Bibles Vs. Direct Observation

[Dionysius]

Ok, so we're going to ignore the primary definition given for the word

It seems like your beef is with the publishers.

I'm fine with that for the moment. Let's go with the secondary definition you chose. Does that mean that my winning the lottery, or finishing my novel and getting published to well-deserved critical acclaim, would also be a miracle? Or maybe something less dramatic but no less significant, such as overcoming some life changing disability against all the odds? How about surviving a fall from tremendous height after a parachute failure? This is what I meant by a bastardisation of the word until it becomes less miraculous and increasingly mundane.

The hypotheticals you describe could certainly be considered, miraculous. In terms of your argumentation over the degradation of miraculous - well that certainly seems to fit with the big picture... entropy.

However, since the actual existence of several of your roll-call cast is questionable at best, whether or not the term "miracle" can be applied to what you describe, using either definition, becomes decidedly moot.

That would be a matter of opinion. And since opinion and the minds which develop them also fall prey to the phenomena of degradation it would seem only natural that you feel as you do.