Different in degree or kind; language (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Wednesday, December 24, 2014, 08:09 (3623 days ago) @ dhw

You seem to expect to be able to just sit down and have a chat, a two way conversation with God, perhaps over tea, where you ask questions directly and he responds directly, in spoken words in your given language. Yet, that is not the end all be all of communication. You would recognize communication in the written word if it were written by anyone else, but you fail to set that same criteria for him.-Jehovah (YHWH) is described as "the hearer of prayers". The question then is, how does he answer. In terms of language, you would be surprised at the answers that are indeed received through the bible. Depsite its age, there have been many times when I have personally been struggling with something, prayed about it, and then subsequently found a fairly specific answer within its pages whether I was looking for it or not. However, other times they are answered through actions, and often not in the manner we would expect. -The reason I quoted that passage is that it specifically states that YHWH does not speak directly to humans, voice to voice, any longer. Despite that, the example of his son, when thoroughly examined does in fact provide a lot of answers to a lot of questions, and more importantly builds faith and assurance in what is to come. You may not agree, and that is certainly your right as a human with free will.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.