Followers of Abrahamic Religions Only: God, Why So Quiet and Why So Invisible?

[David Davidovich]

You don’t have to take my word for it. You can listen for yourself. All that’s needed for you to make a start, is willingness and open mindedness. God isn’t hiding from you, but rather the other way round.

But then I guess there's the whole thing about whether or not God wants to talk to you... Or if one seeking to communicate with God is doing it correctly and with faith or with the right motive, etc. Yeah, I've heard the whole spiel before and have attempted to communicate with God, but to no avail. And that is why I started this thread.

 

[David Davidovich]

As an ex-Catholic (still cultural Catholic) I know a little about Catholic teaching. What is written in the Bible is called God's public revelation. It culminated and was completed in Christ. Until Christ's second coming there will be no public revelation. We are expected to have faith based on scripture and apostolic tradition.

Meanwhile some persons have had so called private revelations. They can't add to or change the complete revelation. They have to be recognized by the authority of the church...

Private revelation - Wikipedia

Sounds fabulous.

 

[David Davidovich]

Too uncertain. How would you know it's not just a play of imagination - a kind of apophenia?

Tolstoy was a seeker. He struggled with faith and he couldn't believe anything supernatural - miracles, Son of God... He could only believe moral teaching... He admired faith (blissful ignorance) of a peasant - faith he personally couldn't accept:

“How often I envied the peasants for their illiteracy and lack of education. The statements of faith, which for me produced nonsense, for them produced nothing false.” (A Confession)​

Wow. Also, what a lot of people don't know is that when Christianity developed in the First century, the majority of its adherents couldn't read or write.

I think he communicates with us but we aren't always willing to hear. What about all the tsunamis and natural disasters we have had in the past several years that we didn't use to have as kids? I think God is warning us about the way we are treating the environment.

I would say that sounds more like science warning us rather than God.

 

[RestlessSoul]

But then I guess there's the whole thing about whether or not God wants to talk to you... Or if one seeking to communicate with God is doing it correctly and with faith or with the right motive, etc. Yeah, I've heard the whole spiel before and have attempted to communicate with God, but to no avail. And that is why I started this thread.

So you haven’t stopped searching then?

We have to silence the ego, I think. Or have it, and our pride, crushed by circumstance, which is what happened to me. This is a process common to most spiritual traditions, eastern and western; that we should humble ourselves, and silence the chattering voice of the ‘Big I Am’.

Deafened by the voice of desire
you are unaware the Beloved
lives in the core of your heart.
Stop the noise,
and you will hear His voice
in the silence.

- Jalalludin Rumi

 

[PearlSeeker]

I think he communicates with us but we aren't always willing to hear. What about all the tsunamis and natural disasters we have had in the past several years that we didn't use to have as kids? I think God is warning us about the way we are treating the environment.

... and he is killing a lot of innocent children in the process. A strange way to communicate.

 

[Brian2]

And yet, collectively, Christians are divided not only politically, but doctrinally also. Therefore, how can God be speaking to all of them?

God can speak to all of His people. Even if WE cannot be sure who they are, God knows.

 

[Wildswanderer]

Yeah, but accompanied by a mighty wind that broke rocks in pieces, and an earthquake and fire.

None of which he was present in.

 

[SDavis]

So, are you saying that the ancients were allowed to have visible and audible evidence, but we aren't?



What!??? You really lost me with that last sentence.

Why did you divide it? The sentence before it should have said the whole world will see him coming from the clouds in the sky with his angels.
I'm at a loss how you didn't understand it.
But I'll bite .... 100 years ago 1923 and prior there was no television - an estimated 40 years ago 1983 and prior, no internet. Without television and Internet if the Lord came back down to earth and landed in the US it could not be seen in Australia, or South America, or Africa, or Europe, or Asia _ and the same would have applied with any of those countries, anywhere.
With television & with the internet whatever happens anywhere on Earth can be viewed all around the earth except in small villages that may not have access to such things and within that hour as scripture indicates.

 

[David Davidovich]

David Davidovich said: ↑
But then I guess there's the whole thing about whether or not God wants to talk to you... Or if one seeking to communicate with God is doing it correctly and with faith or with the right motive, etc. Yeah, I've heard the whole spiel before and have attempted to communicate with God, but to no avail. And that is why I started this thread.

So you haven’t stopped searching then?

That is not what I meant by my quote. However, I am not closed to believing in God.

We have to silence the ego, I think. Or have it, and our pride, crushed by circumstance, which is what happened to me. This is a process common to most spiritual traditions, eastern and western; that we should humble ourselves, and silence the chattering voice of the ‘Big I Am’.

But that is exactly what I meant by my quote. Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah.

 

[David Davidovich]

David Davidovich said: ↑
And yet, collectively, Christians are divided not only politically, but doctrinally also. Therefore, how can God be speaking to all of them?

God can speak to all of His people. Even if WE cannot be sure who they are, God knows.

I see. So, God is sending out different and conflicting messages to different people? And if so, then well, geez! No wonder we're so screwed up down here on planet earth.

 

[David Davidovich]

None of which he was present in.

So, what is that supposed to mean? He was the one who caused that commotion, right? Therefore, what's the difference?

 

[David Davidovich]

Why did you divide it? The sentence before it should have said the whole world will see him coming from the clouds in the sky with his angels.
I'm at a loss how you didn't understand it.
But I'll bite .... 100 years ago 1923 and prior there was no television - an estimated 40 years ago 1983 and prior, no internet. Without television and Internet if the Lord came back down to earth and landed in the US it could not be seen in Australia, or South America, or Africa, or Europe, or Asia _ and the same would have applied with any of those countries, anywhere.
With television & with the internet whatever happens anywhere on Earth can be viewed all around the earth except in small villages that may not have access to such things and within that hour as scripture indicates.

I see. Well, I knew what you meant, but where you lost me was explained in what you said in you last sentence:

With television & with the internet whatever happens anywhere on Earth can be viewed all around the earth except in small villages that may not have access to such things and within that hour as scripture indicates.

Therefore, what you are saying is that God has to depend upon a man-made invention to fulfill one of his prophecies, but yet, it won't even be completely fulfilled in small villages that may not have access to such things.

 

[Brian2]

I see. So, God is sending out different and conflicting messages to different people? And if so, then well, geez! No wonder we're so screwed up down here on planet earth.

No you don't see.

 

[David Davidovich]

No you don't see.

Um, okay. So, explain it to me again?

 

[Brian2]

Um, okay. So, explain it to me again?

God's people hold different doctrines and God speaks to us all. I did not say that God is telling us those different doctrines. I might be the only one who is completely correct, but all other Christians are also God's people.

 

[Wildswanderer]

So, what is that supposed to mean? He was the one who caused that commotion, right? Therefore, what's the difference?

There's obviously a difference, according to the scripture.
God is technically present everywhere but he isn't always manifesting his presence in everything.

 

[David Davidovich]

God's people hold different doctrines and God speaks to us all. I did not say that God is telling us those different doctrines. I might be the only one who is completely correct, but all other Christians are also God's people.

Well, alrighty then. So, I guess I'll just leave you an okey dokey on that one.

 

[Brian2]

Well, alrighty then. So, I guess I'll just leave you an okey dokey on that one.

Okey dokey.

 

[Sandra Jayne]

In ancient times written in the Hebrew text or Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament, as some people like to call it, God often spoke to people or made some sort of visible manifestations of his presence or his power etc. However, now in the 20th and the 21st century, I personally have never seen or heard of any evidence of this other than claims that purportedly occurred in remote villages or parts of the world where most people don't know about or have travel to. And that you find out about because you incidentally read something in a book or magazine or saw something that was ambiguous or suspect in a YouTube video that you had made a search for in regard to that topic. Therefore, can those from the Abrahamic Religions comment more about this?

In the Old Testament God gave laws etc, made sure that the Jews would remain separate from pagan nations because Jesus was to be born from the lineage of King David. He was preparing the Jews such as making them understand the nature of a blood sacrifice as a means of redemption from sin.
Once Jesus died for us there is little more for God to say, everything one needs to know to have salvation is written in the scriptures.
We are now being judged; I don't believe God is having any interaction with us despite what some theists might claim the next encounter with God will be on the last day.

 

[David Davidovich]

There's obviously a difference, according to the scripture.
God is technically present everywhere but he isn't always manifesting his presence in everything.

Interesting. Also, I know this next question is a little bit off topic, but I've always been curious about this: So, does that mean that no one really does have any privacy?