Religious Method

1
Religious Method

• Revelation

2
How does the Religious person come to know about
the world?
Religious method

• Observe - collect data

• Form an opinion / hypothesis

• Faith in holy book

• Faith in religious people

• personal experience / revelation

3
General and Special Revelation

• Many people say they will only believe in God
  when God reveals itself (himself) to them. They
  say there is no evidence that God exists.
• Although there are thousands of people who claim
  to have met God in some way they are not
  believed by non-believers who find many reasons
  to say that their account is untrue.
• Think about this though if you met God, could
  you prove it?

4
Special Revelation

• Special revelation is when God reveals Himself
  directly to a person or group in a dream, vision
  or a miracle.
• God has chosen those people especially to
  communicate to them.

5
Examples of Special Revelation St Paul

• Saul had a vision of a bright light on his way to
  Damascus. A voice asked why Saul why he was
  hunting down Christians. Saul was convinced that
  the light and voice were God. He changed his name
  to Paul and travelled the world telling people
  about Christianity. He wrote most of the books in
  the New Testament.

6
Example of Special Revelation Moses

• Moses had a vision of a burning bush and a voice
  that told him to return to Egypt to free the
  Hebrew slaves.

7
General Revelation

• General revelation is how people generally come
  to know about God and believe in God.
• They dont have any special experience, but they
  gradually come to faith through a variety of
  experiences.

8
Examples of General Revelation

• People learn about God through reading the Bible.
  It teaches them how God has acted in human
  history, the laws that God expects humans to
  follow and gives people comfort in times of
  trouble.

• Knowing God through holy books

9
Examples of General Revelation

• People learn about God through their response and
  appreciation of the wonders and beauty of the
  world around them. Nature is beautiful, clever
  and complicated. They feel that it is so awesome
  and wonderful that God must have created it.

• Knowing God through nature

10
Examples of General Revelation

• People learn about God through the lives and
  example of religious people they admire. Martin
  Luther King was a Christian Baptist Minister
  (vicar) who stood up for black rights in America.
  

• Knowing God through the lives of Inspirational
  people

11
Examples of General Revelation

• People learn about God through the lives and
  advice of religious leaders like the Pope who
  study the Bible and tell their followers how they
  feel God would want them to live today.

• Knowing God through religious leaders

12
Examples of General Revelation

• People learn about God through going to church
  and worship services. They listen to someone
  reading from the Bible and giving a sermon (talk)
  that tells them about God. The experience of
  worshipping together can be very powerful for
  some people.

• Knowing God through worship

13
The impact of revelation

• It is important to remember that however people
  say they have experienced God it has a massive
  impact on the life of that person.
• Often, the experience will completely change
  them.

14
Proof?

• There is no scientific evidence of a persons
  experience being true we cannot prove it
  happened by scientific means.
• All we can do is listen to someones testimony
  (account of the experience) and judge the impact
  it had on them.

15
http//www.rejesus.co.uk/expressions/unexpected_fa
ces/shroud.html
16
Exam questions have a go!

• What is the definition of revelation?
• What is the difference between special and
  general revelation?
• Write one account of special revelation and
• say what religion it comes from.
• Give an example of general revelation and explain
  how it reveals something about God.