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Miracles


Deborah

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I thought the same thing.

I know that her survival in such conditions and events would not change an atheists mind about the existence of God or some divine or supernatural being, but for me, it is another testimony of the hand of God amid tragedy.

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I hesitate to respond, because I love the outcome of this story so much, and my affection and respect for the Japanese people is immense. I'm happy for this girl and her parents that she was not crushed or drowned.

But I'm wondering why you think there is absolutely no possible explanation for her being alive other than a supernatural one. She wasn't found under water, but in a place with air to breathe. She apparently didn't have any serious injuries. She had warm clothing to protect her from the cold at night. Where was the divine intervention necessary, exactly? In any disaster, even when the odds are against survival, a few will still survive while many die. It's just the nature of probability.

And more importantly, how do you explain the reason for this particular girl being divinely rescued to all the other parents whose little ones died?

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I hesitate to respond, because I love the outcome of this story so much, and my affection and respect for the Japanese people is immense. I'm happy for this girl and her parents that she was not crushed or drowned.

But I'm wondering why you think there is absolutely no possible explanation for her being alive other than a supernatural one. She wasn't found under water, but in a place with air to breathe. She apparently didn't have any serious injuries. She had warm clothing to protect her from the cold at night. Where was the divine intervention necessary, exactly? In any disaster, even when the odds are against survival, a few will still survive while many die. It's just the nature of probability.

And more importantly, how do you explain the reason for this particular girl being divinely rescued to all the other parents whose little ones died?

Krose, that last line is my concern about these sort of miracle reports, too.

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And more importantly, how do you explain the reason for this particular girl being divinely rescued to all the other parents whose little ones died?

Personally, I don't really try to explain it.

I don't believe the choices are: either God saves everyone and it's a miracle, or not everyone lives so miracles can't be invovled. I think in disasters like this tha some are appointed to die and some that would have died are appointed to live and saved by the divine hand of God. I think miracles and death can exist side by side.

I don't know why and i'm really ok with that, though my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones. I don't believe God loves them any less than those who were spared such grief.

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I don't know why and i'm really ok with that, though my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones. I don't believe God loves them any less than those who were spared such grief.

I agree. I think too many are too ready to dismiss God because so many others don't live therefore it's just chance. I do believe that for whatever reason on occasion there is divine help; I think we need to consider pre-mortality and sometimes people have mortal experiences yet that others don't need.

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I agree. I think too many are too ready to dismiss God because so many others don't live therefore it's just chance. I do believe that for whatever reason on occasion there is divine help; I think we need to consider pre-mortality and sometimes people have mortal experiences yet that others don't need.

We're all dying slowly. The end when it comes is rather sudden: one second you're still here, the next, you're gone, somewhere. Since everyone dies, the fact of "I'm not dead yet" hardly means a thing. Obviously, if you're still here you're not dead yet. So what?

I cringe every time I read/hear someone saying that survival was the direct intervention of "God", as if "God" is selecting those to remain and taking the rest just because. Because there is no rhyme or reason to it that anyone can point out. The Indian Ocean tsunami was a far greater disaster than this record-setting earthquake in Japan. Then we have the two atom bombs that ended the Pacific War: if you want to examine "miraculous" deliverance stories, there's the one where the Japanese man was in Hiroshima for the bomb drop, then went to Nagasaki and got bombed the second time: what's up with that!? Was "God" pissed off at him or something?....

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Because there is no rhyme or reason to it that anyone can point out.

But that doesn't mean there is no rhyme or reason. The fact that we don't see doesn't mean a thing.

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By definition anything miraculous is from God.

Maybe by definition, but I think we often use "miraculous" as a synonym for "highly unusual or unexpected", without demanding God's direct intervention.

Perhaps my question could also be worded this way:

If something wonderful happens that is highly unusual or unexpected, is it any less wonderful if God didn't directly intervene?

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I think too many are too ready to dismiss God because so many others don't live therefore it's just chance.

That's the problem with the intervention viewpoint. It looks exactly like the world with no intervention (the "stuff happens" world). Without any intervention, we would expect a few to survive just about any disaster based on probability, because it's likely that things will work out just right for someone in any large sample group. You could say that God acts in a way to intentionally make it look just like chance, but Occam tells me the better explanation is that it actually is chance.

If a brick wall were to fall over onto my chicken coop, chances are very good that most of them would be crushed. But a few would survive, just by being in the right place at the moment of impact. I doubt that any of us would claim it was a miracle, and that there was divine intervention in the case of the three lucky survivors (although I imagine it would look that way to them). But when the same small percentage of fortunate humans survive a tragedy, even though it's statistically predictable, we are quick to chalk it up to a divine hand. I guess that is also predictable, given our innate desire to have something watching out for us in an uncertain world.

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Miracles do happen even in horrible situations. I would love to see how this little one survived if not by divine intervention.

miracles

I'm very happy for this little family. I cannot imagine their heartache at thinking their newborn was dead and the relief and joy they felt knowing she was alive. I know at times when my own children were in danger that I have felt so much relief and joy when they are safe. In such situations one cannot help but feel grateful since I believe just as sadness and anger over tragedy requires no conscious perpetrator, happiness and gratitude at good fortune requires no conscious benefactor.

If there is in fact some entity responsible for such good deeds I am certainly grateful for his acts of benevolence but in a sad way our whole sense of miracles suggest such a being is not benevolent at all. The very concept of miracle comes from a situation in which we perceive the chance of a positive outcome being very small, ie we would expect the outcome to be very bad given the perceived risk factors. So in order for someone to have a miracle they have to be put in a circumstance in which the vast majority of people who have been in it have suffered or died. Thus this would suggest this apparently benevolent being either creates or allows certain circumstances to go poorly for most people most of the time in order to show us his benevolent hand on rare occassions.

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"Her discovery has put a new energy into the search," a civil defense official told a local news crew. "We will listen, look and dig with even more diligence after this." Ahead of the baby's rescue, officials reported finding at least 2,000 bodies washed up on the shoreline of Miyagi prefecture. How the child survived drowning - or being crushed by fallen trees and houses - remains a mystery.

In a nation short on good news, other rescues have buoyed morale, too.

Perhaps one of the reasons for miracles is to give people enough hope or 'boosted morale' to allow them to endure the suffering and pain that is a necessary part of mortal life (I say "necessary" based on my reading of scripture and how we are taught about the purpose of life and learning and agency). I have seen some individuals whose own pain is greatly softened by seeing the hope and joy in others. One has only to think of the potential positive effect of one family's tragedy on another waiting for a transplant to understand how finding some sort of meaning or purpose can help people endure horrible things.
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One has only to think of the potential positive effect of one family's tragedy on another waiting for a transplant to understand how finding some sort of meaning or purpose can help people endure horrible things.

I think this is one of the rhymes or reasons many can' see.

BTW has anyone seen this movie HEREAFTER

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