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Foundational Premise:
Every human person has the capacity to know God
Natural Theology.
The truth about God has been made quite plain to all people. For since the beginning of the world the invisible attributes of God, e.g. his eternal power and divinity, have been plainly discernible through things which he has made and which are commonly seen and known. Romans 1:19-20
Dogmatic Theology
God, who gave our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now, at the end of the present age, given us the truth in the Son
This Son, a radiance of the glory of God, is the flawless expression of the nature of God. Hebrews 1:1-2
Mystical Theology
A direct experience with God
3.
A Christian mystic has moved from knowing about God to knowing God God and Christ are not merely objects of belief, icons, or ethical principles, but living persons whom are known on a first-hand basis A Christian mystic has moved from brain-deep knowledge of God to heart-deep knowledge of God
It is Iand I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for meI had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
Moses, 1800 BC
It was Moses practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the campWhenever Moses went out to the Tent of Arrest that man for Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of mocking my their own tents. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would glorious beard! come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Exodus 33:7-11
Isaiah, 700 BC
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heavens Armies!
Isaiah 6:1-8
Jesus, circa 30 AD
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. John 15:4-7
I was at the plough in the east parts of Yorkshire in Old England, near the place where by outward being was, and as I walked after the plough, I was filled with the love and presence of the Living God, which did ravish my heart when I felt it.
It did increase and abound in me like a living stream, so did the love and life of God run through me like precious ointment, giving a pleasant smell, which made me to stand still.
Important sources
The Bible
Studies in Mystical Religion,
Rufus Jones
A Testament of Devotion,
Thomas Kelly
Core Practices
Prayer
Silence/Solitude Contemplation
Simultaneity
Validating Process
Are there many reports of first-hand experience of God by many people of many types in all ages of history?
Are those who report first-hand experience generally trustworthy on other matters? Is there substantial agreement in what is told us about God? Are the lives of those who experience God changed?