Magic and Miracles

More "M"s. We are often amused by Magicians who fool the eye by sleight of hand. All of their tricks are explainable if we learn how they do it. They are not performing miracles but are simply doing things that seem impossible or implausible. until we know how it is done. What they do is much different than a miracle.

A Miracle is a happening that cannot be explained by what we know of science, natural law, or human experience. The Science of Physics has run into some presently inexplicable phenomena. The world of the tiny cannot be reconciled with the world of Astronomy. Einstein spent his later years trying to formulate a "Unified Theory" of the Universe which would reconcile the large with the small, but was unable to do so. Particle Physics (electrons; protons; quarks; muons; strings, etc) do not seem to obey the natural laws of the galactic universes. This, among other anomalies, demonstrates that we do not fully understand how things work. When something occurs which is clearly contrary to, or impossible to explain by natural law, we call it a miracle. It is beyond our capacity to explain.

However, that does not mean that it could not be explained if the miraculous power by which it was accomplished were known. The best examples of "miracles" of that type are set forth in the New Testament. Jesus performed literally dozens of miracles that were witnessed by many people (5,000 in the case of the three barley loaves and three fishes). The accounts of the miracles (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were written while many of the witnesses were still living. Yet we hear of no dissent from them as to what happened. Few events in all history are better attested. Yet we have those who doubt. Feeding 5,000 with such a small beginning is obviously impossible, they would say. Yet, we know that "food" is composed of the particles of the atom. One who could control those particles/energy, could certainly multiply a substance by many times and turn little into much.

While in the Mission Field, I had the opportunity to ride on the bus with Jos. F. Merrill, one of the twelve Apostles at the time. He had held a Conference in Farmington, N. Mex. and was on his way back to SLC through Colo. He was a physicist. We chatted for about an hour during which he explained how celestial beings (Moroni) could pass through seemingly solid materials (a roof) even though it would seem impossible. Any seemingly solid substance is more space than matter. In fact, matter is energy, and someone knowing how to control atoms could easily arrange them so that seemingly solid substances could pass through one another without damage to either. The fact that we do not know how it happens makes it a miracle, but it does not make it impossible.

We should therefore, be humble and recognize that we cannot assign miracles to the impossible just because we do not know how they are accomplished.