Eye Witness Testimony and Miracles
by Rod Jackson
The nature of science is to give explanations for the phenomena we observe around us. We consistently observe apples falling down from the trees and not falling upwards, and so scientist will form a theory to explain this, like the theory of gravity.
At this point (and as a side note) I would like to point out that the theory itself is not observed. This means that science is not merely observation. Also one consistently observes the same phenomena (like apples falling downwards) but this does not mean that the cause is always the same. It *could* be the case that one day apples are falling downwards because they are being pulled by a force downwards. The next day they could be falling downwards because they are being pushed by a force downwards. The day after that they might be falling downwards because the nature of spacetime is curved such that they will follow the path of curvature (and there is no force acting on the apples).
This shows that the "consistency of nature" is a presupposition of science, as it is not the case that the explaination of the phenomena is observed, merely the phenomena is the same.
Now the theory of gravity is interesting, because not only does it explain consistent phenomena, but also a wide variety of different phenomena. Like the orbit of the moon, the curvature of light and apples falling to the ground (to name a few). Thus where ever there is consistent phenomena science will try to give an explaination to that phenomena. But not any explainatio, only a naturalistic explaination, for this is another presupposition of science.
QUESTION - Is eyewitness tesimony sufficent to believe a miracle has occured?
If the eyewitness testimony is not sufficent to believe a miracle has occured, then everyone must observe a miracle themselves to believe that miracles can occur. But if miracles are occuring for everyone then they are no longer rare, but a common phenomena. If they are a common phenomena then science will try and give a naturalistic explaination of them. But if science does that then it cannot be considered a miracle anymore, as a miracle has a supernatural cause not a natural one. Therefore miracles must be rare otherwise people will stop believing they are miracles. If miracles are rare then the majority of people will not observe them, thus miracles generally have to be attested to by eyewitness testimony.