Religious Experience Leading to a Belief in God Flashcards
How can you briefly define a religious experience?
‘an encounter with God’
What are seven points?
A conversion experience A charismatic experience A numinous experience A mystical experience Prayer A near-death experience Miracles
A conversion experience
The feeling that there is something inside you wanting to change your life and to believe in God. It is sometimes called a regenerative experience because it gives a feeling of being born again
e.g. Paul on the road to Demascus
A charismatic experience
An experience where the Holy Spirit descends upon you, for example, speaking in tongues, prophecy or healing
e.g. Pentecost
A numinous experience
A feeling of great wonder, where you feel that there is something greater than yourself, which you can only call God
e.g. Awe and Wonder
A mystical experience
An experience of the divine, which is difficult to describe, for example, hearing God’s voice or seeing a vision
e.g. Joan of Arc
Prayer
All religious believers think that they can make contact with God through prayer. Prayers can be formal, e.g. for a Christian in Eucharist in the Lord’s prayer. Prayers can also be informal where a believer makes their own prayer to God in their own private place
e.g. The Our Father Prayer
A near-death experience
An experience of God when in the process of dying or having died, but then being resuscitated
e.g. Someone who’s had surgery and heart stops and they claim to see a light
Miracles
Believers say that God is unchanging (immutable) and eternal and performs miracles because, as an omni-benevolent and omnipotent being, he wants the best for his creation
If someone’s healed of a disease and there is no other explanation for it, then it may be convincing enough to lead people to believe that God did it and must exist
e.g. Jesus feeding five thousand which can be found in the New Testament
How might Religious Experience lead to people believing or not believing in God?
Provides proof of God’s existence (if you see something)
Provides proof that God doesn’t exist (if you don’t something)
