On the Voice of God

While listening to the words of preachers, I have marveled at how transparently and often they mistake their own voice for the voice of God. "God told me to go to Seattle." "God hates soft men." "God wants me to have a big house." It finally occurred to me that, in fact, they always mistake their own voice for the voice of God. There is no separate deity inside their heads, intervening in their day-to-day decisions. So by definition, any voice they hear is their own. Only the boundaries around their narcissism dictate how many of their own preferences and desires get sanctified. Some strive to sanctify only our shared moral core, meaning humility, veracity, and charity – the guiding voice of these three. Others have no trouble putting God’s name on social mores, cultural differences, or personal decisions with moral relevance. Still others blindly sanctify their own base instincts: greed, bigotry, and tribalism. Which voices in my head do I sanctify and serve?