I am a little confused, and hope you can clear up for me…I assume that you do not believe in God, based on the context of many of your posts. But, you then ask “why did God create same sex attractions?” Maybe I misunderstood your point. Please clarify.

I’m also not sure what you mean when you say “putting God in the equation does not add anything meaningful.” Like your statement about the bible and same sex attractions, God being added to the equation has no meaning only within your context/framework. Again, maybe I’m not clear, so please clarify that for me.

I’ll keep it short… Rodney said,

God didn’t create “same sex attraction”. The Bible makes it clear that God created male for female and female for male. Corrupt humanity imagines and acts upon same sex attraction.

The Bible only “makes it clear” in its own context/framework. There’s zero evidence that it’s making a statement about reality. I’ve covered that in previous posts.

Okay, glad to hear you don’t hear voices. Your explanation (”strong impression… acting on that, etc.”) sounds reasonable and is something we can all relate to, I think. But again, why burden it with additional concepts like God? It’s infinitely more likely that we get that kind of information or “hunches” from intuition or some other form of subconscious means (as any psychologist can tell you, we know more than we’re consciously aware of). And yeah, luck and coincidence do often come into the picture. So, again and again the point is: Putting “God” into any of these equations doesn’t help at all, it does not add anything meaningful to the process of understanding things.

Take care,
Ray

Of the 90% that I think claim to hear from God, I would guess nearly 100% of them would NOT admit if it weren’t (if I understood your question correctly).

How do I know if God is speaking? I don’t upfront. For me, it starts with a strong impression, or an idea of something that I should do or say. If I act on that, somewhere down the road I find that there was a benefit in what I did or said, or it makes a positive impact. I admit there’s a possibility that I’ll never see the benefit, but I’ll still follow the strong impression to do or say what I think God is impressing me to do or say. I attribute that benefit or positive outcome to God. Should I? I don’t know…but I don’t know who else or what else to attribute the positive result to. Luck? Coincidence?

Let me be clear…I DO NOT HEAR VOICES. I think anyone claiming to hear voices on a regular basis should be locked up.

But just to respond to what you wrote Rodney about the 90% of people who claim to hear God… I wonder, of those 90% how many do you suppose actually say that it might not be God who is speaking to them?

So I wonder… how do you know it’s God?

Maybe you’ve inspired me to write a new post around this question. Watch this space

Rodney: God didn’t create “same sex attraction”. The Bible makes it clear that God created male for female and female for male. Corrupt humanity imagines and acts upon same sex attraction.

Simon, I’ll attempt to answer your question this way:

God speaks to me through His word. When I read the Bible, I understand what it is saying, and it goes into the “core,” the “essence (spirit),” the “heart” and changes me, so that those sinful things I once did, I now have no desire to do them. The corrupt essence of humanity is not capable of “listening” to God, and it has no desire to.

I can’t speak to how God “spoke” in the Old Testament, and I don’t believe that 90% of the people who claim that God spoke to them are really “hearing” God.

I think the OT is important and valuable but it is the NT that brings my faith and my relationship with God alive. The Bible’s not God’s biography but through everything that’s written we get to know so much more of the heart of God and His love for everyone. We can learn that He is fair and just and true. He is not to be feared but reveared. He is loving and not a tyrant.

I believe in God and, as requested, I will pray that as you read the true and real nature of God will become aparant and that the words you read will cease to be dry and boring but will radiate life and truth. God bless.

You’ve got so much information here about the versions etc. I thought of just two things I’d like to add.

1. Audio Bible. As I’m sitting here thinking about it, I wonder if maybe, you’re not a visual learner but Audio is better for you. I’m not sure… but I know you spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, music (an inordinate amount I would say…), and ted talks- so I think may audio might be the best approach for you. You’ve mentioned to me before great podcasts you listen to etc. and its never really inspired me quite like it has you because I just have a hard time learning and taking in chunks of information just by listening to it. Maybe audio is to you what books are to me? I could read anytime, any day, and just go on and on and on. Its just how I was made. Which leads me to point 2….

2. I also suspect that you take in information by engaging with it… responding to it. Maybe if you did something like, write your own psalm or something like that it might help you interact with the text more. I dont take in information too well like in a lecture, but if I’m writing it, or if I’m dialoguing with someone about it- I understand everything very very well. I know you read a lot to prove your points, like for your blogs. Maybe if you read and respond somehow, or dialogue with someone about it, it will help you understand or learn from the text better. Its just my initial thoughts, and I certainly don’t want to project what helps me learn on you- but as I thought about it- it made sense that this might help you given what I know about you.

Hope that helps and hope your reading/ interacting/ listening time is a blast.

Rachel