RE Unit 9

• 9.1 Revelation - what is it

  God revealing himself/ he becomes known
• 9.1 Revelation - Old Testament (FATHER)

  • appears as a burning bush (biblical)
  • appears on Mount Sinai - Moses receives 10 commandments (biblical)
  • sends the ten plagues (biblical)
  • prophets hear God
  • Abraham receives messages from (says there is one God)
• 9.1 Revelation - New Testament

  • Jesus (who is God -incarnation) - most important and saved us from sin
  • Jesus is the ‘culmination of God’s revelation‘ - the climax of God’s revelation- best way we know God
  • Pentecost - Holy Spirit appears as tongues of flame - helps the disciples preach in multiple languages (after Jesus’ ascension)
• 9.1 Revelation swa


  ‘(The Son) reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature.’
• 9.2 Visions - name 2 types

  Disembodied (hear a voice) and Corporeal (see someone)
• 9.2 biblical visions 


  Annunciation- angel Gabriel visits Mary

  Saul (blinded by light, hears Jesus: ‘why do you persecute me?’)
• 9.2 non-biblical visions 


  Bernadette’s vision of Mary at Lourdes. Mary asks her to dig and spring of water appears (Holy Water) . Mary confirms that she is the ‘Immaculate Conception’

  Mary appeared to shepherd children- Fatima, Portugal
• 9.2 Visions good evidence for God’s existence

  • Multiple witnesses
  • message/ visions become true ( Fatima- WW2, Russia becoming Communist)
  • No alternative scientific explanations
  • shows God’s omnipotence
  • shows God’s benevolence- communicating with us today
• 9.2 Visions poor evidence for God’s existence

  • Drugs
  • mentally unwell
  • hallucination
  • imagination (dreams)
  • dreams dependent on ‘feeling’ or intuition that it is real
  • wish fulfilment
  • not enough evidence to believe
  • perhaps alternative scientific explanation
• 9.2 Visions 


  ‘Fear not Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great’ (Genesis)

  ‘This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him‘ (Matthew)
• 9.3 Miracles - what is it?

  An event which defies the laws of nature and caused by God
• 9.3 Miracles Purpose

  Proves God’s omnipotence (‘awe’/ ‘God-fearing’), deepens faith in God, shows God’s benevolence- intervenes.
• 9.3 Miracles biblical

  OLD TESTAMENT:

  • Parting of Red Sea

  • Birth of Isaac (Sarah and Abraham to old to conceive)

  NEW TESTAMENT:

  • All of Jesus’ e.g. resurrection, water into wine, feeding 5000, calming of storm (nature), healing of the paralytic, blind, Lazarus

  (healing)

  • Pentecost- talking in tongues
• 9.3 Miracles modern/ today

  Lourdes (medical miracles)

  Near-death experiences

  ‘Bleeding’ host

  Transubstantiation (bread becomes Jesus’ body at every Mass)
• How is natural revelation and spiritual revelation different?

  Natural revelation is the revealing of Gods nature through the natural wirle around us whereas spiritual revelation is revealing more of God's nature spiritually or through the bible.
• Jesus Christ is the...

  Perfect revelation. He is the embodiment of revelation and God.
• What do we learn about God through Jesus?

  God saves, forgives, loves and sacrifices. God wants to relate to us. "He reflects the glory of god and bears the very stamp of his nature" - Book of hebrews.
• The significance of Jesus Christ as the culmination of revelation.

  Gods final truth came in Jesus after the incarnation. There can not be a higher revelation than Jesus Christ.
• What does the revelation in Jesus Christ showsCatholics about gods nature?

  Through Jesus Christ, Catholics perceive God as caring, one who loves, one who forgives and the crucifixion shows pericherisuis (self-giving love).
• What is the principle of Okhams' Razor?


  The simplest explanation is the true explanation.
• Why does the Bible not prove gods existence?

  -written by men thousands of years ago so a book of history not a book of proof

  
  

  -need religious faith to understand it...so why need faith when it gives you proof?

  
  

  -Bible must be taken metaphorically and not literally.

  
  

  -proof requires concrete evidence, which the Bible can never .

  
  

  -Bible contains lots of stories that defy the laws of nature, making it hard to believe
• Why are visions important to Catholics?

  -Often contain similar attributes across nations PINT

  -strengthen faith, compelling occurrences.

  -For the mystic, they cannot be denied and have an indéniable impact, often changing lives.

  -they impart noetic truths that would otherwise not be known. E.g."I am the immaculate conception"
• Two biblical visions:


  -Abrahamic covenant with G-d: "Do not be afraid Abraham..."

  -the transfiguration: when Jesus was lifted up by Elisah and Moses and Peter knew he was the messiah. "This is my beloved son, of whom I am well pleased"
• One non-biblical vision:


  -Joan of Arc was a peasant girl from France who received visions from St. Michael and St. Catherine which led her to the court of Charles VII. She persuaded him to join the royal army and led it to many successful battles with the English. She was caught, put on trail and burnt at the stake by the English at 19 years old.
• Types of visions


  Corporal visions - bodily visions

  Imaginative visions - in a dream

  Intellectual visions - with minds eye tells noetic truths (E.G. C.S. LEWIS)
• Richard Swinburne principles:


  A source must be credulous and must have a testimony. If Joan of Arc was an established liar, her testimony with be incredulous e.c.t.
• William James-


  All visions contain similar charecteristics: (PINT)
• "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary explanations"

  -Carl sagon
• Visions (no) sigman Freud

  Visions are nothing more than "wishful thinking"
• What is miracle?


  America, with anything that divides the laws of nature. It is not possible and for religious people, the only explanation is God.
• David Hume on miracles

  Miracles only occur to ignorant and barbarous nations of illeducated people. "A wise man proportions his belief to evidence, and we have no evidence of miracles."
• Holland on miracles:


  Miracles are nothing more than remarkable coincidences that are interpreted in a religious fashion.
• Just because something has no explanation cannot mean that the explaination is god.


  "We end with a god of the gaps" -Dawkins
• The placebo effect on miracles


  Belief alone causes healing, not god.
• Thomas Aquinas on miracles


  "miracles are beyond human understanding so too is god. Miracles have a divine purpose, which most people fail to understand.
• On of the 69 verified miracles by the CCC

  John Traynor - ww1 veteran - lost legs - went to grotto - healed and now can walk
• Difference between conversion and numinous experiences

  Conversion often involves elements. Not in direct contact with God but can feel his presence. E.g. Saul, God light, Paul.

  
  

  Numinous experience is when you meet the wholly other. You know you are in the presence of God. "Under it, my genius is rebuked" - William Shakespeare
• What does Rudolf Otto say about numinous experiences:

  They are Tremendum, mysterium and fascinas (people just know that god is there)
• Why is numinous experiance important for Catholics?

  It anchors their faith, it reveals gods nature as benevolent, it shows proof that god wants to be involved in his creation, creation does not have to be beautiful, but it is because god is benevolent. "The world is so full of superfluous beauty" -Swinburne
• What is the teleological argument (design argument) in a nutshell:

  1. The universe exhibits design

  2. Anything which appears designed just have been designed.

  3. The universe must have been designed

  4. So there must be a designer of the universe and that designer is God