UNIT 2 PR Revision - Revelation

UNIT 2 PR Revision - Revelation

AO1 - Assessment of knowledge and understanding of topics and key concepts

AO2 - Assessment of evaluation and expressing opinion

What is a religious experience?

A religious experience is when people feel God's presence personally. Through this, they know that He exists and theists believe that this is one of the strongest proofs that God exists. They feel that God is reaching into the world to help us, a revelation of His existence.

Good

• Thousands of people have experienced them
• Total change in people's lives
• Miracles go against laws of nature; it must be God
• Healing miracles have been proven

Bad

• No actual proof; how do we know that God is the source?
• Could be made up because of an illusion, mistaken, lying, unreliable, wishful thinking?
• People interpret differently for the same event; witnesses could be biased

General Revelation

General Revelation is God revealing himself through objects. You interpret what you see as being linked with God, leading to you claiming that you have experienced God. Your interpretation is based on a feeling. There are many types:

Nature; omniscient, supremacy

Many people believe in God because they see Him through His creation. They feel a sense of numinousness, an overwhelming sense of the supernatural, a sense of awe. They think that nature is so complicated that it must have been designed by a omniscient creator. Senses include:

• Awe; feeling a sense of numinousness and being overwhelmed by full contemplation
  • Many people have experienced this and sometimes use this in contemplative worship
  • Atheists say that it is just a trick of the mind
• Beauty; amazing sense of wonder and greatness
  • Waterfalls are very great and beautiful
  • However, this does not take into account the natural evil like earthquakes that happen
• Clever; many things in nature are very clever, like the brain
  • Animals and the human body for example, are very clever
  • Many things are the way they are due to evolution
• Complicated; nature is extremely complicated
  • All fingerprints and snowflakes are unique; the human brain is incredibly complex
  • There is no proof and the evidence is ambiguous
• Design and Purpose; many things in nature are perfectly adapted for their job
  • Eyes are used to see
  • This is all due to evolution and adaptation throughout time

Worship; immanence, personal

Many theists believe in God because they feel that He speaks or reveals Himself to them whilst they worship or pray. There are three types of worship:

• Charismatic Worship is mainly celebrated in Pentecostal Churches, known widely as Gospel. It features lively singing, dancing and clapping. Some prayers can 'speak in tongues' as 'gifts of the spirit' which is speaking in unintelligible languages which only the worshippers can understand. Many people have been healed in these ceremonies.
  • Gifts from the spirit and speaking in tongues can only be understood by worshippers
  • People have been healed in these ceremonies before
• Sacramental Worship, also known as sacramental ritual, is found in Christian churches. It is a service which expresses outwardly how a theist feels inwardly. For example, one of the seven sacraments is the Holy Communion, where each attendee receives some bread and wine which represents Jesus' body and blood respectively. This representation is known as transubstantiation. These sacraments are set patterns and make people feel blessed and refreshed.
  • People do feel as if they have been blessed and refreshed after the ritual
• Contemplative Worship is concentration and focus on something, requiring great thought. Followers do this to appreciate the vastness and wonder of the world and ask God questions for answers.
  • People do feel refreshed after the worship and feel that their questions have been answered

Holy Books and Scripture; immanence, personal

Holy books like the Qur'an, Torah and Bible show theists about the nature of God; what he is like. There are three main things:

1. What God is like; the nature of God
2. How God has acted in the past
3. How God wants us to live our lives

For example, the Qur'an tells followers of the Islamic faith to follow the Shari'ah, a set of laws. The Torah and the Bible are the same, with the 613 Mitzvot and the Ten Commandments. Buddhism tells Buddhists to follow the Eightfold path. Fundamentalists believe every single word and so believe that they are the true word of God and so follow the laws. They believe that the writings are a way that God communicates to them.

Religious Writings and Leaders; immanence, personal

Religious writings are the writings of religious people, especially religious leaders, to explain what is written in holy books or their religious tradition. The two most prominent religious leaders now are the:

• Pope, who is the Head of the Catholic Church and speaks ex cathedra, believed to be the infallible word of God. Roman Catholics look to the Pope for guidance.
• Dalai Lama, the leader of the Tibetan Buddhist faith, who writes ancient Buddhist teaching into more accessible language for the modern world. His best-selling book is Ancient Wisdom, Modern World.

Conscience; immanence, personal, omniscient

Theists believe that God is their guide, revealing himself and speaking to them through their conscience. Many people believe that they have had a revelation and became a revelation themselves. We see God through their actions and words indirectly. For example, Mother Teresa claimed that God told her to help the poor and dying. They have a huge impact on people's lives. However, people have different consciences.

Special Revelation

Special Revelation is direct revelation, God communicating with you as an individual or sometimes, a group. It is not general and not for everyone. It cannot be proved by science at the time being and can have a massive impact on somebody. The experiencing person knows that God is revealing Him to them and it is always a direct, clear way. There are three different types:

Conversion; immanence, omnipotent, benevolence

Conversion is when someone switches faiths due to a massive change of heart. They are often extremely dramatic. Here are two examples:

• In Christianity, Saul was a Jew who rounded up Christians. Going to Damascus, he was blinded by a light that only he could see. Three days later a Christian claimed to be sent by God cured him. Saul changed his name to a more Christian-sounding Saint Paul and traveled around spreading Christianity.
• In Exodus 3 of the Bible, Moses saw a bush on fire that wasn't burning. Then God spoke to him and later Moses freed Egyptian slaves.

Visions and Dreams; immanence, personal

If God speaks in a vision or dream, then it is an example of special revelation. They are convinced that this voice is God talking to them.

Miracles; supremacy, immanence, personal, omnipotent, benevolence

Many people believe in God because of miracles, events that are against the laws of nature. They say that God is reaching into our world to help us and to reveal himself. See UNIT 5 for more details.

What is the Holy Trinity?

The Holy Trinity is an idea to say that there is only one God, with different forms. In Christianity, there are three forms:

• God the Father - This is God in the form of being outside of the world; 'up there', looking down on us. He is the father, looking after  us. He is the highest of the highest, and the creator of the world. Words used to describe are Transcendent, Supremacy, Personal and Creator
• God the Son (Jesus) - 'Son' basically means holy. Jesus is God in flesh - God came down in the form of Jesus, who lived on earth. Mary gave birth to Jesus to hlep God come down. People had close relationships with Jesus so this form is also personal. Words used to describe are Immanent and Personal
• God the Holy Spirit - God's form as the holy sprit acts to us as a guide and support. He is always here, and unable to have close relationship.