Former atheist describes ‘overwhelming’ evidence of miracles

Dr Nick Wells found the weight of evidence of so many miracles convinced him that there is more to humans than just the physical.

Dr Nick Wells “reluctantly” accepted the existence of God on a visit to Medjugorje.

Miracles are “effective at grabbing hold of someone’s attention and forcing them to face up to the possibility that God exists, and Jesus is who he said he is”, according to a physicist, who has worked for the BBC’s engineering department developing digital TV.

In his presentation to a Tablet webinar, “Twenty-first century role of miracles and apparitions – can they still be a constructive faith experience?” Dr Nick Wells explained: “I didn't believe in miracles or apparitions, and so I set about studying them, confident that I would be able to disprove them.”

Dr Wells studied physics at Cambridge and completed a doctorate in Plasma Physics. As an atheist, he said his materialist understanding was that human beings are just very complicated arrangements of atoms and molecules in motion.

After his studies he worked as a research engineer for the BBC and married a Catholic. Through his wife and her Bible study friends he learnt about miracles and set out to disprove them. However, in the end, he found that the weight of evidence of so many miracles convinced him that there was more to human beings than just the physical.

On a visit to Medjugorje he “reluctantly” admitted that God exists and was baptised on his return to Britain. He told the webinar participants: “How could I change my mind at the age of 37 when I’d been such a strong atheist? However, the weight of evidence from miracles was, for me, overwhelming.”

The writings of C.S. Lewis “impressed” him by the quality and intelligence of many the arguments the Christian apologist put forward. “For the first time in my life I realised that it was intellectually respectable to be a Christian.” He also found the writings of St John Henry Newman and the testimony of mystics such as Padre Pio helped.

“Over the past 37 years, my faith has grown and developed, and it has been an exciting and fulfilling journey of discovery. I find stories of modern-day miracles hugely renewing and confirming for my faith,” he said.

He regretted that “people are generally not open and honest in the way they think” and if they have “already made up their mind on a particular subject, they will only examine arguments and evidence that support their current position. They will ignore and refuse to consider arguments and evidence that challenge their current worldview.”

Speaking about his own faith journey, he acknowledged that he needed a further conversion, after accepting that God and Jesus exist, to accept that “God cares for me individually, not just as a general member of the human race, and not just as one sheep among many in his flock. I needed to accept God as a personal God who cares for me specifically”. 

Though this is taught by the Church, he said it can still be difficult to accept perhaps because of a sense of personal unworthiness. “Small, almost miraculous answers to prayer can be a great aid in cementing this truth within us,” he said.