Religious Experience Research Paper

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A religious experience is a mystical, sacred or spiritual experience which is usually interpreted as something religious or of a similar framework. People around the world have been said to experience these events either following a lost loved one or a fact that the individual might not know. A large variety of experiences can generally considered as a religious, but there is not a definite set of experiences. However, there are many types of religious experiences. Nevertheless, we can still draw many conclusions arguing for and against the use of these experiences as proving that God exists (and that He communicates to people). The types of religious experiences include: Miracles - An extraordinary and welcome event that’s not explainable…show more content…
“I once prayed for my mother in hospital who was ill with cancer and was going to die, to have a peaceful, painless death and she died with my father by her bedside in her sleep with no pain.” Conversion – A change from one religion to another or none to new beliefs. A person may go through stages leading up to the change or it can happen suddenly. Conversion can also happen after a different type of religious experience such as the Numinous. “I thought I saw the Saviour, by faith, in human shape, for about one second in the room, with arms extended, appearing to say to me, Come. The next day I rejoiced with trembling; soon after, my happiness was so great that I said that I wanted to die; this world had no place in my affections, as I knew of, and every day appeared as solemn to me as the Sabbath.” The Numinous - The idea that human experience is but a subliminal glimpse at a reality that lies far beyond us, is an essential element of these related schools of…show more content…
Firstly, a religious experience could be described as a supernatural experience; this is because a religious experience is of an altered state of consciousness, where an individual reports contact with the transcendent reality (transcendent reality is a spiritual state which is experienced by the inner-self,) or reports an encounter with divine powers. This type of experience can increase the individual's beliefs, and in particular God, this is because they may feel a stronger connection to God. Moreover, the sharing of the experience may be used by those who have already have a strong faith to support their particular religion, and if the religious experience was experienced by a large number of people, this would probably add more persuasion to the claim. If people had evidence of their experience and no rational explanation could be put forward to oppose it, it could then be used as proof that God exists. Believers may argue that there is no need for religious experience to prove that God exists because we should be able to determine it. This may be because of creationism and that the natural beauty of the world is so intricately detailed, it must indeed have a creator and could not possibly have occurred by

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