Revelation Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Christianity=== {{Main|Biblical inspiration|Christian mystics|Visions of Jesus and Mary}} Many Christians believe in the possibility and even reality of [[private revelation]]s, messages from God for individuals, which can come in a variety of ways. [[Montanism]] is an example in [[early Christianity]] and there are alleged cases today also.<ref name="vatican1">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a1.htm#66 |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, 67 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> However, Christians see as of a much higher level the revelation recorded in the [[Biblical canon|collection of books]] known as the [[Bible]]. They consider these books to be written by human authors under the inspiration of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]. They regard Jesus as the supreme revelation of God, with the Bible being a revelation in the sense of a witness to him.<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, 426, 516.</ref> The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states that "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book.' Christianity is the religion of the [[Logos (Christianity)|'Word of God']], a word which is 'not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living".<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., para. 108</ref> Geisler and Nix speak of [[Biblical inerrancy]] as meaning that, in its original form, the Bible is totally without error, and free from all contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts.<ref name="inerrancy">{{cite book|last=Geisler & Nix|publisher=Moody Press, Chicago|year=1986|title=A General Introduction to the Bible|isbn= 0-8024-2916-5}}</ref> Coleman speaks of [[Biblical infallibility]] as meaning that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science.<ref name="infallible">{{cite journal|last1=Coleman|journal=Theology Today| volume = 31 |issue = 4|year=1975|title=Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?|doi=10.1177/004057367503100404|first1=R. J.|page=295|s2cid=170389190}}</ref> The [[Catholic Church]] speaks not about infallibility of Scripture but about its freedom from error, holding "the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/2516 |title=Cardinal Augustin Bea, "Vatican II and the Truth of Sacred Scripture" |access-date=2014-05-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508175506/http://www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/2516 |archive-date=2012-05-08 }}</ref> The [[Second Vatican Council]], citing earlier declarations, stated: "Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html |title=Second Vatican Council, ''Dei Verbum'' (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), 11 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PP.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, 105–108 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> It added: "Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words."<ref>''Dei Verbum'', 12</ref> The Reformed Churches believe in the Bible is inerrant in the sense spoken of by Gregory and Nix and "deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science".<ref>Second Helvetic Confession, [http://www.creeds.net/reformed/helvetic/c01.htm ''Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God'']; Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, [http://www.reformed.org/documents/icbi.html Online text]</ref> The [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] speaks of "the infallible truth and divine authority" of the Scriptures.<ref>[[Wikisource:Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690]]</ref> In the [[New Testament]], [[Jesus]] treats the [[Old Testament]] as authoritative and says it "cannot be broken" .<ref>{{bibleverse||John|10:34–36|ESV}}</ref> [[2 Timothy]] 3:16 says: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness".<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Timothy|3:16|ESV}}</ref> The [[Second Epistle of Peter]] claims that "no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the [[Holy Spirit]]".<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Peter|1:20–21|ESV}}</ref> It also speaks of Paul's letters as containing some things "hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures".<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Peter|3:15–16|ESV}}</ref> This letter does not specify "the other Scriptures", nor does the term "all Scripture" in 2 Timothy indicate which writings were or would be breathed out by God and useful for teaching, since it does not preclude later works, such as the [[Book of Revelation]] and the [[Epistles of John]] may have been. The Catholic Church recognizes 73 books as inspired and forming the Bible (46 books of the [[Development of the Old Testament canon|Old Testament]] and 27 books of the [[Development of the New Testament canon|New Testament]]). The most common versions of the Bible that [[Protestant]]s have today consist of 66 of these books. None of the 66 or 73 books gives a list of revealed books. Theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher [[Paul Johannes Tillich]] (1886–1965), who sought to correlate culture and faith so that "faith need not be unacceptable to contemporary culture and contemporary culture need not be unacceptable to faith", argued that revelation never runs counter to reason (affirming [[Thomas Aquinas]] who said that faith is eminently rational), and that both poles of the subjective human experience are complementary.<ref>Systematic Theology I, by Paul Tillich, University of Chicago Press, 205. 0-226803-37-6. {{cite book|title=Systematic Theology|author=Paul Tillich|page=307|isbn=0-226-80336-8}}</ref> [[Karl Barth]] argued that God is the object of God's own self-knowledge, and revelation in the Bible means the self-unveiling to humanity of the God who cannot be discovered by humanity simply through its own efforts. For him, the Bible is not ''The Revelation''; rather, it points to revelation. Human concepts can never be considered as identical to God's revelation, and Scripture is written in human language, expressing human concepts. It cannot be considered identical with God's revelation. However, God does reveal himself through human language and concepts, and thus Christ is truly presented in scripture and the preaching of the church. ==== Catholic Church ==== The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' of the [[Catholic Church]] states:<ref>{{CCC|pp=36|end=38}}</ref> {{Quote|text='Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason.' Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created 'in the image of God'. In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone [...] This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also 'about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error'}} The Catholic Church also believes [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]] is the "fullness and mediator of all Revelations", and that no new divine revelation will come until the [[Second Coming]]. It also believes that God gradually leads the church into a deeper understanding of divine revelation, such as by private revelations, which do not fulfill, complete, substitute or supersede divine revelation but help one live by divine revelation. The church does not obligate the faithful to believe in, follow, or publish private revelations, whether they're approved or otherwise.<ref>{{CCC|pp=65|end=73}}</ref> ====Latter Day Saint movement==== {{Main|Revelation in Mormonism|Joseph Smith}} [[File:Joseph Smith receiving golden plates.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Engraving|An 1893 engraving of [[Joseph Smith]] receiving the [[golden plates]] and other artifacts from the [[angel Moroni]].]] The [[Latter Day Saint movement]] teaches that the movement began with a revelation from God, which began a process of [[Restorationism|restoring]] the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] [[Christ (title)|Christ]] and that it remains an essential element of his true church today. [[Continuous revelation]] provides individual Latter Day Saints with a [[Testimony#Religion|testimony]], described by [[Richard Bushman]] as "one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon".<ref>{{cite book |author=Bushman, Richard L. |title=Mormonism: a very short introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/mormonismverysho00bush_512 |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mormonismverysho00bush_512/page/n41 27] |isbn=978-0-19-531030-6 |doi=10.1093/actrade/9780195310306.003.0002}}</ref> Latter Day Saints believe in an [[Biblical canon#Latter Day Saint canons|open scriptural canon]], and in addition to the [[Bible]] and the [[Book of Mormon]], have books of scripture containing the revelations of modern-day prophets such as the [[Doctrine and Covenants]] and the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]]. In addition, many Latter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets in other regions of the world received revelations that resulted in additional scriptures that have been lost and may, one day, be forthcoming.{{cn|date=September 2021}} Latter Day Saints also believe that the [[United States Constitution]] is a divinely inspired document.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1992/02/the-divinely-inspired-constitution?lang=eng |title=The Divinely Inspired Constitution |author=Dallin H. Oaks |date=Feb 1992 |magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]}}</ref><ref>''See'' D&C 101:77–80</ref> =====Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints===== Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] sustain the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|President of the Church]] as [[prophet, seer, and revelator]], the only person on earth who receives revelation to guide the entire church. They also sustain the two counselors in the [[First Presidency]], as well as the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]], as prophets, seers, and revelators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/prophets?lang=eng |title=Prophets |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> They believe that God has followed a pattern of continued revelation to prophets throughout the history of mankind to establish doctrine and maintain its integrity, as well as to guide the church under changing world conditions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bd/revelation?lang=eng |title=Revelation |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> When this pattern of revelation was broken, it was because the receivers of revelation had been rejected and often killed. In the meridian{{what|date=September 2021}} of time, Paul described prophets and apostles in terms of a foundation, with Christ as the cornerstone, which was built to prevent doctrinal shift—"that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine".<ref>Eph 2:20 and 4:11–14, see also Matt 16:17–18</ref> To maintain this foundation, new apostles were chosen and ordained to replace those lost to death or transgression, as when Matthias was called by revelation to replace Judas (Acts 1:15–26). However, as intensifying persecution led to the imprisonment and martyrdom of the apostles, it eventually became impossible to continue the [[apostolic succession]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-16-the-church-of-jesus-christ-in-former-times?lang=eng |title=Gospel Principles Chapter 16: The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> Once the foundation of apostles and prophets was lost, the integrity of Christian doctrine as established by Christ and the apostles began to be compromised by those who continued to develop doctrine despite not being called or authorized to receive revelation for the body of the church. In the absence of revelation, these post-apostolic theologians couldn't help but introduce elements of human reasoning, speculation, and personal interpretation of scripture (2 Pet 1:19–20)—which over time led to the loss or corruption of various doctrinal truths, as well as the addition of new man-made doctrines. This naturally led to much disagreement and schism, which over the centuries culminated in the large number of Christian churches on the earth today. Mormons believe that God resumed his pattern of revelation when the world was again ready, by calling the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-17-the-church-of-jesus-christ-today?lang=eng |title=Gospel Principles Chapter 17: The Church of Jesus Christ Today |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> Since that time there has been a consistent succession of prophets and apostles, which God has promised will not be broken before the Second Coming of Christ (Dan 2:44).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/church-organization/the-church-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng |title=The Church of Jesus Christ |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> Each member of the LDS Church is also confirmed a member of the church following baptism and given the "gift of the Holy Ghost" by which each member is encouraged to develop a personal relationship with that divine being and receive personal revelation for their own direction and that of their family. The Latter Day Saint concept of revelation includes the belief that revelation from God is available to all those who earnestly seek it with the intent of doing good. It also teaches that everyone is entitled to personal revelation with respect to his or her [[stewardship]] (leadership responsibility). Thus, parents may receive inspiration from God in raising their families, individuals can receive divine inspiration to help them meet personal challenges, church officers may receive revelation for those whom they serve, and so forth. The important consequence of this is that each person may receive confirmation that particular doctrines taught by a prophet are true, as well as gain divine insight in using those truths for their own benefit and eternal progress. In the church, personal revelation is expected and encouraged, and many converts believe that personal revelation from God was instrumental in their conversion.<ref>{{cite web | title=Continuing Revelation | work=Mormon.org | url=http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,1084-1,00.html | access-date=August 5, 2005}}</ref> [[Joseph F. Smith]], the sixth president of the LDS Church, summarized this church's belief concerning revelation by saying, "We believe… in the principle of direct revelation from God to man."<ref>{{cite book| author =Smith, Joseph F.| title =Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith| chapter =41: Continuing Revelation for the Benefit of the Church| date =November 2007| page =362| publisher =The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints| location =Salt Lake City, UT| url =https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-f-smith?lang=eng| isbn =978-1-59955-103-6}}</ref> (Smith, 362) Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page