God speaks to us in many ways – through circumstance, people we meet, synchronicity, Holy Scripture, and most importantly, the very key to it all, our conscience.
Conscience is the key to hearing God’s Voice because a dull conscience will not respond to the message given through the other means. If I have a dull, calloused, hardened conscience, then it matters not how much Scripture I read or how clearly God speaks through synchronicity or other miracles. It would all fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.
I began thinking about this the other day because a friend told me he was having trouble bringing a person to faith in Christ. He said he had made good progress. His friend confesses to believe in God. But he still has some unspecified problems with Christ and the Bible. It is likely that those problems are based on an intuitive rejection of the claims of exclusivity so common in sectarian Christianity. That was the problem I had when I first came to faith in Christ and it was never resolved during the last two decades of my walk – I more or less ignored its horrific implications while struggling to come to an understanding in light of the Bible as God’s Word. That struggle is now over. I have been transformed. I see the blazing glory of the True Gospel that declares Christ to be the savior of every person. Indeed, He is the Savior of the World. In Him God will gather together all as one and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. He is the all in all. The testimony of Scripture is overwhelming, and it agrees with my conscience that is now vibrantly alive to the Spirit of God as never before. There is not a cloud on the horizon of my mind. I now understand that my conscience always knew the truth but my awareness of that truth was blocked by false sectarian teachings. Now there is not a shadow of doubt. I know with my whole soul. I am living in the perfect light of God’s Day, which is now – always present like God Himself. I have spewed out the last remnants of poisonous sectarian beliefs. My conscience is clean, whole, undefiled and filled with overflowing love for every person on this planet.
So when my friend asked how to help someone come to faith in Christ, the last thing I wanted to do was help him impose sectarian Christian beliefs on another soul. But I also wanted that person to come to know the Christ of the Bible. This led me to the perfect answer. It is a sad fact that many Christians, especially evangelists and apologists, are functional atheists. They claim to believe in God but then rely on human methods and rhetorical techniques to try to coerce a person to accept logical propositions like “Islam is false” or “You have sinned and will go to hell if you do not confess Jesus as Lord.” That is how to convert people to cults, not genuine Christianity.
So how do you help a person come to the truth? It is very simple. You help them hear the Voice of God by working with them to overcome whatever has dulled their conscience! When a person’s conscience is clean, vibrant, and alive, it can not help but hear the glorious chorus of truth sung by endless myriads of angels all around us. So that’s it. All you need to do is help them become sensitive to their conscience so they can hear the Voice of God.
Update: An amazing synchronicity (which just happens to be one of the ways God talks to us) occurred while writing this article. Over on my forum, we fell into a discussion about how Christians should deal with temptations and sins. This typically leads to the trap of legalism which is very “sticky” for most folks. They get all tangled up in worries about sin. But while I was writing this post, I received an email notification of a new post on that thread, which ended with these words:
If you have Faith in the Father as did Jesus, I would’nt let the problem
that sin seems to haunt some people get to me.
Do the best you can and leave the rest to the Spirit of Life.
Your free of the Law, save conscience. Let conscience be your guide.
It is your friend ,not enemy.
Amen! That is exactly what I am trying to communicate here. By listening to our conscience, we can not help but hear the Voice of God.
Amen to that. Our conscience is our connection to God….it is the only way He can commune with us.
I’m glad you used the phrase “connection with God.” That conveys the truth with great clarity.
I agree… so tell me the trick… how do you get someone to be sensitive to their conscience? What if they seem to have no conscience(is that possible or is it just so dulled) and you can’t find the way to remove the barrier? All I know to do is pray for God’s help and as such… as the Bible says… only the Father can draw people to Himself. John 6:44
What do you think? If you know a way I would really like to know.
Hi Cynthia,
Excellent question! And I agree completely – only God can “draw” a person to himself. That’s how it works whether or not he uses us to help in the process.
If a person is so far gone that they appear to you to have no conscience, then yes, I would think prayer is the only solution. In general, we can help someone hear their conscience only when we are a true and loving friend to that person. If we are trusted, we can help them in their introspection. We can be a mirror to them and help them see if they are being true to their heart or if they are evading what they really know to be true. This is why “confrontational” apologetics so rarely bears fruit. If we set ourselves as an adversary to a person, that person may feel compelled to deny their own conscience to win the argument. In that case, we accomplish exactly the opposite of what we want because an attack often causes them to harden their hearts.
All the best,
Richard
So Richard:
You no longer subscribed to this line of thinking!?
So how do you help a person come to the truth? It is very simple. You help them hear the Voice of God by working with them to overcome whatever has dulled their conscience! When a person’s conscience is clean, vibrant, and alive, it can not help but hear the glorious chorus of truth sung by endless myriads of angels all around us. So that’s it. All you need to do is help them become sensitive to their conscience so they can hear the Voice of God.
So if i understand your statements now… you no longer believe in GOD or Jesus or anything slightly aligned with the religious tenents of Christianity, or Judiaism.
The issue is one of perspectives. The truth – and its source of form. The notion that all things (Tao) exist because they do. The notion that mystery is a part of life. Never to be fully understood – but we must fully immerse ourselves into the Great Mystery which is known as Wakan Takan. The Great Spirit. Father sky – Mother earth are all doing what comes naturally. And we must do the same.
Peace!
Mystykal
Hey there Mystikal,
I’m glad you brought this old post to my attention. I wrote it when I was still in transition out of Christianity. At that time, I had come to reject what I thought of as “sectarian Christianity” taught as dogma that did not have a basis in conscience, in truth that is recognized by one’s own self. I was still using the Christian metaphors of Christ as Savior and the “glorious chorus of truth sung by endless myriads of angels all around us.” I am really quite surprised to see that I was still using such hyper-enthusiastic language. I don’t think that way at all any more. It feels quite foreign to me.
But I still hold to “conscience” as the way to hear the “voice of truth” though I wouldn’t call that “God” any more since that word has too much baggage. Much like the word “atheist” which really denotes only a “non-theist” – a person who rejects the idea of a personal God who is an agent analogous to a human person. I don’t believe in any of the gods proposed by the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). I find the whole idea quite unbelievable because it posits God as an ego-driven being analogous to mere humans.
So yes, you are correct when you say I “no longer believe in GOD or Jesus or anything slightly aligned with the religious tenents of Christianity, or Judiaism.” But I’m not a materialist – there could be a spiritual aspect of reality. Indeed, I am more inclined towards Idealism and appreciate the “mystical” aspect of reality. I just don’t think the theistic style gods are true.
Metaphors like Father Sky and Mother Earth make good sense if not taken too literally. They are based on the fundamentally dualistic nature of reality at our level – Yin/Yang – which is how the Unity of All appears to embodied beings.
I agree that we should “do what comes naturally.” Well stated!
Richard
Richard, I really enjoyed reading the above article… howbeit, a wee bit “bummed” to read your follow up entry above this post… At any rate, it was well writen and I agreed with much of it. I personally do believe that God can and does speak to us, above and apart from our own conscious. I believe this not due to anything that I have been taught, but by my experience. If I depended on what I have been taught, I would not believe God speaks to anyone. Not in the sense that I mean it, not in the sense that I have experienced him. And I too have heard so many, many Christians spewing, “God told me this/that.” And when they say that, most usually it means that thoughts popped into their minds and they labled it “God.” (that is why one of my favorite scriptures is last half of Jeremiah ch23…)
May I give you one example that has been so very precious to me over the years? My wife had some habits that were irritating to me, what they were is unimportant. I was praying asking God to “change her” etc. God spoke to me, asking me, “Is this important to you?” I was egstatic, God was talking to me!!! If He was talking to me, surely he was going to answer my request and change my wife’s habits! I answered, “Yes Lord, it IS important to me!” God asked me again, “Is it really important to you?” Still thrilled, I cried out, “yes Lord, it is really important to me!” Then God asked me, “Important enough to hurt her?” I broke down weeping, saying, “No Lord, it’s not THAT important.” The result was that God changed ME, not her. He changed my attitude towards her. My love for her overcame my irritation with her ways. I took care not to complain about those particular things anymore. And it wasn’t hard really, knowing to do otherwise would “hurt her,” as God so kindly opened my eyes to see it as He did. I don’t care if anyone believes me, that this event happened EXACTLY as I have related it here or not. I am not out to impress anyone. My point is simply that it was not merely my “conscious” dealing with me. I am not trying to convince anyone of anything either. If I am not believed, it doesn’t bother me at all. All I can do is to relate my own personal experience.
Richard and Rose, place your trust in the Lord Jesus’ perfect, atoning, finished work on the tree and on His resurrection. Doing this is of vital importance.
Our conscience isn’t full proof, but God’s word is infallible!
Put your wholehearted trust in the LORD of the Bible and let Him cleanse your conscience!
Greetings Richard and Rose!
Does everyone have a good conscience? The Bible teaches that they don’t!
What caused Adam and Eve to hide from God after the fall? It was their conscience. It was their conscience that made them know their nakedness and filled them with shame.
The fact that Adam and Eve could appease their consciences with a fig leaf garment made by their own hands shows that the conscience of fallen man is, like every faculty of human nature, utterly perverted and depraved.
We all have a conscience but the only way we can obtain a good conscience is by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ!
The Bible teaches that only the Lord can cause us to have a good conscience!
And how does He do this?
He sprinkles the heart of those people He decides to save with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear readers, God’s plans are never irrational and confused, for His wonderful gift of living kindly, patiently, humbly, trustworthy and self-contolled is not only rational and logical but also gracious and loving.
The true Jesus found in the holy Bible was never “lost”, but came to seek and save the lost.
He wasn’t restless but blessed with the gift of restfulness, for he rested in divine truth.
He wasn’t tormented by guilt, for he wasn’t guilty of anything.
Truly he has been the only person who has ever lived a totally innocent life before the Lord God.
Contrasted to this Isa presented by the Koran is a totally false Jesus!
Precious readers, only the Jesus, the historical Jesus of Nazareth introduced to us in the holy Bible is trustworthy.
How do we hear from someone? How do we hear from God?
The best way is to endeavour to trust and obey what He teaches.
Blog readers, what the praiseworthy Lord God teaches is found in the holy Bible.
He doesn’t encourage man to make a god of his conscience, thinking, feelings, will or body!
Look to Jesus! Study His life and words and if you earnestly seek Him, then the true, good shepherd who is risen will allow Himself to be found by you!
Enjoy your Bible study!
God The Almighty.
Conscious = Spirit = Spirit Of God = God Almighty
Sole source back to The Unlimited Conscious of God, is only through the Conscious which resides in us. The only and true way back home.
One’s Conscious, The Only gateway back to the supreme conscious. The Ultimate Happiness.
Only way knowing O’ God Almighty is through the very thought of The God Himself.
Conscious of God = Spirit Of God = The manifestation itself = Mother Nature
Example: If I have a long time friend/relative or a colleague. I can know the person but to truly know. One has to know the real nature of that individual. That is when one can only claim to know someone.
Same way if one has to know God, One must understand nature of God Himself. The thought of God, which is abundant in everything that exists (Sun, Earth, Moon, Sky, Water, Air. Plants, Mountains, Valleys, Rain, Clouds…. All Manifestation). Which is not hidden at-all. Truth that is present all the time, all around us. The very Nature of God Himself. (The Mother Nature). True Teacher, Only True Source.