Religious experience as a source of religious practice & good religious behaviour Flashcards
Jesus’ Baptism:
“At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”
Many Christians are baptised after this religious experience as an initiation of their faith and it is routed in the practice of Jesus’ baptism when the heavens open and the revelation is given. Christians today get baptised as a visible sign of renewal , of change and of wanting to become Christian.
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirt”.
This shows good religious behaviour, with the Church being responsible to teach Jesus’ word, make disciples, and baptise those disciples.
Confirmation expresses a continuing commitment of a Christian and reflects the…
Pentecost experience when the disciples, the early followers of Jesus, were dramatically changed in that revelation of God’s spirit, working in them.
Therefore young people will get confirmed today, which is all based on the Pentecost story.
Christmas is celebrated due to the birth of Jesus, and the religious experience between
the Shepherds and the Angel.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.’ (Luke 2:8-20).
This religious experience influences Christians to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus, through giving presents like the three kings did to Jesus.
Easter is also celebrated by Christians, following the…
Resurrection experience.
This was when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after his death, where she thought he was a gardener. ‘ “Mary” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni” (Hebrew for Teacher). “Go find my brothers and tell them, ‘ I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God”.
Many Christians today celebrate Easter after this experience, and these kind of experiences give power to Jesus’ ethical guidance and teachings.
One important dimension of religious experience would be
conversions. Caroline Franks Davis describes these as what she calls ‘regenerative experiences’ that clearly shows a conversion experience as a source of both good religious behaviour and religious practice.
Conversion experiences have become a powerful source of religious practice and good religious behaviour.
An example of this would be the conversion of
St. Augustine.
As a young man his life was characterized by loose living and a search for answers for life’s basic questions. He was very doubtful and unsure what to do, confused with different philosophical ideas and theory’s. At this time, Augustine was teaching rhetoric in Milan. He went to hear the preaching of Saint Ambose, the Bishop of Milan. This Bishops preaching led Augustine to a new understanding of the Bible and the Christian Faith. After hearing a voice of a child singing the words “Pick it up and read it”, he realized that this song might be a command from God to open and read the Bible. The first passage he saw was from the Letter of Paul to the Romans 13:13-14: “Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
Reading this scripture, Augustine said ‘it was as though a light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.’
From this, he converted into a Christian and turned totally from his life of sin. This religious experience St Augustine had completely changed him. He became an extremely devout Christian and changed his behaviour, leaving his mistress and becoming a priest, and then a bishop. He went on to become one of the most influential Christian writers, and a Doctrine of the Church.
Also Nicky Cruz
Nicky Cruz also led an early life of bad influences, leading gangs and living on the streets of New York, always getting into trouble. He encountered a preacher called David Wilkerson, who told Nicky “Jesus loved him and would never stop loving him”. Nicky responded in a violent way, threatening to kill him. Wilkerson kept trying, and eventually Nicky attended an evangelistic meeting. He began to pray, and Wilkerson prayed with Cruz and Cruz asked God to forgive him and converted to Christianity.
He went to the police and turned in all of their guns and knives. This shows how religious experience can change one, and lead them to behave differently and in a way that is in accordance with the teachings of a faith.
All of these people who have had revelation experiences ….
contribute to the traditions sum total knowledge and understanding in the Christian Tradition. They have helped guide people to Christianity and practice good religious behaviour, as good role models. We can read about these people today and feel inspired by them and their good religious behavior and practice.
Buddhism
One day, seated beneath the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha became deeply absorbed in meditation, and reflected on his experience of life, determined to penetrate its truth. He finally achieved Enlightenment (powerful revelatory experience) and became the Buddha. (‘Noetic’ & ineffible – William James). Said to have ‘attained Nirvana’ - a state where suffering is eliminated through the abandonment of desires - desires being the cause of suffering.
He was so enthused that he walked over 100 miles to Benares, to share with other what he had learned, where the Deer Park Sermon took place. This included teachings central to Buddhist teachings: the “Four Noble Truths” and the “Noble eightfold path”.
This shows how Buddha’s religious experience and enlightenment is a source of good religious practice and behavior for Buddhists today, as these form the main ethical guidance for Buddhists today and guide the way in which they live their lives, trying to follow the principles of the Eightfold path.
Buddhists today are directly inspired by the Buddha’s enlightenment to meditate regulary and lead a good moral life, with the ultimate objective of attaining enlightenment and nirvana.
The threefold Therevada Buddhist festival known as Wesak …
is a time when Buddhists remember the night of the enlightenment of the Buddha and his revelations about the nature of feath, Karma and rebirth, suffering & desire. The memory of the Buddha is honored by Buddhists wherever there are shrines, bodily relics in stupas, Bodhi trees or statues, in the hope that through their offerings, they may gain merit for a better rebirth.
Religious experience can become a source of good religious practice and behaviour through going on …
Pilgrimages
Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path, a basic piece of Buddhist teaching which uses the image of a journey
Buddhists go on pilgrimages to The Lumbini Grove, the birthplace of Buddha. For a Buddhist, the more effort a pilgrimage involves the greater the blessing brought by the journey. There is a very real sense of walking ‘in the footsteps of the Buddha’ and many people come to pray and meditate here.
Many also visit the Bodh Gaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Buddhists feel that this place is full of spiritual power, which is intensified by the constant flow of pilgrims. Visiting Bodh Gaya earns merit for a better rebirth, bestows blessings on the pilgrim and makes a karmic connection with the place where, some Buddhists believe, all Buddhists are enlightened. The pilgrims walk round the tree in a clockwise direction. This practice is called circumambulation. The tree is made the focus of their respect and attention. They also make flower offerings, decorated the tree with prayer flags printed with sacred texts and meditate underneath them.
This shows good religious practice and behaviour, by going on a pilgrimage and following the footsteps of The Buddha, in which he had a religious experience and enlightenment.
Christianity Pilgrimage
Many pilgrimage sites such as Lourdes and Fatima have occurred due to the visionary activity witnessed, such as St. Bernadette’s’ apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1858, leading her to dig in the ground. After doing so, a spring gushed out from which healing was brought to many. The Virgin’s request of ‘go tell the priests to build a chapel here and come in procession,’ have all been followed, and many pilgrims visit Lourdes every year which has become for them an act of strengthening their faith.
Judaism Moses
Exodus 19-34, Moses is summoned by God to go up Mt Sinai, where loud trumpet blasts are heard, so much so that the people ‘tremble violently’. This shows that the people were in ‘awe’ of God and his mystical presence. The nature of this experience is one of God as a ‘wholly other’, as Rudolf Otto describes. Moses meets God in a thick cloud, although God later appears to him as a dazzling light. People are warned to stay off the mountain so they will not be tempted to try and catch a glimpse of God – if anyone sees Gods face, they will die. Here God reveals the 10 commandants (Decalogue) to Moses.
These teachings are very important for Jews, because it is part of their agreement with God, called the Covenant. The 10 commandments form strict guide lines in which they keep to, as a source of religious practice.
