GOD: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - THE PODCAST
JLM - Narrator (Jerry L. Martin) - voiced by Scott Langdon
Jerry - Jerry Martin - voiced by Scott Langdon
Abigail - Jerry's wife - voiced by Abigail Rosenthal
GOD - The Voice of God - voiced by Jerry L. Martin, who heard the voice
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EPISODE ELEVEN: Where God takes me to a place of peace
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GOD
I am an evolving God.
JLM
I thought God was supposed to be perfect, eternal, and unchanging. I had been an agnostic, but I thought I had a clear idea of what I was agnostic about. I was usually disturbed to be told something that did not fit my preconceptions. Yet this bit of news, while puzzling, did not upset me.
When I first broke this news to Abigail--that God's message is evolving over time, and that He had called me to carry it forward--she just listened, unfazed.
ABIGAIL
"I felt submissive; it sounded like orders from above," she explained later. "I thought: Jerry is clearly not making this up. What it means in my life is, of necessity, open-ended. To receive such a direction is to move to a realm or level not foreseeable. In other words, it is a blessing."
JLM
It all seemed intolerably bizarre. I thought I should talk it over with people I knew. One, a distinguished medical ethicist, responded, "First of all, this is not weird." Nothing he could have said would have been a greater relief to me!
Another, a well-known author, said, first, "That's great--now you know there is a God, and then added, "You have had a Kierkegaard moment," recalling that philosopher's question, "If you encountered Jesus on the streets of Copenhagen, would you follow him?"
A prominent lay theologian said he was "touched" by my story and suggested some reading, while I waited for my “big assignment.”
While there were also cautionary responses, no one seemed to think I was crazy or a fool to take the voice seriously. Still, I was not prepared for the next experience.
GOD
I want you to enter my heart.
JERRY
Enter God's heart? This is weird, Lord, and scary, like out-of-body travel."
GOD
I will protect you.
JERRY
Lord, give me your love.
GOD
Let Abigail love you. You will feel my love through her.
JERRY
Then, strengthen me, be with me, for this.
GOD
I will.
JLM
He took my hand, as it were, and led me into the "heart of God." I had expected it to be an overpowering, perhaps terrifying experience. But it was more like the eye of a hurricane. I was at the center of something vast and powerful, but here it was quiet, calm, and peaceful. I surveyed the things I feared--the end of my career, loss of reputation, financial insecurity, and a book that went nowhere. In that calm that is God, each concern disappeared.
JERRY
Lord, what exactly is my assignment?
GOD
The world needs to understand my story, or at least to understand it better. I have given parts of the story to different people at different times. The whole now needs to be told. Your effort will be part of telling that whole story.
JERRY
Do you want people to piece the whole together out of the parts?
GOD
What I want most is for people to listen to me.
JERRY
And to listen to what you have told various people over the ages?
GOD
Yes, that is part of listening to me.
JERRY
What exactly do you want me to write?
GOD
"God: An Autobiography." My story is the history of me--how I came to be.
JERRY
The story of your interactions with various peoples?
GOD
That, but not only that. Tell it from my point of view, not the history of people's experience of God.
JERRY
Lord, the total story of your interaction with people would be too vast.
GOD
No, all history is selective. Use a different word--like episodes--if you like. But it is history in the sense of being chronological, developmental, and dramatic in some sense. There is a subjective point of view (Myself), intentions and concerns for the future, regrets about the past, and so forth.
JERRY
What are the materials for this history? The great religious texts?
GOD
Yes, of course. That is one side of the human-divine interaction, like hearing one end of a telephone conversation. So that is one starting point. But there are others as well, and I have been leading you to them--the physical record, the geological record, the biological development, the stars and the galaxies, time and creation, and so on.
And I will tell you many things myself--that is the "new revelation" aspect. Nothing overly dramatic there--I reveal myself all the time.
JERRY
So I should read the scriptures of the major religions?
GOD
Yes, I want you to read the early spiritual history of mankind. I will lead you to which readings. I would like you to pray as you read them and take notes as directed.
JERRY
You said I was to tell your story from the *inside out.* But reading the scriptures is from *the outside in.*
GOD
Yes, tell my story as I tell it to you. The only purpose for reading is to give you reference points for understanding my story.
JERRY
If I am going to get into your head, it would be helpful to know what you are up to, what your ultimate goal is.
GOD
No, your job is not to get into my head. Remember, I am telling you what is in my head. You are not trying to empathize with a fictional or historical character. You have the living person right here, and I will tell you.
JERRY
But, as I prepare for the work...
GOD
You are making this falsely complicated because you are not trusting me. You think you will have to do this on your own by deciphering the cultural forms and so forth. But it is exquisitely simple. You ask me what you are to read or to study. And then you will ask me what I was up to in relation to what you are reading or studying. And you don't need to worry about the total compass or overall story, because I will lead you item by item.
JERRY
How should I approach the ancient scriptures, Lord?
GOD
Get into the frame of mind for reading the particular work. The frame of mind is reverential, quiet, respectful, openhearted. It does not consist of analyzing metaphors and stories of gods. Just take in what comes to you.
(The End)