We can never determine exactly what was said/claimed by religious leaders from 2000 or more years ago.
Prior to being written, biblical beliefs were maintained for centuries by oral stories. Oral traditions are known to be grossly distorted in the retelling.
There are some more modern religious beliefs which have been documented: Are these hallucinations or deliberate lies?
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormons
I think that Smith was alleged to have been given magic spectacles which allowed him to read the tablets before they were taken from him.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg, circa 1745.
Might Smith & Swedenborg deliberately lied, expecting to be believed? Might they have deluded themselves?
I suspect deliberate lying.
For example: Did Christ’s contemporary followers actually claim that he walked on water or performed other miracles?
Did contemporaries actually claim that Ezekiel saw some mechanical device (a wheel) in the sky?
Did contemporaries actually claim that Ezekiel saw some mechanical device (a wheel) in the sky?
Prior to being written, biblical beliefs were maintained for centuries by oral stories. Oral traditions are known to be grossly distorted in the retelling.
There are some more modern religious beliefs which have been documented: Are these hallucinations or deliberate lies?
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormons
Mormons trace their origins to the visions that Joseph Smith reported having in the early 1820s while living in upstate New York. In 1823, Smith said an angel directed him to a buried book written on golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient people. Smith published what he said was a translation of these plates in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon
I think that Smith was alleged to have been given magic spectacles which allowed him to read the tablets before they were taken from him.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg, circa 1745.
In Earths In The Universe, it is stated that he conversed with spirits from Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and the Moon, as well as spirits from planets beyond our solar system. From these 'encounters' he concluded that the planets of our solar system are inhabited, and that such an enormous undertaking as the universe could not have been created for just one race of people.
Might Smith & Swedenborg deliberately lied, expecting to be believed? Might they have deluded themselves?
I suspect deliberate lying.