12/24/24 Word Count – 1,032 Reading Time – 4.6 minutes

First, I wish you all a very non commercialized Merry Christmas. I hope the true meaning of Christmas finds its way through the hubbub of the holidays and you are able to take a few moments to bask in the peace of salvation that is the true meaning of Christmas.

This past week I have enjoyed some interesting exchanges that I will share with you. This first one was a comment from a reader and friend on a recent post:

“Voices heard from the dark void.

In, or of, ones mind.

That endless space from which some claim of hearing the voice of Gods.

What truths do they tell us that any honest self search would also not reveal?

What are the words of any God but that of a soul searching person, with a need of clarity,

of self morals, and distinction of identity? Or rules of self?

When asking any God for guidance are we not just looking within ourselves and testing our moral limits and standards?

But then placing the responsibility of our answers on a higher power? To what end?

All decisions and resulting actions are then harshly judged by our fellow man. That without a consult of the Gods at all.”

I am compelled to post my friend’s thoughts because I believe it is a common sentiment of non-believers and sometimes believers as well.

When we “hear the word of God” could it be just our own unconscious or subconscious mind? And by claiming to receive direction from God are we abdicating responsibility for the actions brought about? Are all the truths within us, available to be discerned through introspection?

My friend who wrote, what I believe to be, an eloquent statement of doubt, is, as you may have guessed, a non-believer. But unlike many non-believers I have observed, my friend is aware of the spiritual realm. Even so, in the absence of an awareness of the Holy Spirit it is difficult to convince a non-believer of the potential for a direct word from God.

As Christians we have chosen to believe in an all-powerful creator who deserves to be the One who makes the rules because He made the universe, made the forces that keep the particles in the universe behaving in a manner that provides us humans with the things we need to survive, and made us.

Additionally, part of the understanding we Christians have about the work of God is that He has a plan that was put into place from the beginning that includes us. We believe that God has the best inside knowledge on what we need to do to facilitate His plan. Plus, we believe that God desires a personal relationship with each of us and is capable and willing to participate in dialog with us in order to help us move through life in the direction that best achieves the purpose He has laid out for us.

We also believe that incorporated in our being we have the free will to choose our own direction. And we accept that that direction is either in alignment with God’s plan for us or opposed to it. There is no neutral zone.

Part of the package we get when we opt for Christianity is access to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, according to our tradition, is so integral to God that It is to be considered the representation of God in an alternate configuration. In practice, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to interface with us by providing access to God’s knowledge.

While it is impossible for us to ingest even a smidgen of God’s knowledge it is handy to have access to that database. Of course, God only provides insights in the time and amount that is in sync with how we are supposed to develop. And God’s word often has to be heard through a ton of distortion and interference from outside and inside sources.

Since to a Christian, God is the Supreme Being we accept His authority and accept that His is the standard for goodness. Remember, He created everything, so He gets to define good. If He tells us that He is the meaning of good and that all good comes from Him, that is His prerogative. For us it means that we are relieved of the task of figuring out what is good and bad. The problem with us deciding for ourselves what is good and bad is that it becomes arbitrary. What is good for one might be bad for another. At that point it comes down to who is the biggest, strongest, fittest or, most sinister and conniving. We humans are not particularly good at coming up with concepts that are universally good for all mankind. As Christians we believe that God sees the big picture from beginning to end. By seeking God’s advice on any number of things we can get answers from a lofty and farsighted perspective.

I don’t expect my answer to dissuade my friend from continuing to rely on his own insights . Accepting Gods influence in one’s life does require faith that not everyone has. Unless one is unsure of the veracity of answers from within one’s own mind; answers that are generated from an imperfect source that has a tendency toward being influenced by an enormous amount of input generated by other imperfect sources in combination with erratic emotional swings and built in cultural biases from generations of errant thinking.; answers that reflect the insecurities of childhood trauma and emotional stress from daily turmoil as well ad the influence of influencers and media spinners and charismatic politicians and misguided friends and tunnel visioned clergy, the advantages of seeking answers from God evade one.

I spent a lot of my life listening to my own council and holding to the conviction that nobody knew me and my needs better than me. During that time I made a lot of mistakes and suffered from my own unique brand of stupidity enough to come to the conclusion that maybe I didn’t have all the answers. Maybe I didn’t have any of the answers.

I consider myself blessed to have made so many mistakes early in life. My poor choices forced me to seek outside sources for answers. And when most of the people I talked with didn’t turn out to be much smarter than me, I was left with 2 conclusions. Either the universe and our existence in it, is aimless, pointless, haphazard bungling around in the dark, searching for some nonexistent reason for enduring the turmoil and nonsense of the rat race, or there is a purpose and reason that lies beyond my scope of awareness and understanding. I followed a trail of spiritual breadcrumbs that led me through a wonderland of mysticism and to the threshold of deism where things began to make sense.

I still make my share of mistakes and still have plenty of questions but as I ask them I now see answers reveal themselves. And they reveal themselves in interesting and delightful ways. Some come from reading scripture, some come from an examination of nature and science, and some come from observing, listening to, and conversing with other people, both believers and non-believers.

Perhaps I have been put under some form of spell that has captivated me. Ultimately, it’s all in what you choose to believe.