Read Acts 9:1-22. In our last study, we noted the foundation upon which faith was produced by using Paul’s experience on the Damascus Road. In short, we could say that faith comes by hearing the testimony of eye and ear witnesses. It is based upon what they saw and heard that pertains directly to the foundational issues of Christianity. That is, Paul saw and heard the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth. This establishes the truthfulness of Christianity.

Tonight, from this same text, think about the role of personal religious experiences in our conversion and salvation. The Bible does not use this term, but many religious people do. We must be clear about its meaning.

This topic of "religious experiences" is discussed often among philosophers, both believing and non-believing ones. From the so-called experiences of people around the world, it is maintained that such proves the reality of a spirit world, that man can have some contact with God and that such proves the reality of God. Some argue that you have a right to trust your experiences, even when you cannot fully describe or explain what happened to you. The very number of religious experiences that people have, they say, is evidence that something is going on.

Religious experiences is also a favorite topic among many religious bodies, both Christian and non-Christian. Many give their testimony in churches of what happened to them to cause them to become a Christian. But this recounting of religious experiences is common among all religious bodies around the world.

Some maintain that people differ in their religious experiences very much as people differ in their appreciation of music. One needs to have "an ear for music," an ability to appreciate it. Some do not have an antenna to receive musical notes as others do. Likewise, they argue, some have more religious experiences than others do just because human beings are different.

A definition is somewhat difficult due to the wide variations in the kinds of claims of such experiences. Note the number and variety of experiences that people in the Bible had: Adam and Eve in the Garden with God, Moses at the burning bush, Moses in the Mount with God, the call of Abraham to leave his homeland, the dreams of Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel, the experiences of Daniel in the lions’ den, the experiences of Jonah, Saul’s account of seeing the resurrected Jesus, Paul being caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12), the visions of John the Revelator, and many others that include a conversation, a vision, a feeling of divine presence, or an appearance of angels to them. We are so familiar with these occurrences in the Bible; they have become commonplace to us. We readily accept them.

But there are other accounts of experiences that we do not so readily accept. Here are some others:

1. The Buddhist monk who is an atheist senses the presence of the living Buddha.
2. A person senses the presence of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The Virgin Mary appears to someone in a dream.
4. A man senses the presence of Satan, which convinces him that Satan is the highest reality.
5. Allah appears to Mohammed and tells him to purify the land by executing all infidels (e.g. Jews and Christians) whose false worship corrupts the land.
6. A guilt-ridden woman senses the presence of her long-deceased father, assuring her that he has forgiven her for her neglect of him while he was aging and dying.
7. A mother senses the presence of the spirit of the river. It tells her that her deformed infant belongs to the river and that she should throw it back.
8. A man senses the presence of the Trinity and understands how it could be that the three persons are one God, but he cannot tell others.
9. An atheist has a deep sense of nothingness in which she is absolutely convinced that the universe has manifested itself to her as a deep void.

(Philosophy of Religion, Louis Poijman, 1987, 138.)

Other experiences are general in nature, sensing some presence. "It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call ‘something there.’" Some interpret these feelings or sensations to signify the presence of God; others do not. Probably thousands could write the following description.

"God is more real to me than any thought or person. I feel his presence positively, and more as I live in closer harmony with his laws as written in my body and mind. I feel him in the sunshine or rain; and awe mingled with a delicious restfulness most nearly describes my feelings. I talk to him as to a companion in prayer and praise, and our communion is delightful. He answers me again and again, often in words so clearly spoken that it seems my outer ear must have carried the tone, but generally in strong mental impressions. Usually a text of Scripture, unfolding some new view of him and his love for me, and care for my safety. I could give hundreds of instances, in school matters, social problems, financial difficulties, etc. That he is mine and I am his never leaves me, it is an abiding joy. Without it life would be a blank, a desert, a shoreless, trackless waste." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James, Gifford Lectures, 1901-02, 70.)

One writer noted the breath of religious experience: "The field of religion is the field of personal experience. The center of this field is the experience we have of other persons in relation to ourselves. In all our relations with one another we are in the field of religion, and since there is nothing in the whole range of our experience which may not be seen or valued in its bearings upon our relations with one another, there is nothing at all which does not belong, directly or indirectly, to the field of religion." (The Structure of Religious Experience, John Macmurray, 1946, 45, as quoted in The Roots of Experience, Robert C. Walton, 61.) Walton also named five different kinds of experiences that all people have. They are: the natural world, a sense of the past, the search for integrity, encounter with other persons, and the experience of existence. (Roots, pp. 54-65.)

Throughout history, there have always been mystics, among all kinds of religious groups. A mystic is one who believes that he has direct contact with God through some means like dreams, meditation, some inner light and in spirit form. Such experiences are subjective and individual. They do not lend themselves to rational proofs.

What should we make of all of this? It is easy to write off these non-biblical claims as being strange, unbelievable and false. One philosopher jokingly remarked, Maybe a person needs to be "a little cracked in order for him to peep into the super sensitive world." (Philosophy of Religion, C. D. Broad, 94.)

I have a friend and fellow preacher who related to me the following story of an experience that he had. He said that he was driving on a highway and encountered an electronic sign directing the traffic. Instead of it reading "Merge Left/Right" or "Construction Ahead," he said that it read, "Jesus is Lord." I asked him what he thought it meant. He said that he did not really know what to make of it, but he already knew that truth from Scripture. Did it really happen? Did someone else see it? What meaning if any should be attached to it?

Note this discussion by brother James D. Bales in Saul: From Persecutor to Persecuted, 1975, 78-91.

1. Saul’s experience on the Damascus Road was to qualify him to be an apostle. "For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose---to make thee a minister and witness." (Acts 26:16.)
2. No one today will have an experience like Saul’s. If so, it would qualify that person to be an apostle because they would have seen the resurrected Christ.
3. Brother Bales went on to caution that we should not question the sincerity or the fact of another’s experience. We do have the right to question one’s interpretation of the experience. We have the right to reject that interpretation if it conflicts with Scripture. "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." (1 Thess. 5:21.)
4. Note that Saul’s experience was corroborated with Ananias’ experience. It was verifiable. Others also were traveling with Saul who saw the light shine around them and they a voice speaking with Saul.
5. Peter, James and John saw the transfiguration of Jesus on the Mount. (Matt. 17:1-8, 2 Peter 1:16-21.) It was not just their personal experience; they must tell it to others. Prophecy did not originate with them, but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
6. God did not do his work in secret or in a hidden corner. "This thing was not done in a corner." (Acts 26:26.) "Not in secret." (Isa. 45:19, 48:16.) "In secret have I said nothing." (John 18:20.)
7. The collective experiences of biblical characters is a revelation of truth for all men of all ages. Claims today must not contradict what Scripture says. Experiences today do not equal those of Scripture.
8. Believers should experience communion with God daily. This, however, comes after learning about God from Scripture. There must be an objective Word that guides man and produces faith. Experiences of living by faith do not produce faith. They are the result of faith in one who knows God.
9. People today, through personal religious experiences, do not write Scripture as Paul did. They are not inspired. They are not apostles or prophets. They do not found new religious bodies that reject Jesus Christ as Lord. All such claims should be rejected.
10. Be careful about subjective claims that cannot be verified, or have no real value, and that do not agree with one another or with Scripture.
11. Religious experiences recorded around the world most often fit into one’s already established religious world view. Muslims experience things related to Mohammad, Allah, or Hussain. Catholics see the Virgin Mary in visions or dreams.