Essay: How God speaks

Let's say you're an airline pilot, and you're trying to figure out how to teach someone to fly a plane. You could try to write a letter or have a conversation with them. But some things (like riding a bike or flying an airplane), are better learned experientially rather than verbally. If a letter or a verbal discussion were not sufficient for teaching airline piloting, you might try to direct a training video, which would probably be better than a letter or conversation... but perhaps a video game like Flight Simulator would be the best way to teach someone how to fly a plane. A video game would allow a person to learn by experience. Flight Simulator might not be quite as good as flying a real plane, but what if the simulation was fully-immersive?

This is how I believe God communicates to us: via this fully-immersive game we call "life".

In the Bible, Christ is called the "Word of God". The Word of God is spoken by the Father. In the beginning "God said... God said... God said..." (Genesis 1), and it was so. The Word of God is the Word which God spoke. And the Word of God contains everything:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17)

This "game" of life we are living in is the Word of God. This is how God communicates to us. And the Word "has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven." (Colossians 1:23). The Word of God is how God reveals himself to us:

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1:19-20).

The Word of God is not just the Bible. The Word of God was not only revealed in the incarnation of Jesus. The Word of God is being communicated both by example (the "good stuff") and counter-example ("the bad stuff") in life.

Many people ignore the message communicated through life because they say "it's a fallen world", or because they believe the world is ruled by chaos (and "bad things just happen for no apparent reason"). If you look at life like this, you won't pay attention to the message. But in the beginning, "God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). What if everything, EVERYTHING everything was just as it should be**? What if the Word of God is perfect? What if God is an artist with no limitations, and this experience we are living is EXACTLY as God wants it? If that were the case, we would be wise to be quiet, and pay attention to it.

** Note: Just because it's perfect doesn't mean it's as it should stay. Perfection may not be a static destination. Is a baby tree flawed because it is not yet 50 feet tall? Maybe a 1-foot tree is perfect in its current state, and it remains in a continual state of perfection as it grows.

Caleb
2021-12-15