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NY Times Op-Ed: I Believe in Miracles. Just Not All of Them.

Paul Caron
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New York Times Op-Ed:  I Believe in Miracles. Just Not All of Them., by David French (Author, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation (2020)):

French (2024)I want to begin with a wonderful and mysterious story.

It begins badly. In September of 1995, when I was living in Nashville, I was diagnosed with chronic ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disorder with no known cure. The disease attacks your colon and can produce painful, dysentery-like symptoms, and they emerged right away.

By October I was in crisis. I’d lost more than 40 pounds, I couldn’t eat any solid food; every medical treatment was failing. I was hospitalized and met with a surgeon. Unable to ameliorate the symptoms, we started to consider surgery to remove my colon.

I was miserable. I was literally wasting away, in terrible pain. I was also a little frightened by the prospect of major surgery in my weakened state. I prayed, and I reached out to my friends and asked them to pray for me as well.

As the surgery date approached, I got a call from a dear friend, Ruth Okediji. Ruth was the leader of my law school Christian fellowship, and she’s now a professor at Harvard Law School. I’ll never forget her first words. “It’s over,” she said. “The Lord has healed you.” …

I woke up the next morning without any pain at all. I had no pain the entire day. The next day was pain-free as well, and so was the next. The doctors reintroduced bland, solid food to my diet, and I consumed it voraciously. By Thanksgiving, I’d gained most of my weight back, and a colonoscopy later showed no evidence of the disease at all.

My doctor was surprised. I was surprised (and overjoyed). I knew that ulcerative colitis could have remission periods, but this one stuck. And in the 29 years since, I’ve never had a recurrence. …

I’m sharing this story because America is at a counterintuitive spiritual crossroads. Organized religion is declining rapidly. The fastest-growing segment of American religious life is the “nones,” the people who don’t lay claim to any particular religious affiliation. At the same time, however, there remains an intense interest in all things supernatural, both inside and outside of organized religion.

Outside of organized religion, you’re seeing the explosive growth of psychedelics, including in parts of the American elite. … Stories of paranormal encounters are popping up across pop culture. …

Since I’m a Christian who has had his own mysterious and life-changing encounter with the unexplained, you might think I’d be enthusiastic about this surge of supernatural interest. But my feelings are much more mixed. …

It’s seductive to believe that you can hear from God. It provides a clarity that your reason might deny you. It provides purpose in the face of confusion. I’m reminded — in a very different context — of a conversation I had with a Pentecostal law school classmate. “I was with you about Donald Trump,” she told me, “until the Lord told me that he had chosen Trump to lead.” And just like that, the argument was over. I was skeptical, but she knew where she stood. …

What is the right balance between a cold scientific materialism that believes only what it can see, touch and discern through pure human reason and unstable supernaturalism, where a person dances at the edge of delusion?

You can see the answer hidden in [Ecclesiastes 3:11: "[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."]. Yes, God set eternity in our hearts, but also “no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Our response to the supernatural should be humility and awe, not an arrogant grasp for God’s knowledge and God’s power.

In fact, that’s the biblical pattern. Time and again, when the people of God encounter the presence of God, they’re immediately humbled. They fall on their faces. They become acutely aware of their own sin. They do not rise and believe “I am extraordinary.”

I’ve shared my personal stories because I don’t want readers to dismiss the idea that God is real, that he loves his creation, and that he still moves in our lives. Yet an unhealthy pull toward the supernatural doesn’t just potentially expose us to dangerous darkness, it also tempts all of us toward far more common sins — including instability and arrogance.

I’ve reconciled myself to the supernatural by seeking God’s grace, not God’s power. I’m content with the idea that there are mysteries beyond human explanation, but if we separate ourselves from reason, our delusions will lead us astray.

Editor's Note:  If you would like to receive a weekly email each Sunday with links to the faith posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.

Other op-eds by David French:

About the Author

Paul Caron Avatar
Paul Caron
Paul Caron was named Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law on June 1, 2017. Dean Caron joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 after serving as the Dorothy and Leonard Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law in the spring semesters of 2010 through 2013. He served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at Pepperdine in 2015-2017. Before coming to Pepperdine, he was Associate Dean of Faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
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