How To Search For God?

The Search for God Page 2.1

Have you ever played hide-and-go-seek? I think the game is pretty universal.

When I was the seeker, I would start with my eyes closed.
When I counted to ten, I would open my eyes and yell, “Ready or not, here I come!”

This search for God and truth can often be much the same way. We start with ourselves, blind, eyes closed, but preparing to find something hidden.

I liked to try to listen to scattering feet for possible hiding locations. Did someone go up the stairs? Did a closet door open?

The first step in our search for God is recognizing who we are.

We don’t come to this search “blank.” The pages of our hearts and minds have been colored by the world around us.

Even if we never meet another person, we exist in a physical space with trees, animals, and the natural world.

We have tools of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste with which to explore this world. We’re not some disembodied spirit or wisp of air, some mind floating in an empty vacuum.

We use our sight to read and observe the world and universe around us. We use our hearing to listen to stories and interact with other individuals.

Touch, smell, and taste might be used for daily living but are limited in our search for God. Sight and hearing will be the primary mode of gathering information, just like in hide-and-seek.

Next, we take the information we gather from our eyes and ears, then process it through our minds and emotions.

Will you go with your “gut” or only follow clear clues?

With each leaf turned over, with every book read, we will expand our knowledge.

We might use logic and reason to dispassionately evaluate every scrap of information or maybe use our feelings to direct our path. This will help us to determine who to trust and what to believe.

Consider taking the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. The Myers-Briggs test uses a scale; no one is all thinking with no emotion or all emotion with no thinking.

As an INTP, I process my experiences and information primarily through thinking.

Throughout our search, I can give what I think are very rational arguments. However, to a person who processes information through their feelings, if the information produces a negative emotional response, will it be discarded?

So as we proceed in this search, I will try to acknowledge both the emotional and thinking sides of information processing. However, we need to realize that truth does not care about feelings.

Math, science, death, these truths don’t care about human feelings. They are natural processes, but another being can care. God can care. And if God is all-powerful, He could possibly adjust those processes.

So after we consider our abilities, and how we gather and process information, we venture out into the world to actually collect and assemble the data and clues. So where do we gather information?

The information we obtain can come from 3 primary sources: What will your main sources be?

This information is clear. We see and hear it all around us. Philosophy, astronomy, and biology, we examine, test, and evaluate.

Here, we use our intellect. We wonder, consider, and theorize. We are the individual masters of our domain, trying to determine why the universe exists.

As we explore this world, we find we are not alone. We communicate with other beings who share similar biology and intelligence. We can present our ideas and challenge their thoughts.

We read history and writings from other cultures. Trying to gather all knowledge alone would be a near-impossible task in the short human lifespan.

We see a vast universe, stars lying in the black sea of the heavens. Are there other intelligent beings, different from us? Different in lifespan, in biology, different in knowledge, and understanding.

Maybe even the being we are looking for, the Creator of the Universe has gifted us with knowledge.

The task is great. With the tools we are given, can man ever find God? Without God speaking to us can we find Him? Let’s uncover what’s out there.

• What is the crucial concept?
  • Humans search for God by gathering information through their senses, then processing information from nature and other beings through their minds and emotions.
• Why is that significant?
  • We need to be aware of our own reactions to the information we obtain, as much as our ability to collect the information itself (know yourself).
• If you agree, the next steps
• If you disagree, please consider reading

• Blue Letter Bible – In What Sense Is Our Knowledge about God Limited?
• Answers In Genesis – How Do We Know There Is a God?