📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture affirms genuine encounter with God. Moses saw the burning bush. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. Paul was caught up to the third heaven. But experience is never self-authenticating: "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits" (1 John 4:1). The Bereans tested Paul against Scripture (Acts 17:11). Religious experience is valuable when it aligns with God's Word; it is dangerous when it does not.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The personal, subjective dimension of encounter with God; the felt reality of faith.
expand to see more
EXPE'RIENCE, n. Trial; practical wisdom gained from what one has observed or undergone. Applied to religion: personal knowledge of God gained through genuine encounter — tested against Scripture.
📖 Key Scripture
• 1 John 4:1 — "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God."
• Acts 17:11 — "They searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
• 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 — "I knew a man in Christ... caught up to the third heaven."
• Psalm 34:8 — "O taste and see that the LORD is good."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Religious experience is either absolutized as self-authenticating or dismissed as irrelevant.
expand to see more
Charismatic excess treats experience as self-authenticating truth. Rationalist Christianity reduces faith to intellectual assent. The biblical model: experience governed by doctrine. The Christian should both know the truth and taste that the Lord is good.
Usage
• "Religious experience is a servant, not a master — always tested against God's revealed Word."
• "The Christian faith includes genuine experience of God — but governed by Scripture, never the reverse."