Imagine the scene. God is in his/her/their heaven and decides earthlings should learn something about him/her/them concerning future plans and activities. A series of events is arranged with a few select earthlings to inspire them to to write about God, stating accurately God's thinking: texts that are to be construed literally as they are stamped with God's authority. Thus we have the bible, inspired by God, setting out instructions as to how we should lead our lives. Naturally God is at the centre and the object of praise and veneration.
The question I pose is: what is the process by which this inspiration is delivered by God for onward transmission? Also, why did this process cease in the first century of the Common Era and nothing since?
The process of transmitting God's word by inspiration to humans suggests a view that holds that God is anthropomorphic, as indeed God must be if he listens to prayers, knows our every thought, speaks to us and guides us. But, how do we know God does these things? We don't and God doesn't do what individuals ascribe to the entity they name as God.
When people say they have been led to or inspired to take a course of action by God speaking to them they cannot mean God has delivered an email or social media message. The process in entirely internalised with no contribution from a metaphysical/ anthropomorphic source. What motivates individuals to undertake an activity and claim an external force is at work, one that is beyond question?
May I suggest that the internalised process is influenced by many factors: education, status, peer pressure, church dogma and doctrine, desire to live in accord with biblical ethics, the influence of the guardians or gatekeepers of the faith, desire to conform etc.?
So when someone states they have been inspired by God to undertake a task, think on: no external element is in play, it is purely an internal construct.
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