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WorksheetsMiracles - Hume and Wiles
Total questions: 26
Worksheet time: 13mins
Hume views miracles as...
realist
anti-realist
non-cognitive
factual
For Hume, a miracle is, "a ________________ of a law of nature..."
transgression
violation
fixing
realisation
"...by a particular _________________________."
volition of the deity."
volatile of the deity."
voluntary of the deity."
vicarious of the deity."
For Hume, the laws of a nature are...
fixed
variable
descriptive
non-existent
What kinds of 'miracles' would Hume not count as miracles?
coincidence miracles (luck)
an event that breaks the laws of nature
an event that is difficult to explain
Hume said: "Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happens the __________ course of nature."
common
normal
everyday
coincidental
A key quote from Hume is: "A wise man proportions... "
his belief to the evidence."
his faith to the facts."
his beliefs to the proof."
his laws to nature."
This means that...
you should believe something more if there is more evidence
you should believe what you are told
you should believe things which are personally important to you
you should only believe things which have concrete proof
Hume criticises miracles because of the issue of probability. What is this issue?
The probability of the laws of nature being broken is always less than a miracle not happening
The probability of a miracle happening is high because they can be coincidences
A miracle can only be probable if there's a group of witnesses
Hume concludes: "no human ________________ can have such force as to prove a miracle"
testimony
evidence
miracle
action
According to Hume, what are the problems with the witnesses of miracles?
They have no reputation to lose
They have something to gain from the claim
They are already religious so are biased
They are from uncivilised countries with poor education
They are actually seeing a imaginative vision, not a real event
For Hume, what gives people a determination to believe in miracles, even though they know and understand how impossible they are?
Faith
Ignorance
Stupidity
Fear
For Wiles, miracles are religiously unsatisfactory because...
they are occasional and highly selective
they are not true
there is not enough evidence
the witnesses are too biased
If God is choosing to perform a miracle, what else is he choosing?
Who to ignore
Who deserves to live
Who deserves to die
What is important
Wiles says: "If the direct action of God... is an intelligible concept, then it would appear to have been sparingly and ___________ used."
strangely
badly
poorly
unethically
Wiles says: "It would seem strange that no miraculous ______________ prevented Auschwitz or Hiroshima."
intervention
event
God
person
For Wiles, miracles make the problem of evil...
difficult to solve
unsolvable
easier to solve
solved
Wiles argues that, if we accept miracles as real, then God's decisions are either...
abritary
partisan
evil
unethical
Arbitrary means...
random
thoughtful
evil
negative
Partisan means...
biased
political
party
partly-formed ideas
Therefore Wiles concludes that, ethically speaking, Christians must see miracles as...
realist
anti-realist
real
part of the laws of nature
Wiles argues that, if miracles were taken literally, then God's relationship with the world would become:
"a nest of absurdities"
"a bowl of abnormality"
"a collection of inconsistencies"
"a plethora of problems"
Wiles agrees with Tillich, that miracles should be seen as:
sign-events
literally true
realist events
cognitive language
What matters about a miracle is:
what it reveals about God's intentions
whether it really happened or not
how much evidence we have for it
whether it broke the laws of nature or not
A key example for Wiles is Jesus being tempted to do miracles in the desert. Jesus refuses to perform miracles there because...
he will only do miracles with a religious purpose/meaning
he will only perform miracles when there are enough witnesses
he doesn't want to break the laws of nature too often
no-one would believe he did them
Wiles accepts one miracle as being a realist, true event:
Creation
Moses parting the Red Sea
Jesus walking on water
Jesus healing a paralysed man
