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Introduction

1) The classic religious experience is a group of like-minded individuals who claim to have experienced the same thing, in the example given; the disciples claim to see Jesus after he had died on the cross. It is normally not believed by others and also some within the group. The response tends to be that others tend not to believe your perception and experience. In John20, it was St.Thomas who disagreed with the other disciplines and stated, "Unless I see the scars... I will not believe." This gives an example of one of one of many claims opposing religious experiences. 2) When saying that religious experiences can provide a "fountain of faith" means it can confirm someone's faith and religion, making it more secure, or even making some believe in their own faith to a further extent. It is a subjective comment. 3) Swinburne's five types of religious experiences. Two being public and three private. Public: * Personal interpretation - An individual sees God or God's action in a public object or scene. I.e. Rainbow * Breach of natural law - Examples such as people walking on water, a person appearing in a locked room, and turning water into wine. Less emphasis on personal interpretation here, although the sceptic maintains that whilst something inexplicable may have occurred, there is no need to attribute this to God. ...read more.

Middle

The probability of this seems to be low, and therefore the quality of the statement must be proportionally high. Vardy essentially claims that not all religious statements are true according to Swinburne's theory. Swinburne states that we should believe what we have been told; however if it is a misconception then surely it cannot be rendered a religious experience. 8) Caroline Davis is generally anti the reliability of religious experiences. Her decision is highlighted when Vardy says that she maintains that, while some challenges may have been force, the balance of probability rests with religious experience pointing beyond themselves to something that has actually been experienced. She believes that religious experiences are due to psychological states, or that they should be dismissed because they are relative to different cultures. 9) David Hay of the Oxford Centre for Religious Experience. His contributions to religious experiences is that he had conducted many interviews throughout the country under carefully controlled conditions and has found that a very high proportion of people claim to have had experiences of a power or presence beyond themselves. 10) Being a believer affects your position as the claims can be substantial and, if they could be justified then religious believers would indeed be able to rely on religious experience. The claims could misguide or mislead believers in advocating such extraordinary perceptions on God and how others perceive him via a religious experience. ...read more.

Conclusion

* Or does it fit in with other claims that have been made within are traditional reports and other things that we claim to know? These tests will help distinguish between weather a claim is in fact true of false or weather it has made a development or transformed someone's life in a major way. 14) I believe that religious experiences tend to occur within faith as it justifies it more so than it not to be. However, I do feel that in some occasions religious experiences can occur to make an impact on an individual to either become a believer in faith and religion or convert into a different religion, highlighted with the immense change in St.Paul after his intervene with God. It tends to stay within the boundaries of faith, as those who tend to respect and worship God, are rewarded with visual and sometimes physical enlightenments of religious experiences. When it comes to affecting its credibility, I feel it proves it more, as we are more likely to believe someone who has believed in religion, faith and God for numerous amounts of years, to an individual who maybe an atheist or simply does not take any interest in religion. As a whole I personally wouldn't rely on any conception of a religious experience until I have experienced it myself. Jaspreet Samra. 13.2 ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Religion in the Media section.