Posted on 01/21/2025 12:17:29 PM PST by SeekAndFind
If you're praying for a miracle in 2025, chances are you're not alone.
Belief in miracles has seen a significant increase over the past few decades, specifically among Evangelicals and those with graduate degrees in the United States, according to a recent survey.
The findings, which were summarized in a report last September from statistician and pastor Ryan Burge and drawn from the U.S. government's General Social Survey, suggest significant shifts in how Americans view the supernatural, with notable increases in belief among Evangelical Protestants, black Protestants and individuals with higher education.
In 1991, Evangelical Protestants and black Protestants were the most likely groups to report strong belief in miracles, with around three in five (60%) expressing definite belief, while Catholics and mainline Protestants were less inclined to believe. In fact, only 43% of Catholics and 35% of mainline Protestants reported that they "definitely believe" in miracles, the survey found.
However, between 1991 and 1998, the period marked a noticeable increase in belief in miracles across all Christian groups. Evangelicals experienced an 11 percentage point jump from 60% to 71%, while Catholics and mainline Protestants reported increases as well. Mainline Protestants, for example, saw a significant rise from 35% to 48%.
For Evangelicals, the belief in miracles continued to grow throughout the following decades, the analysis shows.
By 2008, 79% of Evangelicals reported a strong belief in miracles, and that number climbed to 81% by 2018, marking a sharp 20-point increase from 1991 to 2018 among Evangelicals. Similarly, belief among black Protestants also grew substantially, jumping 18 percentage points from 60% in 1991 to 78% in 2018.
The trend for Catholics and mainline Protestants, however, was slightly different. Both groups saw their peak belief in miracles in 2008, but belief receded somewhat by 2018.
Catholics, for instance, dropped from 53% in 2008 to 51% in 2018, while mainline Protestants experienced a decline from 60% in 2008 to 55% in 2018. Despite this, the data still indicates that both groups reported higher levels of belief in miracles in 2018 compared to the early 1990s.
Burge's analysis highlights the generational aspect of belief, showing that older generations report increased belief in miracles as they age. For example, individuals born in the 1930s had a 56% belief in miracles in 1991. By 2018, that number had grown to 66%.
This data, Burge wrote, indicates that belief in miracles can strengthen over time, especially for older generations.
"The data points to a pretty nuanced picture regarding how belief in miracles changes across the life course," wrote Burge, an associate professor at Eastern Illinois University. "It does look like the older generations did report an increase in belief as they aged."
Perhaps even more surprising is the rise in belief in miracles among highly educated Americans, who are traditionally seen as more skeptical of supernatural beliefs. According to the report, in 1991, only 45% of Americans with a bachelor's degree said they "definitely believe" in miracles. However, by 2018, that number had risen to 63%.
The increase was even more dramatic among those with graduate degrees: in 1991, just 30% of individuals with at least a master's degree reported belief in miracles, but by 2018, that number had surged to 61%.
"In the early 1990s, folks with college degrees were significantly less likely to believe in religious miracles than those with a high school diploma," Burge wrote in a tweet. "That's not true anymore. There is no statistical difference between definitely believing in miracles across levels of education."
In a Jan. 8 report, The Colson Center's Breakpoint noted that while a rise in secular beliefs in miracles can often pave the way for an openness to the supernatural — a belief that, if exploited, could result in massive deception.
“Secular spirituality is far from revival," wrote Breakpoint's John Stonestreet and Shane Morris. "Christians know of these other forces capable of counterfeit 'miracles' but that lead away from the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This should cause us to cry out for mercy for those who are being deceived."
If one is a Catholic, belief in miracles is absolutely necessary for your faith.
According to Catholic doctrine, during the sacrament of the Eucharist in the mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ, even though they still appear to be bread and wine.
This change is not a symbolic one, but a LITERAL change in substance, hence the term “transubstantiation.” It is believed to be a supernatural occurrence, making it a miracle in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
You CANNOT disbelieve that this is a miracle and still consider yourself Roman Catholic.
I’ve had distinct miracles in my life.
If one is a Catholic, belief in miracles is absolutely necessary for your faith.
No miracles for Notre Dame last night.
That was God protecting us from a continuous MSM sports media onslaught of "first black coach to win a championship", "first time a black championship coach burped", "Coach Freeman at 11 PM became the first black champion coach to use the restroom", etc.
I actually like his responses to the race-baiting media about his skin color. He doesn't play it and redirects attention to the players and the team.
Less likely to believe . . . . in God.
I believe in divine providence, which is even as or more “miraculous” than sign gift miracles,as it is God orchestrating the universe to bring glory to himself in eternity
The weekly TV and radio show with Michael O’Neill called The Miracle Hunter discusses possible miracle and apparitions reports and ones that happened long ago.
Steps in Catholic Church dealing with possible miracles.
Local bishop initiates investigation: The local bishop investigates any alleged miracles in their diocese.
Bishop creates a board: The bishop creates a board of medical professionals and other experts to evaluate the event.
Scientific tests: The scientific panel performs tests to determine if the event can be explained by natural causes.
Bishop makes a judgment: The bishop makes a judgment on the event and sends it to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).
DDF evaluates the judgment: The DDF evaluates the bishop’s judgment and approves or rejects it.
Bishop notifies the faithful: The bishop notifies the faithful of the DDF’s decision.
Me, too.
I know God works in supernatural ways although we can never know His plan to predict what will happen.
Billy Graham wrote: “God hears every one of our prayers and answers them in some way. Sometimes His answer is “No.””
Many of us believe without having to see miracles. That does not mean that we don’t believe in miracles, just that they are not a condition of our belief. Conversely, I have a hard time affirming the faith of someone who will not believe unless they see a miracle, the Apostle Thomas excepted.
IMHO, those who suggest that miracles are a thing of the past do so to their own detriment... effectively refusing to acknowledge that the Almighty has never changed and can still choose to operate in any manner He chooses.
Mark 6:5-6, in the ESV translation: “5 And he [Jesus] could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.”
Make no mistake: miracles are a rare revelation of the power of God. But that doesn’t at all mean they don’t or can’t happen, even today. The passage from Mark clearly indicates that unbelief _prevents_ the blessing of miracles.
Don’t put yourself in that camp. You might need one someday.
Many testimonies here, https://web.archive.org/web/20240909074832/https://www.cbn.com/700club/features/Amazing/ glory to God, despite (likely due to a new generation) CBN neglecting and forsaking these.
Salvation in itself is a miracle
However, in actual Biblical miracles, there are manifest changes, including the incarnation. The water made wine in Jn. 2 tasted as it should, and the deaf did really hears, etc. while true regeneration effects profound basic changes in heart and life, in varying degrees.
In contrast, in Catholic Eucharistic theology it is imagined that that at the moment of the completion of the words of consecration by the priest (and only by ordained priests, and with real wheat bread) then the bread and wine no longer exist, while the "Real Presence" of Christ's body that these elements are changed into (which change is said to be occur outside of time, and regardless of appearing as bread and wine) only exist until the non-existent bread or wine begin to manifest (appearance now being critical) corruption,
As Aquinas affirms (Summa theologiae, III, q. 77, a. 6) as well as others: "The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ." (CCC 1377; Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641) "...that is, until the Eucharist is digested, physically destroyed, or decays by some natural process." (The Holy Eucharist BY Bernard Mulcahy, O.P., p. 32)
Thus persons with celiac disease can suffer adverse effects to the non-existent gluten in the Eucharistic host) and wine (which one could get drunk on in sufficient quantity) takes place (as with mold, digestion, etc.), in which case "Christ has discontinued His Presence therein." (Catholic Encyclopedia>The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist)
The metaphysical contrivance in Catholic Eucharistic theology is essentially due to the inability of Catholic priests to confect what a purely literal understanding of the words of consecration would mean, which would mean that the bread and wine looked, tasted, etc. like as the real incarnated body and blood of Christ would.
And Scripture emphasizes Christ's manifest physicality, and contrasts it with a christ whose appearance did not correspond to what He physically was (Luke 24:39; John 20:27, 28; 1 John 1:1-3, 4:2-3; 1 John 5:6; 2 John 7)
Thus, despite speaking about about the actual partaking of “Christ in person, hence literally,” the recipients do not literally consume the actual bloody flesh as it was manifest in the incarnation and thus Catholic Eucharistic theology requires complex metaphysical theology to justify it.
Note also that purported "Eucharistic miracles" are not consistent with what the Real Presence via transubstantiation means. Francis Clark, S.J. states that Thomas Aquinas (a "doctor of the church"), considered the issue of such purported miraculous manifestations of the physical flesh of Christ in the hosts and explained that what appeared on those occasions,
could not be the real flesh and blood of Christ, for such a possibility was excluded by the nature of transubstantiation and of Christ’s sacramental presence ; but they were miraculous representations produced by divine power as tokens to direct men’s thoughts to, and to strengthen their belief in, the true flesh and blood of Christ invisibly present under the Eucharistic species. ('Bleeding hosts' and Eucharistic theology, Francis Clark, S.J., p. 219-20,22)
Life itself is a miracle. Every day you wake up is a miracle.
I’m still around, thus...
As well as foolish folks who are STILL Catholic even though they now claim not to be!
John 10:37-38
37 If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me.
38 But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves,
so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
If you believe in God then you have to also believe He can do and has allowed “miracles”. Miracles are defined as those incidences where the natural order is SUPER-naturally affected. The trouble is - as attested to in the numerous Biblical accounts of God intervening in miraculous ways with His people - is over time they start looking like coincidences and people tend to forget them.
I believe it’s why God commanded that monuments be placed in specific spots whenever He worked miraculously in the desert during the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. We also should commemorate our own experiences with miraculous answers to prayers, physical healings, near misses of accidents and/or the testimonies of those we know of such things. We NEED to be reminded and our memories refreshed that God IS able to do all things exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think. It is all for HIS glory!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.