The Search for God Page 4.2.1.2
We have spent all this time discussing what we witness in the universe and what we witness about reality and humanity. I have suggested intelligent design as the cause of human existence.
God’s Non-verbal Communication
In addition, I have maintained that only if God speaks can we truly know who God is. Clearly, we need to make references humans can understand.
Non-verbal Communication
Let’s say you walk into a town and turning in to the first house, you see a man sitting at a spinning table, hands busy working some tan-brown material, pouring water over the material. Gazing around the room you see bowls and cups made out of tan-brown material.
The person never looks from the spinning wheel and never utters a word. Just by observing the non-verbal scene and the movements of the human, you make assumptions and draw conclusions.
So too, I have stated that humans are created, we witness laws of experience, cause and effect, morality, and we see things die. We witness acts of violence and kindness by other humans and I have suggested God should be a judge based on the law of morality.
So we have this non-verbal communication suggesting what God should be like, but we witness death, evil, and that non-verbal communication suggests God does not care, that he is nonchalant, or maybe God does not exist.
Challenges
I think this is why many people are angry with God and develop other theories and possibilities about what the nature of ultimate reality and existence is. If God exists, his non-verbal communication sucks in regards to human evil and suffering.
“If you exist God, why don’t you judge the evil right now?” That is a “why God?” question that must be delayed until we determine what God says about this issue. I am just not good at reading non-verbal communication. However, I am in awe of science and the cosmos.
These to me are powerful examples of God’s non-verbal communication. I enjoy the beauty of nature and the pleasant view of forms and figures, but what about judging the murderer, the child rapist, and the dictator slaughtering people?
God might have made all this beauty of science and the cosmos but if I stopped my analysis here, I might conclude that God does not care. And if I accepted that the beauty of nature, science, and the cosmos was accomplished without God, then the issues of evil and injustice become even more problematic.
That is what non-verbal communication tells me. However, once again I am tempted to make a conclusion without examination, or maybe I don’t understand his being and the culture he is creating.
Answer or Silence Speaks
What many see is that God sits at the spinning wheel, spitting out pottery, scowling at every visitor, and rebuffing every attempt at engagement. I have never heard God speak. Where is he? Is this just me? “Lucy, you got some splanin’ to do.”
I think this criticism is a valid and fair observation, unless… God speaks. If God opens his mouth and answers the criticisms, then our reason takes over. I want answers. Like Nicholson’s response in the famous movie dialogue:
- You want answers?
- I want the truth!
- Truth. You can’t handle the truth!
How did we get into this mess? My expectation is that if God speaks, he should answer these issues:
- Why does evil exist?
- Why does he delay judgment?
- Why is there an apparent lack of communication?
- Why do humans die?
These answers should be reasonable. I might not like the answers, but they should be consistent and reasonable. How do I balance my opinion versus God’s opinion?
If God demonstrates verification of communication, then my job as the one seeking knowledge is to try to understand and submit to that knowledge. Will I submit to verbal communication, or will I allow God’s non-verbal communication to override the explicit words? Will I become a judge of communication or a participant in communication?
But if no God speaks, then all I have is my interpretation of the non-verbal communication of some intelligent but absent designer.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- God provides non-verbal communication through the things that have been made.
- Why is that significant?
- There is alot we can discern and deduce about God before any verbal communication.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
- Pre-Denominational Christianity – If you exist God, why don’t you judge the evil right now?
- The Human Journey – Non-verbal communication