, shared knowledge, and more because of the significant advantage we get of being able to trust each other and build upon one another’s experience.

Authority and its problems

Authority is not without its problems, however. Trusting in authority only has historically led to some unproductive places. Why? Let me ask you: what happens when the original research or experiments are based upon a flawed premise, but we are blind to that fact? We might engage in an entire discipline and lose a tremendous amount of labor only to discover that the premise was incorrect.

A mild example

Epicycles are a quintessential example of this. The premise starts with the idea that celestial bodies orbit the earth, when, in fact, the earth orbits the sun and when celestial bodies appear to move backward, this is just retrograde motion that manifests when the earth is “passing” these planets in its own orbit.

I remember being taught that Ptolemy formalized the math behind the Epicycles theory in the 2nd century. It wasn’t until the 14th century that Galileo finally proposed a totally heliocentric model that we began to move away from the flawed premise to one that better explained the movements of the planets. Galileo built upon the work of many other scientists in order to arrive at his conclusions and we accept his work as fact today.

But look at the math. From 200 A.D. to 1500 A.D. is 1300 years. For 1300 years were were doing all of our astronomical science upon a flawed premise. It has only been about 500 years since Galileo, but it was more than twice that long where the scientific community had accepted a flawed premise. This is what just trusting in authority alone can do.

What happens if it gets more dangerous?

Sometimes the population doesn’t get to choose whether to follow a result-based authority and question its premises. When this happens it can lead to dangerous and tragic results. We need only to look at some of the eastern hemisphere’s history to find examples like Pol Pot, Stalin, and Hitler to see what happens if authority is not allowed to be questioned and tested. We are talking about millions upon millions of innocent dead.

This paper is not intended to impeach or defend the character of any world leader, but again, I’m just pointing to the results. The results have to be considered whenever we talk about trust and whether we should continue down a particular path.

Bringing it back

So what does this have to do with miracles and faith? I lay out these examples of authority and assumptions to point out that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The only time you can be sure of this is if your knowledge of the space you are searching in is incorrigible. For example, I can tell you with 100% confidence that there is no quarter in my pocket because I can be supremely confident that I can search every last quarter-sized space in my pocket and there is no evidence of a quarter in there. My confidence in that space is unimpeachable.

This is most certainly not true for my own awareness of miracles. When I mention this to my atheist or agnostic friends, they are quick to point out, “Yes, Dan, but if I want to become aware of a proton, there is a process that I can go learn and exercise in order to become familiar with the equipment and knowledge that is required to understand how they work and what can be observed.” My answer to that is, yes. Miracles are no different. Just like there is a process to discover protons, there is a process to discover faith, and in turn, repentance, and then miracles, and it is not an easy process.

So why don’t we observe more miracles? I believe I know the answer to this, but first we have to define exactly what a miracle is.

What is a miracle?

Disambiguation: Tender Mercies vs Miracles

It is of supreme importance in this discussion to point out the difference between divine influence and divine power. Why? Divine influence is easy to doubt. Divine power cannot. When I’m talking about divine influence I’m talking about impressions, thoughts, happy coincidences, testimony and basic awareness that God is looking out for us, and in order to see it this way, it starts from the assumption that God is there and that He cares. This is what latter-day-saints like to call a “tender mercy,” and then I’ll talk about examples of divine power.

Let me give you few short examples of a “tender mercy.”

Divine Influence

Once, when I was having a bad day, my wife said she felt inspired to write me a kind note.
I was once assigned to give a talk, and without speaking to the chorister, my favorite hymn had been picked. Singing it calmed my nerves.
After a particularly challenging month, I felt the love of God in the temple and was reminded about how these beliefs had helped me through these challenges
On a campout, the mosquitoes were particularly oppressive. We said a prayer, and a gentle breeze kicked up and moved them away from us.

Notice that all of these can be explained away by a skeptic. In order to see them as acts of God, you have to start with the idea that that God exists, and that He cares. This is something that only believers get to enjoy. Skeptics are, of course, much more difficult to convince and these tender mercies do not, in general, have that kind of convincing power.

Divine Power

Divine power is an event that cannot be explained away so easily. More specifically it’s a manifestation of power that cannot be duplicated by the efforts of mortals. Jesus’ mortal ministry was full of these and many other miracles have occurred in scripture. On these examples a skeptic will have to work much harder to explain it away and, in many such cases, will just invent their own faith and appeal to it in order to do that.

Some examples of miracles:

Creation of the earth
Parting of the sea
Raising the dead
Resurrection
Turning water to wine
Healing
Instantly learning a language
exorcisms (sometimes seems like healing)
controlling the weather
walking on water
multiplying food
calling down fire from heaven

If you take these claims at face value, with exegetic fidelity, and assuming they really happened, they are events which cannot be explained by efforts of mortal men. When I say “miracle,” this is what I mean. I am talking about power that mortals don’t possess and that can’t be explained away by simple optimism or coincidence; these are displays of raw power.

So, why don’t we see miracles today?

In a word: unbelief. That’s it. We don’t see miracles because we are faithless. In this post I talk about it a little bit, but let me elaborate.

This is why I took so much time setting the stage. I don’t see miracles because I have chosen a line of reasoning which leads to unbelief. Miracles cannot occur where there is insufficient belief. In essence, the foundation of a worldview that excludes miracles is a foundation which necessarily excludes Jesus Christ. I don’t exercise my faith because I don’t want to; I believe that the effort of such an exercise will be fruitless.

I realized that I have this state of mind because I have put my trust in the wrong authority. I had put my trust in what I was taught in school instead of what I could learn from the scriptures and from prayer and fasting. In other words, my trust in the incorrect source led me to a system of beliefs that necessarily excluded miraculous displays of power.

What’s more, just like our friends in the 2nd century, I trusted agreeing sources. We so often hide behind the idea that the miracle doesn’t occur because it’s the Lords will. I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed or I have heard someone pray for a miracle, only for it to go unfulfilled, and then everyone threw up their hands and said, “See? Not the Lord’s will.” We all agree, therefore it must be true.

To that I say, “Feh!”

Why would we assume that it was a deficit of our understanding of His will or of His compassion, when it is much more likely a deficit of our faith? I mean really. Of all of those things, which is the most likely?

I have learned that this reason, and this reason alone is why I do not perceive miracles more often.

This is something I desire to change. I want to rid myself of unbelief. I want to change the way I think and achieve a state of mind that will allow faith to grow. When I look to the scriptures, I see examples of ambitious and driven people who were trying to live the principles. There were many who were successful in their efforts because of their faith.

Miracles are principle, not permission-based

There are so many examples of miracles in the scriptures. Some of them are initiated by God, and others are initiated by His disciples. I want to focus on the latter here.

The Lord was ready to go destroy Sodom¹. Abraham prayed and asked him to spare Lot and his family. The Lord obliged.
Jacob wrestled with a “man” who we can assume was either the Lord himself or a messenger from Him. Jacob’s will was the catalyst for the blessing he received².
A woman needed to be healed from a hemorrhage. She touched Jesus’ robe and was healed because of her faith³.
Peter asked Jesus “bid me come out on the water.” It was Peters’ decision and idea. Also Jesus rebuked him for his doubt⁴
Jesus rebuked his apostles for their unbelief in a failed exorcism. Faith like a grain of mustard seed powerful enough to move mountains.⁵
The Lord can do no miracle among men without faith ⁶

I could go on here. there are many more examples where the people are the ones whose faith becomes the catalyst for the miracle. Does the Lord sometimes see fit to show his power without that? Yes. However, I am arguing that the Lord wants us to be involved and wants a creative partner and peer relationship, not a subordinate one. The miracle is a natural result of our continued efforts to believe and to be like Him. As we do this, the Lord has promised that miracles will follow the faith. We are just as much entitled to move mountains and Jesus himself has said this. If we had faith like unto a mustard seed, we would be able to move mountains. Indeed, the entire city of Enoch was moved because of the faithful members of Zion there⁷.

Conclusion

I don’t see miracles because I am mostly faithless. I believe I am trying hard and I am doing some things right but my prayers lack boldness. My fasts lack consistency and purpose. I lack the faith to produce miracles because I haven’t been holding myself accountable for that faith. I have been hiding behind the idea that the miracle isn’t coming because it’s not the Lord’s will. This is just an excuse for me to not work on my faith. The power is there for us to claim righteously. I am getting in my own way by not submitting to these faith-promoting habits. I believe I can change with this continued effort. I refuse to accept that I cannot.