Hume’s work “Of Miracles” speaks about his doubts concerning the authenticity of miracles that happened during the earthly presence of Jesus Christ, and described in the biblical massages by Mathew, Mark, Luke, John and the apostle Paul. Hume supports his argument stating that the miracles described by the above mentioned biblical writers were only experienced by the apostles, and, thus, can be evaluated as not trustworthy on the reason of the absence of numerous eye-witnesses. Commenting on this position, I would strongly disagree with it. My main arguments are connected with the Source of the Bible’s message; I mean the One standing behind this message; to the opinions by famous historians including Josephus Flavius; and the fact that the apostles were not the only eye-witnesses of Jesus’ miracles. This position of mine is, of course, argued a lot; especially by those who lack faith in God and his power. They doubt the authenticity of the Bible and everything written in it as an exaggerated myth and a fairy-tale.
Arguing for my point of view, I would begin by addressing the Bible and the authenticity of its message which is conditioned by its Almighty author. I have studied the Bible for years as a matter of my interest, and concluded that it always tells the truth; no matter it is connected to the past with its honest accounts on transgressions of men of faith or about the future which is depicted in the abundant prophecies existing in this Holy Book. The main reason behind such veracity is the personality of the One who is interested in bringing His important message to humanity from the Bible’s pages. This exalted Person never tells lies as He is absolute, and His Word revealed in the Bible is perfection. He is also strong enough to take care of His Word’s truthfulness through the centuries despite numerous efforts to rewrite the Bible and to bring in some false ideas. Next, the accounts about Jesus’ miracles seen by the apostles and described in the Gospel books along with the book of Acts and some letters by the apostle Paul are supported by historians. Historical science can be evaluated as a weighty argument for numerous people. Thus, I want to address the opinion of one of the most famous historians for that period, Josephus Flavius. In a row of his works, he explains that along with apostles Jesus’ miracles were seen by the crowds of common people both of Hebrew and non-Hebrew origin. With regards to this, what else is to be heard to understand that Hume’s position is mistaken? Finally, the Bible itself never said that the apostles were the only people to see Jesus’ miracles. It tells about numerous respected figures seeing them including Roman authority representatives, political leaders and the crowds of common people from various nations.
The point of view which I explained above is often argued by numerous opponents. They reject the Bible as the book of human wisdom, not God’s one. These people oppose the authenticity of the Bible and the truthfulness of its accounts along with Jesus’ miracles. However, it is difficult for them to oppose scientific evidence including the accounts related by Josephus Flavius.
Discussing the position of the opponents, I would address an unlimited row of proves including the above mentioned. In addition, whoever will say that to believe in electric power one needs to see it and touch it? However, this is what Hume argues about – not many eye-witnesses – no reasons to believe; why on earth? I see no common logic in this; people do know that numerous things which are not seen exist including time, atom energy, etc.