When the folks at Explore God asked me to come down to Texas for an interview, I jumped at the chance. They seemed like a thoughtful, intelligent and authentic crew that wanted to give people a chance to explore who God is in a relevant way. They didn’t want pat answers, but wanted something that rang with truth and sincerity.
When I sat down for the interview, they threw great questions at me — ones that made me stop and think. I gave it my best shot, and here’s a final edit of what they came up with titled, “Does God Speak To Us?”
[…] had to change course. Instead of merely pressing our agenda, we started to teach people how to hear God’s voice. Then, we created spaces in our student leadership meetings for them to hear God for themselves. […]
[…] had to change course. Instead of merely pressing our agenda, we started to teach people how to hear God’s voice. Then, we created spaces in our student leadership meetings for them to hear God for themselves. […]
Growing up fundamentalist/evangelical, I was told that as a born-again Christian God would “speak to meâ€, “move meâ€, and “lead me†so that I would know and could follow his will. I listened to others talk about how God spoke to them, moved them, and led them to do this and to do that…but He never did the same for me. I finally came to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with me because God had decided he didn’t want to talk to me. So I left the Church.
Many years later I became an orthodox Lutheran and was told that God doesn’t work like that. The evangelicals are wrong. The voice they are listening to is their own. According to “true†Christianity, God speaks to Christians in only one manner: through his Word, the Bible.
That gave me a lot of peace…until I found out that the “Word†is full of discrepancies, errors, and scribe alterations.
I was very sad (and angry) to find out—it is ALL nonsense.
So what about my problem of not hearing the “voice” that other evangelicals were hearing speak, move, and lead them? After deconverting completely from Christianity, I came to realize that it was THEM, not me, that had the problem. They were hearing voices. I was the sane one…who did not.
Sorry about my delay in responding. I’ve been on break, and have just yesterday returned to work.
I appreciated your thoughtful response, and felt that it was gracious, well, until you called the rest of us crazy. =). (I really am just teasing.)
More seriously, I wonder if you’ve too narrowly defined what it means to hear God? I would be bummed if you didn’t have a chance to recognize God because people too narrowly confined to a “voice” or a “burning bush” kind of moment. And then to say that God only speaks through the Scriptures — though He does — also feels a bit limiting. God can speak however he wants, right? Even through an ass (Numbers 22).
And on the Bible, sure, there’s lots to say there. But perhaps more importantly, what have you chosen instead? If we’re just going on our own gut or instinct to guide us through life, I wonder if that has more discrepancies, errors, and perhaps not scribal, but personal, alterations of our own histories?
But I appreciate your honesty and integrity, and I do hope that you don’t give up God too early. I trust in a God that hasn’t given up on you.