How do believers say they experience God, and can such experiences be trusted?
Experiencing God: ways believers claim to experience God, including prayer, worship, the numinous, conversion and miracles, what these experiences mean to believers, and the main reasons people question them.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to experiencing God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers ways believers claim to experience God including prayer, worship, the numinous, conversion and miracles, what they mean to believers, and the main reasons people question them.
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What this dot point is asking
You need to explain the ways believers claim to experience God: through prayer, worship, the numinous, conversion and miracles. You should know what these experiences mean to believers and the main reasons people question them. CCEA examiners reward clear explanation of each kind of experience and balanced evaluation of whether such experiences can be trusted. The strongest answers explain what each experience involves and then weigh how convincing it is as evidence for God.
Prayer and worship
Because prayer and worship are part of everyday faith, they are the way most believers say they regularly experience God's presence in their lives.
The numinous and conversion
Two more striking kinds of experience are the numinous and conversion.
- The numinous is a powerful sense of awe and wonder in the presence of something far greater than oneself, often felt in a holy place, in worship, or in the beauty and vastness of nature. The believer feels small before the majesty of God.
- A conversion experience is one in which a person feels called to turn to God or to change their life, sometimes suddenly and dramatically, sometimes gradually. A conversion can lead to a complete change of belief and behaviour.
Both kinds of experience are taken by believers as direct encounters with God that can change how a person sees the world and lives their life.
Miracles
Miracles are important to believers as signs of God's action, but precisely because they claim to break natural laws, they attract the strongest doubts.
Why people question religious experiences
Religious experiences raise serious questions. Critics argue that experiences may come from imagination, strong emotion, expectation or the workings of the brain, rather than from God. They cannot usually be checked or shared with others, so there is no way to test them. People of different religions report different experiences, which seems to point in different directions. And apparent miracles may have natural explanations. Believers reply that the experiences feel real, change lives, and are reported by huge numbers of people, so the best explanation is that they really do encounter God. The debate turns on whether such personal experiences can count as evidence.
How to answer a question on religious experience
A model paragraph built from this method: "Believers claim to experience God in several ways. In prayer and worship, they may sense God's presence, peace or guidance as they pray or take part in services. Some describe the numinous, a powerful sense of awe and wonder before something far greater than themselves. Others point to miracles, events that seem to break the laws of nature and are believed to be the work of God, showing his power and love." This scores highly because it explains each way and what it means to believers.
Try this
Q1. What is the numinous? [2 marks]
- Cue. A powerful sense of awe and wonder in the presence of something far greater than oneself, such as the majesty of God.
Q2. What is a miracle? [2 marks]
- Cue. An event that seems to break the laws of nature and is believed to be caused by God, such as an unexplained healing.
Q3. Give one reason people question religious experiences. [2 marks]
- Cue. They may come from imagination, emotion or the brain, cannot be checked by others, or may have natural explanations.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA Unit 7 (style)5 marksExplain different ways in which believers claim to experience God.Show worked answer →
A five-mark AO1 question. Give two or three developed ways, not a list.
Prayer and worship: many believers feel close to God in prayer and worship, sensing God's presence, peace or guidance as they pray or take part in services.
The numinous: some describe a powerful sense of awe and wonder in the presence of something far greater than themselves, for example in a holy place or in nature.
Conversion and miracles: some believers point to a conversion experience that changed their life, or to a miracle, an event that seems to break the laws of nature and is believed to be the work of God.
Develop each way by explaining what it involves and means. Two or three explained points reach the top of the mark band.
CCEA Unit 7 (style)12 marks'Religious experiences are just in the mind.' Consider different points of view.Show worked answer →
A twelve-mark AO2 evaluation question. Give different points of view, refer to the statement and reach a justified judgement.
Agree: critics argue that experiences may come from imagination, emotion, expectation or the brain, that they cannot be checked by others, and that people of different religions report different experiences, so they may just be in the mind.
Other views: believers argue that experiences feel real and life-changing, that so many people across history report them, and that they can lead to genuine changes in behaviour, so the best explanation is that people really do encounter God.
Judgement: argue that religious experiences cannot be proved to others and may have natural explanations, but for those who have them they are powerful evidence of God, so whether they are "just in the mind" depends on one's starting point. A balanced, supported judgement that refers to the statement reaches the top level.
Related dot points
- Arguments for the existence of God: the design (teleological) argument, the cause (cosmological) argument, the argument from religious experience and miracles, and the main objections to each.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to arguments for the existence of God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers the design argument, the cause argument, the argument from religious experience and miracles, and the main objections to each, with worked exam technique.
- The nature of God in philosophy: belief in God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, as transcendent and immanent, and as personal, and the questions these qualities raise.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to the nature of God in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers belief in God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent, as transcendent and immanent, and as personal, and the philosophical questions these qualities raise.
- The problem of evil and suffering: the difference between moral and natural evil, the challenge it poses to belief in an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God, and Christian responses including free will, soul-making and the example of Jesus.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to the problem of evil and suffering in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers moral and natural evil, the challenge to belief in an all powerful and all loving God, and Christian responses including free will, soul-making and the example of Jesus.
- Life after death: Christian beliefs about the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul, beliefs about heaven, hell and judgement, arguments used to support belief in life after death, and the main objections.
A focused CCEA GCSE Religious Studies guide to life after death in Unit 7 Philosophy of Religion. Covers Christian beliefs about resurrection and the soul, heaven, hell and judgement, arguments used to support belief in life after death, and the main objections.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCSE Religious Studies specification — CCEA (2017)