Experiencing God: Revelation and Miracles

The step from the report to the cause

This theme has one method, and the module before this one set it out: every argument for God starts from something nobody disputes and tries to walk from there to God. So you ask two things: what is agreed, and what is the step? ⭐ Revelation and miracles are the sharpest case of all. Nobody disputes that people REPORT visions, conversions and healings, or that unexpected recoveries and events happen. The whole disagreement is the step from the report to its CAUSE. ⭐⭐ But there is a second thing here that the other arguments do not have. The design and cosmological arguments are open to everyone, because anyone can look at the universe. A religious experience is not. It is evidence of a completely different kind for the person it happened to than for anybody hearing about it later. That asymmetry is the heart of this module. It is why traditions separate revelation available to everyone from revelation given to particular people, why testimony matters here, and why somebody can be completely honest and still not be believed. ⚠️ Both sides are set out and attributed throughout. The module never settles whether God exists; it teaches you to handle the reasoning on either side.

Revelation open to all, and revelation given to some

Christians describe God making himself known in two broad ways. Keeping them apart is half the topic.

Order the reasoning from an experience

A believer reasons from a religious experience to God. Put the stages in order, keeping the disputed steps separate.

• A person reports an experience, such as a vision or a healing
• It is agreed that the report was made, and often that something happened
• The believer takes the cause of it to be God
• They identify that God with the God of a particular tradition

What a miracle argument disputes

A believer points to an unexpected recovery from serious illness as a miracle. A sceptic disagrees. What, precisely, are they disagreeing about?

• The step from the event to its cause: both may accept the recovery happened, and the disagreement is whether God is the explanation or whether it has a natural one not yet understood
• Whether the recovery happened at all
• Whether the believer is being honest
• The dictionary definition of the word miracle

Words for experiencing God

Five terms, each defined so you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.

Find the sentence about the step

A student writes about a reported vision. Select the ONE sentence that identifies the disputed step, rather than the agreed part.

• The person says they saw a figure and heard a voice.
• They wrote down the account soon afterwards.
• Everyone can agree the person had the experience they describe; what is disputed is whether its cause was God or the mind under strain.
• Many people through history have reported similar things.
• I find visions a fascinating subject.

Which are named forms of religious experience

Select the TWO that are recognised forms of religious experience in this topic.

• A conversion, in which a person turns to a faith and their life is changed
• Charismatic or ecstatic worship, such as speaking in tongues among Pentecostal Christians
• Reading about a religion in a textbook
• Agreeing with a design argument after thinking it through

The questions that unlock this topic

Whatever experience you are given, the same short set of questions gets you to a strong answer. ⭐ What is agreed? Almost always, that the person had the experience, and often that some event occurred. ⭐ What is the step? The move from that agreed report to the claim that God is its cause. Attack or defend THAT, not the report. ⭐ Whose evidence is it? For the person it happened to, it can be overwhelming. For everybody else it is testimony, which they must weigh, and honesty does not settle it. ⭐ Is there a natural account? The strongest objection offers another cause; the strongest reply says why God still fits the experience better. Give both. ⚠️ Set out both sides and attribute each. This theme is marked on the quality of reasoning, never on declaring whether God exists.

Match each form to what it is

The only person who saw it

Leave religion aside. Imagine someone alone on a hillside at dawn who watches a rare animal step into the open, look around, and slip away into the trees. ⭐ For that person, there is no doubt at all. They were there. They saw it with their own eyes. Nothing anyone says later can change what happened in front of them. ⭐⭐ But now think about everyone they tell. Those people did not see it. All they have is the word of the one who did, and they have to decide whether to accept it. And here is the hard part. The witness can be completely truthful, remember it perfectly, and describe it well, and a listener can still, quite reasonably, not be sure. Being truthful and being accepted are simply not the same thing. That is the shape to carry back. The same event can be certain for the one it happened to and an open question for everybody else, and no amount of honesty closes that gap on its own.

Complete the revelation and experience facts

God making himself known to people is called _____. When it is open to anyone, through the created world and conscience, it is called _____ revelation; when it is given to particular people, it is called _____ revelation. An event that seems to break the usual laws of nature, taken by believers as an act of God, is a _____. Because such experiences happen to one person, everyone else must rely on their _____, which is why a completely honest account is still not always _____.

Build the balanced answer

Assemble the core of a strong answer on a reported religious experience.

Experiencing God quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Respond to an experience fairly

Someone tells you, sincerely, that they had an experience they are sure was God. Work through how to respond in the fair, attributed way this theme rewards.

• How do you begin?
• They ask why you cannot simply take their word that it was God. What is the fair answer?
• They ask what a believer would say back to a sceptic here. How do you keep it balanced?

Evaluate experience as evidence

Some people argue that religious experiences are strong evidence that God exists, while others argue they prove nothing beyond the mind of the person who has them. Evaluate this, using revelation, miracles and the idea of testimony.

• Explain what is agreed in a reported religious experience, and what the disputed step is
• Explain why the evidence looks different to the person it happened to than to everyone else
• Give the view that such experiences are strong evidence for God, attributing it
• Give the view that they show only something about the person, and the reply believers make, attributing each
• Reach a judgement and support it, remembering that no position is being marked as the right one