"It was revealed," what does this mean

"It was revealed," what does this mean?

Revelation in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism

Revelation as experiences of the divine (1)

God does not talk to humans but humans may experience God

Introduction

The conclusion of this series of four documents on the subject "revelation" is that religion is mainly a living experience, and that what we used to call "was revealed," are just experiences of the divine other people had before us.

So, please read the titles of the documents and their subtitles, and select those matters that interest you.

In several of the documents of "Christianity..." appear the words "God revealed," "it was revealed," and so on. I feel the need to make a revision of these statements, because they have the implication that God "talked"" in some way with somebody and "revealed" something to him/her, with the intent that that would be shared with or announced to others.

It has the implication that the books of the Bible are some kind of "dictation" from God to the writers, and that they wrote these books under the influence of God. They are therefore "inspired," "revealed," and they are words of God.

It seems to me this is not the fact, and I want to clarify the subject. Some of my prayers and documents need to be re-written to express this clarification, because they imply that God talked in specifics terms with some people, to teach us what God "revealed" to them.

How can we know God

There are two ways to know God and everything that belongs to the divine, by reason, or by revelation. I'll explain.

God known by reason

Paul describes very well how God is understood by reason, when he says in Romans 1:19-20, that through the visible world God has been known to everybody, the Gentiles included.

Says Paul: What may be known of God is manifest to them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

God known by revelation

God is known by revelation too. Most of what we, Christians, believe about God is known by revelation. But, what is revelation?

When we say that we know something "by revelation" or because "it was revealed," we imply that God "uncovered" to somebody something we can not know by reason. It is like some divine realities or mysteries about the being of God, or the afterlife; or the will of God, the commandments, etc. were communicated to somebody, and then transmitted to us.