Revelation Flashcards
What is general revelation?
When believers feel God revealed through the Natural World or experience anyone can have e.g reading holy books.
What is special revelation?
The belief that God is revealed in a special way such as a miracle or a vision - usually only to one or a few people.
What is the Numinous?
The feeling people get when they look at the natural world and think there must be something greater than them.
Give two examples of general revelation?
The ‘Numinous’, Scripture (Qur’an), Conscience
What is a general revelation through scripture?
Many religious people feel they found faith through reading religious scripture of that faith.
For example Muslims believe that Allah speaks directly to them when they read the Qur’an.
What is the conversion of Nicky Cruz?
- Nicky Cruz was born into a terrible home where he was abused and unwanted
- He moved to New York where he became the leader of a gang (one of the most feared gangs in NYC)
- A preacher called David Wilkerson told him that God loved him and would never stop loving him.
- Cruz threatened to kill him and Wilkerson said “You could chop me up into a thousand pieces and lay them on the street and every one would still love you”
- He is now a founder of an out reach program and halfway houses which help in the rehabilitation of drug addicts.
What is the conversion of Saul?
- Saul was a persecutor and killer of Christians just after Jesus died.
- One day he was travelling when he heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
- This made Saul believe in Jesus and become a Christian eventually dying for what he believed in.
Give 3 examples of special revelation
- The Conversion of Saul
- Speaking in Tongues
- St Bernadette vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes
- Miracles at Lourdes - Sally McCloy
- Prayer
- Muhammad receiving the Qur’an
What was St Bernadette’s vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes?
- Bernadette was a young, uneducated girl who lived in Lourdes in the 19th century.
- She had a vision of the Virgin Mary
- The Virgin Mary appeared 18 times in total and preformed a miracle of making water spring up from the ground.
- Lourdes is now a place of pilgrimage for those who are sick as the water is believed to cure people.
What was the miracle of Sally McCloy?
- Sally McCloy traveled to Lourdes in the 1970’s very sick with cancer and believed she would die there.
- She suddenly felt the pain leave her and doctors reported she no longer had cancer!
Why to theists pray?
All theists pray in order to keep a relationship with God and some are answered.
What happened when Muhammad received the Qur’an?
Muslims believe that there is a cave, just outside Mecca where the Angel Jibrail gave the words of the Qur’an to Muhammad (pbuh).
What do revelations reveal about God?
He is:
- Omniscient
- Transcendent
- Immanent
- Impersonal
- Personal
- Omnipotent
- Benevolence
What does Omniscient mean?
God is all knowing and all seeing
What does Transcendent mean?
God is supreme and above the world - God is not controlled by time or space
