THE MORAL PROBLEM WITH THE MIRACLES AND PARANORMAL
 
A miracle is an event that is not naturally possible. That does not mean it is necessarily impossible. There could be a power greater than nature such as a god that can do it. A miracle is supernatural. It's really magic and superstition under a different name. If a power can instantly remove an incurable terminal disease, then it can guarantee bad luck for those who walk under ladders. A miracle cannot have a moral purpose. Any moral benefits that seem to result from it only happen despite it not because of it.
 
Kant stated that he did not believe in any biblical miracle which did not have a clear moral purpose. The miracle should show people how to love one another. It should tell them what love is. It should give them an incentive to be more good. Not once do we ever read anything like this in the Bible, "I saw this miracle and I felt the love of God grow in me and I wanted to make myself the servant of others and of God." The gospel says that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but it says nothing about how this did Lazarus any spiritual good. It's all about the wonder and not about how it made him a better person.
 
And Kant expecting the miracles to have a moral purpose is fine but he forgets that a Christian is to dedicate all they have and are to God and to serve others and care for themselves only because he commanded it. The Christian helps the sick baby because God demands it and not because it is bad to see the baby suffer. The Bible then sees the moral purpose as being about God.
 
So no Bible miracle worries at all about morality. Christians may say that the resurrection is an exception for it changed the lives of the witnesses and those who believed their testimony. Nobody saw the resurrection itself. Jesus supposedly appeared after his body vanished from the tomb and rose. And the New Testament never says the witnesses changed morally. The claim that it turned the frightened apostles into courageous soldiers of Christ is a lie. The Bible does say they hid for fear of the Jews but it does not say that this was down to lack of courage. Even courageous men have to hide at times. And faith in the resurrection might make positive changes but it does not follow that the resurrection did it. Faith in reincarnation might do the trick too.
 
All the lies told to make the resurrection seem important certainly prove that religious witnesses of miracles are not as trustworthy as they seem. Even honest people easily resort to lying in religious matters.
 
The Christian focus on the Bible miracles is superstitious and unwholesome. Miracles that do not keep the focus on humanitarianism and love should not be so honoured. It is vulgar to. That vulgarity indicates that miracles are somehow hoaxes or untrue if we cannot understand how. It is an insult to God to say they are his work.
 
The paranormal has purely scientific interest - it serves no morally edifying good. Indeed it produces more fear than anything else. People are fascinated by it though it makes them uneasy. Do we really want to hear that telepathy exists? Imagine how dangerous that power could be if it did.
 
It is better to think that all we have to put up with is the way nature works. At least we know where we stand. What if we believe in miracles? Then we will hold that though they do good for some there may be darker miracles too that we don't even want to think about. Faith should be about making us accept the way nature works. Miracles imply we should upset one another over faith. They make us violate the principle by giving people reason to think that there could be very sinister miracles and this leads to fear. Atheism does not stop a person having faith. The feeling that we will cope with the challenges of life and that death is not to be feared is all we need. You don't need religion for that. You don't need miracles. You don't need God. Religion, miracle, God. They only make clutter and get in the way of our deeper needs.