A Miracle by Definition

Well, phat, to answer your question.I would not consider the examples you have given as being miraculous. Any one of us would be thrilled to win the Powerball, or receive a sudden cure of terminal illness. I do think however that even the winner of the ticket would not consider it a true miracle, but maybe a gift of God's providence.As I see it God has no concern for monetary gains or temporary departure from an inevitable death. These are ends in themselves, and human ends at that.A miracle IMO is something albeit natural and highly improbable, which serves as a means to an end, and specifically a spiritual end.I have not known the occasion of winning the lottery to bring about a conversion for example.So what does concern God? We xianists would say 'the salvation of souls' and I might also add 'the preservation of His truth'. In the OT God is said to have intervened many times in order to strengthen the faith of His people and to clarify His will. I see no reason why this could not be continuing today.But think about Moses and the burning bush. If the story is true, I would think that modern science could find a few causes for a burning bush, maybe even one not consumed by the fire. I would not consider that as evidence that a miracle did not occur, but just change the defintion of miracle. I would say that God can use highly unusual natural signs to get our attention, but I would always look to the end result of the occurence.There are no 'miracles' which can be proven to have come from a God. That would be too much like God leaving evidence, and that would defeat the purpose of faith. But there are many instances of natural happenings of unlikely odds or unknown origin which have greatly changed the course of a religion.

Well, let's not talk about the resurrection at present, since it is so unprovable.But I am interested in why people have faith in some events and not others.For example, there are many reports of miraculous springs coming from heretofore dry rock. Many times the springs are seen as a sign of God.Recently there was an unusual 'spring' if sap gushing from a tree trunk, but I heard no one claim that it was a sign, and the odds are that the discoverer of the sap rush had some faith background.Also there are tales of levitations of priests which have cause faith in their holiness, but a magician only cuases faith in his skill when performing such feats.How would we account for human nature having faith in one thing and not another? This is just a simple question BTW and not intended as evidence of any kind.

And what if you found no evidence of scam or natural cause? Is it foolish to attribute the happening to something extraordinary, or only if we call the extraordinary for now 'God'?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I get what you are trying to say, but just what would you term this other 'nature'?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------