Into the Wardrobe

Agreed. Once one has been "in love" or had children, one no longer questions the existence of something based on it's visibility or lack of visibility.

I just wanted to make sure the actual question was recognized.

Sometimes folks ask "what time is it"? And we explain what time is from our perspective, how time came to be measured, how timepieces were created and whether or not one should wear a watch...without ever telling them what time it is. And when I say "we"...I mean "I".

A few points, for clarity (oh how I love Clarity):

1. It's GSKERN... note the (relatively simple) spelling...
2. I am most definitely Male...
3. I NEVER said that God directly talking to us -- literally -- was "not possible"... indeed, I have demonstrated (I hope) a sincere eagerness to talk to someone, anyone, who has LITERALLY had a LEGITIMATE, audible, one-on-one encounter of the SAME sort as (if you'll remember my comparison) I would have with my friend at the coffee shop...

THAT is the experience that I have described as "rare". Usually, when pressed, people who profess to have had such experiences finally break down and admit that it's more of a "feeling" or "awareness" or a "sense of God's presence" or some such highly-subjective encounter... Might those encounters be God? Certainly! Might they also be the Mind talking back to itself? Why of course. We simply don't know.

And all the babble about "personal relationship with God" is, to me, highly suspicious. I personally believe I will glorify God more if I leave off all the feel-good prattle about a "relationship" and focus purely on understanding His revealed Will, and then obeying...

Not to say that there aren't some "feel good" moments... I've enjoyed MANY of these, often while I'm meditating on something LEWIS wrote... but I am careful not to mistake my own reveries as "encounters with God"... I will see Him SOMEday, and until then, He is (quietly, mysteriously, from what seems like a distance) changing me....

1. Yes I know it's gskern, but it's hard to always type accurately when my fingernails need filing.

2. Yes, you have made it amply clear in other posts that you are male (as I duly noted by my own choice of pronoun).

3. If you have not met anyone who has had a "literal" and "legitimate" (whatever you mean by those terms) encounter with God, I suggest that you widen your circle of friends. However, I do find the idea of God drinking coffee a bit too anthropomorphic. Are you sure that rather than being created in the image of God, you are not trying to create God in your image?

Look, this is really very simple:

1. My "circle of friends" is NOT the issue here: I am 42 years old, and have not only been raised in church since I was 3, but have also traveled far and wide in so-called "Christian circles" and have spoken to hundreds of Christians and near-Christians from just about every perspective possible... from that very broad sampling I have run into MAYBE four people who claim to have LITERALLY heard God's LITERAL voice (so much for the sappy comments about us "getting out of the way" )...

2. I am NOT "limiting" God or "making God in my own image" (again, silly and useless renderings). I'm simply saying that for the most part, it does indeed seem as if we are NOT going to literally hear the voice of God on this side of eternity, AND, that what we think might be God speaking to us might just as easily be explained as self-delusion.

I've finished (several times) by noting that I'm just NOT one who can do the whole "pretend you and Jesus are best buddies" kind of thing... It's a Longing, an Unfulfilled Desire, for God that is, ITSELF, the strongest indication I can think of that God has a) somehow impacted my heart and mind and b) He is just around the bend, always a bit out of sight, and that silly conversations about a "relationship" with Him serve only to distract us from the very serious business of understanding His WILL for us and then OBEYING...

IF there are any kindred spirits reading this thread, or IF there are those reading this (the FEW and the RARE) who actually HAVE heard a literal voice, I'd like to connect with you and learn more...