Keith Kelly Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Do you hear God speak to you? It this an outdated theistic view of religion, rooted in tradition or primordial thinking, or is it real? If God speaks directly to believers, why do believers hear different things? Many in the church pray and hear the voice of God or the Spirit. Is this consistent with Progressive Christianity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulS Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I don't hear God personally, and I do lean toward such thinking as being outdated. But of course how can one argue with somebody who does say they hear God? I'm not in their head so I can't say they're wrong. The fact that God seems to tell people different things, which often are in contradiction, does lead me to believe that it isn't really some God talking but rather human thought processes attributing such to a God. I don't think there would be a consolidated PC view on this. PC is more an ongoing conversation rather than a bunch of set factors. I think hearing God is consistent with PC, as is believing that Gd doesn't directly speak to people. These at just my thoughts and aren't author active when it comes to PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Hi Keith, Just as Life, Creation or nature speaks to us in ways sometimes difficult to describe , i think God speaks to us through and with all things. Not necessarily in a particular language of voice but more-so as a 'knowing' more aligned with a 'feeling' than learned kinowledge but nevertheless translated through a connection with our thoughts and within the conditioned limits of our vocabulary so that it may appear as an audible voice within our head. Since there is such a multitude of thoughts that constantly form within us, it seems that it would be quite easy to mistake conditioned thoughts from those that are unconditioned or pure. However, in my experience, there are moments of clarity where doubt does not exist that severs the line of separation between each of us as individuals and 'All that Is' in which i would say God speaks. I think many believers hear different things because of confusion with their prior conditioning . In my experience, Ego and God cannot be present at the same moment as the one is filled with a myriad of beliefs while the other is absent of all beliefs. Just my own answer and thoughts to your question. Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 PS It seems to me that God is always speaking in all things great and small but it is not as the speaking of men/women but as Mother Teresa is quoted saying "speaking from the silence of the heart". As humans our problem seems to be in understanding the difference. Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soma Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I feel if someone tells me what God told him/her or that God speaks to him or her then I would probable look with disbelief. If God speaks to one he speaks to all as Joseph said. He speaks to everyone and everything inside and out all the time. I managed a house for mentally disturbed and they all heard voices and thought God was talking to them, but the ones that expressed it tried to commit suicide or some other violent act. I am sure he was speaking to them, but sometimes the mind translates it through the filter of their life and they hear the opposite of what transmitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inthedark Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 A large proportion of what we think is attributed to our subconscious and it is often steering us in particular ways without our knowledge, hence the saying "let me sleep on it". We are starting to realise that it drives a lot of our decision making. Some of these "feelings" could possibly be attributed to God in a person who is sensitive and is experiencing some "leakage" from the subconscious. I like to think God permiates everything, all reality, but I don't hear him talk to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soma Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Inthedark, I agree with your leakage from the subconscious. I like the way you expressed it. In my book I use the analogy that God is pure consciousness and that creation is the iceburgs in that ocean of pure consciousness. They both are H2O or water so everything is created by God of God and is God. I am trying to increase the leakage by removing my obstructions to that pure consciousness. It is always there in, out and around us. Thanks for the smile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Soma, It seems to me that obstructions is a good analogy. Some obstructions might be such things as excessive thought, strongly held viewpoints and opinions and deep seeded conditioned beliefs. God to me, speaks "in the now" from what might appear as the subtle silence of the thinking mind and all those things mentioned can be obstructions that affect the clarity in which we 'hear'. Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORM Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I think there is a danger in believing that a deity is speaking directly to you. ....what? ...what did you say? ?... XXXXXXXXXXXX Oh. OK. But, I could be wrong. NORM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soma Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 I agree Norm, Hitler had many quotes where he quoted God's support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I have heard from God in words for 24 years, since I was 34. It was very exciting at first, but I quickly learned I could not trust every word. Whether one hears words or has a feeling that one put into words, even silence, they are our words. I hear my particular version of English, with innumerable concepts attached that I have learned. I never hear facts I didn't already know. It's not hard to imagine why different people hear different things from God. The experience is necessarily a cooperative effort, and who can say how much of God is in any of it. I think it's a mistake to say there is nothing of God in it. That's no more justified than saying it's always 10% God. It depends on the individual mind having the experience. How much of God is in that mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Hi DavidD, Good to hear from you after so long a time. I can relate to your post. I think our own vocabulary and current conceptual understanding of things has a lot to do with the words we hear in translation concerning the Divine. . Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matteoam Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Through meditation I have felt a presence, not a feeling, which I am communicating with. I do consider this the voice of god. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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