WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

1. Before the event occurred, I would have thought that the probability of it happening was extremely low. I’m not talking about a 1% chance or a 0.1% chance. I’m talking about something that is so improbable that I wouldn’t expect it to happen in a lifetime. You might think the probability has to be 0%, because truly impossible things happened in the Bible. But I think that they can be viewed as extremely improbable, but possible, events. I explain how some of the miracles in the Bible are possible.
2. I think the event is interesting. There are many improbable events that are uninteresting. For example, if you flip a coin twenty times and get the sequence HTHHTHTTHTHTTTHHTTHH, well, the probability of that sequence occuring is 0.00001%. However, it’s not interesting, so I wouldn’t call it a miracle.

1. The Red Sea parted, and the Israelites walked through it on dry land. (Exodus 14:21-22) Well, consider that water molecules bounce around in an unpredictable way. It’s entirely possible (though extremely extremely improbable) that they could bounce around away from an area so there would be an area with no water molecules. All of the oxygen molecules in your room might bounce into a corner and remain there until you suffocate.
2. Jesus walked on water. (Matthew 14:25) This can also be explained by the unpredictable motion of the water molecules. They could bounce around in such a way as to form regions of high density under his feet.
3. Lazarus rose from the dead. (John 11:43-44) Well, we don’t have a complete understanding of death. There was a time when people believed, if you didn’t wake up when they shook you, you were dead. They didn’t understand the concept of comotosis. Now, we believe that, if you don’t have a pulse and you aren’t breathing, you’re dead. But there have been reports of people coming back to life after this. (For example, see the book Heaven is for Real)
4. The sun stood still for Joshua. (Joshua 10:12-14) However, maybe it didn’t really stand still. It just seemed to move very slowly. Our sense of time can vary. They say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I spent one night in bed with my girlfriend, and every time I checked the clock, much less time had passed than I thought. (And, of course, I was very happy about that.)
5. Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish, and he fed 5,000 people with 12 baskets of bread left over. (John 6:11-13) I’ll admit, I find this one difficult to explain. Maybe the bread had an excessive amount of yeast, and in the heat of the sun, it expanded. (I note that there was no leftover fish.) Alternatively, maybe many of the people thought ahead and brought food with them.