society

God speaks to people—to individuals—and He speaks personally and intimately. I'm not talking about speaking through the bible, either. I'm talking about people hearing a still small voice from God in the depth of their being.

To many, Christians and unbelievers alike, the idea that God communicates directly with a person is ridiculous to the point of being offensive. Many Christians struggle with this because they have developed doctrines that exclude the possibility that God would want to do such a thing. They have no issue with the existence of God, just the idea that He's intimate. The agnostic and the atheist also have a doctrinal issue. They seize on a belief in God as proof of the idiocy of the follower of Christ. They hold that any rational person can't accept the idea of knowing and communicating with some unseen entity. They aggressively mock and denounce anyone professing to experience God intimately. In their post Enlightenment minds anyone who speaks to disembodied entities must be mentally unfit for modern society. They demand empirical proof of God's existence. They want to see Him, touch Him, measure Him, and without that ability, they reject Him.

I am struck by the hypocrisy.

Our society has gladly embraced the idea of disembodied communication. It started with technology like the alphabet, evolved into books and television and has led us to digitized two-way communication systems like Twitter and SMS text. We are freed from having to be present with those we communicate with. We unquestioningly accept disembodied messages and rely on them all day long, many times from people we have never met face-to-face. We never question if so-and-so exists when their latest Twitter post appears on our reader or their text message shows up on our phone. We just smile, read it and sometimes we reply. We are not face-to-face. We can not hear their voice or see their facial expressions. We have usually never even met these people. But, when the text message shows up there's no doubt. We know what this person is thinking, what they are saying and how they want us to feel. Over time we begin to infer their values, their beliefs and their tastes. We receive encouragement from disembodied friends, instruction from disembodies experts and even develop strong feelings for disembodied lovers. We consider these people to be our friends and we enjoy the esprit de corps we get from being part of the large net of disembodied society.

We, through our crude technology, strive to communicate with disembodied people and we think nothing of it. And yet, the idea that there is someone or something other and that He communicates with people is anathema to us. In reality we are just striving to be like God; to be all knowing, all powerful and present everywhere. We want to be unlimited, just like the one we deny. Which is the greater idiocy?