Further 2 · after the twelve weeks

Are miracles possible?

Can a reasonable person believe a miracle has happened?

Weeks 6–9 argue for the resurrection. Hume’s ban on miracles is the usual gate that tries to stop the case before the evidence is heard.

See it

Shorts, slide decks, and infographics that belong with this page.

Hume said uniform experience rules miracles out. That assumes the conclusion: that no miracle has ever broken the uniformity.
Science describes regularities. It does not forbid the Author of the regularities from acting.
The question is not ‘do odd things happen?’ It is whether this public, early, multi-witness claim is best read as God acting.
If God exists, miracles are not an interruption of reality. They are reality’s Owner speaking up.
Week 9’s method: do not ask for blind faith. Treat it like a cold case — medical death, the facts even skeptics grant, and a Sabbath-to-Sunday shock that needs a catalyst.

Say this

I am not asking you to believe every wonder story on the internet. I am asking you not to rule the resurrection out before you look at the history.

“Miracles are pre-scientific superstition.”

The first witnesses lived in the same world of births and deaths we do. They were not credulous about resurrections — that is why they were shocked.

“Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”
Acts 26:8

“Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
John 20:27

Tonight · about an hour

Open · 5 min
Read the question out loud: “Can a reasonable person believe a miracle has happened?” No speeches yet.
Look · 15 min
One person reads the thesis and the points. Everyone else watches for the sentence they do not yet believe.
Talk · 25 min
1. Hume said uniform experience rules miracles out. That assumes the conclusion: that no miracle has ever broken the uniformity.
2. Science describes regularities. It does not forbid the Author of the regularities from acting.
3. The question is not ‘do odd things happen?’ It is whether this public, early, multi-witness claim is best read as God acting.
Speak · 10 min
Use the line in “Say this” above. Once as written. Once in your own mouth.
Send · 5 min
Each person names one conversation this week where they will try a question instead of a speech.