Divine Revelation

This is the last and probably shortest of this series. The reason is that it does not rely on much reasoning or hard thinking. It is the most common type of revelation to be found in the Bible, but the hardest to believe or grasp. Divine revelation is simply when God shows himself without any means of Christians. It is the burning bush, Isaiah's vision, the Damascus road where Paul saw Jesus, it is the dream that Afarin experienced (the book Persian Springs gives accounts on how God reached out to Persians through dreams, visions, and even speaking to them; its not a book that proves things but it is a book that demonstrates things), and many other real events where God has spoken to man directly.

Now how do we know this reliable? How do we know its not a mere illusion? You can go through Alston's defense through religious experience, but that is not very appeasing, although helps think through these things. Divine Reveation does not rely on the actual events but on the person of God. If the God of the Bible truely exists then there is no reason not to believe these things. Is Divine Revelation proof that God does exist? Most certainly to the individual who experiences it, but I do not think that the purpose is to convince everyone. It is not a normal event because it is more important for God to make sense for your life instead of Him giving you a cool experience. Almost everytime Divine Revelation has been used it was to reach out to someone like Moses or Paul or many of the people who still are reached today by these miraculous events. And these people most definitely turned to God by the attention that God had through these miraculous events, but God wants us to understand propositions and realities in our normal lives that can only make sense through Him. God equally shows his existence in the way he gives meaning to our lives unlike any other worldview can do. A lot of times we like to take the unusual and make it the norm and say that Divine Revelation proves God exists (and that is valid to a point), but it is more helpful to say that God's existence validates the Divine Revelation.

So Why doesn't everyone experience Divine Revelation if it has such a good track record of turning people to God? Why doesn't God write in the clouds that he is there and that the Bible is true? As Dale Fincher puts in his book, "Living with Questions", God does not want to overwhelm us. It is in that moderation between silence and overwhelming us that God best reaches out to us. As Dale said, we would freak out if these things happened to us. It is in the propositional truth of the gospel that God reaches out to us with because it is solid truth that gives meaning of who you are. I know for myself I would much rather have God get my attention through giving me ideas, propositions, and truth that puts the peices together than having a totally emotional experience that, in and of itself, brings even more questions of reliability and so on. God reaches us best when he gives us things that real to us, the norm, and not the unreal or the rare exceptions.

Divine Revelation is real although rare. It is the most bizarre and unsure way that God reaches us, but it is very effective. And this is the end of this little series of Revelation. I learned a lot through it and now it is time to move on to new and exciting things.