Are Miracles Possible? [Science & Faith, part 2 of 3]

 My fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson liked Jesus but wasn't sold on all the miracles in the Gospels. So, he cut them out, leaving his Bible full of holes.Was he right? Are miracles impossible?Option 2In answering the question, "Can Science and Faith Be Reconciled?," some people take option #2 and reply, "No, because faith is based on the miraculous, and we know that miracles cannot happen." Circular ReasoningThe problem, if you're not careful, in stating categorically that miracles cannot happen is that it can lead you into a circular argument. When pressed, many of us would have to say that miracles cannot happen because we know that they don't happen. But, that's not really much of an argument.Before we can be certain that miracles?cannot happen, we have to do the hard work of investigating claims of the miraculous. For example, before we can be sure that the Resurrection--the most famous miracle in history--did not happen, we need to examine it.What About David Hume?The great 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume made some very effective arguments against the possibility of the miraculous, and his critique effectively kept generations of free-thinking Westerners from accepting the miraculous. But, although much of Hume's work has held up well, his argument against miracles has been discredited by modern philosophers. For example, the philosopher John Earman even wrote a book called?Hume's Abject Failure: the Argument Against Miracles.There are many reasons not to believe in a particular miracle, or even in all miracles, but categorically declaring that the miraculous?cannot?happen goes too far. Blind FaithMany religious people have gone in another direction. Admitting rationally that miracles don't happen--accepting the Enlightenment bias against the miraculous--they have white-knuckled-forced themselves to believe. Along this route, faith is what you are supposed to believe even though you know the things you are supposed to believe are impossible. This version of blind faith is dangerous and is one reason many people raised in rigidly fundamentalist churches and homes often completely reject their faith when they leave home: they encounter intelligent arguments against what they previously held in blind faith, and, at a loss, everything they once believed unravels. SummaryWe can't categorically reject miracles, and we also shouldn't accept some version of faith that is completely irrational and unthinking. When it comes to the question, "Can science and faith be reconciled," we need another option....