DAY 343
CHALLENGE
“Why should I be Christian when other religions report miracles? Why would God even allow non-Christians to have miracles?”
DEFENSE
There are several explanations for reports of miracles in non-Christian circles, but none undermine the value of Christianity’s central miracle, the Resurrection.
There are reports of supernatural phenomena in religions all over the world, but most are minor and are not investigated, and so their actual status is unclear. Some may be misinterpreted natural phenomena, some may be imaginary, and some may be frauds. (This applies to phenomena reported today in Christian circles as well; without investigation, the status of an event is not knowable.) If we eliminate these cases from consideration, there can be several reasons for genuinely supernatural events occurring in non-Christian circles.
First, God is not the only supernatural power active in the world. There are others, who are opposed to God (Eph. 6:12), and they are capable of producing supernatural effects. Thus Paul and his companions encountered a girl who had a spirit of divination that foretold the future (Acts 16:16–18). Because these forces operate in the world, we need to be on our guard against their attempts to mislead people (Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:13–14, 19:20).
Second, Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism, and Christians have never had a problem acknowledging that God performed miracles among Jews in the Old Testament. In his own day, Jesus acknowledged Jewish people were performing valid exorcisms (Luke 11:19), and we know that God has an ongoing relationship with the Jewish people (Rom. 11:25–32).
Third, God loves all people. As Jesus says, he “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). If God provides providential care for people through natural causation, even knowing that they might misinterpret this care (e.g., as being produced by a sun god or a rain god), then he might choose to do so directly, through supernatural causation, knowing that this also might be misunderstood.
Ultimately, the miraculous evidence for Christianity is greater than that for any other religion. The Resurrection of Jesus is a major miracle that withstands skeptical scrutiny (see Days 206–215). Other religions have nothing comparable to this. The Resurrection thus provides unique and compelling evidence for Christianity.