Mystical Visions, Apparitions

[steveb1]

[LONG post to follow:]

I don't want to irritate anyone with this question, since it's pretty obvious that Catholics and Protestants have a very different view and experience of mystical experiences, revelations, apparitions and "visions". But I think it's an intriguing enough issue to merit at least some discussion.

Catholicism, of course, famously or infamously, claims many mystics, saints who are purportedly endowed with paranormal gifts, reports of visions of saints - especially Mary and Marian apparitions - and of Jesus (e.g., the Sacred Heart visions/revelations). It's important to realize that the RCC does not mandate that Catholics accept any such extra-biblical encounter as authentic and binding. That decision is left to the individual Catholic. The Church only goes so far as to declare an apparition free from fraud and/or doctrinal error, but it does not mandate devotion to any private revelation.

But it is clear that there has always been a deep and quite understandable clerical involvement in the great sites and shrines, such as Lourdes and Fatima, and the faithful have flocked to these locations and claim to have received physical, mental, and spiritual healing. This is an example of the Church not declaring any apparition as binding, but at the same time, encouraging legitimate devotion in the laity.

While not a Catholic or a Christian myself, I do "believe in miracles" and am quite satisfied, for instance, that Fatima was the real deal, but not a manifestation from God or the Virgin, which interpretation was a later Jesuit re-shaping of an originally raw, undomesticated series of mystical experiences of both the three children involved and of the crowds who were in their company. So - disclaimer - I do believe that rare, paranormal events do occur, frequently with a religious interpretation attached to them after the fact.

So, finally, my questions:

1) Why does Catholicism claim the bulk of reported mystics, mystical experiences, "paranormal saints", preternatural cures, private and public Marian apparitions, occasional Jesus apparitions, etc.?

2) On the principle that Protestants are no less sincere and devout than their Catholic peers, why does Protestantism have so few claims of apparitions, etc.? Of course, for most Protestants, Mary is not the Catholic Mary, so no normative Protestant would be likely to believe in Marian apparitions, and if s/he experienced such an event, might tend to blame the Devil or hallucination. But there are sporadic records of Protestants having visions and private revelations from Jesus, usually, of course, phrased and framed within the proper confines of Protestant theology - unless the content is "heretical", in which the experiencer, in venerable Reformationist tradition, could, if so desired, found a new church or sect based on the experience.

3) What is the purpose - for Christian faith - of post-biblical revelations, prophecies, miraculous healings, apparitions of Jesus, Mary, the saints, etc.?

One answer might be that the living God continues to manifest Himself to His people. "God is the God of the living", not the dead. So as long as a Christian person's claimed revelation, or a mass-witnessed apparition, does not violate the commonality of biblically-rooted "deposit of Christian faith", then why not? Why not continued communication and immediate communion with the living, loving God, including miracles, cures, visions and apparitions?

Another - and opposing - answer might be that the Christian God placed everything we need to know about salvation into the Bible (Protestants), or that He placed everything we need to know for salvation into the Bible and into its interpretive/protective "Tradition" (Catholics).
Because of that, any and all claims of new prophecy, new miracles, new heavenly manifestations in the sky, in churches, in bleeding statues, bloody Hosts, images imprinted on trees and windows, apparitions in grottoes, etc., must be rejected as extra-biblical/extra-Tradition illusions, delusions, hallucinations, pathologies...and perhaps, even as "works of the Devil".

So I'm directing these issues to anyone who is intrigued by the miraculous in the post-biblical Christian tradition. Even if one disbelieves in such things, still, I would be interested in their thoughts on the function - if any - in the Christian faith of the miraculous, its value, its dangers, its significance, its necessity or its arbitrariness.

[Tcg]

Why would God stop revealing Himself?

This question is based on an unsupported assumption. Before it could be addressed, you'd have to prove there was ever a time it revealed itself.

[RightReason]

[Replying to steveb1]

Why does Catholicism claim the bulk of reported mystics, mystical experiences, "paranormal saints", preternatural cures, private and public Marian apparitions, occasional Jesus apparitions, etc.?

Interesting, isnt it? Some of the most famous individuals " the greatest thinkers, artists, altruistic individuals, philosophers, mystics, etc. have all been Catholic. Certainly makes one wonder.

[brianbbs67]

Why would God stop revealing Himself?

This question is based on an unsupported assumption. Before it could be addressed, you'd have to prove there was ever a time it revealed itself.

Adam, Isaac, Joshua, Abraham, Jacob...The list goes on of people with direct communication. unless, you believe them not? God says on the OT that He reveals Himself to all men. Either by direct means, dreams, visions, prophecy or nature itself. If you are fortunate, He reveals in 2 ways.