Would this count as an "anti-miracle"?

[Helm]

"Marquel Peters was seated with his parents inside a church in Decatur, Georgia, when a bullet came through the roof and struck his head.
The toddler collapsed at the feet of his parents, who had no idea what caused a gaping wound in his head.

It was only after doctors removed the bullet as they tried in vain to save his life that they realised he had been shot.
Kelly Fite, a former ballistics expert at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's state Crime Lab, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that the bullet had most likely been fired from an AK-47 assault rifle.
The shooter could have been as much as two to three miles away, Fite told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But most likely, the shooter was about a half mile away and the gun was tilted at about 30 or 40 degrees, not straight up, he said.
It is not uncommon – though illegal -- for guns to be fired to mark the start of a new year, he said.
The boy's mother called for the shooter to come forward, but Mr Fite said it was unlikely that the person knew what had happened.
Experts are examining the bullet to see if it can be matched to a gun on their database."

If someone just so happened to recover from a terminal illness after going to church some people would claim that as a miracle rather than just something that happened by random chance, much like this.

[germ14]

No, just bad luck, there is a reason they have laws about that.

[Helm]

Then why can't miracles just be good luck?

[Tiberius Tosi]

Then why can't miracles just be good luck?

A miracle cannot be explained, bad luck like this can. Someone shot a bullet into the air, it's as simply as that.

A miracle is...well...miraculous, and involves something that cannot be explained or if you go by the more technical term it is an interruption of natural law that cannot be comprehended. Now if someone just mysteriously died for absolutely no apparent reason, I supposed it could be called an "anti-miracle" but such things don't really exist.

[Tacitursa]

Are there any miracles that have actually happened that cannot be explained?

[Helm]

A miracle cannot be explained, bad luck like this can. Someone shot a bullet into the air, it's as simply as that.

Had the bullet shot dead a suicide bomber sitting in the church I bet people would claim that was a miracle from God.

[Tacitursa]

Had the bullet shot dead a suicide bomber sitting in the church I bet people would claim that was a miracle from God.

Why would god shoot one of his own followers?

[Tiberius Tosi]

Had the bullet shot dead a suicide bomber sitting in the church I bet people would claim that was a miracle from God.

No people would say "damn those are some lucky odds", whereas in this situation they say "damn those are some unlucky odds, sad"...that is the only difference between the two situations.

There are always people who believe things are guided by God, and im sure there are SOME who believe that the bullet may have been "guided" by God for a purpose. Superstition and such is not restricted to the religious though.

[Helm]

No people would say "damn those are some lucky odds"

There are people who believe God puts images of the vigin Mary on a slice of toast. They would never say "damn those are some lucky odds" they would try and claim God had something to do with it. But only if it's something unlikely and good.

[jankren]

A miracle cannot be explained, bad luck like this can. Someone shot a bullet into the air, it's as simply as that.

A miracle is...well...miraculous, and involves something that cannot be explained or if you go by the more technical term it is an interruption of natural law that cannot be comprehended. Now if someone just mysteriously died for absolutely no apparent reason, I supposed it could be called an "anti-miracle" but such things don't really exist.

Resurrection for example can also be explained scientifically just so you know.

[MaximiIian]

Then why can't miracles just be good luck?

Why does every weird thing that happen have to be described as a miracle?
Is the mundane not equally as miraculous as the bizarre? If one believe that the divine permeates all existence, then there is no difference between the explainable and unexplainable. There is only that which has not yet been explained or investigated thoroughly enough.

In short: things often claimed to be "magical" or "miraculous" likely have a physical explanation.
But I do not think this makes them any less miraculous.

Then again, I suppose this is determined by what one defines as "a miracle". Some would be describe it as something unexplainable by physical means, implying divine influence; some describe it as something with dead-low probability happening; and some others describe it as anything of divine influence.

[Zenith Darksea]

This 'anti-miracle' was physically explicable. A 'miracle', by definition, is an event that has an unnatural - i.e. divine - cause, at least in Christianity.

[jankren]

This 'anti-miracle' was physically explicable. A 'miracle', by definition, is an event that has an unnatural - i.e. divine - cause, at least in Christianity.

By that logic then it is safe to say that according to medical explanation Jesus was actually schizophrenic.

[Arch-hereticK]

By that logic then it is safe to say that according to medical explanation Jesus was actually schizophrenic.

It's very probable by any logic.

[Gromovnik]

By that logic then it is safe to say that according to medical explanation Jesus was actually schizophrenic.

No, he just suffered from a severe case of unwarranted self-importance.

[Helm]

All of the events that people claim as miracles are also physically explicable, even if they're remotely unlikely.

[Lord of Lost Socks]

yeah, but they're not miracles.

[Junius]

Though I am an atheist, though I would rather position myself as a humanist, this militant strain of atheism is something I simply can't abide. There is an arrogance that many of you have, arch-heretick, janken and helm, to name only those in this thread, as well as countless thousands on the wider internet. You look down and sneer at the religious, believers. There is a trend among those like you to believe that those who still believe in God as somehow inferior and not as intellectually advanced as non-believers. This is wrong. I know many priests and religious in general who could school me, you and a lot of others in any debate, either philosophical or theological. These kinds of comments have an air of superiority, unearned, which is bad for atheism, and bad for your image. Let me make something clear:

Faith is irrational by it's nature. These people don't try to justify their faith with instances from the physical world. Faith is something you have, or don't. I don't, but I can see how someone would.

The ridicule of religious may be earned, but don't think yourselves so great that the people who believe are beneath you. Do nt scoff at them because of their faith, but accept that we are all different, yet we all share the common ties of humanity, making none so much above or below one than another.

I have noticed many of you point out the logical fallacies of religion, vainly, as religion is a logical fallacy, and the believers know it and accept it, not because of, but in spite of that.

Treat people with a certain amount of decency, and don't disparage people for having something you do not. There is a lack of civility in that group which call themselves atheists towards their brother-man. That is why I don't like being associated with that label. Your type have made me ashamed of what I have called myself, and now I have abandoned that moniker. I am ashamed of myself because of you.

/rant

[KingOfTheIsles]

This 'anti-miracle' was physically explicable. A 'miracle', by definition, is an event that has an unnatural - i.e. divine - cause, at least in Christianity.

That is definitely true in the strictest sense, but many people use the word to describe something happening which (in their view, at least) is so highly improbable that it could not have come about by chance. Now, I'm not supporting that definition, just pointing out that it is often used.

Junius: off your high horse, please. It is not in anyway disrespectful to religion to point out that many religious (or non-religious, even) people will attribute an extraordinary piece of good fortune to God, but not an extraordinary piece of bad luck. Your rant is off-topic and just as rude and condescending as any views expressed in the thread. There's no need to derail the thread any further.

[boofhead]

Your rant is off-topic and just as rude and condescending as any views expressed in the thread. There's no need to derail the thread any further.

If that was a derailment, it was one of the briefest and best I've seen. Now let's let the young atheist sneerers have their fun, shall we?