billwald said:
I believe that God can use his knowledge to manipulate this universe in ways that we can't understand but he doesn't seem to do it very often. Not often enough to be statistically detectable.
I agree. That would prove his existence, wouldn't it?
I believe that miracles happen but that we cannot differentiate them from statistical chance.
When I was 22 a series of unrelated minor accidents resulted in a nerve string in my left arem going from my elbow to my wrist being destroyed. I was left only able to move my thumb and index fingers. The other three fingers, permanently curled and imobile except for slight movement in the middle finger. I was told, after three months, there was very little hope as they couldn't get a response from the nerve string. They said the healing process progresses at an inch a month and would never make it to the hand in time to save the nerves in the hand. The plan was to wait a year to see if any of the nerve string regenerated from the elbow then remove the remainder of the string going into the hand. This would leave me with appx. a 25% chance of nerves regrowing and regaining some movement.
Because I worked with my hands, I ended up out of work and my mom, being my mom, took the opportunty to start hanging out at my house. As a results, we worked through a lot of issues. Then she, suddenly, died. Shortly after her death, I was practicing for a sunday school lesson I had to teach that had three points and, instinctively started counting off on fingers. I counted, one with my index finger, two with my middle finger (which wasn't totally paralyzed) and started to count three with ring finger and realized I'd moved it. To this day, they cannot get a response from the normal nerve string. I, apparently, grew another one that travels who knows where down my arm, in time to connect to the live nerves in the hand and spare movement in the three fingers.
It's very rare and unexplainable with the nerve string intact. My body should have tried to restore the existing nerve string not tried to grow a new one and it shouldn't have been able to grow that fast. Yet it, apparently, it did. Is it possible? Yes but highly unusual. However, timing can be a miracle. Having this happen when it did allowed me to resolve issues with my mom that would have haunted me my entire life. That this happened when it did is as much of a miracle as the fact I can move those fingers today.
They say the parting of the red sea may be the result of a tsunami but if you're an isrealite, trapped on one side by Pharoahs army and on the other by the red sea, it doesn't rightly matter. Timing can be a miracle.