SteveII Wrote:Brain tumors don't seem to be a respecter of religion when it comes to who they go into remission for. If Christians were more likely to have brain tumors go into remission than non-believers or members of other religions that don't worship Yahweh; that would be evidence of something weird going on, at least. And why should the number of people who pray matter?Quote:You asked for an example. I have spoken before about my brother-in-laws brain tumor as a teenager. Was having seizures. Scans found tumor. He was being prepped for brain surgery and they scanned to get the latest mapping for the operation. No tumor. The doctor has no explanation and the family and friends believe it was a miracle (to give further context, my father-in-law was a minister in a local church so there was a lot of people involved and a lot of people who cared). Since my worldview contains the supernatural, the NT explains the context of what we can expect if we pray for healing, and there seems to be no natural causes, I believe I am justified in agreeing with them. Can I say 100%? No.
There are certainly people who cheat and steal and lie for various reasons. If these people use fake miracles to achieve their goal it is because they are taking advantage of the fact people are already prepared to believe in them. I don't think this is an argument against the possibility, just a reason to be extremely cautious of claims.
That said, I'm glad of your brother-in-law's good fortune. I'm for as many brain tumor remissions as possible, and don't wish a tumor of any kind on anyone. But brain tumors going into remission is just one of those things brain tumors do sometimes. Not sure how you established that the cause being unknown justifies concluding that it was supernatural.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneou..._in_cancer
I think if you're even reasonably skeptical of miracle claims, not one stands up to scrutiny. That doesn't mean they don't happen, but I don't think you can justify the claim that they do. Fraud is just one example of false miracles, there's also honest misperception, uninformed interpretation, confirmation bias, pareidolia, and more.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.