How should we understand what God is? Part 9

How should we understand what God is?

Part 9: God is still God

Most importantly, God is still a person. The believer is not simply holding in their mind key principles and values and committing themselves to living by them. Instead, the believer still experiences the voice of God as a dynamic personal agent who has the ability to “answer back” when the believer addresses them. God is still personal because the believer does not have complete control over what this voice will say. This voice is not me. Even though the voice is the person’s own creation – developed through constant attention – the voice of God has acquired independence. To repeat, from the believer’s perspective, there will be no practical difference in a person’s relationship with God between this new understanding of God and the traditional one. However, in the past, if a believer who has been full of faith suddenly loses confidence and starts to doubt whether God truly is real, they discover that their faith evaporates. However, now, the believer is immune to this threat, because they self-consciously understand that the voice of God in their head has indeed been created by them. However, this voice still attains the same authority and power to guide and strengthen as God has ever had. Crucially, this voice still has the complete nature of God – and perhaps this is how I can be so certain that this voice is not me: this voice has all the qualities of God – and I do not! The voice of God, which I have created in my own head, loves me with a love that I do not have – but God does.