1. How Might a Religious Experience lead to a Belief in God?
Learning Objectives
To understand how a religious experience can lead to a belief in God.
To understand what is meant by a religious experience.
Keywords
Conversion
Miracle
Numinous
Prayer

2. Recap People believe in God because … Upbringing Experiences
Cosmological and Teleological Arguments
You need to know about 4 religious experiences
The Numinous
Conversion
Miracles
Prayer

3. A Numinous Experience
Numinous: ‘The feeling of the presence of something overwhelmingly greater than yourself.’
When Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the moon, he looked at the Earth and the universe around him and said ‘There is a God’. He no longer questioned it, he just ’knew’ it.
Numinous is a kind of religious experience that fills a person with a sense of ‘awe’. That is, a sense of holy respect, wonder and even fear. These experiences are very personal to an individual and often makes their faith very strong.

4. Conversion Conversion: When your life/religion is changed
In the Bible a man called Saul (later called St Paul) had an experience that changed him forever.
‘As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven surrounded him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you Lord?’ Saul asked, ‘I am Jesus who you are persecuting.’’ Acts 9:4-5
A conversion experience doesn’t need to be dramatic, and the person doesn’t need to be a bad person, it could just be the point when a person ‘realises’ the need to follow God.

5. Miracles: ‘Something that seems to break the laws of science and makes you think only God could have done it..’
People sometimes claim to have experienced things that they feel could not have happened naturally. From dramatic examples such as a paralysed person being able to walk again, to more subtle things such as a headache going when somebody prays for them.
Jairus’ daughter. Luke 8:40-56
Watch the clip and write down 3 points as to how a person who witnesses a miracle may become a believer of God

6. Prayer: An attempt to contact God
Christians believe that through prayer they can communicate with God. They believe God is like a loving father and wants them to talk to him. In the same way, Christians love God and want to share their lives, hopes and anxieties with him.
Watch the clip (from 15:40 to end) and write down when do you think prayer is more than just words and becomes a religious experience.

7. Religious Experiences
Prayer
Numinous
Mystical
Miracles
Conversion

8. Think of One Belief …
Write down one belief/point of view you would never change
Write down one belief/point of view you may consider changing
Explain your answers