Believing in God overview

Clare Dempsey9X2

What is a religious experience?

A religious experience is a powerful experience that draws you closer to God. A religious experience could be experiencing the numinous, having a

vision or a revelation.

Examples of religious experiences

The numinousThe numinous is when you feel that you are in the presence of something greater than you, for example in a church, or looking

up at the stars- this could lead to belief in God.

Conversion ExperienceThis is when your set of beliefs is changed by seeing God.

A VisionA vision is when you see a holy figure, or have a dream which is a

message from God (revelation) for example, people in Lourdes seeing Mary.

Biblical example of a religious experience.

A Biblical example of a miracle is the conversion of Saul to Paul. Saul was a man who hated Christianity, and wanted to kill Christians for what they believed. One day he was going to find the hiding Christians in Damascus and he was going to kill them, but as he was on his way, God appeared to him in the form of a bright light and said to him "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul then saw that the word of the

Lord was the way to live. He had to run away from his former life and he started afresh; firstly by changing his

name from Saul to Paul, he escaped from his town because people wanted to kill him for being a traitor to his former beliefs. He then spread the Word of Jesus and the Lord all

the way to Italy. This religious experience was a vision that lead to a conversion.

Modern day examples of a miracle.

1) A modern day example of a religious experience is Stephen Lungu's. He had a racist government and the black people

were oppressed and unable to vote or take part in anything. The white Christians used the bible to oppress the black people and said that God hated black people; because of

this Stephen Lungu and some other oppressed people decided to go to a meeting the Christians had and they

were going to kill them but when he was at the meeting, he heard some readings from the bible and realized that the

real message of the Lord is love. He then went to the police and handed in his weapons and said that he was sorry for

what he planned to do, he said to the police that God forgave him so they said that if his God forgave him, then so did they, the officer then gave him some money to go and buy his first bible. This experience was a revelation.

One more example of a religious experience is something that happened to Nicky Cruz. Nicky Cruz had a rough childhood, he

grew up in Puerto Rico and his parents practiced witchcraft. At the age of 15 he became member of a New York City gang called the Mau-Mau's and he was often involved in fights with the rival gang

(the bishops). There was a Christian man who always followed Nicky round trying to persuade him to stop the violence and start

believing in the Lord's ways, Nicky often beat up the preacher because he was annoying him by constantly telling him to change his ways. Nicky was the warlord so it was he who decided with the

other warlord when and where the fights were and also what weapons were to be used, so one day Nicky decided to arrange a

fight in the hall where the preachers meetings were held, they were ready to have a fight and the preacher tried to stop him, he then told everyone from both gangs to sit down and listen to what

he was about to say. He tried to make all of them take of their caps in reverence to the Lords word that he was reciting from the

Bible and some did, Nicky was not one of these people. As the preacher began to tell them about the pain that Jesus suffered for

them, so that they wouldn't have to, Nicky felt a numinous sensation and took of this cap and sat and listened in wonder, awe

and reverence. Nicky Cruz then changed his life and became a renowned religious minister. This religious experience was another

form of revelation.

Reasons why Catholics believe in God.

Classical ArgumentsThere are many different reasons that could lead you to believe in God. The

Earth is something that could cause someone to believe in God, these arguments are known as the Teleological, Cosmological and Ontological arguments. The Teleological argument was founded by William Paley.

Paley used the analogy of a watch to the Earth and this was his argument "If you were walking on a heath and saw a watch on the ground you would

assume that its parts had not come together by chance because it is to ordered and complicated. Therefore someone must have designed it for it

to work"  He said that this is the same for the Universe because all the parts couldn't  have just come together by chance (which is stated by the

chaos theory) therefore it must have been created by someone/something, and that something was God. The Cosmological argument was triggered off by St. Thomas Aquinas when he said "Everything happens, has a cause if we follow everything back to the beginning, we come to a first cause, this

cause was God" Meaning that something must have always been there and this creator was God, which is the only uncaused begotten thing. One more

argument is the Ontological argument, this argument says "Nothing greater than God can be conceived" This argument means that nothing

greater than the description of what God is (Omnipotent, Omniscient and Benevolent) could ever walk or Exist on the Earth; but their must be

something that is perfect and All powerful, knowing and loving for the World to exist. These are all classical arguments

Modern argumentsAnother argument that could lead people to believe in God is the moral argument. This

argument states that God must exist because we all have a moral sense of what is right and wrong, and we couldn't just be born with it unless it was intended that we had it, and the

only way this is possible is if God is real and he intended for it to be that way. This is a Modern argument.

Another modern argument is religious experience. People believe that they have had 'religious experiences' A religious experience is and experience that draws you closer to God. For

example experiencing the Numinous. The Numinous is an overwhelming sensation where you believe you are in the presence of something greater than you. Conversion is another

type of religious experience. Conversion is when you have a set of believes that are changed because you believe your life has been changed by seeing God. For example you are an atheist, and you experience something such as the Numinous and you then believe that God is their, making you become a Theist/Monotheist, Stephen Lungu is one of many

people that had a conversion experience. A miracle is another example of religious experience, a miracle is something that defies the laws of science and is thought to only be possible by God, a biblical example of a miracle is the water to wine. Answered prayers or revelation is something also believed to be a religious experience. An example of this is if you are an Agnostic and you pray someone who is ill in your family gets better, and they make a miraculous recovery, you could become a theist, and the experience drew you closer to God. One more example of a religious experience is a mystical experience. A

mystical experience is more than a numinous sensation and it is said to happen out of time and out of body. Someone who claims they have experienced this is Mickey Robinson. Mickey Robinson physically died, and found himself in the presence of God. This is a

mystical experience.Something that could also make a person believe in God is a religious upbringing. A religious

upbringing concludes of being taught prayers as soon as you could talk, saying them before meals, at night and at other regular intervals. Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, regularly attending mass, going to children's liturgies, going to a catholic school, then re lessons at

school and also assemblies with regular prayers during the school day.  This also relates to the saying of a Jesuit priest "Give me the boy till the age of seven, and I'll show you the

man" Meaning that whatever you are taught till you are about 7 and you don't question it you are most likely going to believe it or accept it for the rest of you life.

What is theodicy?Theodicy is the way in which Christians try to explain why evil exists in a World made by a Benevolent God.

What is the problem of evil?

The problem of evil is that why does evil exist if God is Benevolent,

omnipotent and omniscient. Surely; if God was Benevolent he wouldn’t

want evil to happen, if he was omnipotent he could over come evil.

And surely is he was omniscient, couldn’t he foresee evil? This is the

problem of evil that Christians would respond to through theodicy.

Christian responses to the problem of evil

• Suffering makes life matter, you can’t have good without having bad, therefore suffering adds meaning to life.

• Service to others, we need to use our free will to help those who suffer, this is the reason God gave us freewill

• Suffering is preparation for paradise, Christians believe that there is no point in having a perfect World, and heaven, one must have some evils.

• Suffering is a mystery, all we can do is try our best to help people to others and pray for them

Examples of evilsMoral Evils

• Oppression• Bullying

• Terrorist attacks• Murder

Moral evils are actions done by humans that

cause suffering

Natural Evils

•Earthquakes

•Tsunamis

Natural evils are things that cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans- they happen

naturally.

Borderline

•Poverty/famine

Some evils are natural, but are

preventable by the actions of humans, therefore they lie in

the middle

What is a miracle?

A miracle is something that defies the laws of science, and is thought only

to be possible by God. Some people believe that God is constantly performing miracles on

Earth.

Biblical exampleA Biblical example of a miracle is when Jesus bought Jarus'

daughter back from the dead. The story was that Jarus' daughter was ill and dying, and Jarus went to Jesus to ask him if he could come and save his daughter, Jesus said no, not right now, although Jarus begged, Jesus still didn't go and stop her from dying. When Jesus did eventually come

to where his daughter lay, they pronounced her to be dead, Jesus said "She is not dead, she is sleeping" Everybody

thought he was trying to make a joke but he went to where the girl was laid out on the bed and he put his hands on her head and said "Tabitha Kovum" , she then awoke from her unconscious state. The message in this is to always trust

and be patient with the Lord, he will always do what is best for you. This was a miracle because Jesus bought his

daughter back to life without any medical assistance and it broke the laws of scientific reason.

Modern day exampleA modern day miracle could be a vision (which is also a form

of religious experience). A vision is when you see something that is beyond this Earth, often sacred and holy; for example the many people who claim to have seen Mary,

and since the first time, claim to see her daily, a vision could include an important message, or something that you should to. Some people who have visited Lourdes, claim to

have had miracles, some medical miracles, but some people who have been there in the hope of being medically cured; have found that physically they have not been cure, but they feel they have been spiritually cleansed, and some

believe they have had a revelation. 5,000 miracles have been claimed to have happened in relation to Lourdes.

Why are some people atheists?

• They believe there is too much evil in the World for a God to exist

• The Biochemical theories prove how the Universe was created, and that God is a delusion that we use for the explanation of things we do not know

• We create God and heaven to comfort ourselves, and it isn’t real

• They have not been brought up in a religious environment

Keywords for Believing in God.

• Theist: Someone who believes in a God• Monotheist: Someone who believes in on God, and one God

only• Polytheist: Someone who believes in many gods• Agnostic: Someone who is unsure of their religious beliefs

regarding the existence of God• Atheist: Someone who does not believe in any God• Numinous: The feeling that you are in the presence of

something greater than you• Conversion: When your beliefs are changed by seeing God• Miracle: Something that defies the laws of science• Mystical Experience: takes place out of time and out of

body, for example, a near death experience, and you believe you saw/experienced God

• Teleological argument: the argument founded by Paley; when he used the analogy of a Watch to the Earth, saying that the Earth is to complicated to have just happened with no plan (like the chaos theory states) but God must have planned the Earth, with a plan and purpose.

• Cosmological argument: cosmology is the theory that states that everything has a cause, except for one begotten uncaused thing, people think this one begotten uncaused thing is God.

• Moral evils: evils that people cause by their actions• Natural evils: evils that are caused not by peoples actions,

but by nature/ they happen naturally• Omnipotent: all powerful• Omniscient: All knowing• Benevolent: all loving/kind/good• Prayer: an attempt to communicate with God• Free will: the freedom to do what we wish