1. Write down three things you know because you have experienced them 2. Write down three things you know but have not experienced them. 3. How do you know the three things on your second list? What makes the evidence satisfactory? Could you be wrong?

Science and Belief Sources of understanding: Revelation The Religious Method The Scientific Method Origin of the Universe: Christianity’s explanation : the Creation story The Design Argument The Anthropic Principle The Cosmological Argument Science’s explanation of the universe : the Big Bang Theory Origin of Humans Christianity’s explanation of human life: Adam and Eve Science’s explanation of human life: the Theory of Evolution

Revelation of God’s Nature Christians believe that throughout history God has shown us who He is by what he does. E.g. in giving the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai God revealed to the Jews the kind of life He wanted them to live. Christians believe that throughout the Old Testament He continued to reveal himself through Kings, prophets and individuals in the way he wanted them to live.

For many Christians the final and ultimate revelation of God was in the form of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus was the Incarnation of God – quite literally God made flesh – God in a human form come to Earth to experience life as one of His own creations and so show humans the way He wants them to live.

Revelation of God through scripture different Christians have different views about what the scripture can tell us about God and his plans for humanity The Bible is Divinely guided: this is the same as inspired but God speaks to the writers in some way or other – it is still the direct word of God. The Bible is Divinely inspired. This could mean the writers of the Bible were guided by God when they were writing the Bible down

The Bible is the end result of a lot of Gods mysterious guidance throughout the ages. It is a library of stories and writings from different time periods, culture and geographical locations. Some of it is history, some poetry, letters and stories. The Bible is a human book, but based on the writings of people who have tried to work out what God would want throughout the ages. What is in the Bible is a matter of human selection – however it is still a useful book of guidance for someone trying to live a Christian life.

3 ways people treat the Bible writings Literally true – What the Bible says is what happened, exactly word for word. No argument – Christians who believe this are called Biblical Literalists * Symbolically true; Biblical writings have to be understood as pointing to truths, metaphors and allegories but no to be taken literally true. People who believe this are sometimes called Biblical Liberalists Part literal and part symbolic; Biblical writings are a mixture of things which are literally true and things that need to be interpretated. Which is which, is a matter of debate….

Question Do you think that people read the Bible these days? 2 mins in groups , discuss.

Strengths and limitations of this kind of Revelation The Bible is quite clear and can be read by anyone so its obvious what its messages are This means that we have God’s direct word on what he is like and how we should live our lives. You don’t have to guess about anything – it’s a reliable way to find out about God and what he wants for humans. If you understand the Bible literally then it is simple to work out the truth of what God is and what he want. The Bible may appear clear but it’s a complicated text. It might not be a good guide for modern living It may be God’s word but it might also involve human hands which have written things or selected things to include which are there for human reasons rather than God’s. You may not need to guess but interpretating the Bible is a complex task and so it might not be a very reliable way to find out about God or about his wants and desires. If you don’t understand the Bible literally then you need to work out what is truth and what is myth and so on.

General and Special Revelation Many people say they will only believe in God when God reveals itself (himself/herself) 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 non-believers 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.” NB / 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.

Could also be: Specific miracles – parting red sea, feeding of the 5 thousand Dreams – as in Joseph ‘Appearances’ – burning bush Speaking directly – as when he spoke to Samuel By becoming human in the form of Jesus. Jesus was an example both of how to live a human life but also a glimpse of the nature of God.

Question What would you do if you thought that God had spoken to you in a dream? 2mins discuss

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 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. Knowing God through holy books

Examples of General Revelation 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. Knowing God through nature

Strengths and limitations Nature points to God A conscience might point to God Miracles and supernatural happenings all point to God Hearing the voice of God can have no other explanation than the existence of God Nature could just as well point to other processes (evolution) Conscience could just be your brain Miracles might be just exaggerated stories or Chinese whispers People hear voices in their head and do some very strange things.

Examples of General Revelation People learn about God through the lives and example of religious people they admire. Knowing God through the lives of Inspirational people

Examples of General Revelation 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. Knowing God through religious leaders

Question Some people argue that God seemed a lot more present in the past than He is today because he revealed himself much more directly than now. Others argue that God still reveals himself today – we just don’t listen so well nowadays… What do you think? INDIVIDUAL ANSWERS

Revelation through the traditions of the Church Christians also believe that God has revealed himself throughout the ages through the traditions of the Church. For this we need a short history lesson, very simplified.

After Jesus died, the disciples hid away and then came out three days later to say that he had risen from the dead. They formed a small Jewish sect in a Roman world and had a hard time of it through persecution. Each disciple, it is said, took the new faith to different lands.

The apostle Paul finally spread it to the non-Jewish (Gentile) world, explaining very Jewish ideas in ways that non-Jews would understand . The persecutions continued until the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire.

One Christian Church now existed, but the leaders of the Church in important cities across the world now thought they were the true Church. Eventually two cities held the real power of the Christian Church

Rome Constantinople – now Istanbul in Turkey

However the Church remained one organisation until it split in 1054 between the East – Constantinople and the West – Rome. It has now split into two – The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Both had their own internal disputes, but a major split came to the West in the 16th century when Martin Luther broke away from the church and so began the split between Protestants and Catholics in the West. The Protestant Church itself split into many groups as it is today – Baptists, Quakers, Methodists and so on.

Through out this each Church developed its own traditions and ways of doing things as well as focussing on different aspects of belief. Example 1: In the Roman Catholic Church there are no women priests. This is tradition and reflects the belief that God made men and women to carry out different roles in life and also reflects the fact that Jesus did not choose any female disciples. However other branches of the Christian church have women priests – which Church has got it right? Which one is God revealing himself to?

Example 2: Some Christian churches baptise babies to welcome them into the Church. Others have believers baptisms – where only adults who understand what they are doing are baptised. Again the tradition of infant or believers baptism says something about what these Churches believe about the nature of God. However other churches do not have baptisms at all – which Church is right?

Strengths and Limitations The Church has maintained its traditions for two thousand years. This is a very firm foundation to base your belief in God. The church is full of people who God has called to represent Him and so reveals who He is and what He wants. The Churches leadership has provided a stable foundation for people’s beliefs throughout its history. The Church has changed so much over a mere two thousand years that it cannot be a very reliable messenger of what God is and what He wants, some of its old beliefs would be unacceptable in today's world. The Church is an organisation of humans and as such it has all the problems associated with it. It’s teachings are far to mixed up with culture, politics and history to tell us anything meaningful about the nature of God. The leadership of the Church has been anything but stable and certainly not something which can reveal God to us.

Question Do you think that the Christian Church is as central (important) in the world today as it once was? 2 mins discuss…

Examples of General Revelation 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. Knowing God through worship

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.

To think about Discuss the good and bad points of just accepting religious experiences like this?

Can you see any problems with letting scientists investigate alleged religious experiences?

Do you think these experiences prove there's a God? I do / do not believe these experiences prove there’s a God because…. For example… Also …..

Questions Explain why Christians think of Jesus as the ‘ultimate revelation of God?’ Some people believe that the Bible is ‘divinely inspired’. What does this mean? What is the difference in interpreting the Bible literally and in a liberal way? Explain the difference between general and special revelation?

Science and Belief - Revelation Read pages 11-28 questions 4-23