GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast
GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast
216. From God To Jerry To You- Seeking Answers: Beyond Obedience
In this From God To Jerry To You, we explore the perplexing story of Abraham and Isaac to uncover deeper themes of obedience and spiritual growth.
Join Dr. Jerry L. Martin as he shares his remarkable conversations with God, offering fresh insight into how a seemingly troubling biblical account reveals profound wisdom for modern seekers.
Discover how divine will aligns with human fulfillment, guiding us toward greater harmony, transformation, and love. By challenging common assumptions about sacrifice and submission, we learn to see obedience in a more liberating light.
Press play to hear the message: From God to Jerry, to you.
Visit godanautobiography.com for more information and to get your copy of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher—the true story of an agnostic philosopher who heard the voice of God and recorded their conversations.
Other Series:
The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series:
- Life Wisdom Project: How to live a wiser, happier, and more meaningful life with special guests.
- From God To Jerry To You: Calling for the attention of spiritual seekers everywhere, featuring breakthroughs, pathways, and illuminations.
- Two Philosophers Wrestle With God: Sit in on a dialogue between philosophers about God and the questions we all have.
- What's On Our Mind- Connect the dots with Jerry and Scott over the most recent series of episodes.
- What's On Your Mind: What are readers and listeners saying? What is God saying?
Resources:
- READ: "I Am Pulling Life Forward."
- FROM GOD TO JERRY TO YOU PLAYLIST
#fromgodtojerrytoyou #FGTJTY #godanautobiography #experiencegod
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Scott Langdon 00:17: This is God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, a dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography as Told to a Philosopher by Jerry L Martin. He was a lifelong agnostic, but one day he had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions and God had a lot to tell him.
Scott Langdon 01:09: Welcome to God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. I'm Scott Langdon. This week, Jerry breaks down his encounter with God, where the two have a conversation about the very difficult story of Abraham and his only son, Isaac, and God's desire to have Abraham sacrifice the boy. At first, the story might seem to have only one meaning: obedience. But is that all there is to it? Join Jerry as he reveals some of the further context of this discussion with God in our latest edition of From God To Jerry To You. Here now is Jerry Martin. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 02:00: The least favorite part for readers of God: An Autobiography is when we come to the story of Abraham and Isaac. Obedience is not a popular topic these days, and in this story Abraham is told to go to a mountaintop and sacrifice - sacrifice - his son Isaac, whom we are told he loved. First thing the next morning, no more discussion between Abraham and God. Go, sacrifice your son at the mountain. Promptly, the next morning, he leaves with his son heading toward the mountain. He's going to do it. They reach the designated location. Abraham places his puzzled son who doesn't know what on earth is going on. You can imagine the kid's feelings and he later comes up in the story again. He's placed on that kind of rocky altar. Abraham raises his sword. He's going to do it.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 03:13: What kind of horrible story is this? This is supposed to be a sacred text. Well, at the last moment, the very last moment, God countermands His order: do not harm your son. Well, this is a very strange story and kind of horrible, horrible story. And so we wonder what is going on here? What could God possibly be up to? We want to give God the benefit of the doubt, but how can we do that in such a story?
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 03:54: Well, there have been various interpretations of this story. So I asked is obedience to God the lesson, the moral of the story? And the answer I received was: Yes, exactly. The structure of the world and of the spiritual development of the world requires absolute obedience, total yielding. God goes on in explaining this to me. You see, it is a matter of principle. Anything held back is a sacrilege, a defiant act, a claiming to possess a thing or a right to a thing, or an authority over oneself that one does not have, hence an illegitimate act. Yielding is essential to the spiritual development of the universe and of you and of Me. Well, in my dialogue with God, I say kill my son, if you told me to do that, I would not believe it was you speaking. And God replies: Of course I would not command such a thing, but only the extreme example is sufficient to drive home the point of obedience and of divine dominion being total.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 05:29: Well, revisiting this episode, I understood why readers, had trouble with it. In fact, even at this point, after all that discussion, I found myself still unsettled. Something is missing from this story, and so I started looking around other parts of God: An Autobiography to see if there's any other point in my dialogues with God in which the question of obedience or things that might shed light on this Abraham and Isaac story might be found. And I did find some bits of dialogue that help, I think. At one point before I prayed about Abraham, in fact, I was told about myself, God said to Jerry: You need purification. Transformation is a good word, it is obedience which, at its fullest, is transformation. And at that time I asked, I again didn't have Abraham on my mind, it's just God telling me oh, I need purification, transformation, obedience. And so I ask what does that involve, Lord? Putting Me first rather than last, living every moment, making every decision in response to My call, not just to do it mechanically like a soldier following orders, but to do it as an organic flow, wishing to be in touch with Me and to live in accord with My will, My love. Well, I'd forgotten this passage in my dialogues, but that is interesting. I mean, what I'm being told here is that God's will is the same as God's love. Well, that's kind of a puzzling… I'd never thought of that before, but as soon as I thought about it, it made sense. It's what you want for someone you love. It's like a loving parent who admonishes the child- don't play with knives.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 07:43: I found another passage that goes down to basics, valuing individual self-expression in our day and time, and we all do that, we would like to follow our own will rather than God's, rather than some will from outside, some authority figure. Well, I'm asked in prayer at one point are these the alternatives- my will, God's will? And I'm told: People want God's will to conform to theirs. Others try to conform their will to God’s. But at root, the two are the same. I do not have some arbitrary plan and then demand obedience to it. I want nothing other than your fulfillment. That is what you want too. Well, I think that does make sense. To go back to our earlier example, the child may want to play with knives but does not actually want to be sliced. At a superficial level, the child and the parent are at odds. The parent is issuing orders to the child and maybe even punishment if the child does not obey. At a deeper level, they want the same thing. They both want an uncut child.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin 09:13: There's one other section that casts helpful light on the question of following God's will. It came up in the context of asking God what the overall goal was and God replied: The goal, one way to describe the goal is to be at one with God. At bottom, the soul's will is the will of God. We are at one in perfect harmony. It is the nature of what the soul is that it is at one with God. Well, I ask to be at one with God, does that mean like merging with the divine, you know, jumping in with a pure identity? But no, God responded: The shallow seeking of union with Me is a delusion. The goal is to be in tune with me. It is coming into alignment with Me like two singers doing a harmony. Well, now, obedience doesn't sound so horrible, does it? Yes, you have to follow God's lead, but it's the way a chorus follows the conductor. Less like a boot camp and more like a music camp. Well, okay, I can go along with that. Maybe you can too.
Scott Langdon 11:00: Thank you for listening to God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. Subscribe for free today wherever you listen to your podcasts and hear a new episode every week. You can hear the complete dramatic adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin by beginning with episode one of our podcast and listening through its conclusion with Episode 44. You can read the original true story in the book from which this podcast is adapted, God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher, available now at amazon.com, and always at godanautobiography.com. Pick up your own copy today. If you have any questions about this or any other episode, please email us at questions@godanautobiography.com, and experience the world from God's perspective as it was told to a philosopher. This is Scott Langdon. I'll see you next time.