Believing in miracles is an insult to God

In tune with the Christmas season, which is full of talk about unproven religious miracles, yesterday "G" left a comment on my "Where have all the miracles gone?" post. 

Sorry Peaceseeker, if you want proof of the RSSB miracles all you have to do is do a Google search, it's funny how there is positive news about RSSB on Google but Brian doesn't incorporate it on here. But when there is false news about RSSB he's quick along with the other bloggers to incorporate it here.

My response made a lot more sense.

G, please share the proof of RSSB miracles. Gosh, if there was demonstrable proof of ANY miracles in the world -- Christian, Buddhist, RSSB, whatever -- you'd think this would be front page news.

But this hasn't happened. So let us know about this proof, which somehow has gone unnoticed by everybody but you. Enlighten us.

Remember what I noted in last night's post: anecdotal evidence isn't persuasive proof. People can say anything about anything. Doesn't mean it is true.

The human brain is capable of massive feats of self-deception. That's why objective evidence is needed: to protect against self-delusion, tricks of the mind.

What I said is so obvious, it doesn't seem like it needs to be said.

However, actually it does, because religiosity blinds people to what they would be able to see clearly, if they didn't have a wall of dogma standing between them and reality. I know, because I used to be one of those who stare at a mental wall and believe there is nothing on the other side.

Truth should be our goal, not blind belief.

Believing in miracles, or God, or any other supernatural phenomenon without good reason/evidence means that we're more interested in the subjective products of our own mind than in the Big Wide World of objective reality that exists beyond our personal notions about it.

This is the beauty of science and the scientific method: it is the best way to become egoless. We can't get away with merely self-centeredly saying "I know...." A scientific way of looking at the world challenges us to say "This is the way things are, because...." 

In other words, we are pushed to see reality as it is, not as how we want it to be, or prefer it to be.

Since God usually is considered by religious people to be the highest truth in the cosmos, blind belief in miracles is insulting to any God which might actually exist. Assuming something to be true without excellent evidence to back the assumption up means we aren't really interested in truth.

We're interested in embracing our own beloved unproven assumption, not reality, not the highest truth. We've deified an emanation of our own mind, a desire to believe in something, rather than what truly exists.

Sacrilege! Which is why skeptics are the true devotees of a God that they doubt exists, not those who embrace blind faith.

Skeptics love truth more than the comfort of a reassuring feeling. "Jesus rose from the dead, just as I will." "The guru is all powerful, capable of saving my soul." Ideas such as these comfort believers. But science knows that reality exists beyond the bounds of what we humans find comfortable.

Big claims demand big evidence, big proof.

Miracles are a big claim. So is God. To accept miniscule evidence as proof of a big claim is demeaning to it, an insult. We should respect objective truth more, and our personal ideas less.

(For more along this line, check out my previous post about the burden of proof.) 

Comments

[Sita]

Dear Brian,

Everything is a miracle..maybe??

[Adrian Mendoza]

I would say that, if miracles (in a dogmatic and religious way) are real, they would then be part of our everyday life, I have never seen any miracle happen, and I personally start to believe that they simply do not exist in that context, maybe we are just confusing miracles with the embodiment of our own hopes? Don't know but, if miracles exist, why don't they happen when needed the most? It seems that it is all too subjective, a lot.

[J. Barrish]

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Photos of the victims of the Connecticut school shooting.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10014910-2.html

[Sudeep ([email protected])]

You being allowed to post nasty about RSSB is itself a proof of miracle ... A miracle by RSSB Guru, you poor old chap.

[Transparency]

You wrote in this essay "religiosity blinds people".

BBC did a special on Sai Baba in 2004 which I just finished watching on YouTube. I believe everyone who has ever believed in the notion of "God in Human Form" needs to watch this. The capacity of humans for utter denial in protecting their "faith" is horrifying....they have the capacity to betray their own children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlL_CDqFCLg&noredirect=1