Put simply, revelation is when you reveal something which is previously hidden.
Here is a simple game which we do in class so often that kids are now taking days off sick to avoid me doing it:
The 'revelation game' part1
Behind the door of the cupboard there is something
hidden.
The 'revelation game' part2
You can now take a guess and try to work it out.
The 'revelation game' part3
In fact you can keep guessing all day because it
really is a mystery.
The 'revelation game' part4
Finally, after several hours I open the door slowly
to reveal it to you.
The 'revelation game' part5
Today I put a banana in there. Did you guess it
right?
The 'revelation game' part6
Whatever you guessed, you now understand what
revelation is: the banana was previously
hidden, but now it has been revealed.
Here is the important bit:
The main problem that we have in life is that the
universe is so big. Where can we get the answers to
the big 4 questions? We can
only guess.
But...
...what if there is a God outside of the universe?
If so, we might be able to get some help...
Revelation is...
...when God
reveals what is hidden to us. If God were to
reveal to us the answers to the big 4 questions we
wouldn't need to guess.
Which religion/revelation?
At this point you could get into the thorniest of
discussions: if different religions claim to have
the revelation of God, which do you believe? Are
they all the same or are they different?
An example might be the Muslim and Christian religions: both claim that they have had revelations from God. It isn't the job of this website to give an answer to this question, but at least if you know about the question you can start to think about it for yourself and avoid being a beliefs dimlow.
What are the 4 big questions? Do you know them? Do you know any possible answers that people might give?
Do you know what form revelation might take among the main religious groups in the world?
If you are doing this for GCSE (or simply have a large brain) you might want to get into the differences between general and special revelation.
An example might be the Muslim and Christian religions: both claim that they have had revelations from God. It isn't the job of this website to give an answer to this question, but at least if you know about the question you can start to think about it for yourself and avoid being a beliefs dimlow.
What are the 4 big questions? Do you know them? Do you know any possible answers that people might give?
Do you know what form revelation might take among the main religious groups in the world?
If you are doing this for GCSE (or simply have a large brain) you might want to get into the differences between general and special revelation.
2 types of revelation
As has already been pointed out on this page,
revelation is when God reveals what
has been previously hidden.
But did you know that there are two types of revelation?
But did you know that there are two types of revelation?
General revelation
This when we draw information about the 4 big
questions from common experiences.
- examples might include reason, looking around you at the world, feelings, dreams, etc
What are the good and bad things about this form of revelation? Don't just accept what is being said, ask some hard questions about and show you have a lovely brain.
- examples might include reason, looking around you at the world, feelings, dreams, etc
What are the good and bad things about this form of revelation? Don't just accept what is being said, ask some hard questions about and show you have a lovely brain.
Special revelation
This is when there is some form of direct or
personal connection with God.
- examples include things like the Qur'an (Muslims), Jesus and the Bible (Christians), visions or prophecies
Some people will get a bit upset with this page because they think that religious texts are general forms of revelation. I am going to disagree with this because I have discussed the point with both Christian and Muslim people, and both disagree with what some key RE text books are saying... best to go with what the believers think.
What are the problems raised by having different people claiming different revelations? Are they all the same or are there some who are right and wrong? How can you tell the difference? What might you do to start to figure it out for yourself?
Having some idea of how you can cope with this will really help get you a decent grade.
- examples include things like the Qur'an (Muslims), Jesus and the Bible (Christians), visions or prophecies
Some people will get a bit upset with this page because they think that religious texts are general forms of revelation. I am going to disagree with this because I have discussed the point with both Christian and Muslim people, and both disagree with what some key RE text books are saying... best to go with what the believers think.
What are the problems raised by having different people claiming different revelations? Are they all the same or are there some who are right and wrong? How can you tell the difference? What might you do to start to figure it out for yourself?
Having some idea of how you can cope with this will really help get you a decent grade.
What are the 4 big questions? Do you know them? Do you know any possible answers that people might give?
Do you know what form revelation might take among the main religious groups in the world?
If you are doing this for GCSE (or simply have a large brain) you might want to get into the differences between general and special revelation.