A Survey and Evaluation of Miracle as Evidence to God's Existence from the Perspectives of Philosophers of Religion in the West

While theists consider miracles as a proof for the existence of God, atheists criticize the validity of miracles for the existence of God, as they generally doubt the historical reality of miracles. They consider miracles as impossible. The purpose of this paper is to assess and respond to some of the main questions on this controversial subject, namely: what is miracle? Is miracle a paradoxical concept? Are the references to the historical testimonies for the reality of miracles justifiable? What causes miracles? We will address these questions by a subjective analysis of the concepts, propositions and arguments on the issue. The paper aims to show that firstly, miracle is by no means a paradoxical concept; and that it may not be legitimate to deny its possibility by appealing to the apparent self-contradiction of the concept. Secondly, under certain circumstances it is acceptable that some miracles could have happened. Thirdly, we can consider some quasi-miraculous events as signs of the existence of God, though the indication of some others is a matter of speculation.