Revelation

Some people believe God sends messages.

This is called revelation. Some messages go to one person. These people are often called prophets.

Other messages go to a large group. For example, some believe God gave laws to many people at once.

Some people learn about God by looking at nature. This is a different way to find truth. People use these stories to help them live. It is a way to feel close to what they believe in.

Revelation is when a god shares truth with people.

Some thinkers say there are two main ways this happens. One way is through nature. People can study the world to learn about a god. This is called general revelation. Another way is special revelation. This happens through miracles or holy books.

In Islam, the Quran came from a special revelation to Muhammad. In Christianity, many believe the Bible is a special revelation. Some people think God speaks directly to one person. These people are often called prophets. A person who has a deep meeting with a god is a mystic.

Sometimes, a god speaks to a whole group at once. The Lakota people believe a spirit spoke to them. The Aztecs have legends of a god speaking to their people too. In the Bahá'í Faith, leaders wrote many books from revelation. They sometimes used a fast shorthand called revelation writing. This helped them record the words very quickly. All these stories show how people try to know the divine.

Revelation is a term used to describe how truth or knowledge is shared through communication with a god or a supernatural being. In many religions, this is how people learn about the divine. Some thinkers, like Thomas Aquinas, believed there were different ways this could happen. He spoke of general revelation, where people learn about a god by studying nature and the stars. He also spoke of special revelation, which involves learning spiritual truths through miracles or holy books.

These different ways of knowing are often seen as working together rather than against each other.

There are many ways people describe these messages happening. Some believe in verbal revelation, where words are spoken directly to a person. For example, the prophet Isaiah wrote about seeing visions of God speaking to angels. Others believe in non-verbal revelation, where the message is felt or inspired rather than spoken in a literal way. This is sometimes called being divinely inspired. In these moments, the person might not hear a voice, but they receive a deep understanding.

This is a way to describe a very powerful human experience.

History is full of stories about groups of people receiving messages at once. This is often called public revelation. In the Book of Exodus, it is said that Yahweh gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The Lakota people have traditions about a spirit speaking to them to start their religious ways. Aztec legends also tell of a god speaking to their people when they arrived in Anáhuac.

These stories show how important shared messages are to many different cultures.

Different faiths have specific ways of recording these important moments. In the Baháí Faith, leaders like Bahá'u'llah received many messages that became books. Because the words came so fast, they used a special shorthand called "revelation writing." This allowed a scribe to write down the words with extreme speed. Today, about 15,000 of these items are kept in archives in Haifa, Israel.

This shows how much care is taken to keep these records safe.

Many people who have these experiences are known by special names. A person who receives messages from a god is often called a prophet. Someone who has a deep, personal encounter with the divine is called a mystic. In Christianity, many believe the Bible is a record of messages inspired by the Holy Spirit. Some groups even believe in private revelations, which are messages meant for just one person.

These different ideas help us understand how people connect with the world of faith.

Revelation is the process of disclosing truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or supernatural entity. In the fields of religion and theology, this concept explains how humans might access divine wisdom. People use this term to describe how the sacred enters the human world. It is a central idea for many belief systems across history. Some thinkers view it as a way to understand the nature of existence. Others see it as a direct bridge between the creator and the created.

Thomas Aquinas, a famous philosopher, categorized individual revelation into two distinct types. The first is general revelation, which occurs through the study of the natural world. By observing physics, cosmology, or nature, an individual might deduce certain truths about a god. The second type is special revelation, which involves spiritual knowledge gained through supernatural means. This includes miracles or the study of sacred scriptures. Special revelation provides specific details that general revelation cannot reach. For example, many Christians believe the Trinity is known only through special revelation. These two forms are often seen as complementary rather than contradictory.

There are different ways these messages are delivered to people. Verbal revelation involves a deity communicating direct, propositional content to a person. In Orthodox Judaism, some believe the first five books of Moses were dictated by God. The prophet Isaiah described receiving messages through visions of God speaking to angels. In this way, the prophet writes down the dialogue he observes. Another perspective is non-verbal propositional revelation. This idea suggests that people are divinely inspired without a literal spoken word. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel noted that the Bible often uses evocative language to suggest these experiences. This approach avoids trying to describe the act in purely empirical or physical categories.

Some religious traditions focus on public revelation, where a deity speaks to a large group. The Book of Exodus describes Yahweh giving the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. In Christianity, the Book of Acts describes the Day of Pentecost. During this event, the Holy Spirit descended on disciples in the form of fire. The Lakota people hold traditions where Ptesáŋwiŋ spoke directly to establish their religious ways. Similarly, Aztec legends mention Huitzilopochtli speaking to the people upon their arrival in Anáhuac.

Specific methods of recording these messages are vital to many faiths. In the Bahá'í Faith, central figures like Bahá'u'lláh received many written communications. Because these words were often spoken with extreme rapidity, scribes used a shorthand called "revelation writing." This allowed the amanuensis to capture the words at the speed of utterance. After the dictation, the revelator would personally review and approve the drafts. Today, the International Bahá'í Archives in Haifa, Israel, hold approximately 15,000 of these items. Many of these include the original handwriting of the figures themselves.

Different religious groups hold varying views on the nature of sacred texts. Many Christians believe the Bible was written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some scholars discuss the concept of biblical inerrancy, meaning the text is without error in its original form. Others discuss biblical infallibility, which may focus on error-free teachings regarding faith and practice. The Catholic Church holds a doctrine regarding the inerrancy of Scripture. They believe God speaks through men in a human fashion to communicate truth for salvation.

How humans know these truths is a major question in epistemology, the study of knowledge. Members of Abrahamic religions, such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, distinguish between true and false prophets. A person who experiences direct contact with the divine is often called a prophet. A person who has a deep, personal encounter with the divine is often called a mystic. While all prophets might be considered mystics, not all mystics are prophets. This distinction helps scholars categorize different types of spiritual encounters and their roles in society.