Impossible to give one answer for countless experiences.

But its important to note that people all around the world have the same class of experiences, with different beliefs and contradictory outcomes.

If people’s expectations shape which miracles they experience, it seems likely to come from the mind.

If none of the purported miracles are able to be studied physically, it seems unlikely to be a real, physical effect.

Clark’s third Law, basically.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

replace “advanced technology” with “poorly understood natural phenomena”, and you have it.

Specifically of miracles- You assume they actually happened. Jesus almost certainly did not heal the sick, and Lazarus almost certainly did not return from the dead. Keep in mind the gospels were written 50+ years after jesus’s death, probably as the first generation of people were dying off, or more likely, the second generation.

As for modern miracles, none seem to have actually happened, or that prayer/divine intervention is the explanation given despite other things contributing to the “miracle”. (often cited example: praying for positive medical outcomes and going to the doctor. people will thank their god for the positive outcome, even though it was the doctor’s skill, knowledge and wisdom that caused it.)

Or like praying for a job while putting in the hard work to get a good job.

As for the euphoric experiences of the holy spirit coming down. it’s basically a sort of mass hypnosis. through communal worship and such, people are put into a suggestible state. (or at least a few are,) You can even put yourself into that state. Then, the person leading the affair makes all kinds of suggestions and you just kind of go with it. This is not to say that the experience of euphoria is any less meaningful; or that the leaders are some how malicious and exploitive. (well, I’d say they are, but that’s a different matter.)

Other “miracles” either didn’t happen or just misunderstood an interpreted as something else. (The star guiding the 3 wise men would have been seen by literally everyone in the region, for example. They came a long distance, possibly from persia. even if there was something there… following it to a house is ridiculous.)

For a less loaded example, I work as a manager in contract security. i had an employee of the sort that believed ghosts were real. This belief led him to ascribe supernatural things to something that wasn’t supernatural at all. Specifically, on his late-night rounds, there was a door that would keep closing on him. (it was a fire door being held open by the electromagnetic door holders. The EM holders shut off when the fire alarm is triggered.)

Turns out that it was a faulty door holder. But he was so very convinced that a ghost was closing it on him, so he didn’t put it in his reports or notify maintenance peeps. Didn’t even really bother to look into it. he’d just put the door back and go on his way.

The thing was, the magnet was old and it was loosing it’s strength- it was just strong enough to hold the door with nothing going on, and it kept closing on him specifically because as he walked through, his wake would push on it and cause it to break free. It was an easy fix- the door holder was replaced and they wanted me to talk to the guy because apparently it was like that for months or more, but he knew it was happening.

The thing with religion is that it’s designed to bypass your rational mind and gives you the easy answer. It’s designed to make you stupid so that you don’t get the real answer. It’s designed that way because when you get the real answer, you usually stop paying your dues.

The word you’re looking for is “coincidence.” Humans are literally pattern recognition machines; we’ll see patterns in random noise if we look long enough. People finding meaning in patterns they see and can’t explain is pretty natural. It becomes problematic, though, when we do have explanations for things and those explanations are ignored.

Most people have internal monologues.

It’s how we think things through, and usually the voice we hear, is our own. Which makes sense, because we can make it say whatever we like simply by thinking it.

But we often hear other peoples voices, too. Most common is probably the voice of a parent. You might imagine how they’ll sound when they scold you, if you think about doing something they won’t like.

It’s really not that weird that religious people claim to “hear” god. In the exact same way most people imagine what others would say in response to something they might say or do, the religious imagine how god or jesus might react.

But really, they’re just hearing their own mind frame their own thoughts in the way they picture that their religious icons might react to their thoughts and actions.

It’s not really a higher power speaking to them. They’re just interpreting the way the human mind works as supernatural, because their upbringing and belief system has them constantly asking themselves “what would god have me do” the same way we all ask “what would my friends and family have me do”.

There’s really no way to dispel this illusion, except by explaining internal monologues, and giving them time to think about it. You might also have the religious compare notes on what “god” is telling them, untill they dee how each of them hear whatever they would themselves imagine god would say. But this is something they really don’t like doing.

Humans also experience very powerful emotions. It is entirely possible to feel a sense of the sublime or epiphany or profound and misattribute those feelings to some kind of supernatural cause. If you’re never taught to critically examine your emotions, it is easy to bask in those feelings and be accepting of supernatural explanations for those feelings.

The appropriate explanation is, “I don’t believe you.” Just because somebody believes something strongly and has a story doesn’t make it real.

“But I saw my cousin levitate when we were all praying once! My mom agrees that it happened! Surely that must be God!” Or a demon. Or a freak, natural phenomenon that we have yet to document. Or aliens. Or Loki. Do you see why “I’m not lying” isn’t enough to prove a miracle? Christians have to explain why it’s their god, why it’s their rationale that should be taken as fact. If they can demonstrate their claims in front of a camera, sensors, etc., then we can begin to investigate the truth value of their claims. If they can’t reproduce their magic, why should anyone take it seriously?

And that’s the problem. The minute you bring out actual scientists, set up actual studies, and start really probing, the miracles can never stand up to scrutiny. Ever. Here’s an example: https://showmethetoes.com/

You don’t have to say people are delusional. You can simply demand better evidence than testimony, and you should.

The appropriate explanation is that those things don’t exist, either.

Santa did it with the help of the loch ness monster, and Elvis.

The spirit molecule, the god molecule, DMT, the pineal gland, the light at the end of the tunnel, the cosmic serpent, the tree of knowledge (Ayahuasca), insectoid creatures, aliens, machine elves, the green lady, clowns, angels, fractals/stained glass windows . . . . it is all drugs which are plentiful in our own brains. That explains the OT. The NT, keneh bosem or cannabis. Just watch RIDE WITH LARRY PART THREE to witness demons cast out of a man with a single drop of healing oil which Jesus used for his ministry. The recipe is in Exodus 25 and sports copious amounts of keneh bosem.

Religion = drugs.

Oh, and floaters. DID YOU JUST SEE THAT? I swear I saw something.

I wrote an extensive comment a good while ago on pretty much this exact topic here

Ok, so I’m not saying it’s aliens, but…