Asking, "How do you hear from God?" Around the World

The book How God Becomes Real includes an experiment in which Christian evangelicals on three continents are asked the same questions, "Do you hear directly from God? If so, is it an audible voice? Does this voice come from outside your head or inside your head? Do you receive advice and direction or a more vague and general message?" The interviews were quite long and these questions were rephrased various times the verify the answers each person gave did not vary. This same methodology was used before this study and is still used.

The interviews with Christian church members in Southern California, India and Africa. Answers were recorded and coded so they could be placed in categories and compared. The answers differed by large percentages.

Respondents in the U.S. said the voice they heard was inside their heads. They were less certain they actually heard God and associated hearing voices with mental illness. They were certain they themselves were not mentally ill but knew hearing voices is something commonly associated with illnesses.

I was curious as to whether one sitting with a laptop in Middle America could find evidence of different ways people on other continents perceive hearing from God. It only took a minute. Everyday, I scan what is being posted on the Christian site, Christian Post.com. In recent months, the site has featured an African preacher who gives a very different take on sin and evangelical Christianity. I seldom open his posts but did so today looking for evidence African Christianity is about voices outside the head, different from U.S. voices. Sure enough, there it was. In the link, the African preacher laments the common belief in Africa that demons, evil spirits and hexes cause people trouble. He talks of his "training" by, I assume white missionaries, that the evil spirits are not real and that the real supernatural force is elsewhere. I assume this elsewhere is where it lives in the white western world, the mind.   

In India, according to the book above, God speaks to one through other people. The author heard of the frequent experience where someone has a problem and a fortuitous event, the appearance of a friend to solve the problem happens. There was no way this people could have shown up at that important moment except through the force of God. 

Fortuitous events are attributed to God in nearly all cultures. I happen to have my own favorite explanation of these events that drop into our lives. It came from folk singer Arlo Guthrie. Arlo said he is often asked about the songs he writes. "Where do they come from?" people want to know. Arlo explains that songs pass by his mind constantly. "Once in a while I just pick one off the belt and use it."

That is a better explanation than any of the Christian ones.