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Define miracles!

I survived a motorcycle accident at over 200mph the doctors had told me I'd never walk again that it was a complete miracle I'm even still alive. I tboned a car at 208. Woke up from a coma four months later. There's only been five people in history to survive motorcycle accidents over 200mph.

Who chooses who dies and who survives miracles?
If medical science can only tell me that it was a miracle, that my survival shouldn't be possible. Then what is a miracle? If my mind was almost completely unconscious (I dreamed in my coma) then it couldn't have been the last fighting will in me to keep myself alive. Some supernatural force had to have some responsibility of my survival.

Can you help me figure this out!!??

MistaToki 3 Feb 23
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Miracle = a statistically unlikely occurrence.

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Miracles are events that are too complex to readily explain, therefore we seek supernatural causes (incorrectly)

Poor odds are not zero, sometimes we can recover from terrible injury that seems impossible. Sometimes we die due to incomprehensibly small details.

I guarantee that without medical assistance you would indeed have died.

So just because it is very terrible odds, why does it have to be a miracle or supernatural?

ps. Glad you made it thought!

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It's a miracle I got out of bed today.

JR007 Level 2 Feb 25, 2018
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There are only 5 people who've survived similar accidents; so it wasn't an impossibility. I don't think too many people have travelled faster than 200 miles per hour on a motorcycle; so perhaps the odds aren't even as poor as we would assume. There obviously was no suspension of physical laws to insure your survival, and you apparently didn't come out unscathed.

There are a lot of things going on in a very short time frame in a high speed collision. A few degrees' change in the angle of impact or a miniscule difference in points of contact can make a major difference.

You were very lucky, but a supernatural being, perhaps Sasquatch? is not even a rational explanation.

JimG Level 8 Feb 24, 2018
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If we can't explain it, we call it a mystery.

If we can't explain it, and we want attention, we call it a miracle.

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A miracle is simply a wonderful thing or event. Mirus means wonderful. Events sometimes come together in wonderful coincidence.

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Christopher Hitchens describes a miracle as 'The suspension of the laws of physics - in your favour', Surviving your accident may have been down to your own inner will or physical wellbeing to be able to survive, good medical intervention and luck that you didn't actually shred anything vital. The odds of you surviving may have been very long but long shots win.......as you did 🙂

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I had a shipmate that had the record of being pushed into subway rails in NYC and got electrocuted in the act, I don't know what was the amount of the charge but it was the most charge and still walk away alive. I had another shipmate that was hit with a running chainsaw in the face, splitting it on two and survived the attack. I had a car accident head on with a tractor trailer full of oil and did not blew up like in the movies. I should had been murdered over 30 years ago. Miracle is one of those words like luck. I am happy you are alive. We humans have to name everything and many times more than once. You can beat the odds but stop betting, sooner or later it will get you.

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It's simply a highly improbable event. I was in a coma when I was little. My body was rejecting anything doctors gave me so my parents were told that it was very possible I was going to die. Eventually, my body did whatever it was that it needed to do and I woke up without any memory though I seemed to retain my knowledge. Supernatural forces had no impact on our lives, my body is the reason I'm alive today while it seems doctors are the reason that you are.

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'Miracle' is a figure of speech.

I assume that you had state of the art medical care, medication and physio in the months/years after the accident.

If you had been left for dead, survived your coma and woke up able to walk without any medical intervention, then I would be more inclined to think there was something else going on. I still wouldn't be looking for a supernatural explanation though.

You say you dreamed and your brain was functioning and then say it couldn't have been your brain fighting to live. Why not? The human body has a pretty effective immune system, that when supplemented with good medical care can do remarkable things.

You were fortunate, circumstances were that on this occasion, there were enough mitigating factors for your survival. If you don't know what they were or why you were fortunate enough to survive, then the answer is "I don't know why I was able to survive such a high speed accident" and not "Oh well. I can't think of anything else, so god did it (supernatural)" Classic god of the gaps argument.

Two other quick points -

As I biker who has crashed at around 140mph and survived with only a bruised heel who has sister who spent 3 weeks in an induced coma, smashed pelvis, broken collarbone and femur after a meeting with a car on her R6 at 30mph, I know there are far more factors to a bike crash than just speed.

How did you manage to get a gixxer thou to go so quick?

No matter what your brain does while trying to sort what is happening to it, your inner survival instinct stays motivated.

My monster had an upgraded ecu, upgraded intake manifold, brakes, tires, harden suspension, exhaust. Everything was done to the bike before I got it. I topped it at 223. I t-boned a car. I spent most of my days at a military hospital. Thanks I appreciate your detailed answer. You bring up done good points.

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Luck is best defined as when preparation meets opportunity. Your miracle gift that you received is straight up, the opportunity to continue to be alive. I hope you make it a spectacular existence from here on, oh and please do mind the speed limit signs.

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It's not a miracle, hundreds of thousands of bikers die every year doing that. your the one in a million

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Every day, there are an unlimited number of possibilities--some more likely than others. Odds are, the next time I drive across town, I will arrive safely to my destination and safely back home; however, it is possible that an escaped felon, speeding to get away from the police, will collide with me at an intersection--not likely, but possible. It is also possible that I will be walking along the road and find a suitcase full of money--again, not likely, but possible. We call things "miracles" when the outcome is good, not when it is bad; but, the same laws of probability are in play. Miracles are simply the less, or perhaps even the least, likely of all the possible outcomes playing out. If one wants to call inexplicably surviving an accident a miracle, then one must also call inexplicably dying from minor injuries a "miracle." BTW, several years ago, a young cousin of mine was in a high-speed motorcycle accident--and it ruined his life. He was left with one arm paralyzed, but that was not the bad part. The brain damage he received prevented him from ever living a normal life. And, in fact, his life was downright tragic after the accident. He was a good kid who simply made a mistake--where was his "miracle?"

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"Medical science" did not tell you it was a "miracle" that you survived. It was a person (the Dr.) who wanted to express his emotions by evoking a platitude. It had nothing to do with science. It had to do with a combination of random circumstances. If only five others have survived an accident at 200+ miles per hour, their circumstances were not exactly the same as yours nor were the others who did not survive. Consider your age, the organs affected, the speed at which the first responders arrived, the skill of the surgeon, the angle of the impact, general health, alcohol consumption, etc. ...all variables. You did not experience a "miracle", you experienced random chance despite the stupidity and irresponsibility of driving a motorcycle at 200 mph.

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A miracle is that which we can't explain--in other words, it is our ignorance. If we had the ability to capture unexplained events and phenomena and analyze them, frame by frame, so to speak, we might observe the physics behind these occurrences. All of us have, whether knowingly or not, survived 'close calls,' most not as severe as your case. But to attribute unexplained survival to a higher power is to concede that a force or entity capable of interfering with the laws of physics, has acted (i.e., performed a miracle) in your particular case, while allowing the vast majority of others, under similar circumstances, to perish. I am always nauseated by the hubris that comes from survivors of a mass casualty event, who praise God for the miracle he performed on his or her behalf, even as others around them were not so blessed. One can be grateful for not having been killed, but one's response should not be, in my opinion, 'thank God.'

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The living body is a self-regulating machine. The whole of your body, everything that you are, is constantly trying to keep you alive - even without you knowing. E.g. Lose half-a-brain, the other half compensates. Lose a leg, you can train your arms and your other leg to keep you mobile. Some dogs even learn to walk on only two legs.

And luck.

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You just go lucky, Very lucky.

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Anything that can NOT happen in the natural world. Example is something returning from the dead. Not an example is lone survivor of an accident that killed everyone else.

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A miracle is a fictitious belief that something supernatural happens to prevent or change an undesired outcome to a situation. It is comparable to luck. You recovering even though the doctors said you wouldnt is something to be grateful for for sure, but there was really no miracle maker. Your doctors and medical science did their job which helped you survive.

I agree.

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One small child survives a plane crash while 200 die. Which is the miracle, that he lived or that 200 died? I would surmise that events happened in a particular way that he alone was in a particular position to survive. Time and unforeseen circumstances. It's a matter of probability that one person out of 1,000 lives while the rest don't. I you wish to believe that a supernatural force saved you that is your prerogative but I too survived several motorcycle accidents and I chose to chalk it up to being lucky as in things fell in line for my survival. I could as easily have been killed.

gearl Level 8 Feb 23, 2018

It is definitely cruel hubris to say, "God saved me/us," while knowing others died or suffered loss, hurt.

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