Question about miracles

[David19]

This is something that I was just wondering, but, I read a quote from St. Augustine, where he said 'Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature', but, I have a question about that, would that mean that anyone, with the right knowledge of natural laws, be able to perform what are called miracles, or do the things Jesus did?, it's just I've assumed, in the more mainstream and Orthodox varieties of Christianity, miracles were more something only God could do (or what certain people could do with God's aid).

Thanks for any help, as I'd really like to understand more.

[john.a]

This is speculation on St. Augustine's part and the Catholic Church has not taken an official stance on the nature of miracles. In the canonization of saints, the Church pontificates on whether something is or is not a miracle - not the actual mechanics of it.

I was interested a little bit in the angelic beings and how the Schoolmen over the years have speculated on them. A common idea that is against Augustine's school of thought is that miracles are works of God, interruptions of natural laws whereas many of the great things in the Bible could have been attributed to the angels who work within nature but whose power over matter mimics, at a much more powerful magnitude, our own power over our bodies. The angelic intelligence is speculated to be qualitatively and also on an order much greater than ours. Rather than perceive by sense - the angelic beings lack body and perceive and come to knowledge in other means. Their knowledge of the physical world and its laws is theoretically much deeper and more profound than ours.

God, alone, in my opinion, works miracles. On the nature of miracles, Rome has not spoken and so all our theologians debate and argue.

[David19]

This is speculation on St. Augustine's part and the Catholic Church has not taken an official stance on the nature of miracles. In the canonization of saints, the Church pontificates on whether something is or is not a miracle - not the actual mechanics of it.

I was interested a little bit in the angelic beings and how the Schoolmen over the years have speculated on them. A common idea that is against Augustine's school of thought is that miracles are works of God, interruptions of natural laws whereas many of the great things in the Bible could have been attributed to the angels who work within nature but whose power over matter mimics, at a much more powerful magnitude, our own power over our bodies. The angelic intelligence is speculated to be qualitatively and also on an order much greater than ours. Rather than perceive by sense - the angelic beings lack body and perceive and come to knowledge in other means. Their knowledge of the physical world and its laws is theoretically much deeper and more profound than ours.

God, alone, in my opinion, works miracles. On the nature of miracles, Rome has not spoken and so all our theologians debate and argue.

Thanks for telling me, jon, I was just always slightly curious about that statement since I first heard it.

Also, about Angels, gain, or perform, the power commonly attributed to them (I hope that made some sense? :)).

Thanks again for the reply.

[Lahmi]

This is something that I was just wondering, but, I read a quote from St. Augustine, where he said 'Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature', but, I have a question about that, would that mean that anyone, with the right knowledge of natural laws, be able to perform what are called miracles, or do the things Jesus did?, it's just I've assumed, in the more mainstream and Orthodox varieties of Christianity, miracles were more something only God could do (or what certain people could do with God's aid).

Thanks for any help, as I'd really like to understand more.
Hi David,

From my experience, miracles do require divine intervention, which is where they differ from both magic and technology.