MIRACLES CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT

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. They are exceptions to the way nature usually seems to work. For example, we take it for granted that dead people stay dead but the Church says that God miraculously raised Jesus when he was dead three days back to life. Why would God do that? The answer is said to be that he wishes to give us signs so that we can find what truths he has revealed and what religion he has given to us.
 
Miracles happening in the Roman Catholic Church are said to show that the Roman Catholic faith is true and really from God as it claims.
 
It is sectarian arrogance to say that miracles which indicate that say the Roman Catholic Church is true are real miracles while the ones reported by rival religions are trickery. To say miracles are pointers to the truth is saying just that. It is also arrogance to say that miracles point to the one true faith because there would be many unreported miracles that do not support this faith. Frankly, anybody using miracles to make his religion win the argument is a liar.
 
What if other religions report miracles? Then the true Catholic must reason that one of the following is correct.
 
Miracles that happen in other religions must be hoaxes or errors, no matter what the evidence says about them.
 
Demons are doing the miracles of other religions for demons like to do good to keep people away from the truth.
 
Beliefs like that lead to unreasonable fear and fanatical bigotry. Remember the witch-burnings.
 
Miracles cancel one another out. Muhammad supposedly produced the Koran by a miracle. The Koran denies the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This would be a miracle on paper that anybody can test. A miracle claim that anybody can test should always be preferred to one that is not as testable or one that not everybody can test. Thus Christians should check the Koran and if it is found wanting then maybe check the resurrection.
 
Christians criticise the arguments against miracles. And then when it comes to miracles that contradict the miracles they want to believe in they use the same arguments. This is a double-standard. They evidently want to trick people into believing Christianity is true. For example, they would argue that a Jewish miracle and a Muslim miracle no matter how well attested is dodgy because each miracle backs up contradictory religions. If one is true and the other is false that is no help for the evidence backs up both. Evidence can mislead.
 
The notion that my religion's miracles show it is true and your religion's miracles fail to do that is saying that the other faith is fabricating its miracles. Miracles are not a recipe for peace between divergent faiths. They are a recipe for suspicion and sectarianism. Miracles are really the deity showing off which adds more spice to the nasty mixture. It becomes, "Oh my religion is better than yours for God shows it off."
 
Miracles lead to sectarianism within a religion. If a sign is needed, it should be a good edifying one. Perhaps some saint should rise from the dead and tend the poor and suffering for decades and give us an example more influential than that of Nelson Mandela. But no such miracles exist. Jesus did nothing at all for people after his alleged resurrection. If you have one edifying miracle well-verified you don't need any other miracles. Indeed you wouldn't even mention them. God would only need one good miracle. If he changes nature it must be for a grave reason and to edify us by the miracle so if he does a number of miracles - especially minor ones - it's a sign of failure. These principles then force religionists to champion their miracle report and disparage those of other factions in the religion. And also other religions. The result is division and hate. Social pressure, thankfully, keeps religion and religious people from being as bad as they could be or as bad as they want to be.

Two contradicting but equally convincing miracles happening in two contradictory religions mean either that one is a fake or that both are. God would not be doing a sign to call on people to believe a false religion. But it clearly means that miracles and the evidence for them is not reliable or helpful. It would be proof that the evidence can verify a miracle that is false.
 
Further Reading ~
A Christian Faith for Today, W Montgomery Watt, Routledge, London, 2002
Answers to Tough Questions, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Scripture Press, Bucks, 1980
Apparitions, Healings and Weeping Madonnas, Lisa J Schwebel, Paulist Press, New York, 2004
A Summary of Christian Doctrine, Louis Berkhof, The Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1971
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Veritas, Dublin, 1995
Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1988
Enchiridion Symbolorum Et Definitionum, Heinrich Joseph Denzinger, Edited by A Schonmetzer, Barcelona, 1963
Looking for a Miracle, Joe Nickell, Prometheus Books, New York, 1993
Miracles, Rev Ronald A Knox, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1937
Miracles in Dispute, Ernst and Marie-Luise Keller, SCM Press Ltd, London, 1969
Lourdes, Antonio Bernardo, A. Doucet Publications, Lourdes, 1987
Medjugorje, David Baldwin, Catholic Truth Society, London, 2002
Miraculous Divine Healing, Connie W Adams, Guardian of Truth Publications, KY, undated
New Catholic Encyclopaedia, The Catholic University of America and the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc, Washington, District of Columbia, 1967
Raised From the Dead, Father Albert J Hebert SM, TAN, Illinois 1986
Science and the Paranormal, Edited by George O Abell and Barry Singer, Junction Books, London, 1981
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan, Headline, London, 1997
The Book of Miracles, Stuart Gordon, Headline, London, 1996
The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000
The Encyclopaedia of Unbelief Volume 1, Gordon Stein, Editor, Prometheus Books, New York, 1985
The Hidden Power, Brian Inglis, Jonathan Cape, London, 1986
The Sceptical Occultist, Terry White, Century, London, 1994
The Stigmata and Modern Science, Rev Charles Carty, TAN, Illinois, 1974
Twenty Questions About Medjugorje, Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D. Pangaeus Press, Dallas, 1999
Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer, Freeman, New York, 1997