- Supernatural revelation
Supernatural revelation refers to a communication between a living human being and a
deity or othersupernatural entity, e.g. anangel . Many religions not only accept supernatural revelations, but base their fundamental beliefs on such revelations. For instance,Orthodox Judaism holds that theTorah was received from God onMount Sinai , Catholics (and many other Christians) believe that theBook of Revelation was supernaturally communicated to the apostleSaint John the Divine and theMuslim s consider theQur'an to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter.A supernatural revelation does not always require the physical presence of a supernatural entity; for instance, the
Roman Catholic concept ofinterior locution includes just an inner voice heard by the recipient. InHinduism someVedas are considered IAST|apauruṣeya i.e. "not human compositions" and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are calledśruti , i.e. "what is heard". InBuddhism the devas are considered inaccessible to the physical human eye or ear and can only be observed or heard by those humans who have cultivated extrasensory powers. Some revelations are not just heard or observed, but are reported as having been "dictated". TheQur'an is an ancient example, and in more recent times, the 15,000 handwritten pages produced by the mysticMaria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations fromJesus .When a revelation is communicated by a supernatural entity that is reported as present during the communication, it is called an
apparition , usually within theRoman Catholic Church or theOrthodox Churches . Some revelations go further in that direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity is reported, e.g.Jesus Christ has been reported as present in somevisions of Jesus and Mary . In cases such as the famousdoubting Thomas conversation (John 20:24-29) between Christ andSaint Thomas the Apostle after HisCrucifixion , physical contact is implied. Some revelations are reported along with physical marks such asstigmata and in rare cases such as that of SaintJuan Diego physical artifacts accompany the revelation.
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