Religious Method
Revelation
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
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 nonbelievers who find many
reasons to say that their
account is untrue.
Think about this though – if you met
God, could you prove it?
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.
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.
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.
General Revelation
“General revelation is
how people generally
come to know about God
and believe in God.
They don’t have any
special experience, but
they gradually come to
faith through a variety of
experiences.
Examples of General
Revelation
• Knowing God
through holy
books
• 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.
Examples of General
Revelation
• Knowing God
through nature
• 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.
Examples of General
Revelation
• Knowing God
through the lives of
Inspirational people
• 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.
Examples of General
Revelation
• Knowing God
through religious
leaders
• 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.
Examples of General
Revelation
• Knowing God
through worship
• 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.
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.
Proof?
There is no scientific
evidence of a person’s
experience being true – we
cannot prove it happened by
scientific means.
All we can do is listen to
someone’s testimony
(account of the experience)
and judge the impact it had
on them.
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/expressions/unexpected_faces/shroud.html
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.