Month: March 2023
-
Technology, Ritual, and Religion
We are discussing how we know God and how God communicates with us. Today I’d like to begin with the questions: Do religious rituals help us to know God better, and what is the purpose of religious rituals? Rituals include the communion service, washing one another’s feet, baptism, the lighting of candles, baby dedications, confirmation,…
-
Jacob’s Encounters with God
We’re talking about knowing God and hearing his voice and about how God communicates with us. Last week, we studied eight lessons on how God communicates, derived from the story of the boy Samuel. Today, I’d like to return to the story of Jacob for more insights into how God communicates with us, to see…
-
Samuel and the Voice of God
Last week we saw that in the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament, the words for obedience and listening are really the same word—synonyms, essentially. To obey is simply to listen and to act on God’s voice. But (as Michael pointed out) listening is not just a passive exercise:…