Lavis,
I am not Christian or a follower of a specific religion. I am however very spiritual and believe in God very strongly. Your question is quite interesting.
To me, God’s voice is the most basic part of our humanity. For me, understanding God means understanding yourself, our world, our love, our feelings, our thoughts, our creativity, our passions and our experiences in life. I conceive that to be the voice or language of God. I feel it’s confusing to think of God as a figure sitting on a thrown with a long white beard looking down at us—with a list of commands in hand. I perceive a character like that to have conceptual limitations because it’s a view is a SINGLE entity. However, a more abstract less personified concept seems to ring clearer in my realm of understanding.
I know God speaks to me because I FEEL life as I live it. Often we have a deep knowing voice in our heart that does not let us forget when we’ve done something we know to be dishonest. The same is true when we feel good about a good deed. You can recall in your life sensing when you were being lied to by someone you might have trusted, or feeling nervous about taking that 10:30pm walk alone in the park. The feeling you get when you get up in the morning and great the sun, or the rush you feel when you are falling deeply in love… These are all signs that God lives and speaks to us. It’s makes us understand that WE ARE HERE and that WE LIVE! Or at least that’s how I understand the concept… The very fabric of our individuality and our basic self-conscience understanding of ourselves is the foot print God leaves as he walks by or the resonance of Gods voice as he speaks to us.
I do believe that my understanding of God may not be how someone else is meant to understand. Often people find God in a book or at church. Often some people need to have a fellow believe the same as they do in order to justify there own beliefs. If that brings them happiness and spiritual piece of mind, then I think it is great. Often some people error because they claim their way the “only way” to know God. As different as we all are or were created… I can’t imagine that we all must be and understand the SAME. I correlate that knowing God can be similar to understanding and knowing your interpersonal relationships. For example, the understanding of my mother and WHO she is differs from the understanding my father may have of her. I look upon her as her son (I know her as MOM) and he looks upon her as her husband. So is with God. Jane, who lives two houses down, knows God to be a father figure and protector. You may know and hear him differently (as a friend, advisor,… etc. Whatever the case may be). Personally, I find it a disruption to sit and listen to a person tell me how I am supposed to feel and know God. That is why I can’t find my place in a church. An uninterrupted and unguided search for God has always led me to the best and most genuine understanding I’ve come across.
Often some people make God to be this big untouchable… and expect you to be CLOSE TO HIM as well. Well, I think the first step in being close to anyone, is knowing that you are worthy to be close to--and worthy to be spoken to for that matter. Doesn’t have to be any more complicated, elaborate or mystical than that.
I hope my thoughts allow you to form your own. Thanks for the thread!