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David Hume

Hume’s Miracles

Paul Warwick considers Hume’s argument against testimony concerning miracles.

I have a friend who was once deeply immersed in the occult. Now he’s a Pentecostal Christian who has renounced his former beliefs and broken with the practices of that way of life. Even so, I can’t help thinking that there is at least one common strand that runs through from his past life to his present one – a strong desire to believe that the laws of the natural world can be set aside by supernatural powers.

I saw an instance of this when he invited me to his church to hear a visiting preacher. “He’s a genuine miracle worker!” I was told enthusiastically.