Why cant God just communicate with us directly?

[Abnormality]

You mean what reason do you have to be convinced that God manifests Himself to mankind in the things that have been made?

I know God exists; that is not a matter of faith for me. I am talking about God as perceived through your particular religion.

Or that our ability to listen is limited?

How am i suppose to know that my ability to listen is limited. This is just being asserted.

If you were talking to someone, and they were ignoring what you already said, why would you keep talking to them?

I don’t know with any degree of real certainty that the Catholic God is communicating with me, therefore i don’t think its fare to say that i am ignoring God. This is a problem of knowledge not willful ignorance.

Because we are lowly creatures and He is infinite. Trying to squeeze Him into our finite ways and understanding does not work.

It is said in scripture and by your Church that God gave miraculous signs to people and individuals, so what you are saying must be false if you accept that God communicates in this way.

It is the Truth.

And you are asserting that truth.

This is a good question. Of course some people are much more naturally inclined to hear than others.

That’s a good start. Are you saying that some people are born with a higher intuition or ability to hear God?

In any relationship, we must learn to hear and understand the other person.

But i can see other people.

What was it you were wanting convincing on? Do you want a suitable explanation for why God does not knock you off your high horse, like He did Saul of Tarsus?

If i don’t know that i am on a high horse then maybe God should knock me off my horse. But he doesn’t.

Why?

 

[Peter_Plato]

If we don’t have direct knowledge of God then what reason is there to live as a catholic other than for fear of living without God.

You are equivocating on the idea of direct “knowledge.” The thread title concerns God communicating with us directly, your question is not about receiving messages from God but about receiving God directly, which are two different things. The first concerns receiving knowledge about God, the second a kind of direct communion with God.

Ultimately this distinction comes from the nature of personhood. We can know things about objects like rocks, trees and even animals and that knowledge is all there is to know because these are not “persons.”

Likewise we can know things about the people around us, but with persons there is another kind of knowledge that is possible; i.e., knowing them personally. This requires a different way of “knowing,” a communing with them, getting on the same wavelength or getting into “tune” with them. That is accomplished partly through dialogue, but more fundamentally through being “with” them. This is inherently mysterious simply because the nature of persons is mysterious. We do not even know ourselves completely, there is always something more to be “known.”

With humans, we establish communication, dialogue and communion quite naturally (for the most part) because we operate in the same medium - physical, bodily existence. With God, the means of communication is somewhat more “expansive.” In some sense, all of nature is akin to his physical presence, but not enough. Just as knowing another human being’s physical demeanor is not sufficient to know them as a person. This insufficiency means that some further “means” of communing with God is necessary to come to “know” him as “person.”
We must become “attuned” to him through the core of our being where we “participate” in existence, since he is “the very act of existence itself.” The tuning of self towards him, is guided by God but is susceptible to distortion, distraction and “noise” from the fallen nature of our humanity.

This video from Fr. Barron is insightful in this respect.

youtube.com/watch?v=xstlgzrXvLg&sns=em

To answer your question, then, we do have direct access to God, but not through “knowledge” about God, it is through our very being in God that we find him. This does not happen without our active “participation” in the process. It is not entirely passive since we must “seek,” but it does require “flexibility” on our part. We must allow ourselves to be changed or altered to receive God.

I realize this sounds paradoxical: be active, but be passive. However, think of the nature of any personal relationship with another human person, there are times that we actively seek to know them, but other times when we must be “open” to receive them as they are in order to be infused by the essential nature of who they are. With God, this is less obvious because it happens in the core of our very beings. It requires extraordinary fine “tuning” of our internal sensibilities to develop an awareness of how God manifests his presence and will to and in us. This tuning is, for the most part, beyond our capabilities to accomplish, which is why trust and faith are integral to the process, often requiring a “leaving behind” of our preconceptions and willful determinations about God - the process is one of discovery.

 

[guanophore]

1. The parable of the passive friend. Let’s talk about my friend from college, we’ll call him Jack. We hung out a lot, he was a great-hearted guy, we had some laughs and some tears, did some things we wouldn’t want to come up during a Senate campaign, and so on. Over the years, he has been consistently non-responsive when I invited people to parties, when I needed help moving, whatever. Now on your model, maybe he’s doing that so that I will trust him MORE, or somehow be offered the chance to develop a more pure form of friendship. For most of us, though, we would - at some point along the curve - begin to trust him LESS. Now, if we imagine that same parable, and take away the time we spent together in college sharing (mis-)adventures and so on, the problem with the PURE TRUST model stands in even sharper contrast.

Now I can even allow that maybe he is still a great guy in general. Maybe I hear of him helping other people move, maybe he does something good for his community, and so on. That doesn’t make ME feel loved or watched over or like I should cancel plans to run off and do something when he asks. (OK, the last part doesn’t hold completely, because if I heard a booming voice come out of a clear sky saying “Neoplatonist, go conquer Asia Minor” or “Go to Africa and feed the hungry” I’d be packed by the end of the day.)

By all accounts it appears that this is not a relationship that is really worth much investment on your part.

However, if the person had done a number of things to invest in YOU, then you might be more motivated. Supposing that your friend gave his life to save yours, or pushed you out of the way of a car and got himself splattered for his effort? No doubt you would visit him in traction in the hospital with gratitude. What if he wrote to you with great devotion saying " I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. " Rev 3:20-21

Or if he built an extra room on the house, then wrote you a letter saying:

John 15:7
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Would you not find such communication encouraging?

What it boils down to is whether we are willing to accept the things He has said are true. If we do so, then whatever else we do after that will be built upon that foundation. A relationship based upon these Truths will proceed much differently than one based upon doubt.

Even Thomas, though he doubted, was still in the room with the others in prayer. He was in the right place at the right time to have the encounter he needed. This is our part, to persist in the face of doubt.

A man such as yourself surely has perfected self discipline. No one can accomplish the things you have, and do, without it. So too must you be self disciplined in your relationship with God. You must sit with Him, and soak in His word, and be in His presence, whether you feel it, or not. You must wrestle your doubts into faith, by choosing to believe that what God has said and done is true.

 

[Neoplatonist]

By all accounts it appears that this is not a relationship that is really worth much investment on your part.

However, if the person had done a number of things to invest in YOU, then you might be more motivated. Supposing that your friend gave his life to save yours, or pushed you out of the way of a car and got himself splattered for his effort? No doubt you would visit him in traction in the hospital with gratitude. What if he wrote to you with great devotion saying " I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. " Rev 3:20-21

Or if he built an extra room on the house, then wrote you a letter saying:

John 15:7
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Hey, if I could hear him actually calling to me, end of quest.

It’s different if he is Jonas Salk, and makes some sacrifice to save everyone. Certainly me included. Same with someone who, say, jumped in front of a car to save the life of Jonas Salk. Again, I benefit - perhaps directly - but it’s not the same as having any kind of personal connection with me.

What if, instead, Salk reports that a purple unicorn pushed him out of the way of the speeding truck? I benefit from the purple unicorn, but, um, never having seen ANY unicorns nor even a single purple horse that might be mistaken for a unicorn, I’m going to need more than Jonas’ word for it.

Whatever I ask for? I’m just asking for him to shout louder if he’s outside my door. Seriously. I don’t even need to see a unicorn. Maybe I could see a hippogriff, or a mermaid. Any fantastical creature would change my ability to believe that Salk was saved by a mythical creature as well. If God is too busy or too awesome to show himself without melting my brain, he could just have my guardian angel say something. Maybe even something small - doesn’t have to be, you know, 6-winged shimmering seraphs or anything. Maybe all the leaves in my yard are stacked congruently tomorrow…

I am perfectly willing to trust what he said is true if I could know that He, in fact, said them, and that he was who/what he said he was. The foundation of that would suggest knowing by experience that he exists.

 

[ThatOrthodoxGuy]

He came Incarnate to the world and did so.

What greater Love is this? That God would come down to earth and bring us back to him!

 

[guanophore]

Hey, if I could hear him actually calling to me, end of quest. :-D

This is a critical point. You are not hearing HIm speaking to you through His Word, or through the Church. These are two strands of Divine Revelation that you have decided do not apply to you. When He calls to you through these channels, you do not hear, or if you hear, you assume that He is not speaking to you.

 It's different if he is Jonas Salk, and makes some sacrifice to save everyone. Certainly me included.  Same with someone who, say, jumped in front of a car to save the life of Jonas Salk. Again, I benefit - perhaps directly - but it's not the same as having any kind of personal connection with me.

It sounds like you subtracted yourself from the rest of humanity, so that, though He died to save us, you are not included.

What if, instead, Salk reports that a purple unicorn pushed him out of the way of the speeding truck?  I benefit from the purple unicorn, but, um, never having seen ANY unicorns nor even a single purple horse that might be mistaken for a unicorn, I'm going to need more than Jonas' word for it.

You are right. Since you do not accept what is easily perceptable by the senses, it is not likely that anything will ever occur sufficient to convince you that is beyond the norm of human sensory experience. Those who have get more, those who refuse what they have already will get less.

Whatever I ask for? I’m just asking for him to shout louder if he’s outside my door. Seriously.

Yes, if you ask in faith, then whatever you ask shall be yours. Since you have not faith, then the principle will not be effective in your case.

I don’t even need to see a unicorn. Maybe I could see a hippogriff, or a mermaid. Any fantastical creature would change my ability to believe that Salk was saved by a mythical creature as well.

I think you are kidding yourself. You have rejected the revelation that is available, and you are yearning for something supernatural. It is likely that, if you did have a supernatural experience, you would just find a way to explain it away and discount it.

If God is too busy or too awesome to show himself without melting my brain, he could just have my guardian angel say something. Maybe even something small - doesn’t have to be, you know, 6-winged shimmering seraphs or anything. Maybe all the leaves in my yard are stacked congruently tomorrow…

No. You have scattered what has been given to you under the pigs feet. No more will be forthcoming. Remember, He told the disciples when they encountered people such as yourself to “shake off the dust of your feet”. This is an ancient Aramaic custom of taking off one’s sandals and clapping them together against another person. It is a way of saying “I am done with you”. Such is the fate of those who reject the Gospel.

I am perfectly willing to trust what he said is true if I could know that He, in fact, said them, and that he was who/what he said he was. The foundation of that would suggest knowing by experience that he exists.

No, you are wrong. The foundation of what is True does not lie within human experience. On the contrary, the Truth lies in the One who Is Truth. We can only know what He our Creator allows us to know. We have been given many faculties of knowing, but these are there so that we can seek after Him to find Him.

You are using your faculties to replace the Truth given to you in Divine REvelation with your own human and fallible standard of what is True.

 

[zro_x]

I read the first 11 pages of this thread before deciding it was too time consuming. So, at the risk of being repetitive, I’m going to put my two cents in.

First, Sophion, you are not by any means the first person to ask this question. The problem of devine hidenness, as it is called, has plauged theologians for centuries. I personally find this issue much harder to deal with than even the problem of evil. After pondering the problem for a while, however, I came up with a possible solution. Bear in mind that I have no idea what the official catholic teaching is on this subject, and it is all mostly speculation.

Let’s suppose that you are sincere, and that you would have no problem becoming an instant devout catholic if a worldwide locution were to happen that prompted every person to become a catholic. C.S. Lewis tells us, very accurately, I think, that this would pretty much be the end of the world as we now know it. I’m not even talking about some sort of full presence of god that would overpower and destroy our minds or override our free will. I’m talking about a simple, but undeniable message, something like every person on the planet recieveing a letter from thin air in their own language at exactly the same time detailing exactly what god wants them to do, or some message found written in large letters on a distant planet, or a message etched on the glass of a test tube whenever two particular chemicals are mixed. Yes, there would prabably be instant worldwide converversions to catholicism from sincere agnostics and atheists. But there would be many of this group, and perhaps even of self-proclaimed christians, who, when confronted with the stark reality of god, staring them straight in the face, undeniable and inescapable, a god that can see your every move and do whatever he wants to you, ubearably oppresive and terrifying. These people would despair, and once they have nothing to lose, who knows what these rebelious souls could do to society at large? We have no way of guessing the ratio of new converts to rebels in such a situation, and it may be very disadvantagous for the converts at this point in history. God, knowing everything throughout history, is probably the best judge on when to reveal himself.

Why not a private locution?

As has already been mentioned, a private locution would likely make you sprint for the nearest psychiatrist’s office. You may think that you would accept the locution unquestioningly if it occured, but it is impossible to tell what you would actually do in practice. Anyway,as you mention, doubt is a perfectly rational behavior in light of what you would be witnessing. But perhaps you would accept it. Why would god prefer you to grope around blindly in the dark rather than have his will explicitly laid out for you? Perhaps because, in your particular case, god can shape you into the person he wants you to be more effectively from behind the scenes. There is something to be said about the spiritual growth of a person in actively searching for answers to spiritual questions. Perhaps the journey can make certain people spiritually stronger.

doesn’t god care about the emotional stress and turmoil that a person faces who is unable to discern whether or not he is doing the right thing?

This may sound somewhat harsh, but in the grand scheme of things, your earthly hapiness and contentment matters literally infinately little to god. Which do you think God wieghs more, your earthly, finite happiness, or your eternal, infinate happiness? God only bestows earthly happiness on people when it does nothing whatsoever to distance them from himself. In the words of C.S. Lewis (paraphrased) " God will do whatever it takes to save your soul, at whatever the cost to you, at whatever the cost to others, and whatever the cost to himself." (except perhaps for sacrificing the souls of others). If this means mortal anguish for the rest of your life, so be it! This may also be the reason that god prefers to work behind the curtain on a global scale. One can imagine that he is able to get a lot more accomplished in people that are unaware of his existence and thus have no defences up agaisnt him. Working subtly in the background may very well bring the mojority of people closer to the light.

If there is anyone still paying attention to this thread, I hope it helps! For my own sake, please bring up any logical flaws in my line of reasoning.

 

[JerryZ]

Luke 1
34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

like i said, doubt is a natural reaction. its understandable.

Luke 1:31 And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

The Angel is telling her She will conceive, but she knows her biology a man union with a woman is required to achieve that.

Luke 1:34 And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

That is not doubt. That is how she perceived the truth that she has never been with a man therefore how can she conceive, In fact she is asking the Angel how is this going to happen.

And the Angel’s answer is

Luke 1: 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God.

And she assented to this by her fiat:

Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Doubt would have been if after the angel tells her of how this will happen she started second guessing God which she did not.

 

[JerryZ]

education doesnt make one smarter?

Smart = intelligent

Education cannot make you more or less intelligent only more educated

 

[DCNBILL]

You are all avoiding the question. You are speaking about this mystical form of communication. God clearly is described as communicating to man in a more direct fashion. For example St.Paul on the road to damascus.

Even better what about Jesus the Christ teaching His followers?! We even have a record of this teaching which is also communication from God as well.

 

[sophion]

Smart = intelligent

Education cannot make you more or less intelligent only more educated

FYI:

*IQ isn’t fixed at birth, can increase with education

“there is good evidence to support the notion that schooling does make you ‘smarter’ in some general relevant way as measured by IQ tests,”*

usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/medical/health/medical/mentalhealth/story/2011-12-27/IQ-isnt-fixed-at-birth-and-can-increase-with-education/52237552/1

thats why educated people are often smarter than those who are not.

 

[sophion]

But there would be many of this group, and perhaps even of self-proclaimed christians, who, when confronted with the stark reality of god, staring them straight in the face, undeniable and inescapable, a god that can see your every move and do whatever he wants to you, ubearably oppresive and terrifying.

i cant imagine why anyone would find that oppressive and “unbearable”. much less that many would. we dont see anyone being terrified of all those cameras around everywhere we go.

As has already been mentioned, a private locution would likely make you sprint for the nearest psychiatrist’s office. You may think that you would accept the locution unquestioningly if it occured, but it is impossible to tell what you would actually do in practice.

if you are the only one hearing stuff, then of course. but if everybody hears the same message from the same voice from the same person. it becomes normal. the opposite would become true…if you dont hear anything you should see a doctor!

Perhaps because, in your particular case, god can shape you into the person he wants you to be more effectively from behind the scenes. There is something to be said about the spiritual growth of a person in actively searching for answers to spiritual questions. Perhaps the journey can make certain people spiritually stronger.

cultists & extremists can be very spiritual. so what you said is true if spirituality is more important than being on the correct path.

Which do you think God wieghs more, your earthly, finite happiness, or your eternal, infinate happiness?

why not both?

In the words of C.S. Lewis (paraphrased) " God will do whatever it takes to save your soul, at whatever the cost to you, at whatever the cost to others, and whatever the cost to himself." (except perhaps for sacrificing the souls of others).

riiiiiiiiiight…

 

[Peter_Plato]

Smart = intelligent

Education cannot make you more or less intelligent only more educated

how old are you?

Apparently not old enough to know he doesn’t have all the answers.

 

[guanophore]

FYI:

IQ isn’t fixed at birth, can increase with education

“there is good evidence to support the notion that schooling does make you ‘smarter’ in some general relevant way as measured by IQ tests,”

usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/medical/health/medical/mentalhealth/story/2011-12-27/IQ-isnt-fixed-at-birth-and-can-increase-with-education/52237552/1

thats why educated people are often smarter than those who are not.

As a person who administers IQ tests, ,I can assure you that this is not the case. The reason that school attendance affects the IQ scores is because many of the subtests measure school based learning. They are created with the assumption that people of certain ages will have mastered specific school related information.

There are very smart people who do poorly on them because they are learning disabled, or have not attended much school.

In your case, however, I am sure attending school will affect your ability to reason. Unfortunately, the ability to reason will not necessarily fill the longing in your heart for God.

I just read the post about Paul being encountered on the Road to Damascus. There is a context here, in that Paul, or more properly ,Saul of Tarsus was zealous and studious about his religion. He studied, practiced, and disciplined himself to follow all that he had believed God already revealed about himself. He did not understand that it was about a relationship.

 

[GregBussey]

Why would that be a blessing?.. Isn’t that just an assertion of your faith?

There is another approach to deductive logic that may help you if you want. Instead of assuming something is false unil proven true, you can assume something is true until proven false. It works like this: Mentally, ask youself what the implications of all these Catholic assertions are. If everything in the catechism were true would the world be different than what you can actually observe? In other words, does your experience prove the catechism wrong? If not, then you have to allow the possibility that the catechism may be true. Then say to yourself that IF the catechism were actually God’s own truth, then how would you be required to behave? Then try behaving that way. Behaving as if the catechism were true is sometimes enough to move Him to bless you with the proof you seek. And if you don’t get the proof you seek, you may get unshakable faith, which is a better reward than proof. What do you have to lose by earnestly testing it?

So Paul, Thomas, and all the people that witnessed miracles and the risen lord, never loved God even to there dying day?.. This assumes that knowledge of God makes it impossible to love God.

Both Paul and Thomas had great love for God to begin with but their experience of doubting Christ until proven resulted in them having to endure the spectacle of their wrongness (which if not corrected results in permanent separation from God, ie. hell). While that threat ultimately helps our love for God to grow, it is still burdensome and we are better off if we can love God without it.

If we don’t have direct knowledge of God then what reason is there to live as a catholic other than for fear of living without God.

Fear is enough reason but love is better. I’m not speaking of the kind of love that calculates what you get out of it. As in, ‘I sure love God because he will give me paradise some day.’ I’m speaking of the kind of love that says ‘I give all I am to God to do with what He wants because I care about nothing except Him.’ It’s a giving love, not a taking love. Short of that, fear of hell works too.

I would say that just because there are competing versions of God’s truth available in the world that is no reason to reject them all. Some versions of truth hold up better than others so pick the religion that makes the most sense to you, and live it. God will bless your earnest efforts and give you all the evidence you seek.

What about those who seek and knock and get no answers.

Ask yourself why are you on the Catholic Answers forum as opposed to, say, the Muslim Answers forum or the Hindu Answers forum. Could it be that God is trying to point you in a specific direction? Maybe God has already communicated to you directly.

Yes i can see where you going with that. This would make sense. But it has a weakness in the sense that evangelization does not produce certain knowledge and thus dissenters and disbelievers cannot be argued to be immoral or held responsible for rejecting that which might not be true.

God (and the Catholic church) agree with you that it is not a sin if you don’t know it’s a sin. However, God will judge by His standards, not ours. If God’s bible, God’s church, and God’s followers all state what is true but you reject it anyway, you may have some culpability.

 

[sophion]

gaunophore, knowledge allows you to make the right decisions. right?

 

[guanophore]

C.S. Lewis tells us, very accurately, I think, that this would pretty much be the end of the world as we now know it.

This is exactly right. When one gives their life over to God, their world comes to an end in the sense that they must let go of everything to which they have been clinging all their lives.

  I'm not even talking about some sort of full presence of god that would overpower and destroy our minds or override our free will.

Sounds more like the devil to me!

… when confronted with the stark reality of god, staring them straight in the face, undeniable and inescapable, a god that can see your every move and do whatever he wants to you, ubearably oppresive and terrifying. These people would despair, and once they have nothing to lose, who knows what these rebelious souls could do to society at large?

Sounds like a projection of the human conscience.

Why would god prefer you to grope around blindly in the dark rather than have his will explicitly laid out for you?

This is a good question. It may be because people like to remain in control, and if you are groping around in the dark, you can’t be responsible for what has been revealed in the light. One can say with better impunity that one has not “heard” or “seen” the Truth, and therefore is not responsible for it.

Perhaps because, in your particular case, god can shape you into the person he wants you to be more effectively from behind the scenes. There is something to be said about the spiritual growth of a person in actively searching for answers to spiritual questions. Perhaps the journey can make certain people spiritually stronger.

doesn’t god care about the emotional stress and turmoil that a person faces who is unable to discern whether or not he is doing the right thing?

I think this kind of turmoil is common when people are searching out the right path in life.

This may sound somewhat harsh, but in the grand scheme of things, your earthly hapiness and contentment matters literally infinately little to god.

In principle I do agree with what you said here, but I think a clarification needs to be made between peace and joy and earthly happiness. Part of our birthright as Christians is peace and joy, and when we don’t have it, we are missing the mark. But the kind of peace and joy that comes from the Holy Spirit is different than earthly happiness and contentment. It can occur even in the midst of trials and tribulations.

 

[GregBussey]

Originally Posted by zro x
But there would be many of this group, and perhaps even of self-proclaimed christians, who, when confronted with the stark reality of god, staring them straight in the face, undeniable and inescapable, a god that can see your every move and do whatever he wants to you, ubearably oppresive and terrifying.

sophion:
i cant imagine why anyone would find that oppressive and “unbearable”. much less that many would. we dont see anyone being terrified of all those cameras around everywhere we go.

For what it’s worth, the first 2 of my 3 “locutions” were unbearably terrifying. I think the point was to get my attention. It worked. I assume hell is equally unbearably terrifying. My 3rd locution was not at all terrifying, but unbearably peaceful. God is bigger than human beings can imagine.

 

[sophion]

CAN EDUCATION INCREASE INTELLIGENCE

pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed003p1326

the answer is really yes & no, depends on how you define ‘intelligence’. its the yes part that matters. we are smarter than the uneducated people of long ago.

 

[Peter_Plato]

if you are the only one hearing stuff, then of course. but if everybody hears the same message from the same voice from the same person. it becomes normal. the opposite would become true…if you dont hear anything you should see a doctor!

What you are assuming here is that truth is the kind of thing that should be so blatantly obvious that even a rock should “get it.” However, and I’ve made this point before, if the problem isn’t on the side of God, but on ours, where we need to be “fine-tuned” to be better able to receive something so intricately detailed and finely discernible as truth (or goodness), then making truth (or goodness) “more obvious” isn’t going to fix the problem. If the problem fundamentally is making us better “truth seekers” and agents for good then finding ways to challenge our faculties and virtues to make them stronger and more optimally tuned to finding truth and doing good turns your “everyone should hear it” paradigm on its head.

Not everyone hears or appreciates good music. Some even deny there is any universal standard of “good” when it comes to music. Your request is analogous to demanding of God that he produce music that everyone will hear and appreciate as “divine,” forgetting that perhaps God’s goal is to develop discerning spiritual ears in each of us to be able to seek out, hear and appreciate the “divine” that currently exists all around us. The fact that you cannot hear or see it is an indication of the current state of your faculties not with God’s ability to play divine music.

What you are saying is that God should change his tune so that you can hear or appreciate it better rather than entertaining the possibility that it is you who needs to put on better “listening” ears or “seeing” eyes to receive what already exists.

When God says, “Woe to those who call evil, ‘Good,’ and good,‘Evil!’” He is not making a statement about his inability to create good, but of the problem with beings who are supposed to know good, but don’t. If you ask yourself, “What is the nature of good?” and you have no answer, that is problematic, don’t you agree?

The fact that there are a lot of people around you who have the same problem and cannot distinguish good from evil, does not mean God must make it more obvious (it already is), but that many human beings have compromised faculties. Turning on the light only works if those in the room have good visual faculties. You don’t cure blindness (especially of the spiritual sort) by making the light brighter, it won’t help. It will only make those with already acute faculties (who can even see in the dark) blink from the intensity of light.