by Lawrence Fox
“It is more probable that a
person died and remained in the tomb than for lead to rise suddenly in the air,”
said 18th century Scottish Skeptic David Hume, mocking the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jews and Christian would agree with David Hume
on this point that dead people normatively do not emerge body and soul from the
grave.
“No testimony is sufficient
to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such kind that its falsehood
would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish,” Hume
laid out his criteria for recognizing a miracle.
The philosopher and Scottish
empiricist David Hume (1711-1776) argued that miracles were a violation of the laws
of nature and evidence in support of miracles was always weak. Hume argued that, men universally and
overwhelmingly observe nature doing what it always does and nothing more or
less.
All of Jesus apostles’ prior
to the first witness of Mary Magdalene and Mary, wife of Clopas, would have
said “Amen” to David Hume’s assertion. The apostle Thomas refused to believe Jesus
had risen from the dead, saying, “Unless I see the nail
marks and put my fingers where the nails were and put hands into his side I
will not believe.” (John 20:25)
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| "My Lord and My God!" St. Thomas' response to meeting the resurrected Jesus |
Thomas the apostle was an
empiricist like Hume until the Sunday following the Resurrection when Jesus suddenly stood in their midst, and said to Thomas: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20: 27)
The four
Gospels narrate the initial doubt and confusion, utter amazement, and eventual
great joy of the events surrounding the miraculous emergence of Jesus of
Nazareth from the tomb. The narrators of
the Gospels state that the apostles, saw him, heard him, touched him, and ate
with him for forty days after His death and Resurrection. The apostles all
surrendered their lives as a testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate, died and was buried and
rose again.
In spite of the credible
testimony of numerous Jewish and Christian witnesses to the “great works of God,” Hume considered the “so called” miracles recorded within the New
and Old Testaments and Catholic Church History to be unreliable. Hume argued that miracles were attested to by an
insufficient number men of good sense, education, and learning. This is purely
a pejorative and non-historical statement.
David Hume stated that gullible men with primitive
knowledge about nature and material things promote and accept the evidence of
miracles as a result of their ignorance. Miracles are accepted due to a lack of
independent scientific inquiry. He felt miracles were nothing more than fabricated
events used by religious movements as propaganda to control the superstitious masses.
David Hume’s arguments resonate
with atheists living the mantra “see no miracle, hear no miracle, and speak no
miracle.” The mantra is based upon two presuppositions,
which the modern atheist holds dearly:
Ø Materialism – the notion that all things can be reduced to
a material cause. There are no animating forms and no final cause for things.
There are no spirits, no souls, no creator, no intelligent design and no
universal wisdom by which all things are ordered. All things are the result of
randomness even human choices. Nothing has an intrinsic purpose beyond itself.
Nature evokes no intelligibility; it simply needs to be controlled. As an example,
the materialist reasons that marriage between a man and woman is not meant for bonding
and babies and the preservation of the human race. They believe the state has
the right to redefine marriage, and the right to control human fertility by advocating
the use of the pill and abortion to satisfy the desire of the populace and implement
efficiency. Children cost too much is the propaganda, and the absence of
children reduces the economy to mere personal consumption. The things of worth are technology, invention,
and efficiency. Happiness, goodness, beauty, justice, and truth are equated
with the possession of material things.
Ø Scientific
positivism or empiricism –
the notion that only those things, which can be dissected, experimented upon,
measured and quantified can be known with certainty. Statistics, poll numbers, and strategic
advertising determine happiness, goodness, beauty, justice, and truth.
Within this materialist paradigm of reason and
inquiry, credible witnesses to the supernatural are suspected as being psychotic,
hysterical, simplistic, and forgers. For example in Richard Dawkins’ Materialist
Tome, The God Delusion, he
introduces a section on miracles, albeit in a negative manner. One such “alleged miracle” that he focuses on
derives from the events that took place between May 13th and October
13th 1917 in Fatima, Portugal.
As a side note, Ian and
Dominic Higgins recently directed a feature-length film titled, “The 13th Day,” on the same Fatima
events. The film is based upon the memoirs of Sister Maria Lucia Jesus do
Santos and publicly-recorded eyewitness accounts. It is an excellent production
and in the words of the directors, “visually speaks to a film savvy and modern audience”
about something widely witnessed, historically significant, and materially
unexplainable.
Richard Dawkins dismisses the
recorded events at Fatima employing David Hume’s methods. The “so called” recorded
Fatima miracles “violate nature,”
according to Dawkins.
according to Dawkins.
Dawkins knows his readership –
largely anti-Catholic people -- will reach his conclusions with very little
persuasion. He writes: “It is not easy
to explain how seventy thousand people could share the same hallucination. But
it is even harder to accept that it really happened with the rest of the world,
outside Fatima, not seeing it too.” He is referring to the overwhelming number
of witnesses to the recorded miracles at Fatima.
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| 70,000 people witnessed the Miracle at Fatima |
For those who have not heard
the story, it is at first shocking. There
are religious, secular, and government records -- all contemporary and in print
-- available for the world to read. These state that seventy thousand people gathered
on October 13th, 1917, at the Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal. They
experienced what they all described as the “miracle of the sun.”
It all began when three very young
children, Francesco (age 9), Jacinta (age 7), and Lucia (age 10), informed
their parents that they witnessed a vision of a beautiful lady – later identified
as the Virgin Mary - in the Cova. The Virgin Mary spoke to the children telling
them to come each month on the same day and pray for the conversion of sinners.
Portugal was a Christian land
once ruled by Islamic Moors. Fatima is the name of one of Mohammed’s daughters.
Mohammed (631 - 671) was the founder of Islam; one of many violent opposition
movements to Christianity along with the Roman Empire, Modernism, Fascism,
Communism, and Materialism.
David Hume argued that the
evidence against miracles is always stronger then the evidence for miracles
since contradictory religions present the specter of miracles as evidence of
their divine origins and soundness of doctrine. “It is absurd to believe in a
God who would set a people apart as his own special people,” wrote Hume as a
rejection Israel’s History. He argued that miracles are the foundation for
religious contradictions.
David Hume was mistaken when
he identified miracles as being the foundation of all religions. The Koran does
not attribute any miracles to the prophet Mohammed, “The signs are only with
Allah, and I am only a plain voice. Is it not sufficient for them that We
(Allah) have sent down the Book (Quran) which is recited by them?” (Surah
29:50-51)
For all intent and purposes,
Islam is simply a natural religion woven together with some Arabic Pagan,
Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic overtones. Buddhism and Confucianism are not
religions of miracles but philosophical systems. Buddhism does not teach that a
personal God exists. Paganism by
definition is the worship of nature.
The so-called supernatural
behind Polytheism and Paganism is not the work of God, but magic and the
manipulation of matter. Magic does not give nature existence. The inability to distinguish between the
supernatural in the Old and New Testaments and polytheistic systems is
lamentable and evidence of an unwillingness on the part of the commentator to
truly engage the subject matter.
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| Apparition at Fatima to three children |
In 1917, Europe was engulfed
by the horrors of World War I and Portugal was under the rule of a “modernist
Republic” which eschewed the Catholic Faith. The beautiful lady informed the
children that unless men’s hearts changed, an even greater war would follow.
Thomas Merton the Cistercian
Monk stated that violence was the result of fear in human hearts. John the
Evangelist writes, “Love overcomes fear.” and “Whoever loves his brother – and we are all brothers – lives in the light and there is nothing in him that makes
him stumble.” (1 John
2: 9)
World War I brought about the
death of close to 20 million people through bombs, bullets, poisonous gas, and
disease. World War II brought about the death of close to 50 million people.
The beautiful lady informed the children that Russia would become the cause of
great evil throughout the world and universally persecute the Church. To prevent
such horrors, the beautiful lady asked the three children to pray and offer
sacrifices and to spread the message of repentance and prayer. It was a very
simple and prescient message, but tragically not universally lived. Still the country of Portugal, which did
adhere to the message, escaped the horrors of both wars and Communist
oppression.
Why would the Mother of Jesus
be the one sent by God to appear to the children at Fatima? The Catholic Church
professes -- based upon sacred tradition (oral and written) -- that Mary, the
Mother of Jesus, was assumed body and soul into eternity. Jewish tradition (oral
and written) identifies that Elijah and Moses were also assumed body and soul
into eternity. And it was Moses and Elijah who appeared and spoke to Jesus while on a high mountain
with Peter, James and John, as He was transfigured. (Mark 9:
2-8)
Historical documents
narrating various Marian appearances in places like Fatima, Portugal; Lourdes,
France; Knock, Ireland; Nakita, Japan all convey a consistent Biblical pattern:
Mary the Mother of Jesus encourages members of Jesus’ Mystical Body to “do whatever He tells you.” (John 2: 5)
Her messages convey exactly what the disciples heard on the mountain of transfiguration,
“This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him.”
The families and peers of the
young Fatima visionaries rebuked the children. They were imprisoned and
threatened with torture and death by the local “progressive authorities” unless
they recanted and confessed that their visions were nothing but a hoax.
Nothing in the children’s
story changed. Their demeanor
demonstrated great courage and indifference to threats of suffering and death.
What the three children witnessed at the Cova da Iria changed them dramatically.
The children held fast to their visual, auditory, and oratory experiences even
in the face of rebuke and punishment.
The local Catholic pastor was
originally convinced that the children observed something supernatural and that
it was not from Heaven. The oldest girl Lucia recounts that she suffered
greatly from the rebukes from her mother, the pastor, and peers.
She decided she would not to
go back to the Cova da Iria. “But the lady was so beautiful, so good. I had to
see her face again and feel the love of her smile,” wrote Lucia. The people demanded
the children to ask for a sign from the lady as evidence that their “visions” were
not a hoax or the result of fantasy and hysteria. Such a sign would represent empirical
evidence.
The children informed the
people that on October 13th a sign would be given so that they would
accept, repent, and live the messages. And so, seventy thousand people gathered
in the field of the Cova da Iria on that date.
Some prayed, many were skeptical, and some simply
came to mock the three children who were on their knees praying in the rain and
mud. It was recorded in the newspapers along with photographic evidence that
the people and the land were drenched with rain. All those gathered then experienced
the sun in the sky spin, dance, weave, and then descend towards the earth. The
people panicked believing the falling sun would consume them.
And then the event was over.
The once drenched population was now dry, and so was the ground. Skeptics
became believers and others reported physical healings.
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| Atheist Richard Dawkins |
Richard Dawkins does not disprove
the narrated events in his tome. He shrugs it off, arguing that there are always
numerous unverifiable and unexplored alternative explanations to the recorded
events. His indifferent shrug has been repeated for the past 97 years by atheists
and materialists. But no one – as far as I know – has ever concocted a viable
and verifiable alternative explanation.
Dawkins muses that people
staring at the sun would see strange images. His statement is true and at the
same time cowardly. He has an unwillingness to dig into the events for fear
where they may lead him.
A person’s optical nerves
after staring directly at the sun for ten minutes would be jeopardized if not
permanently damaged. There are no records of eyewitnesses experiencing temporary
or permanent blindness, the destruction of retinas, or images of sunspots being
seared into their eyes. A person staring up at the sun for 10 minutes with no
evidence of optical damage is an unexplained phenomenon. Dawkins dismisses the testimony
of numerous eye-witnesses since astronomers, cosmologists, and news agencies around
the globe did not report solar activity on October 13, 1917, “…which would have
certainly been observed if the sun was physically pulled towards the earth.”
Dawkins holds fast to Hume’s
criteria that a miracle must be universally witnessed, “No testimony is
sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such kind that its
falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to
establish.” This is pure sophistry since it argues against the universally
recognized method of discernment within a whole array of human matters.
Criminal investigations and judicial systems all around the world are based
upon the testimonies of credible witnesses.
By disparaging the witness as
“hallucinating,” Dawkins shares the same psychological moorings of the now deceased
Christopher (Christ bearer) Hitchens (1949-2011), who argued, “that a
materialist does not prove the non-existence of the supernatural. He simply
demonstrates the non-necessity of the supernatural in relation to how one chooses
to live one’s own life.”
Fundamentally, Dawkins argues the non-necessity
of the events. His tragic decision and conclusion – mirrored by the millions
living in materialist denial – guarantees that tragic events in human history
will repeat themselves since nothing has
been learned about the human heart and conditions leading up to World War II.
Paradoxically, if the whole
world experienced solar flares and a dancing sun on October 13th, 1917,
the materialist would have every right to identify the event as natural --
something which could be measured, quantified, and empirically explained. Instead
David Hume and Richard Dawkins opine, “That which is universally observed is
natural and that which is not universally observed is natural hallucination.”
In both cases, the non-supernatural
explanation is posited since uneducated humanity is – according to David Hume -
incapable of deriving a proper understanding of events based upon personal experience.
He just doesn’t believe anyone.
The fact that the three children, who were not
meteorologists, astronomers, or forecasters, identified the day of the miracle in
advance gives credence to their story. Given the fact that materialists have
not demonstrated “its falsehood” after 97 years makes their story credible. The story is further credible because the
three children’s moral and psychological character was thoroughly investigated and
documented as sound.
The children did not recant in
spite of persecution and threats to their lives. In the midst of World War I, the
three children foretold a subsequent horrific war that would convulse the
world, and predicted that Russia – which at the time was an Orthodox Christian
nation – would persecute the Church.
That all these statements came to pass gives credence to their story.
It is interesting that in a court of law, the
badgering of witnesses is considered contempt for the universal practice of law
and the implementation of human justice. Contempt is what Dawkins demonstrates when
rejecting the testimony of the children and thousands of witnesses as simply
hallucinations.
Francesco and Jacinta died in
less than three years after the apparition in heroic fashion. Their story never
changed even on their deathbeds. The older sister, Lucia, chose to become a
consecrated sister and a cloistered Carmelite nun. Her decision to enter the religious
life resulted from her experience of the events, which took place between May 13th
and October 13th 1917. She was directed by her superior to record
the events for posterity. I believe she began to write her memoirs around 1937
while in religious habit in keeping with her vows of obedience, chastity, and
poverty.
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| Pope John Paul II meets and talks with His assassin Ali Aga in prison |
During the course of the
events surrounding Fatima, there was one revelation the two younger children
took with them to their grave, and Lucia did not reveal it to anyone until she
confided it in Pope Pius XII. It was the revelation that there would be an
attempt on the life of a pope in the future. Dates and time were not given.
In Lucia’s lifetime, the attempt was made. Ali
Aga shot Pope John Paul II on May 13th 1981, the anniversary of the first
Fatima apparition.
John Paul II, who visited Sr. Lucia after the
assassination attempt, saw the preservation of his life as an intervention by Our Lady of Fatima
to whom he had a great devotion. John Paul II and Catholic Christians share a common
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| Pope John Paul II felt Our Lady saved his life on May 13, 1981 |
Final Personal Thoughts
I you ask a Christian what
distresses the world today, he would answer, “The world has plunged into an ever
increasing ‘culture of death’ and a ‘culture of jihadist Islamic terror.’” Both
forms of death are everywhere. The Virgin Mary warned the children in 1917 that
human sin would lead the world into two great conflicts:
Ø World War II and
Ø the persecution of the Church along with the annihilation
of whole peoples and nations at the hands of atheistic and materialist Communism
flowing out from Russia.
Warnings given in Fatima in 1917
are related to what is taking place today. Human existence has entered another frightening
phase of death and terrorism, and the message of Fatima is prescient again.
Unless the human heart trapped in the godless delusion changes, the results
will be the same. Tragically, since so many Christians live and think as
materialists, the spiritual resistance to evil is small within Western
Society.
The Virgin Mary stated that
in the end, her Immaculate Heart would triumph and an era of peace would be
granted to the world. Her promise was an invitation for the faithful remnant to
participate in her message of hope by engaging in prayer and sacrifice.
Responding to such an
invitation is an expression of love towards all of humanity, which is “lost in
a lost world” of materialism. (Moody Blues)
If mankind does not shake off
the shackles of materialism, the horrors of the 20th Century will be
repeated over and over again leading to a final horrific climax.
"Lost In A Lost World" written by Michael Pinder
Sung by the Moody Blues
I woke up today, I was crying
Lost in a lost world
So many people are dying
Lost in a lost world
Some of them are living an illusion
Bounded by the darkness of their minds
In their eyes it's nation against nation against
nation
With racial pride
Sad hearts they hide
Thinking only of themselves
They shun the light
They think they're right
Living in their empty shells
Oh, can you see their world is crashing?
Crashing down around their feet
Angry people in the street
Telling them they've had their fill
Of politics that wound and kill
The seeds of evolution
Revolution never won
It's just another form of gun
To do again what they have done
With all our brothers' youngest sons
Everywhere you go you see them searching
Everywhere you turn you feel the pain
Everyone is looking for the answer
Well, look again, come on my friend
Love will find them in the end
Come on my friend
We've got to bend
Down on our knees and say a prayer
Oh, can you feel the world is pining
Pining for someone who really cares enough to
share his love
With all of us, so we can be
An ever loving family
Have we forgotten we're all children?
Children from a family tree
That's longer than a centipede
Started long ago when you and I
Were only love
I woke today, I was crying
Lost in a lost world
So many people are dying
Lost in a lost world
So many people, so many people, people
Lost in a lost world
So many people, so many people, people
Lost in a lost world
So many people, so many people, people
Lost in a lost world
