Should we expect miracles in modern times?

I recently watched a Youtube video by Brian Dalton (aka “Mr. Deity”) entitled “No Evidence,” and it got me thinking.

His basic argument was that, in both the Old and New Testament, God was not shy in showing that he existed and demonstrating his enormous power. He did this by way of miracles performed in real-time, right in front of witnesses and participants. Dalton specifically cited the miracles performed by God concerning Moses, through which he convinced the Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from slavery.

I could also add the really spectacular miracle performed by Elijah against the priests of Baal as detailed in 1 Kings 20-40. Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a “duel” whereby each set up an altar with a bull sacrifice and called upon their respective gods to light the wood to burn the sacrifice. The priests of Baal tried unsuccessfully to get the kindling to light. However, Elijah, even when the wood was dowsed with water (maybe the liquid was not water but an accelerant), when he called on God, managed to light the wood to burn the sacrifice. As a sidenote, after this triumph, the Priests were slaughtered in a truly magnanimous gesture!

Dalton then went on to say that Jesus (through his divinity) performed (by some estimates) 34 miracles during his 3-year ministry which equates to 11.3 miracles per year. Jesus stated that his followers, if they had a mustard seed’s amount of faith, could achieve even more than he did. Thus, Dalton rounded the number up to 12 miracles per person per year. Since there are approximately 2 billion Christians worldwide, and assuming at least 50% of them had a “mustard-seed’s amount of faith” we should expect 12 billion miracles per year reported from Christians worldwide.

And yet, we see no such miracles occurring, which is why Dalton maintains there is no evidence for the Christian God.

Jesus certainly seems to assert that people, other than himself, could perform miracles:

• “And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.” (Matthew 21:21)
• “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)
• “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)

There is no * after these statements with a footnote “Terms & Conditions Apply”, or any “Use-By Date” so one would feel justified that these promises extend to all faithful Christians then and now.

It would appear that Christian apologists are cognizant of this type of argument, since when one looks at various online sources concerning this issue, they mostly make the argument that it was only the disciples and early followers of Jesus who were able to perform miracles. Their rationale for this is that miracles were required to spread the Christian message to unbelievers of that age who had no knowledge of this new religion. Later this was no longer required since the New Testament was then available to spread the message without requiring miracles

This can be seen in this answer from www.gotguestions.org when someone asked:

Question: Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit for today?

Answer (in Part): …It is also important to realize that the early church did not have the completed Bible, as we do today (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore, the gifts of prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, etc. were necessary in order for the early Christians to know what God would have them do. The gift of prophecy enabled believers to communicate new truth and revelation from God. Now that God’s revelation is complete in the Bible, the “revelatory” gifts are no longer needed, at least not in the same capacity as they were in the New Testament.

This seems a very dubious argument: There are approximately 8 billion people living in the world today, but only 2 billion are Christians (say 25% of the world’s population). If God really is all-loving and wanted all of his creations to be saved, he would do all he possibly could to convince the remaining 75% of his salvation message so they would not suffer eternal torment or some such other negative outcome. Miracles would be very convincing to people in parts of the world that do not have ready access to Bibles (say, some remote Amazonian tribe).

Furthermore, Christians are not averse to claiming that miracles do occur even today, so it seems they want to “Have their cake and eat it, too.”

I do note that in modern times, Christians tend not to pray for miracles. Rather, they pray for desirable but achievable (but hardly miraculous) outcomes. For example, “Pray my surgery goes well”, “Please help me find my car keys”, and so on. I believe that, in many mainstream Churches, things like “laying on of hands” for healing is discouraged, presumably so as not to raise unrealistic expectations. In the US, this type of event seems more common.

I was reminded of a recent case from the US about a woman who claimed that the power of prayer had regrown her three amputated toes. The story was circulated in several newspapers and online (such as here, which includes a video of her claim).

The woman, named Kristina Dines, was a victim of domestic violence. She fled from her abusive husband and moved in with a friend. Her husband tracked her down and came after her with a shotgun. Several shots were fired resulting in the death of Kristina’s friend and serious injuries to Kristina’s abdomen, liver, and toes (three of which were amputated). This all happened in June 2015.

Then in March 2023, Kristina attended the James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, and during the 30-minute prayer session, she felt her toes regrowing. When she checked, she claimed her toes were growing back.

There is a lot to be skeptical about with this story:

1. The Pastor who was officiating at this service refuses to present any evidence of this event, saying he is protecting the well-being and privacy of Kristina (even though she was happy to record a video detailing her experience).
2. Kristina has not, to my knowledge, presented any evidence to back up her claim, which, you would think, could be easily done. She could present an authenticated X-ray of her foot after the attack by her husband, and then an authenticated X-ray after the “healing.” In addition, she could present some sort of legal affidavit from her doctor confirming the regrowth of her toes.
3. With so many people having smartphones these days, it seems strange that no one thought to video this amazing event.
4. The same church claimed another parishioner regrew a kidney, but again no evidence was submitted (however, an attempted resurrection of a young child failed).
5. Why did God just heal her toes when she had other horrendous injuries, such as with her intestine and liver?
6. If God is all-loving why did he not prevent the husband inflicting such injuries in the first place, and also save the life of Kristina’s friend? Was it necessary for Kristina’s friend to die just so God could demonstrate his awesome power?
7. If the story is true, and God intervened, why did God decide to treat Kristina’s toes rather than, for example, save a child with cancer whose Christian parents had prayed so hard for a healing? Maybe, God could, instead, eliminate cancer altogether, or solve world hunger which would be a more meaningful demonstration of his love and power.
8. If this story is true, it is most certainly a game-changer, and could potentially convince hundreds, if not thousands of people, to embrace Christianity. So why the reticence? This only promotes skepticism. It gives the impression that the people of this church are being evasive, deceitful, and self-serving.

Someone has even started a website called www.ShowMeTheToes.com asking for anyone with proof of this supposed miracle to email it to the website. As far as I know, no one has so far posted any evidence to confirm this “miracle.”

It certainly seems that Jesus asserted that his faithful followers could perform miracles, with no limitations, and yet Christian apologists are trying to “explain” why we should not expect miracles today (even though they are quick to claim credit for any supposed “miracle” that happens in modern times). It all seems a very convenient “Get out of Jail free card” for apologists to dodge this rather obvious miracle problem.

David Austin is a retired Englishman now living in Australia. He is a life-long atheist who moved from being more of an apatheist when he was a guest in a church and was harangued by the pastor. He felt he needed to understand the arguments concerned that he has now studied at great length. As a former Senior Electronics Engineer working mostly in Digital Technology (with a Bachelor of Technology degree), and working in computing for so long, logic is important to his work. He is passionate about church and state separation and is active in secular groups to try to reduce the negative influences of religion in society.