Does God SAY Anything?

The fastest way to guarantee yourself a visit to a psychotherapist is to tell people that God spoke to you. Assassins, babbling bag ladies, strange looking men at the automat and residents of some of our most secure institutions all make the claim.
Judeo-Christian tradition tells us that very, very few human beings have ever heard the actual voice of God. (Moses, St. John of Patmos, St. Paul and Isaiah are among the few.) The rest of us are left to discern the will of God by other means, according to Christian tradition.
In fact it can be dangerous to get hung up on actually hearing the vox Dei. As one evangelist put it, if you insist on hearing actual voices, there are diabolical spirits out there who will make sure you hear voices. These are no doubt the voices madmen and killers claim to have heard.
The first, very logical question to ask is: If God is really concerned about our lives and how we live them—why doesn’t he come right out and say what he wants so we can hear it? That’s a question I’ve heard many practicing Christians and former Christians ask.
There are two factors here. One—do you really believe he exists? Many people who have attended divine services all their lives aren’t really sure. They’ll pray—but is there really someone there listening? That’s what “faith” is all about. Without it, nothing works—neither a miracle nor a marriage.
Let’s use the example of a human relationship. Try acting like and believing that your wife or girlfriend doesn’t really exist. See how long she goes on talking to you. Many a young lady (or young man) has stopped even trying to communicate because the partner was treating her (or him) as if they didn’t really exist. No one stays around for that.
If you want to hear from God, settle in your mind and heart whether or not you believe he is actually there. Does he exist? Who is he? What do you know about him? What do you BELIEVE about him? Then, as “Portnoy’s Complaint” ends, “Perhaps ve may begin”.
“Faith”, says the Biblical writer of the Book of Hebrews, “is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Well, you snort, how can you believe in something you cannot see? After all, this is the scientific age! True enough.
You believe in Dark Matter, don’t you? Ever seen any? You believe in atoms—that they have protons, neutrons and electrons, don’t you. Ever seen one? Yes, you immediately retort, because we can see what they DO—how they interact on other things.
Okay. Ever see a person clean up his act after he “gets religion”? Ever ask yourself just how a Union cavalryman would pick a spot in the dark and put his sleeping bag on top of a bump that turned out to be the marching orders for Lee’s entire army—thus leading directly to the victory that made possible the Emancipation Proclamation?
Ever look at the complexity and orderliness of nature and wonder if it really all fell into place by some cosmic accident? There is proof there if you can accept the possibility. Aristotle—far, far from being a Christian—saw it. Or you can choose to deny that any kind of “Dark Matter” exists.
But that’s your choice—it’s not necessarily reality. You have to decide. If in your deepest being, you doubt he’s there, he will not necessarily disabuse you. Humans are given their choice. God is unlikely to answer the prayers of a man who doesn’t really think he exists.
Then there’s a second factor. People talk about the story of Adam and Eve with smirks and snide references to the “apple”. They miss the point entirely. At that point in human history, by human choice, the “receiver” that made it possible to hear God plainly was broken.
We have a “radio” in us that no longer works. There was a time—however many thousands or millions of years ago—when man could communicate face to face with God, as clearly as you and I can speak. Man chose to shatter than connection.
He broke it for himself. He broke it for his children. He broke it for all of us who come after.
It will not be restored—to use a Tolkien phrase—in “this age of men”. Some things have perpetual consequences. Ending that connection between God and man is certainly one of them. It’s not his fault our receiver is broken—he’s still broadcasting. It’s just that our set remains dark.
So he has chosen other ways to communicate with us. He can still be understood—if you choose to believe he’s there and if you know how to listen. And what to listen for. Let’s talk about how the connection was broken and how we can hear (our reserve chute, so to speak) tomorrow.