Miracles
The biggest claim both for the existence of god and his omnipotence is the “miracle”
The dictionary defines a miracle as:-
"An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God"
Most people would agree with this premise.
On January 15th 2009 an Airbus A320 hit a flock of geese after taking off from La Guardia airport and ending up ditching into the Hudson River in New York. All 155 passengers and crew survived. The Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg exclaimed to the media and press “I believe now we have had a miracle on the Hudson”
Flight 1549 lost thrust from both engines a few minutes after take off, the crew knew that they had absolutely no chance of getting back to an airport and the safety of a runway to give a fighting chance for a safe landing. The jet was going down! And over a densely populated city filled with skyscrapers and water. Anyone who has ever flown can relate to the noise of aircraft engines at full
thrust as you take off and climb, to then be confronted with an eerie silence as both engines failed while the buildings get larger instead of smaller the passengers would have realised very quickly the dire situation they were in. After a few minuets they crash landed in the Hudson River and it looked like they all survived. After opening the doors they were now confronted with the
extreme cold of the New York winter. Many passengers related that they survived a plane crash and now they were going to freeze to death in the frigid water fearing the plane would now sink as they walked out onto the wings of the now floating aircraft. It was a moving moment as all 155 people were rescued. Everyone on board ALIVE. The gratitude, joy and relief of this event as people
realised that what seemed to be certain death was averted. Too some “A Miracle” had happened, gods name was invoked as praise and thanks was given to him for saving 155 people from certain death. The faithful in joyous celebration worshipped and exclaimed gods love and wonder, of his love and kindness, of his power and proof of a miracle.
It was and still is a dramatic and incredible story but, was it a Miracle? Did God intervene?
It is easy in a desperate situation to ask a deity or supreme being to intervene and answer your prayers to help you survive a harrowing event where the outcome could so easily have been major loss of life. In what seems inevitable the disaster was averted with no loss of life. People were grateful, thankful, relieved and so many people of religion and faith turned to “god” to thank him,
worship him and pay homage to the wonder and glory of his forgiving omnipotence.
Everything that happened that day conformed to the known laws of physics and can easily be explained using those same laws. Together with an exceptionally well trained air crew and a state of the art aircraft that had been built to exacting standards that get tighter and tougher as each new accident is investigated and new design concepts are incorporated in the next generation of aircraft.
If the plane had stalled in mid air and plummeted in an uncontrolled dive then seemingly stopped and slowly been lowered to the ground defying Bernoulli’s principle of aerodynamics or the laws of gravity THEN, quite rightly people could ask “how was it possible to survive?“ But it didn’t!
The ditching of flight 1549 was not a miracle, it was basic physics together with superior airmanship displayed by a well trained air crew. Aircrews train for emergency situations constantly, not to do so would be reckless and against FAA rules. The pilot was also a trained glider pilot and has his own business which teaches safety and emergency procedures. People wrongly assume that a plane that looses all power to it’s engines drops out of the sky like a rock, it doesn’t. There have been many incidents where a plane has lost all engine power and landed safely including wide bodied jets. Gliding is basic physics. see here and here
What made the outcome of this disaster different was the plane, the crew and a controlled descent and approach onto water. Whilst light aircraft have managed favourable water landings before this was the first time a passenger plane had achieved a water landing and stayed virtually intact. One of the design parameters of this jet was to be able to withstand such a landing on it’s fuselage. The manual says it can be done, plane manufactures say it can be done, physics says it can be done. If there is a skilled pilot at the controls, and that pilot can achieve certain parameters like angle of attack, (nose at positive attitude) level wings, correct speed etc, then it is very possible and indeed was possible on that day. Nothing to do with god or supernatural intervention just an exceptionally good pilot doing an heroic brilliant piece of flying. The last and very crucial factor was the proximity of HELP! Without which many of the survivors would have frozen to death in the sub zero conditions. The plane stayed afloat and the survivors were all rescued by local ferries and boats which were on the scene in minutes to help the survivors ashore or to hospital.
Jesus is said to have walked on water, healed the sick and come back from the dead. The religious desperately want to believe, they need to believe as without the belief that these miracles happened the reverence and mystery disappears and the death of Jesus means there is no forgiving of sin. No forgiving of sin means no afterlife and when you die you die.
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During the 2004 Boxing day tsunami and the 2010 Haitian earthquake reports of survivors found in wreckage days or weeks later or swept away by the floods again had the faithful claiming miracles. But again how is it a miracle? A woman found in the Haitian earthquake after 2 weeks was fortunate enough to have been in the bathroom and had a dripping tap so was able to have water, otherwise she would not have survived. God in his mercy and wisdom it was claimed had intervened and through the dripping tap saved this woman. Much was made of this survivor and the praise to god that followed. God is always praised but never condemned. The faithful rejoice shouting "Miracle" when an individual or small group of people survive a disaster but he is never condemned for allowing 228,000 people to die in the 2004 tsunami or the 316,000 to die in the Haitian earthquake. Leaving behind carnage and relatives without mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Again if there was no loss of life in the earthquakes and tsunami’s ...........Then the word miracle might begin to mean something.
The law of averages, physics, extreme situations, peoples natural in built drive to survive, the human spirit are all forgotten or ignored when people shout MIRACLE. To some it is easier and more comforting to think or believe someone or something is watching and looking over you ready to save you rather than using logic, physics, empirical data and facts.
When an extreme event happens the outcome can go both ways, a person or group can either die or survive. When they survive it is a miracle when they die it is god's will and people then pray for the departed. With religion it is a win win. God is never condemned, he is always praised no matter what happens in life and death.
The law of averages, physics, extreme situations, peoples natural in built drive to survive, the human spirit are all forgotten or ignored when people shout MIRACLE. To some it is easier and more comforting to think or believe someone or something is watching and looking over you ready to save you rather than using logic, physics, empirical data and facts.
When an extreme event happens the outcome can go both ways, a person or group can either die or survive. When they survive it is a miracle when they die it is god's will and people then pray for the departed. With religion it is a win win. God is never condemned, he is always praised no matter what happens in life and death.