Discerning Miracles

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Shalom

How can one tell it is a miracle from God?

This is simple you know it definitely by faith and reason. Thus such a miracle is not a human thing in nature it is divine power and will, but channeled through humans by their faith in God’s power. Hundreds of such miracles have been recorded and approved by the Church and there are other hundreds more out there which are yet to be approved. The fact is there are miracles of which we can call are small and others are big. Weather they are small or big but they are God’s action of power in the world and in humanity.

God bless.
 
I hope a knowledgeable person will chime in on this topic. It’s one my husband & I go 'round on every once in a while. He’s a big believer in miracles, I’m not. I think miracles such as bi-location, manifestations of saints, & so on tend to be delusions. So-called miracles of healing can be perfectly natural.

I also know people in non-Christian religions who believe that their gods have produced various miracle in their lives.

So how does one know where “miracles” come from?

I grew up in a Baptist church that didn’t have anything to do with miracles, then in my teens attended a Pentecostal church that was very big on miracles - mostly quite dubious. I think that’s where I picked up my skeptical attitude toward miracles.

And for clarification, are we talking about the “miracle” of finding a parking space at the mall on Black Friday, or growing back a severed limb (which to my knowledge has never happened)?
 
Jcnava15 said:
How can you tell whether or not a miracle is from God?
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you submit it first to your priest or spiritual director for discernment then to your bishop if it is something major, like an unexplained healing.
 
Bonnie said:
I hope a knowledgeable person will chime in on this topic. It’s one my husband & I go 'round on every once in a while. He’s a big believer in miracles, I’m not. I think miracles such as bi-location, manifestations of saints, & so on tend to be delusions. So-called miracles of healing can be perfectly natural.

I also know people in non-Christian religions who believe that their gods have produced various miracle in their lives.

So how does one know where “miracles” come from?

I grew up in a Baptist church that didn’t have anything to do with miracles, then in my teens attended a Pentecostal church that was very big on miracles - mostly quite dubious. I think that’s where I picked up my skeptical attitude toward miracles.

And for clarification, are we talking about the “miracle” of finding a parking space at the mall on Black Friday, or growing back a severed limb (which to my knowledge has never happened)?
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There are miracles and there are miracles.😃

Recently, I tripped and every point of my body hit the cement street full force. My elbow dislocated with one bone going north and the other south or so it seemed. The emergency room doctors relocated my elbow back in place. The rest of me, hip, head, knee, etc. was fine except for a scrape on my face and a bruise on my knee which turned up later. The orthopedic doctor studied the elbow/arm x-rays and there was not one fracture. He simply said that there had to be a miracle. It had to be something special because I am not graceful when falling.

These are the kind of "miracles’ which often happen. One can attribute them to God or good fortune. Personally, I believe God is involved in some way.

I am getting ready for a Thanksgiving trip. When I get back, I will share what I know about other miracles. In the meantime, Church leaders will often say that such-and-such is worthy of belief. That is not exactly a declared miracle, but it is a good indication that God was involved .

Blessings,
granny

Praise and Thank God.
 
thistle said:
You can’t. Only the Church can discern this.
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I agree. We should not speak of everyday occurrences as being miraculous. It leads, I believe, to people attributing their good fortune to their own worthiness & the problems of those less fortunate to personal sin or unworthiness. I am no longer even sure if we should speak about answered prayer when the prayer request was about healing, paying bills, or whatever. I’ve noticed in the Bible that prayer tends to be about spiritual health rather than physical health or material wealth.

But that does not mean we are not to praise God! We praise Him for who & what He is, not because he answers our prayers.
 
Originally Posted by Jcnava15 forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif
How can you tell whether or not a miracle is from God?
Click to expand...
thistle said:
You can’t. Only the Church can discern this.
Click to expand...
May I expand on this a bit.

An old time rule of thumb for discerning the source of a miracle is the question – did the miracle affirm Divine Revelation along with God’s power, and produce good? Notice that this old time advice really did not address the issue of whether the miracle was a real miracle. What it is saying that we should praise and thank God for the good in the world.

As I said in post 5, the orthopedic doctor said it had to be a miracle that I escaped really serious injury. Personally, I think my guardian angel threw herself down on the pavement before me so that I had a safe, soft landing.😉 What is important is that we thank God.

At this point, here is a thought about the “healing miracles”. When we are asked to pray for someone injured or very sick, we should add prayers for the doctors and nurses that they make the right decisions. God uses these people to bring about good according to His will. We usually add “according to God’s will” to our prayers because God knows best.

Above, Thistle mentioned the Catholic Church as discerning miracles. The Church, usually a knowledgeable bishop or priest, can discern the validity and source of miracles but not all miracles. It is my understanding that there are guidelines which are followed depending on the nature and purpose of a particular miracle.

What I consider harmful is that when miracles happen, we take pride in our prayers as if we made the miracle happen. Bonnie in post 7 made some excellent points.
It seems to me that humility should be the foundation of our petitions. We also need to be humble when a “miracle” occurs. We don’t always need to know if the “miracle” is due to good fortune or due to God’s power, or in my case, due to a quick acting guardian angel.
 
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