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Home> Beliefs> How God Speaks --^
How God Speaks to Man
: This is really boring and sermonesque. I wrote it for a good friend who believes in God, but not the Bible. He commented that God speaks to us through circumstances, and not through a "dusty old book". This was my rebuttal.
(for a well-loved friend)
I hold the belief that God speaks to man in three seperate ways, and that through any of these ways, man might find Him and accept Him. I will explain the three ways as best I can. I can't say that all my beliefs are perfect and finalized, but my faith is firm, and my love for Him in undying. These three ways are: (1) through scripture, the spoken plan of God for the world in time, (2) through the world around us, that is, experiences, and (3) through the life inside of us, that is, conscience.
I. God Speaks Through Scripture
God speaking through scripture is no new concept. John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...in Him was Life, and that life was the Light of mankind." Many people have called Jesus the 'word made flesh', because He came into this world to bring us the words and plans of God for the paths of nations and the hearts of men. For those who believe in it, scripture is a light to see the rest of the world by. Psalms says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.-Psalms 119:105" It's referring to a light in the darkness. The darkness is everything around us. We can't see much past the hand in front of our face - as you noticed, most of us are too stupid to even see flags of danger that wave themselves in front of our faces. But scripture illuminates. It shows us what path our lives will take if we follow the road of foolishness and darkness, and what path it will take if we walk the road of righteousness. It gives advice for almost every situation. It's not always a mirror of clarity, but it is always true.
Suppose in your head for a moment that God is real. He can see over all the earth and see all that men do. He can see the pattern that men's lives take - how lust leads to addiction and addiction leads to death. How discipline and unity lead to strength and greatness (Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation -Mat. 12:25.). He can see what paths men could take to bring them happiness. (Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33). He loves his people and wants them to be happy and find Life, and stay close to Him. How could he make sure that the people know which way to go? How could he be a shepherd to a people that can neither see nor understand Him? He can become one of them, descend from the heavenly realms, and teach them for a time. His words can be recorded as the Truth of the world. When he and his teaching are rejected, and he is killed for "being a rebel against God and the government", His words remain to show us what we missed - the road to Life and Light. The last thing He tells us before He goes is to teach everyone around us, so that they can learn to follow the Light as we do, and the follow Him as our shepherd, and to show the world that Light has walked among us. Nothing but His Love, His Spirit, and His Word remain, and there is no better way to come close to God and be bathed by his Truth and Light than to read the words he left behind for us to find Him.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:5-9
II. God Speaks Through Life Experiences
When God speaks through scripture, we hear His voice clearly and know that the words are from Him. Life is a harder voice for us to understand - but it is no less important. God created the world. He created you and me, and everything that goes on around us, both good and bad. Why things happen the way they do is a complete mystery to us. But not to God. He can see the beginning and the end. He knows what benefit we can gain, if we choose, from everything that goes on around us.
The key, of course, is whether we choose to receive what He has for us. God created us all with a wonderful and terribly gift - free will. We all have the choice - to live for ourselves or to serve God. Most of us choose to live for ourselves. As a result, we get caught up in pain, in depression, in fear, and in desires that consume us. (...They themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2 Peter 2:19) This affects how we view the world.
Since we're talking about the school shootings, let's try and see them from our two points of view.
The first point of view is from our own hearts. Our minds rightly view the shootings as a terrible, evil event. Our self-preservation fills us with fear - this could so easily happen to us. Our hearts are filled with hate those whose desperate hatred led to murder. Our conscience tells us to get rid of the evil. But how?
The second point of view is the God-centered point of view. Again, the mind views the event as a tragedy and a great evil. But fear is overridden by peace - because fear is a burden, and God wishes us to be free. How is this overridden? The fear came from self-preservation - but trust in God lets God perseve us rather than trying to preserve ourselves. And if the creator of all that is around us is caring for our well-being, what do we have to be afraid of?
Hatred is also overridden - with love. This is perhaps the hardest thing - to love the kids who hated those around them enough to steal their life from them. (But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you... Matthew 5:44) The feelings we generally associate with love, such and tenderness, pity, and gentle compassion, do not come naturally toward murderers. But if we look to the source - find out why they killed - it was not merely because they hated, but also because they were hated. Someone has to make a change and start loving the unlovable, instead of hating everyone who is different.
And how, from a God-centered point of view, do we solve the problem that caused the shootings? Love. No, a bigger love than the one that first popped into your head. Love big enough to make you sacrifice yourself, your social life, and your reputation for a couple of friendless kids. Love that says it's going to love those who need loved, not those who are easy to love, and means it. Love that puts others before itself.
Jesus had dinner with tax collectors and prostitutes. He did so because they were the people that needed to be loved and forgiven - and they knew it. The rich, the religious, the elite, the "good" - none of these would listen to someone who offered them forgiveness. They didn't believe they needed it. They were wrong, and they missed out on some good company. But Jesus loved those he was with. And if Jesus were here today, he would love the druggies, the Goths, the nerds, the sluts, and anyone else who knows how low they really are.
What's the point of all of this? You're right. God does speak to us through the terrible things that happen. And for everyone who has an ear to hear, His voice is there to whisper wisdom. Whether we choose to listen and to benefit is completely up to us.
II. God Speaks Through Conscience
The last way that God speaks to us is deeply personal. It is a way that no one can hear but ourselves. And rightly so, for in the end, who is with us before God? No one. We stand alone in our minds.
Our minds tell us what is right and wrong, good and evil. They're not perfect - sometimes they get twisted by what we see on a daily basis (such as teens who have seen so much sex that they no longer see that it is better to wait, or teens who have seen their friends do something like cheating, and therefore rationalize it for themselves, so that they no longer see it as wrong.) and sometimes they stubbornly reject truth even when it hits us in the skull, but they are generally true, like a compass pointing North.
That North is God - absolutely good, absolutely free. If we are going away from this moral North, by beginning an addiction, or trying to do something we know is wrong, our minds tell us. Guilt is knowing that we are going the wrong way. It is a bad feeling - one we should steer clear of. And it is God and our body's way of telling us to go the right way.
Of course, not all guilt is right. Often, guilt is caused by experiences that were not our fault, such as abuse. In these cases, guilt should be fought against, and soothed by the love of God, friends, and family.
Finally, the guilt of person God has forgiven should be forgotten completely. When we confess our sins to God, he makes us clean, and casts our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. There is then no need for that guilt.
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