Personal and/or religious experience is particularly revealing for developing a fuller understanding or ourselves and/God? (35)
Examine and comment on this claim with reference to the topic you have investigated? (15)
“There is no single thing that can be bottled and neatly labelled as a religious experience”-Harvey.
A religious experience is an outward encounter with something divine also known as God. This experience is set apart from any other experience as it is based on religious context. It is the contact of feeling something far greater than one’s self “connection with holiness”. It seems to happen at any time and it is described as likewise being in ‘another dimension’- as one perceive themselves unaware of their surroundings; feeling as if it happens directly outside the body- in a spiritual realm- given the name “supernatural event”. There are many types of religious experiences that were once very rare and are becoming more and more frequent amongst believers of many faiths and non-believers. During this period of time people feel loved, joyful, peaceful and blessed and other times gain some ultimate truth concerning life as well as, by and large, alters and changes behaviour and attitudes. According to some scholars in view of religious experiences humans cannot fully understand or are not yet equipped to explain the experience and as a result this is where the complex issue lies, posing a question on whether experiences are reliable, credible and are valid in terms of understanding human nature and Gods nature.
The purpose of this essay is to identify what religious experiences are, using case studies and scholars to help illustrate how they reveal an understanding of Gods nature as well as human nature.
Richard Swinburne, a 19th century Philosopher quotes “omnipotent and perfectly good creator will seek to interact with his creatures in particular with human persons capable of knowing him”. This highlights the question of why a