God Speaks To Us

Both theists and atheists have wondered: "Why doesn't God just blanket the earth with the sound of "His" voice and tell us exactly what "He" expects and wants?" And I have always wondered what they would do if "He" did! Would it make a real difference if "He" did? Would everyone adopt what "He" said without question? Would all of the arguments and questions immediately disappear? Would everyone stop fighting and taking advantage of each other? Would the world break out into peace and happiness?

I've asked before: Is that how communication works? How does God communicate with us? For the more skeptical, we may even ask: Has God communicated with us? And, if Jews and Christians are correct in their assertions that God has spoken to us through their Scriptures, then why is there so much confusion about what those Scriptures say? In short, doesn't the existence of so much spiritual confusion in the world argue against the probability that God has spoken to us through the Judeo-Christian Scriptures or any other writings or prophets who claim God as their source?

Herbert Armstrong argued that Satan has deceived the whole earth, and that only the few folks whom God has specially called and chosen can now understand the Scriptures. Time and circumstances, however, have not been kind to Mr. Armstrong's thesis. When we look at the utter disintegration of his church after his death, and the diverse and distinctively different directions which the former members of his Worldwide Church of God have traveled, we are faced with a confusion that is at least as pronounced as that which exists in the world at large!

In thinking about this topic, I ran across what I considered to be an enlightened view. The article, 8 Ways God Speaks to Us Today (see https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/8-ways-god-speaks-to-us-today.html), by Rebecca Barlow Jordan which appears at crosswalk.com outlines a number of ways that the author suggests that God communicates with us today. Fundamentalists and the folks who idolize the Judeo-Christian Bible may not like the piece, but I found it to be instructive.

Of course, Jordan's first two "ways" that God speaks to us concern Scripture (the Bible in general and Christ's words in particular). More importantly, however, she does not end there. She goes on to mention that God speaks to us through nature/creation, other believers (and I would add non-believers to the mix), music, circumstances, the Holy Spirit and prayer. I believe Jordan makes a convincing case that the Bible is NOT the ONLY or FINAL authority in terms of God communicating with humans. For Jordan, myself and many other Christians, God's conversation with humanity did not take place over the span of a few hundred years and cease altogether almost two thousand years ago.

Nevertheless, my skeptical friends will point out that this does nothing to explain the rampant confusion which exists about what God has said or demonstrate conclusively that "He" has said anything at all. I believe these questions are best addressed by taking a closer look at the way communication itself works.

We know that there is potential for great misunderstanding and very different interpretations between the sender and the receiver in any communication between two entities. Most of us understand that there are a number of different barriers that are inherent/intrinsic to the process of communication. Moreover, when we think about these barriers in terms of the divide between human and Divine, they take on even more significance in any discussion about God attempting to speak to us. I'm thinking about the emotional differences, our radically different perspectives/viewpoints and the differences in our physical natures. And there are the barriers that exist simply because we are human and subject to tiredness, distractions, physical disabilities (relative to seeing, hearing, learning, etc.), prejudices and biases, and the fact that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures were originally composed in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Moreover, there are still other factors to consider - that much of the Bible began as verbal communication which was later committed to writing, and that written communication (by its very nature) precludes the availability of non-verbal cues to help the receiver better understand the message. Do we begin to see how these things impact how a message is received? Hence, even if there were no such thing as a Satan, we can see that the interpretation of the message received is inherently problematic.

We can also see that the existence of these barriers and filters effectively demonstrates that we cannot rule out the possibility that some Higher Power is (or has tried to) communicating with us. In other words, our distortion of the message cannot logically be employed to say that the message was never sent. Admittedly, it also does not establish that a message from a Higher Power has ever been sent - that is still a matter of faith and personal experience in the final analysis.

One final point about the written word is also in order before leaving this topic. While the existence of scholarly and scientific studies can (and should) be employed to greatly enhance our experience of the Bible, those disciplines should never be allowed to exercise a veto over our reception and interpretation of the message. I've heard people say that "you can't make it mean what it was never meant to mean." In other words, the author's original intent should not be allowed to restrict our interpretation of the message. Indeed, the possibility of a multiplicity of interpretations may have been part of the author's intent. I've been fortunate to hear something completely different than what I had intended in the feedback I've received after delivering some sermon or writing some piece - it can be a very enlightening and inspiring experience!

In conclusion, whatever way God may choose to speak to us, we have an awesome responsibility to try our best to receive and interpret that message in a way that is constructive and beneficial to ourselves and others. And we cannot blame God for the miscues, errors and inconsistencies that are inherent to human communication. For better or worse, the Sender is only half of the equation - the Receiver will always have his/her role to play in any communication between two entities (Divine or human).