It’s getting quiet here. Time to bust out some controversy.

Prayer. Pretty major part of Christianity, being the means by which we can talk to God. The natural extension from talking to God is to listen back. So lets talk about listening to God.

For starters, the Bible’s pretty clear about seeking out two-way communication with the spiritual realm. Saul’s last mistake was to contact Samuel through a witch, an error which cost him the battle at hand, the kingship, and his life.

Nonetheless—according to scripture—it’s clear that God does occasionally reveal himself to select individuals (Joseph, Moses, Paul, Elijah, other prophets, etc.) in very explicit ways.

I’ve been thinking about the topic recently, in light of three things:

1. A intriguing sermon series at CFC entitled Which Way To Go,
2. The speakers at a recent Christian retreat, and
3. The television series Wonderfalls.

The first two were messages given at Christian gatherings, quite different from each other, and the third is a very (very) secular show which explores some of the themes.

The Secular TV Show

In the commentaries for Wonderfalls, creators Todd Holland and Brian Fuller describe their thought process in fleshing out the series. Holland purportedly had “a thing” for Joan of Arc, and a launching point for Wonderfalls became, “How would God speak to a disaffected young woman like that today?”

The snarky, sardonic hero of the show is Jaye Tyler, 24. In the series, it’s random inanimate objects that speak to her: condiment servers, souvenirs, and lawn ornaments. Has she gone insane? Is it something supernatural? Is it God? Satan? Something else?

The show explores these questions in mostly a tounge-in-cheek manner. Primarily, it’s through an atheist brother (with his comparative religion degree) and a curious therapist.

Amidst all the humour and drama, though, something about Wonderfalls resonated with me.

The muses that push Jaye push her beyond her circle of apathetic disinterest. They force her to care, to be passionate. And yet, as the disinterest falls away, she’s filled with confusion and frustration, wanting things the muses won’t let her have.

Of course, the difficulty with Wonderfalls from a Christian perspective, is that the notion of talking animals is not exactly biblical. With the exception of Balaam’s donkey, every other person spoken-to in scripture recieves their revelation through visions or dreams, not talking muses. Unless the burning bush counts, but that’s kind of a stretch… and no, don’t try to make a case out of the serpent (who was Satan) or Nebuchadnezzar , who was actually insane.

The Big Shift

One of the messages at the retreat this term was one of sacrifice. In our decisions about jobs, about housing, and about our friends, what decisions could we make that would please God?

Tricky question. Many decisions have no right answer, and many more have no wrong answer. With no spiritual reasoning to go from, what about when we feel lost with a particular decision?

Does it please God when we try to earn karma by making choices that are crappy for ourselves but benefit others? What about lesser tradeoffs? And yeah, what about those decisions which are major but not spiritual?

Where’s the line between what’s a genuine sacrifice and what’s just plain stupid? Meditative prayer may be helpful to calm the mind for rational decision-making, but how much stock can we—and indeed, should we—really place in the whisperings of a quiet moment? Our conscience convicts us of wrongdoing, but beyond that, is listening to our mind play tricks on us any better than Jaye listening to her little wax lion?

Which Way To Go

Shortly after The Big Shift, Ken Taylor at CFC gave a four-part series on discerning God’s will for the lives of believers.

The MP3s are there, but the concept is not a difficult one: God’s first priority is not for us to be constantly phoning him up for advice about stuff, and then waiting for hocus-pocus answers. His first priority is that we be trusting in his Son for salvation, and living in the sweet spot that his is moral will for our lives.

God loves us, and unless he intervenes with a special revelation, his will for us is that we think for ourselves, provided that we are maintaining a prayerful, scriptural relationship with him.

Note: I’m not one who’s going to jump on some kind of moral high-horse here. Remember, I’m the guy who needs an RSS feed for scripture in order to read any of it at all mid-week.

When it comes to those major decisions, wise counsellors. Moral dilemmas? Same. In either case, we can still ask God in prayer to reveal to us the best route to take, but excepting highly unusual circumstances, the answers will come out of rational consideration of the circumstances, or perhaps a discussion thereof.

Action

I like Ken’s approach because there’s an easy action plan. I know clearly the areas of my own life that need work, and concentrating on fixing those is a task for the present.

I mean, I have broad goals for the future… you know, wife, family, that kind of thing, but really? I still got three months left of being a teenager!

Is it a cop-out to just be rational? I hope not. Believers really are supposed to be different, but I think God would rather see me use my head than do something dumb (or hurtful) because I fancied a “revelation” and then proceeded to misinterpret it and act in blind faith.

Does that make sense?

Mike

← Earlier Later → Posted at 2:14 pm to Christianity.