General Revelation - God disclosing truths or knowledge about himself to ALL human beings. Everyone has access to this disclosure.
Special Revelation - God disclosing truths or knowledge about himself to specific people or groups of people
Reality - This is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.
Illusion - This is a distortion of reality, and represents reality as it mistakenly appears to us.
Valid - Valid if it presents a truthful representation of reality
General Revelation
Nature
God created the world, as it is his creation, nature should reveal something about God. The fact that the world is balanced suggests that God is very intelligent and powerful. The fact that it is beautiful suggests that he is all-loving.
- Why does nature go wrong, or seem unpleasant?
- The beauty of the world is not necessarily God, could be evolution
Human
Some theists believe humans were created in Gods Image. Therefore our nature reveals something about Gods nature. Our creativity, beauty, intelligence and capacity to love is evidence that God possesses these qualities too
- Human nature also includes conflict, jealousy, greed and hatred. Are these also aspects of God?
- Saying we are like God is perhaps reflects an anthropomorphic understanding of what God is like. We may be basing our idea of God on the things that we value about ourselves
Special Revelation
Sacred Texts
Sacred Texts such as the Bible tell us something about the nature of Godin what is written within them. The texts are said to be divinely written and are usually the word of God. It tells us what God is like and what he has done e.g. made the world.
- How doe we know the authorship is divine? It may be written by human beings
- How are we expected to interpret the text. Some theists interpret in literally and some metaphorically however which one is correct
Prayer
Prayer is a moment of contemplation of communication towards God. Some theists believe that a connection is made and God is present during the prayer. He listens which show that God is personal and loving.
- How do we know that God is present? Perhaps prayer is a moment of contemplation and communication towards nothingness.
- It doesn’t agree with the idea of God as transcendent. How can an almighty God who is not within creation be present to our prayers?
Worship
The practise of offering praise, faithfulness and thankfulness to God in your life. The can be one off or continuous. Some theists believe that a connection is made and God is present during worship. He listens which show that God is personal and loving.
- How do we know that God is present? Perhaps Worship is offering praise, faithfulness and thankfulness to nothingness.
- It doesn’t agree with the idea of God as transcendent. How can an almighty God who is not within creation be present to our worship?
Visions and Dreams
The moment where a person or a group of people witnesses an event (either asleep or awake) which imparts some kind of knowledge about God e.g. Paul on the road to Damascus
- These visions ad dreams may be caused by something other that God. For instance ill-health, over-active imagination and wishful thinking
- God is meant to be all-loving (benevolent), so surely he should reveal himself to everyone rather than a select few
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is where a person becomes one with ultimate reality and suddenly grasps the true nature and purpose of existence. This happened to the Buddha when he meditated under the Bodhi tree. Enlightenment shows there is more to life than the physical world we live in.
- Does enlightenment tell us anything about God? It seems that even an atheist could reach enlightenment through meditation.
- How can we be sure that the person has achieved enlightenment? There is no way of checking if they are right or telling the truth
General Arguments
In Favour:
• If God exists then it seems logical that he would impart knowledge of him to his creation
• There are so many people around the world have had experienced revelations in their life, they cannot all be wrong
Against:
• Revelation is about personal interpretation and usually expresses attitude on the part of the person rather than something verifiably true. There is no way of proving the link to God
• Revelation may not tell us anything about God, but instead about us humans. Freud thought that revelation reflected our own desire for meaning and security in our lives. Feurbach though it reflected humans values (intelligent, power, love) rather than any divine reality which therefore makes it an illusion
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