Mark Gagnon

Okay.

Okay.

A miracle is, in the traditional sense, an event attributed to some type of divine intervention.

And it wouldn't have happened in nature if it were just, you know, left on its own, you could say.

It's really derived from the Latin word miraculum, which means object of wonder.

So in many Western theologies, this means a suspension of natural law.

God steps in and basically overrides the rules, right?

You can think of Jesus walking on water, right?

It's like, okay, well, we can't walk on water.

So if someone did that, it is God literally intervening specifically at a time and place when those things aren't possible.

But not everyone sees it that way.

Some theologians, particularly in Islamic thought, describe miracles as unusual but still law-consistent acts.

See the difference?

A lot of times in Christian miracles, it's like God overrides the law.

Whereas in Islam, God works through nature rather than above it.

Either way, the key ingredient is very much the same, that God intervenes.

And a miracle always has an author.

now in christianity the party the red sea is a miracle and in islam miracles are called mujazzat they're considered signs from allah and they basically authenticate a prophet so for example the prophet muhammad peace be upon him splits the moon and then in hinduism the feats attributed to krishna like lifting a mountain with one finger those are miracles though they're often understood as expressions of divine nature rather than interruptions of the natural order if that makes sense

In Buddhism, extraordinary feats are called Siddhi, which can be read basically as like expressions of spiritual realization rather than like a legit intervention from some divine being.

Now, the common thread between all these different religious traditions is that these events point to something beyond religion.