The 'miracles happen in other religions too' argument

[DesertAscetic]

Seems like you went from Christian to Muslim in that post.

But I have another question. I saw a thing on youtube, and it claimed there was a 5-year-old who could recite the koran without even knowing arabic and not even being muslim. but they only showed him speaking for like 2 seconds. what should I make of stuff that I see like this?

Best not to ponder it too much.

Miracles are not meant to prove to the mind, so much as they are meant to convict the heart. We don’t know enough about this situation to know what is going on.

But, as a Catholic, we believe in a literal dimension of evil spiritual beings, capable of influencing and interacting with humans. There are a lot of preternatural/supernatural phenomena that people of all faiths can exhibit, and it would take a lot of discernment (a gift of the holy spirit) to know what it’s source was.

For example, IF it is true, I think the idea of young child speaking in tongues of the words of false prophets, could very well be demonic influence, if not demonic possession.

But what if a shaman prays over a sick person and there is a miraculous healing? It could be demonic, but who’s to say? I’m sure God can answer many types of prayers.

These things should not shake our faith. And any preoccupation is really idle curiosity.

We all have a connection to God in this life–even people of other faiths–so, it shouldn’t shock us to find God responding to them in some capacity. The question is, which faith gives us the deepest connection, and which faith can ensure that connection after death.

 

[Laurence_of_PA]

The Hindu would agree. The “stone idol”, or “murti” in Sanskrit, is not itself “God”, but a representation of He Who Cannot Be Represented.

I’ve long had a latent sentiment that, beyond linguistic and cultural barriers, most religions attest to the same principals and worship the same deity (albeit different ideas about how He [or She] manifests Him/Herself).

This one time I was at this “Ramadan Dinner” being hosted at a local University by Turkish students, and along with the food, prayer, and proceedings was a little program where a Muslim person, a Catholic priest, a Rabbi, and a Hindu man all came up for about 10 minutes and talked about the basic tenants of their religion. When the priest was explaining the Holy Trinity, he said “Christianity is a religion with a little math problem”, but when the Hindu dude got up, he said “Well, Hinduism is a religion with a serious math problems.”

But even with the little cultural barriers, there are still grave differences between our faiths, and though Mahatma Ghandi respected Jesus Christ for the man he was, Christianity which he founded knows him as being far more, far, far more…

I have no problem with God. From my particular perspective (which is not necessarily held by all other Buddhists), “God” is the name given to the experience of Pure Love, Pure Wisdom, and Pure Mystery.

Well then, God Bless You .

 

[Ahimsa]

When the priest was explaining the Holy Trinity, he said “Christianity is a religion with a little math problem”, but when the Hindu dude got up, he said “Well, Hinduism is a religion with a serious math problems.”

Ha ha. Got that right.

But even with the little cultural barriers, there are still grave differences between our faiths, and though Mahatma Ghandi respected Jesus Christ for the man he was, Christianity which he founded knows him as being far more, far, far more…

Grave differences, yes; but I have a hunch that those grave differences make life that much more interesting.

 

[AnthonyM2]

An explanation for the Hindu “miracle” can be found here. I don’t think that Church documented miracles can be explained as easily. Of course, if you don’t want to believe, you’ll try to find any explanation, no matter how far-reaching.

I think it comes down to the old saying: For the believer no explanation is neccessary but for the non-believer, no explanation is possible. Or something like that.

 

[Ahimsa]

An explanation for the Hindu “miracle” can be found here.

That’s just one of many claims of miracles found in the Hindu tradition, and, in my opinion, not one of the more amazing claims.

 

[Valke2]

I was speaking with an atheist recently. I cited several miracles that have happened within our Church as one of the reasons to believe. As I’m sure you know, there are many good ones within the Catholic Church, Fatima, Eucharistic Miracles, and the list goes on.

He came back and said “well then how do you explain the miracles that happen in other religions? how do you hold the Catholic Church over another like the Islam?”

I’m really not aware of any miracles that have happened in other religions…At least not any that have been well documented and investigated. I did a google search for ‘Muslim Miracles’, and I got a top ten. They are all rediculous, one of them was ‘Allah’s name written in the clouds.’

What is a good way to handle this argument?

HOw is that more riduclous than the sun moving all around the sky?

 

[AnthonyM2]

HOw is that more riduclous than the sun moving all around the sky?

If you mean the Miracle of Fatima, that was witnessed by thousands of people (believers and non-believers) and reported in the secular papers of Portugal in modern times, 1917.

I don’t know the circumstances of Allah’s name in the clouds, so I can’t offer an opinion on it at this time.

 

[Laurence_of_PA]

If you mean the Miracle of Fatima, that was witnessed by thousands of people (believers and non-believers) and reported in the secular papers of Portugal in modern times, 1917.

I don’t know the circumstances of Allah’s name in the clouds, so I can’t offer an opinion on it at this time.

How can I find links to these newspapers . I’m a nut for independent sources.

 

[AnthonyM2]

How can I find links to these newspapers . I’m a nut for independent sources.

I did a search for “miracle of the sun at fatima” and got some results. Here is a link to information about the news reports of the day. I’m not sure about links to the papers themselves (if they’re still in business), but there is more information at these sites:

ewtn.com/fatima/apparitions/October.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Miracle_of_Fatima

Wikipedia has a good page on it, with a picture of a newspaper article. See the link above. Hope that helps.