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A '''miracle''' is defined by Merriam-Webster (2009) as:
A '''miracle''' is defined by Merriam-Webster (2009) as:
Under [[Christianity]] and [[Judaism]], God is truth and a miracle is nothing more than a "sign" of the truth. "Miracle" is the non-believer's term for what believers properly describe as a "sign", a term that does appear repeatedly in the [[Bible]]. The scholar [[Chad Walsh]] echoes [[C.S. Lewis]]—''Miracles: A Preliminary Study''(1947, Macmillan)—when he states that no other religion bases its ideas upon miracles as much as does Christianity. Its foundation is the [[Incarnation]].<ref> ''C.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics'', Chad Walsh, Macmillian company, 1949, page 34 </ref>
Under [[Christianity]] and [[Judaism]], God is truth and a miracle is nothing more than a "sign" of the truth. "Miracle" is the non-believer's term for what believers properly describe as a "sign", a term that does appear repeatedly in the [[Bible]]. The scholar [[Chad Walsh]] echoes [[C.S. Lewis]]—''Miracles: A Preliminary Study''(1947, Macmillan)—when he states that no other religion bases its ideas upon miracles as much as does Christianity. Its foundation is the [[Incarnation]].<ref> ''C.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics'', Chad Walsh, Macmillian company, 1949, page 34 </ref>
== Arguments against the Existence of Miracles ==
Skeptics would say that miracles are simply improbable stuff happening and because there are billions of people on the planet, the odds of finding numerous stories of improbable happenings interpreted as miracles increases. This, however, along with many other atheistic arguments invokes a logical fallacy. The Gambler's Fallacy states that the more one tries something, the more likely an event will happen. In reality, if one spins a roulette wheel, the odds of it landing on one number will always be exactly the same every time.
The fact is in order for a skeptic to dismiss miracles, they must literally accuse thousands upon thousands of people of either lying, or hallucinating. The probability of 100 percent of the witnesses matching this descripition is questionable at best. One example would be the documented miracle at Fatima where thousands of people saw the sun explode and then come back together. Skeptics argue that no one outside the area of the town recorded this but this is using the logical fallacy that absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Also, the probability of thousands of people lying needs to be called into question.
Some skeptics ask why God chooses not to cure amputees but this begins with the false assumption that God has never done this before. The fact is Jesus is historically documented in the Bible as reattaching an ear to a Roman soldier. Also, many of the lepers that Jesus chose to cure also had missing body parts. The amputee argument also ignores how losing a limb is not life threatening. Also, if God chose to cure everyone then no one would ever die and God needs people to die so they can either be placed in Heaven or Hell. Another counter is that the amputee argument ignores the fact that God has inspired doctors to develop the technology for artificial limbs.
==List of miracles approved by the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]]==
==List of miracles approved by the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]]==