This Is What God Wants?
.: With an exclamation point, the above title would be unacceptable. Even with a question mark it is on thin ice.
.: Or more pointedly, its author is on thin ice: in danger of plunging into freezing waters, with considerable risk to earthly life.
.: Please note; I did not use an exclamation point.
.: Why must you go poking into these dangerous areas, even if you manage not to overstep?
.: I am drawn to talk of “God’s will” because I believe liberal society has ignored a hugely important area of reality. By “liberal society” I mean those of us who have had a “liberal education,” an education in the “liberal arts.”
.: “God wants” is a manner of speaking, and it has proven to be a hugely dangerous one. I would never assert that I know what “God” wants, for anyone but myself. Still this dangerous manner of speaking is a reference to something critically important that we have been neglecting. I feel this stage of my life’s work is to try and find a different manner of speaking in this important area.
Gaia Voices 
Whoops, my comment wasn’t quite complete: I find I am also very curious about this part of your remarks:
I am drawn to talk of “God’s will” because I believe liberal society has ignored a hugely important area of reality.
I hope you’ll say more about this in future posts, Richard. Right now, I haven’t a clue about what “area of reality” you are talking about!
Blessings,
Liz Opp(enheimer), The Good Raised Up
Hi, Richard. What an intriguing post, especially this sentence:
I would never assert that I know what “God” wants, for anyone but myself.
I am struck by your quotation marks around the word “God.” I would have thought you’d more likely put them around the word “wants” or even the word “know.”
Of course, I am among those Friends and theists who speak in terms of felt-senses: You likely know that it’s not unusual to hear me or others say something like,
“…My sense is that you are being called on or led to do such-and-so….”
But that sense is often built up by watching a person’s non-verbal cues, by hearing the rise and fall of the voice, the pieces of a story that seem to be part of a larger puzzle…
So while I do not “assert” that I might “know” what God may want for another person, I might test my own sense of what seems to be arising in the person’s own spiritual life.
Like many things in the Quaker faith, there is a thin line between assertion of one’s being RIGHT and testing of one’s own sense of God’s leading.
It seems to me I have tripped over that line many a time… smile
All that said, I appreciate the care with which you are approaching this and related subjects. I’ve enjoyed our exchanges–on line, in person, what-have-you.
Blessings,
Liz Opp(enheimer), The Good Raised Up