Why Do Christians Believe In Miracles?

Basically, because the Bible reports them as having happened. The Bible says that one miracle - the resurrection of Jesus - is absolutely essential to the truth of the whole Christian faith ( The Bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3-4 ).

But don't imagine that the Bible has miracles happening on every page, nor that Christians believe they happen all the time.

A miracle is when God works in an unusual way, to show his power, to convince his people that he really is God, or to show his approval of someone speaking on God's behalf.

The Bible says that God made miracles happen when he freed Israel from Egypt . He used two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, to do miracles to show that they were his true spokesmen at a time of religious crisis. And, most of all, he worked miracles through Jesus and his apostles.

The first Christian sermon ( The Bible, Acts chapter 2 verse 22 ) puts it like this ...

'God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him perform miracles, wonders, and signs.' And Peter, the speaker, could add, 'All of you know this.' No-one in ancient times, however opposed to the Christians, denied that Jesus had done miracles.

But can we still believe such things? Just as reasonably as the first Christians did. After all, for example, they knew as well as us that dead men don't normally come to life!

Christians believe in a God who usually works through the normal processes of the universe, and keeps them operating. We sometimes call those regular patterns the 'laws of nature', but they are only descriptions of the way the universe normally operates. They don't decree that nothing can ever happen differently. The God who keeps them going can also act in a different way - a miraculous way - when he has a good reason to do so. But only for good reason, not just to satisfy curiosity.

Miracles draw our attention to something God wants us to know: they flag up his message in big letters and bold print!