1st March, 2005

Dr NICK HODGSON

Do you believe in miracles? It's nearly Easter - a time of year when many of us contemplate a guy who walked on this planet and was much more effective and consistent than anyone else in the history of the world in producing miracles. I guess many others regard this "story" as being just another work of fiction: no more real than the existence of an Easter Bunny that somehow lays chocolate eggs? But even these fairy tales are metaphors for the works of the guy we crucified.

What is a miracle? Aquinas (Summa Contra Gentiles, III) says "those things are properly called miracles which are done by divine agency beyond the order commonly observed in nature (praeter ordinem communiter observatum in rebus)." A miracle, philosophically speaking, is never a mere coincidence no matter how extraordinary or significant. (If you miss a plane and the plane crashes, that is not a miracle unless God intervened in the natural course of events causing you to miss the flight.) A miracle is a supernaturally (divinely) caused event - an event (ordinarily) different from what would have occurred in the normal (natural) course of events. It is a divine overriding of, or interference with, the natural order.

PICTURE: Alexander Briel Perez (iStockphoto.com). INDEX PAGE IMAGE: Maartje van Caspel (iStockphoto.com) "Do you need a miracle in your life right now? Here’s the bad news - you can’t make it happen. But you do need to be in a state that opens you to the occurrence of a miracle: the woman who reached out and touched Jesus’ robe and was healed from years of bleeding, didn’t know she had to touch his robe to be healed, she just knew she wanted to get closer to him, touch him and get his attention - if she hadn’t reached out healing could not occur...Expectant, open, obedient to intuition, willing to reach out - can you find this state of mind and body within yourself, and could you maintain it for a protracted time?"

As such, it need not be extraordinary, marvellous or significant, and it must be something other than a coincidence, no matter how remarkable - unless the "coincidence" itself is caused by divine intervention (that is not really a coincidence at all). Miracles, however, are ordinarily understood to be not just products of divine intervention in the natural order, but extraordinary, marvellous and significant as well.

Thus, Aquinas says a miracle is "beyond the order commonly observed;" and Dr Eric Mascall says that the word "miracle" "signifies in Christian theology a striking interposition of divine power by which the operations of the ordinary course of nature are overruled, suspended, or modified".

With this in mind would it appear that to believe in miracles one has to also have some type of faith in a God or a divine agency? If you are convinced there are no "higher powers" then everything that occurs out of the ordinary must just be coincidences! For example Western medical science tends to define any miraculous recoveries from severe illnesses as "spontaneous remission". Whether through the heroic medical care or a stroke of good luck; there is no deeper investigation of why this person overcame a crippling disorder so much more effectively than others with the same disease. Perhaps modern medicine is missing out on some un-tested, seemingly unwelcome ally by ignoring these phenomena. Could there be a whole branch of healing that is being neglected?

The paradox when it comes to observing miracles is that many would say, "I'll believe it when I see it!" But beware - maybe you won't see it unless you believe it!

Do you need a miracle in your life right now? Here’s the bad news - you can’t make it happen. But you do need to be in a state that opens you to the occurrence of a miracle: the woman who reached out and touched Jesus’ robe and was healed from years of bleeding, didn’t know she had to touch his robe to be healed, she just knew she wanted to get closer to him, touch him and get his attention - if she hadn’t reached out healing could not occur. The men who lifted the roof to lower their sick friend had a strong driving expectation that something good could happen to their friend. Expectant, open, obedient to intuition, willing to reach out - can you find this state of mind and body within yourself, and could you maintain it for a protracted time?

On September 18th, 1895, D.D. Palmer, a self-taught magnetic healer, was examining a janitor who had suffered with almost complete deafness since injuring his neck years before while lifting a heavy box. It has never been known whether Palmer intentionally manoeuvred Harvey's neck or whether he just had his hands in the right place at the right time. But an audible click was heard from Harvey's neck region and miraculously his hearing was restored. This event fulfilled all the requisites of a miracle. Palmer himself stated later he believed it was this event that lead to his founding of what he later named "chiropractic".

Now you could take 1,000, maybe even 10,000 deaf people to chiropractors tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe, one or two of them might have their hearing restored. So the reason for this event that inspired Palmer to develop a new health care approach was not to give us a new cure for deafness. More likely it was to provide the impetus to a different approach towards helping sick people get well, regardless of what is wrong with them.

Now I'm not suggesting that every success story that results from someone seeing a chiropractor is a miracle, or that I get to see miracles every day in my practice and hence you should send me all the direly ill people you know (although we would happily accept and care for any you send). What happens in every chiropractor’s office on a day-to-day basis is more about physiology, and neurology and biomechanics and all that sort of stuff. When someone improves the function of your spinal column, the result is more often than not improvement in the function of your nervous system. This in turn can lead to many and varied improvements in the functions of the rest of your body.

What I am hoping to imprint on your consciousness is an appreciation and awareness that miracles are possible. Especially to those of you who could really do with a miracle right about now. Whether due to health problems or more personal problems - don't be afraid to hope for a miracle. Better still, expect a miracle. Ask for a miracle; that is ‘pray’ for a miracle. And if it happens, perhaps you should thank God for the miracle?

The information contained is this article is of a general nature only. For advice on your specific situation, please consult your medical professional.
© Nick Hodgson



Dr Nick Hodgson is a chiropractor.

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