MIRACLES: Wonder seekers need to be ready for disappointment!

A miracle is what is not naturally possible. It is a supernatural occurrence. It is paranormal.

Miracles are acts contrary to the usual workings of natural law or acts according to some definitions that are natural but beyond our understanding of nature. In other words, an event like blood coming from the eyes of a statue without trickery would be a miracle or a statue coming to life.

The Church says God is all-powerful and he does miracles so that we might learn his message directly or indirectly from them. They are for teaching the truth and promoting it.

So a miracle is important because it is supernatural and also because of the divine message.  It is obvious that no miracle should be accepted lightly. Miracle reporters who have not been cross-examined have no right to invite you to believe their tales.

Let us look at this from the angle of God being a personal God who is about relationships. 

A miracle is about a relationship with God – its being a wonder is incidental. The alternative is to argue that God shows off and is irresponsible and immature. And many miracle fans if not all certainly want him to be! The only justification for calling something a miracle is that you feel inspired by something like the Holy Spirit to see God in it and can spiritually connect to God through it. But that is another miracle. It is the miracle of divine inspiration. It is more important to prove that God is communicating than that he turns wafers into flesh or makes tumours vanish. A God who is just about doing wonders with no concern for a spiritual relationship with you or anybody is evil for he helps one and not another for no reason. Selective helping is just a form of selfishness. Religion, and the average religionist, dwells on the wonders not the spiritual message and spiritual importance. So the main miracle is why you perceive it is a miracle. The outward miracle itself is secondary. For that reason, it cannot be a sin for an atheist or sceptic to reject miracles. You cannot expect them to do anything else. Miracles only do something for the person who already has a believing relationship with God.  The sceptic at most can only agree that an outward miracle happened.  Thus she or he finds it to be evidence that God is capricious and treacherous. 

Anything can become a miracle if the essential is that the person senses it is a miracle for you can lie and say you sense it when you do not.

Miracles don't merit or deserve or warrant serious study.

That is not being unfair.  It is finding the default.

The miracle is about what miracle of inspiration is going on inside you. Many claim such inspiration and then change their minds.  So essentially a miracle about Mary appearing on a rock is a claim made without evidence and as Christopher Hitchens says, when a claim is made without evidence it can be dismissed without evidence.  It is obvious why unsupported claims of communication from another world should be dismissed.