The existence of God Based on Religious Experience Essay

One burning and enduring problem in philosophy to which we have given considerable examination is the question of the existence of God--the superlative being that philosophers have defined and dealt with for centuries. After reading the classic arguments of St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas, the contentious assertions of Ernest Nagel, and the compelling eyewitness accounts of Julian of Norwich, I have been introduced to some of the most revered and referenced arguments for and against God's existence that have been put into text. All of them are well-thought and well-articulated arguments, but they have their holes. The question of God's true existence, therefore, is still not definitively answered and put to rest; the intensity of this

In this paper, I am going to present an objection to the “divine argument” explained above. An obvious objection to this argument is that it begs the question of its readers, as it forces them to accept the fact that God exists. If one does not accept this fact, then the entire argument is rendered unusable. However, this objection is, quite frankly, boring, and so I shall attempt to give a more nuanced objection. I believe that line 3, which discusses how nobody can change the past, is actually false. Additionally, the inference from premise 7 to the conclusion is false, which renders the argument invalid.

In the book ‘the varieties of religious experience’, James concluded that religious experience testifies that “we can experience union with something larger than ourselves and in that union find our greatest peace”.  He defined such experiences as “experiences of the divine” and believed that religious experience was at the heart of religion. For James, religious teachings, practices and attitudes are second hand religion, which later develop as individuals reflect on their common experience. It is the actual experiences that directly point to God. However this theory does little to prove religious experiences simply because many of his claims do not stand up to critical analysis.

Theologian and author Brian Davies in the first section of chapter five of his 2004 book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, discusses the evidence that highlights the ideal of God’s existence through the Ontological Argument. Davies believes that some of these hold a good argument while others lack logical reasoning to conclusively state “therefore there must be a God.”

Ian Schwarz Robert Trumbull BIS 193 Due 3/2/18 Essay Prompt 1: God The existence of God, whether analyzed philosophically, scientifically, or theologically is probably one of the oldest ontological arguments that has existed and has been asked and debated over for centuries. Religion is something that many simply just surmise, and because of this is strongly tied to the idea of faith.

In William James’ 1902 book “The Varieties of Religious Experience” he opens with depicting the approach of his review. He clarifies that it would be of little advantage to construct the examination with respect to regular people who have bound religious encounters and emulate customs which have been passed on to them. Rather, he centers the review around 'religious virtuosos '. In addition, as he clarifies in his second address, the attention must be on individual religious experience instead of corporate, in light of the fact that it is more central. Actually, it is out of the extreme encounters of a little few that most religious developments (or "factions" as he terms them) have created. Part 3 builds up that individuals appear to have the ability to encounter the concealed furthermore an inclination to see it as being more genuine than things seen, listened, touched or tasted.

Religion is that which grows out of, and gives expression to, experience of the holy in its various aspects. (Rudolf Otto)

Since there is no visible proof of God, it is hard for people to believe. There are atheists, agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, and many other types of non-believers. In contrast to these views, I will argue that there is a God. In fact, Thomas Aquinas tries to explain the existence of God through five arguments. My paper will argue this view by appealing to the five arguments that Thomas Aquinas has discussed in his Summa Theologiae.

Which argument for the existence of God is strongest? Why? This is the specific issue that this paper will address. While there are many millions of people in the world who believe in the existence of God or Allah, Brahman, Jehovah, among other names there are also millions who do not believe in the existence of God. This dispute is an ancient one; and as Deepak Chopra points out, since we cannot see God and because He is "…nowhere and everywhere at the same time" and because he "…transcends nature… [and] leaves no fingerprints in the material world," it is easy for non-believers to challenge Christians as to God's existence (Chopra, 2000, p. 41). Christians on the other hand point to the creation of the Universe and to the natural world on Earth as evidence of a Creator's work.

Experiences, religious or otherwise, possess and exude a subjective nature in and of itself-- it is with this in consideration that one must realize the difficulty of analyzing a personal experience “cognitively,” objectively, or literally. Particularly, religious experiences symbolically bring forth ideals and values commonly seen in theistic beliefs and “moral” values, such as a strong urge to do good deeds unto others, advocating peace and love, and feelings characteristic of humanity. To its fullest extent, a religious experience occurs as a result of letting go of egotistical thoughts in order to truly appreciate the “universe,” or a higher force not necessarily seen in theistic religions such as Christianity and Islam. In abandoning the

To help identify a religious experience, William James put forward four characteristics of a typical experience. The first being passivity: how in control the experient is; as whilst you undergo a religious experience, you take on an 'alternative personality' outside of your own, surrendering your own control to God. The second quality is ineffability, where the experient can't quite put the occurrence into words. Another characteristic of a religious experience is the Noetic Quality of said experience. This quality is the knowledge that is gained in a religious experience, knowledge that cannot be gained in a conventional manner, and tells you something that you otherwise wouldn't know. The final quality is transciency, where the time the experience takes doesn't dictate the significance of the experience, as time is altered or distorted in some way, just as in a dream – the dream may seem really long, whereas in reality it's only been a few minutes

Religion is the shared collections of transcendental beliefs that have been passed on from believers to converts, that are held by adherents to be actively meaningful and serious and either based on: formally documents doctrine, or established cultural practises [1]. Religion in philosophy presents many quandaries and theories surrounding the existence of the “supreme being” God with arguments concerning the universe’s existence, and humans’ ability to understand the nature, intentions and involvement of God. The main argument focused on throughout this essay is the ontological argument, claiming that once humans understand the concept and idea of God, humans should therefore see that God must exists. Ontology focuses on a Priori; knowledge that is independent of all experiences. The ontological

Most major arguments of God are rooted in the existence, or lack thereof. However there has been a continuous debate regarding the specific characteristics of God. In this debate, Charles Hartshorne, Alfred North Whitehead, and other the processed theologians oppose Anselm, Augustine, and other classic theologians. Although there are many points of disagreement, there are some characteristics for which both sides can agree upon. I will show one strong point of agreement and one strong point of opposition, and allow you the opportunity to decide for yourself how different, or similar, these two camps are.

This essay will be examining the key arguments for the existence of God, in order to discuss the claim that “it is wrong to believe in anything without sufficient evidence”- with reference to the non-existence of God. It will be exploring both a priori and an a posteriori argument for the existence of God. It will solely be concentrating on the Theological argument, Cosmological argument and the Ontological argument, in order, to analyse their significance and contribution in vindicating the claim for the existence of God. The essay will begin by providing a clear philosophical characterisation of the God of Classical Theism, in order to accurately evaluate the arguments for his existence. The essay will explore varying interpretations

Prior to understanding and describing religious experiences, it’s important to define the terms and typology of religious experiences. A point of contention for theologians is whether or not mystical or out-of-body experiences are religious in nature. To understand what the role religion plays in these experiences, for this context, you must define and understand what religion is and the major components that make it up. James states that religion “cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather a collective name” (35). If you were to ask someone about the essence of an object or a concept, different people would provide various components or parts of it. You would end up of with a list ranging from objective and subjective responses, but it would provide a better understanding of it because, like religion, no one thing or person can be summed up in a sentence or a word.