RECORD WHAT YOU HEAR
Religionists, in their never-ending desire to frame their religion in an orderly, linear way, see the Bible in terms of real events that impact real people in real places in real time. They have difficulty, therefore, with scholarly studies of the history of the Bible and Bible criticism that unashamedly suggest that there is little in the Bible that is historically accurate. This is a big problem for Jews and Christians who need historical certainty in order to justify their religions.

These disagreements between religion and research are impossible to reconcile. Religionists have strongholds of wrong thinking that prevent them from accepting facts that contradict what they believe. And scholars know what they know and report what they know with confidence. These are not examples of conflict between faith and flesh where faith looks at things unseen while flesh (i.e. religion) looks at things that are seen, and can be documented and replicated. Both sides look at facts that they can observe. The only difference is that they are looking in different places.

The conflict raises the following issue for those who are inclined to trust that the Bible is God’s word: If there is no historical certainty about the Bible, how are those who want to believe in it and trust it to regard it? The answer is this: Regard it with faith that it is true in a spiritual sense but do not trust it in a literal sense. After all, God never said read my word. He always said listen to my voice.

STUDY TIP: Even though the Bible is full of dark sayings, proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions, enigmas, difficult problems, shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories, there are parts of the Bible that may be trusted literally.

Learning how to know which parts are to be taken symbolically and which parts are to be take literally is the big challenge for Bible students/disciples/learners. But it is not a challenge that is conquered by sheer will and human effort. Understanding is a gift

It is impossible to instruct anyone about how to know which parts are to be taken symbolically and which are to be taken literally. Knowing or not knowing depends on God alone who gives us spiritual eyes to see what we read and spiritual ears to hear his voice tell us how to interpret what we read. This is the art of hearing God’s voice.

The main condition that prepares us to hear God’s voice is that we stop listening to the voices of false prophets. When God says “listen to my voice” and “hear the word of the lord” he doesn’t mean just listen, he also means listen to his voice and hear his spoken word exclusively. People who aspire to spiritual holiness would do well to regard these statements from God as commandments on a par with the Ten Commandments that make the way for seeing and hearing with spiritual eyes and ears.

We must always remember that it is God alone who gives us spiritual eyes to see what we read and spiritual ears to hear. He says “eyes to see and ears to hear” for a reason: Eyes are for reading the Bible and ears are for hearing his voice while we read.

Thus the command to listen to God’s voice does not mean that we only listen and not read the Bible. It is a two-step process. We must respect that God gave us the Bible to introduce himself to fleshly humans but it does not reflect the fullness of who he is. The only way to receive the full truth about God is to listen to his voice.

The written Bible is God’s concession to the fact that humans are inherently flesh and not spirit. And we must remember that the natural (i.e. fleshly) person does not accept or understand the things of the spirit. The Bible is the way God applies the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle to teach his people about himself. But the teaching is not complete until we listen to his voice. Thus the Bible does not need to be historically accurate to be spiritually accurate. Spiritual truth comes only when we listen to his voice.

STUDY TIP: See the following pages for more about spiritual versus literal interpretation of the Bible:

We begin to learn about God by studying the Bible but we do not study it simply to learn the words. The written words are only an introduction to spiritual knowledge and spiritual words that God speaks to people who desire to have his spiritual laws written on their hearts.

This was the condition of all the true prophets of the Bible. They listened to God’s spoken voice and then recorded what they heard God tell them in fulfillment of the command to do justice by setting captives free from religion. This is the same act of obedience that faces people today. They do not think of themselves as prophets and do not refer to themselves as prophets, but they do listen to God’s voice and record and report what they hear God tell them. And they do this because they are warriors in God’s army which is focused on doing justice by setting people free from slavery to the sin of religion.

All New Covenant disciples are true prophets, they also should make the effort to write down what they hear. They may not write any books or create any websites, but they will at least want to write down what they hear so that they can refer to it when sharing God’s truth to others.

Recording what you think you hear is also very beneficial for capturing the truth that God speaks. People who don’t want to forget important facts always write them down for future reference. Writing God’s spoken words down is an indication that you think what you have heard is important.

When the spirit speaks to our hearts, it is like fire, wind, thunder and lightning. It comes and goes very fast and is impossible to grasp. Making note about what you hear helps understanding. As long as God’s word exists in your mind and heart as fire, wind, thunder and lightning, you will struggle to translate it into human words you can use to teach to others. Recording what you hear God say will be very useful when teaching others.

STUDY TIP: See How to Hear God’s Voice.