Does God speak today? A Case Study

Over the years I have spent much time studying the epistemic status of religious belief. Certain religious beliefs are wholly subjective (i.e. bereft of immediately veridical elements). Such is the case with a belief like "God loves me". From a philosophical perspective, cases that are at least modestly veridical, (e.g. which involve the communication of some information which can be externally corroborated) are more intriguing. Such is the case with my former student Kevin Henry. This is part of his story in his own words. It involves him gaining knowledge of a future state of affairs.

The case is not unassailable to the skeptic, but then no case is. I was listening to skeptic Michael Shermer recently being interviewed on miracles. The other person on the broadcast provided evidential reports that could be corroborated of miraculous healings, for instance in a woman who was spontaneously healed of MS after a prayer meeting, with doctors' reports affirming this fact. Shermer's response to the cases was surprisingly dismissive. Why doesn't God heal amputees? Shermer wondered. That would be some real evidence! But revealingly, Shermer later admitted that if an amputee did spontaneously grow a limb after prayer, he would not conclude that there was in fact a God. Rather, he would assume that too was merely the body naturally regenerating itself.

Anyway the present case is not concerned with a healing, but with knowledge. It is intriguing how Kevin matter-of-factly describes God's communication with him. But the bottom line is this: one must consider how to assess the report. Is it possible God did speak to Kevin? (Being a theist and knowing Kevin, I have no doubt on this score.) Or must we assume that Kevin mistakenly attributed a genuine insight to God (maybe he has an extra sensory insight which he attributed to God) or that he has a faulty memory or that he fabricated the whole thing? Since I know Kevin (he is a kind, thoughtful, and down-to-earth pastor), I find these other explanations implausible.  

Alas, in the background of the case is the problem of evil. Kevin and his wife received no explanation as to why they lost their daughter, and this in itself will be sufficient evidence for some people to dismiss God.

But enough babbling on my part. Here is Kevin's story:

It was on a Friday when my wife began to have some spotting. We knew that this can be normal for some pregnancies, but in this case Sheri felt like something wasn't right. She called the health unity who suggested she watch for twenty-four hours to see if the bleeding continued or grow worse. After the twenty-four hours Sheri phoned the health unity again, who gave the same advice. This continued until Monday when we decided we better go to emergency to see what was happening with the pregnancy.

Upon examination the acting resident discovered that Sheri was already 3cm dilated. The medical staff decided that Sheri would have to stay overnight which included taking a test to be sure that there was no infection in the water. The plan was if there was no infection that Sheri would go in for surgery to do a cerclage. The next morning the test came back negative and so Sheri was scheduled for the cerclage. During the surgery I took my son home for lunch. While I was making lunch God spoke to me and said, "You will lose your daughter, but your wife will be spared." I was a little confused by God's message. I did not know that Sheri's life was in danger.

After the surgery, the hospital called me to come to the hospital. I asked if everything was okay. The nurse replied by saying that Sheri would fill me in once I arrive. I dropped our son to our pastor while I went to the hospital. Upon arriving I found Sheri in the recovery room. She told me that the test came back a second time, this time positive with chorioamnionitis. This test came back after the cerclage had already been done and so Sheri had already had the cerclage removed before I had returned to the hospital. This meant that Sheri's body had gone into preterm labour without even knowing in order to flush out the infection. This also meant that we would lose our daughter as Sheri was only 23 weeks of gestation. We also found out from the doctor that she had a patient with the same infection at another hospital who's body had turned toxic and was fighting for her life. Then I understood what God meant when He told me that my wife would be spared.

The doctors prepped my wife to deliver our daughter. That night our daughter was born. She died thirty minutes later in my arms. I know that at least for the thirty minutes of her life that she was loved and held in my arms, with many hugs and kisses.

The next morning Sheri and I talked about what to name our daughter. In a moment God spoke to me and said Miracle Joy. So we named her Miracle, because despite her short life she was still a miracle. We named Joy, because despite the sadness of her passing and the whirlwind of these events, joy still surrounded her birth. As we continued to talk we had three questions for God. 1) What had He spared Miracle from? 2) What had God spared us from? And 3) How was God going to use this for His glory? We may never have an answer for the first two questions but we have seen how God has used this story. We have seen people's lives touched and challenge to trust God not matter what they may face. For us, see these people grow in their faith because of our story and how we have grown in our faith and trust in God has made this situation all worth going through, despite our missing Miracle Joy.