Are miracles evidence of the existence of God?

[ido]

Granted, if one arbitrarily defines a miracle as an act of God...then one might say the existence of a realTM miracle would prove God existed.  But if we just define a miracle as something that is not explainable by natural laws or science, then I don't think it would be evidence of the existence of God.

For argument sake, let's assume something inexplicable actually happened.

First, one would have to know that whatever happened was actually impossible to have been due to natural laws or causes.  It seems there is enough we don't know about the natural world that that is unlikely to ever be known.

Second, even IF one COULD know for certain that whatever happened could not have been due to 'natural laws' and/or nature, that would still leave other plausible explanations..e.g. some 'outside of nature' or 'supernatural' force that either acts randomly/inexplicably or that could be somehow controlled by humans or other beings with minds,  Of course this  explanation would be evidence of some sort of supernatural and maybe even that (some) human minds can access. 

From a personal standpoint, I'm not convinced any actual miracles (events that cannot be explained through nature) have ever occurred, although I have heard some pretty remarkable stories from people I believe were telling what they thought to be true.

[onlinebiker]

"A miracle" is a euphorism - used by dim-witted folks as an equivalant for "I don't know".

[AniKoferBo]

Not sure, but I know if toast falling jellyside down is proof the devil exists.

[Porcupine]

Miracles are evidence for the existence of God but only if we define miracles as necessarily an example of God's intervention.

I mean, why jump the gun? Whether there is a God or not .... where is the evidence for miracles?

[Brian37]

There are no such things as "miracles". That is simply a superstitious place card word people use when they don't have an explanation.

For example, someone might survive a plane crash and call that a "miracle" when the survival was merely conditions that lead to the surval, while others on that same plane die. 

Life is a crap shoot, and eventually everyone dies, even if it is old age. 

"Shouldn't have" and "Should have" don't change how an event ends up either way.

[Porcupine]

Life is a crap shoot

Very true indeed. Because it's (1) Fun, (2) Completely luck-based and (3) Usually an expensive waste of time at best and life destroying at worst.

[AniKoferBo]

What exactly defines "supernatural" can be rather tricky. People used to believe the sun was a god (now we know it's a giant ball of gas). People used to think the rain was caused by a rain deity (now we know condensation). People sued to think shizophrenia was caused by demons (now we know it's issues with the brain). Just because something isn't explained by our current understanding of naturalism doesn't necessarily mean it's "supernatural", it just mean it hasn't been scientifically explained yet. Imagine if we discovered a race of aliens that could start fires with their mind. Is that necessarily "supernatural"? No, it just means we don't quite understand the naturalistic beans by which they're able to do it (perhaps their brains can give off high, intense heat waves).

[Porcupine]

Supernatural, noun---that which if you have evidence of it it isn't itself.

[Fake Messiah]

I don't know if anything can be considered to be evidence for God since God is not defined. Alexander the Great was considered God and yet what can prove that he is or isn't God?
Are gods all supernatural? Are they all immortal? Can all of them fly, or only some? Can they walk through walls? Can they read our thoughts? Do they know the future? Can a god have mental and physical frailties? Can a human become a god? Can a god become a human? What is it that makes someone or something a god in our eyes? What is a god?

For instance, although I am a flying saucers skeptic if I saw an evidence of alien spacecraft visiting Earth I wouldn't be dishonest and would accept that aliens are visiting Earth. Because that conundrum is well defined while God isn't.

[Porcupine]

I think God, rather than being undefined, is defined in far too many different ways.