Good for children young and old. Another thought provoking article from Creation magazine. Be sure to subscribe, it keeps getting better and better. Subscribe here and always be prepared with an answer:

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Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

The Monkey’s Disgrace

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree
Discussing things as they’re said to be.
Said one to the others: “Now listen you two,
There’s a certain rumour that can’t be true
That man descended from our noble race –
Why, the very idea is a disgrace!

Are miracles scientific?

by Erin Hughes and Lita Sanders (nee Cosner)

Published in Creation 38(4):30–33, 2016

“Hey Dad, have a look at that billboard!” As the James family drove down the interstate they all looked at a large black billboard with white text exclaiming, “Science is the only miracle!” Isabel looked perplexed and asked, “What do they mean by that? Do they mean that the Bible’s miracles can be explained away by science?” Dad replied. “Yes, many people who refuse to believe in God think they can explain away His existence and miracles using scientific explanations.”

What is a miracle?

A miracle is an unusual event from God that He uses to tell us about Himself. Examples from the Bible include healings, raising from the dead, and various displays of power over nature. This is different from God’s providential care over creation, which can be described scientifically. For instance, the laws of physics simply partially describe how God is upholding creation in an orderly way.

⛏ Dig deeper: Colossians 1:15–17, Hebrews 1:3, 1 Corinthians 14:33

Why does God do miracles?

Miracles can have several different reasons. Miracles can be done to deliver people, such as God parting the Red Sea. They can be done to judge people, like when Elijah asked God not to send any rain to Israel for three years. One of the main purposes for miracles, though, is to prove that a person was God’s chosen messenger. When God did miracles through Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus, that meant that God really was with those men.

⛏ Dig deeper: Exodus 4:1–9; Deuteronomy 6:22; Matthew 11:4–5; Acts 2:22–23; 17:31

Do miracles make people believe in God?

Sometimes, but not always. The Pharisees and Jewish leaders saw many of Jesus’ miracles, but they hated Him and refused to believe in Him. Jesus taught that even someone being raised from the dead would not be enough to make people believe in God. The Bible teaches, rather, that the Gospel—the good news of Jesus’ death for our sins and His resurrection on the third day—is what people need to be saved, not miracles. But sometimes miracles in Scripture helped people believe in God.

⛏ Dig deeper: Luke 16:31, John 12:37; Acts 9:32–35,36–42; Exodus 7: 8–13; Luke 24: 1–12

Some people say that because we can’t test miracles, they can’t be real. Are they right?

People who say that assume that God either isn’t real, or that He can’t do miracles. Everyone agrees that miracles don’t normally happen—that’s why they’re called miracles! But we have lots of trustworthy accounts of miracles in the Bible, and we should trust them because they are God’s Word. There are lots of historical accounts about other things, such as ancient kings and battles, that we trust on a lot less evidence. Also, some of the same people that say we can’t trust miracles because we can’t test them believe in evolution, which is really a claim about history and really can’t be tested either.

⛏ Dig deeper: Luke 1:1–4, John 21:25, 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, creation.com/miracles

But if I’ve never seen a miracle, should I believe that God did them in the Bible?

We believe in all sorts of things we’ve never seen—if a source is reliable, we tend to trust it. In fact, we have to trust sources for what they say about most of history before we were born! The Bible is God’s Word, so we should believe it.

⛏ Dig deeper: John 20:24–31; Genesis 6: 11-22

Can science explain the Bible’s miracles?

Science can’t test the Bible’s miracles, because miracles are by definition unusual events that scientific laws can’t describe. We cannot re-create a miracle to test it. So the best way to determine whether a miracle is true or not is to see whether the source is a reliable one. The Bible was inspired by God, so it is completely true, so we can trust it when it tells us about miracles.

⛏ Dig deeper: Luke 3:1–2; 11:38–44; Exodus 16: 4-7

Did people in the Bible believe in miracles just because they didn’t have science?

That’s sort of like saying that people weren’t as smart in ancient times because they didn’t know as much as we do. But ancient people were smart enough to build pyramids and other huge monuments using very precise mathematics. They also knew about astronomy and other facts about the natural world. They knew that miracles were unusual, that’s why they could be special signs from God. If people thought that the Red Sea parted every time the wind blew a certain way, it wouldn’t be a special sign of deliverance for Israel like it was.

⛏ Dig deeper: John 11:28–44; Exodus 14: 21-31

Do scientists really disbelieve in all miracles?

A funny thing is that both Christians and atheists have to believe in miraculous things at the very beginning of time. Both Christians and atheists believe there had to be something to cause everything at the very beginning of time. Christians believe God was that cause, but atheists must appeal to something outside the laws of science, too, because something had to cause the laws of science! So both Christians and non-Christians have to appeal to things that science can’t explain.

⛏ Dig deeper: Genesis 1:1

“So you see,” Dad explained, “Science can’t explain miracles. In fact, even scientists depend on miracles to explain how we got here!” Wesley exclaimed, “Wow, every time I think I know a lot about God, I find out He’s even bigger than I thought! I’m glad we believe in God.” “Yes, and we should pray that the people who made that billboard will believe in Him, too.”

⛏ Dig deeper: 2 Thessalonians 1:11