Can One know with certainty that they Really Know God?

[PJM]

A great many people holding widely differing faith-views, all claim to “Know God.”

Is there a test; or conditions that must exist?

Can anyone really claim to in a “personal relationship” with God and not actually “know Him?”

 

[ngill09]

A great many people holding widely differing faith-views, all claim to “Know God.”

Is there a test; or conditions that must exist?

Can anyone really claim to in a “personal relationship” with God and not actually “know Him?”

I think God’s hidden nature makes things such that while many people may “know” God, few people know Him well.

 

[polytropos]

I think God’s hidden nature makes things such that while many people may “know” God, few people know Him well.

In fact it would be impossible for anyone (other than God) to know God completely.

 

[Anthony_V]

I second Polytropos.

Divine revelation and sacred mystery, though apparently antithetical, seem to be the same (from our perspective). I once told someone, “Usually we think of mystery as cold and distant; this is typically how modern society views mystery. But Christ holds a stance antithetical to this–that the sacred mysteries of God would be manifest and dwell among us, unconfusedly and noncompetitively, in his dual-nature.” It is because of Christ that I am no ignostic nor agnostic.

I’m not sure if you’re asking about some sort of epistemic foundation for religion, or an existential-phenomenological expression of some sort. God is certainly a subject, not an object. I can’t subject him to my conditions or aggressive logical weapons.

 

[ChibiViolet]

It is impossible for me to put into words how thankful I am to God for forgiving me for my sins and for just being with me and my loved ones. I can’t put into words how I know Him, but I can tell you He has spoken to my heart and that He is my life. I wish the same to be true for you–that you would hear Him speak to you and transform your life for the better.

 

[PJM]

=ngill09;10688503]I think God’s hidden nature makes things such that while many people may “know” God, few people know Him well.

So is "knowing “of god” actually “knowing God”?

 

[PJM]

=polytropos;10688525]In fact it would be impossible for anyone (other than God) to know God completely.

Agreed; that’s a right biblical understanding?

Perhaps I asked the wrong question?

DOES “knowing God” impose specifric obligations?

 

[polytropos]

There is a distinction between “knowing of God” and “knowing God.” Man can know of God both through reason and revelation, ie. man can know that God exists. Man can also know God to a limited extent by seeing His creation, but we necessarily cannot know the whole picture of God because our intellects are not perfect and we must abstract from the physical. We can’t fully understand, for instance, God’s will, although we can know that it is good.

There is probably a Biblical justification for this, but it is also a philosophical conclusion that the First Mover / Causer would be pure intelligibility, but not wholly intelligible to man.

I do think we can know God enough to have “specific obligations.” That is, indeed, what is involved in being a Catholic.

 

[PJM]

=polytropos;10692098]There is a distinction between “knowing of God” and “knowing God.” Man can know of God both through reason and revelation, ie. man can know that God exists. Man can also know God to a limited extent by seeing His creation, but we necessarily cannot know the whole picture of God because our intellects are not perfect and we must abstract from the physical. We can’t fully understand, for instance, God’s will, although we can know that it is good.

There is probably a Biblical justification for this, but it is also a philosophical conclusion that the First Mover / Causer would be pure intelligibility, but not wholly intelligible to man.

I do think we can know God enough to have “specific obligations.” That is, indeed, what is involved in being a Catholic.

Great post!