The problem with miracles

Many people don't realise it, but there is a danger when Christians put way too much emphasis on the miraculous works of God.

For example, there are churches where the main focus of the gathering is to cast out demons or to heal sick people by the laying of hands.

Although it is not for me to judge whether that is right or wrong, I would like to point out that there is an inherent danger when we over-emphasise the miraculous aspect of Christianity.

And this is the danger: When we over-emphasise miracles, we unknowingly imply that God has little/nothing to do with the natural world.

Unfortunately, many Christians (well-meaning ones too) are guilty of this, and it gives rise to the "God of the Gaps" view of God. It is as though God's reality/presence can only truly be felt when extraordinary events happen or when unexplainable phenomena occur.

However, the Bible tells us a different story. The God of the Bible is a God of order: He created the universe in an orderly manner (Gen 1) and He expects His creation to worship Him in an orderly manner (1 Cor 14:26ff).

This implies that God is behind the laws of Physics just as much as He is behind the miracles. And so, we should just as easily see the reality and presence of God through the natural world (read Romans 1:20 anyone?).

When I observe the beauty of the sunrise and the majesty of the night sky, I personaly find it hard to say that it's all just the result of many natural random mistakes. The fingerprint of God is all over it.


Side note:

In many ways, this is a pie in the face to a lot of our naturalist friends in the God vs Science debate. Many in the naturalism camp wrongly presuppose that if we can explain all phenomena through natural laws, then God must not exist (such as the thinking of Nobel prize winners Francis Crick and James Watson). However, this argument is logically flawed if God is the one who had purposely created the natural laws to instil order.