The Existence of God

The Existence of God

What we call religious experience can differ greatly. Some reports

exist of supernatural happenings that it would be difficult to explain

from a rational, scientific point of view. On the other hand, there

also exist the sorts of testimonies that simply seem to convey a

feeling or a peace of oneness- something which most of us, religious

or not, may possibly relate to.

Firstly, I will consider the nature of an experience. Experience

involves encounters which are empirical (testable via senses). We draw

non- empirical conclusions about many things and people- that they

have orange hair and are 5 feet tall, that they are lonely and

confused. These conclusions are mainly although not entirely based on

empirical evidence. If most our encounters with other people and

objects are empirical it is therefore reasonable to suggest that we

can experience God and draw conclusions about there nature from this

experience. If we can find meaning in things that cannot be verified

by empirical evidence then it may well be possible to experience God

and use these experiences to prove gods nature and existence.

Experiences of god are not regular and universal like ordinary

experiences. Religious experiences often accompanies existing belief

i.e. takes place with those who are already believers. God is believed

first via faith which means that by having a basic framework it'll

make you accept religious experiences. It is possible to conclude that

it is a learned belief.

Could one go as to suggest that religious experiences are proof for

the existence of God? For a religious believer the involvement of God

in human af...

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...eligious experience of their god. This then takes

us back to the notion that religious experiences are shadowed by ones

culture/ tradition and therefore human rather than divinely centred.

To conclude, I believe claiming a religious experience as a proof for

the existence of god creates more questions and problems than it seeks

to answer. Furthermore, sceptics may state that the fact one claims to

have had a religious experience does not mean that god exists. Just

because a person believes god is there (epistemology) does not mean

that God is actually there (ontology). You need something more than

the 'feeling' of religious experience for the verification of this.

The argument may form a part of a proof but it often combines with

other proofs, the argument is not sufficient alone.

[1] The Puzzle of God page 101