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“Lord, what is my role?”

February 19, 2026

Role:

I did not feel like a prophet or seer and, as I started reading about different religions, I found an endless cast of characters—apostles, evangelists, saints, mystics, gurus, shamans, founders of religions. None seemed to fit me. “Lord, what is my role supposed to be?”

Just to be a serious reporter of what you are told when you pray.

Okay, that I could do.

God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher – is the true story of a philosopher’s conversations with God. Dr. Jerry L. Martin, a lifelong agnostic. Dr. Martin served as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Colorado philosophy department, is the founding chairman of the Theology Without Walls group at AAR, and editor of Theology Without Walls: The Transreligious Imperative. Dr. Martin’s work has prepared him to become a serious reporter of God’s narrative, experiences, evolution, and autobiography.

________

Listen to this on God: An Autobiography, The Podcast– the dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin.

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.

There is gain here as well.

February 12, 2026

There Is Gain-

There is gain here as well.

The old revelations were limited. They fit the understanding of people at the time. The messages were sometimes garbled or misunderstood or distorted over time.

Also, I have evolved since then. There is new information to impart.

There it is again: God evolves.

A long history, has not been chronicled, of My development.

I would like to tell you that story and perhaps have you publish it.

________

Listen to this and other new series at God: An Autobiography, The Podcast– the dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin.

One day, Jerry had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered- in words. As a philosopher, Jery had a lot of questions. God had a lot to tell him.

Being facing Being

January 29, 2026

I wondered what it could mean for “Being as such” to be a Person, a Thou, as surely, from my own experience, God is. Then it struck me that this rushing Stuff, this force of Being, is also the being of me. And I am a person. So why shouldn’t the rushing Stuff, the Being of—of what?—the World, of Being itself, be a Person writ large? I don’t mean the World merely in a physical sense, since my own being is not merely that of my body. Similarly, the Being that animates everything could be a Person.

Looking out the window at the passing trees, it struck me that their very leaves are full of Being as such, the Being that is also a Person, and that it made sense for them to be a Thou for me. And, more remarkably, for me to be a Thou for them. I felt that Being facing Being, not necessarily speaking but simply facing, is what personhood is.

A Mission Given By You

January 22, 2026

“Lord, what do You mean—to look at ‘religious lives’?”

Joan of Arc—do what you did (with her) with other individuals.

I was told to study “religious failures.” “Lord, failure is defined by a goal not reached. What is the goal of religion?”

Good (question).

“For an individual, it is some kind of relationship to God. As a society, it is a mission for the society.”

Not quite on target.

“Well, each individual has his or her own religious quest—ideally, a mission given by You.”

Exactly.

“And that reveals Your side of the conversation.”

Yes.

Mind is Like a Fluid …

January 15, 2026

There is a parallel question about language. How is it that a word relates to or refers to a particular object? The word is itself an object, a vocalized sound or a mark on a page. What connects the word “bell” to the bell? Sometimes it is said that one “points” to the other, but that is a figure of speech. As the twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein observes, the same question arises with pointing. When you stretch out your finger, why does it direct attention to an object across the room, rather than to itself?

Follow along, and open your mind. Mind is like a fluid in which human beings and the natural world exist. By participating in the fluid, minds can understand. Think of the problem of intentionality. How is reference possible? How can essences be grasped? How can objects be seen? There must be an interaction, and it is not only causal-physical. How could it be? Mind, understanding, is not just physical. It is a conscious, fluid medium.

“Is it somewhat physical?”

Those categories are not helpful here, but it exerts physical force, has physical consequences.

A Purified Theology Tended to Empty Out the Concept of God

January 8, 2026

My experiences with God were personal and intimate. Philosophers drain the life out of Him. God the Person becomes God the Abstraction—the Unmoved Mover, the One, the Absolute, infinite substance, the perfect being, the being whose essence is to exist. The poet William Butler Yeats describes the result: “High on some mountain shelf/ Huddle the pitiless abstractions bald about the neck.”

The great Jewish scholar, Gershom Scholem, explains the phenomenon.

“The philosophers and theologians were concerned first and foremost with the purity of the concept of God and determined to divest it of all mythical and anthropomorphic elements. But this determination to … reinterpret the recklessly anthropomorphic statements of the biblical text and the popular forms of religious expression in terms of a purified theology tended to empty out the concept of God …. The price of God’s purity is the loss of his living reality. What makes Him a living God … is precisely what makes it possible for man to see Him face to face.”

“There are many gods.”

January 7, 2026

Ask me a theological question.

I now knew that there was a God, and I knew a bit about Him (or Her). But, for all I knew, there might be other gods as well. It might seem surprising that I would entertain such an idea. It’s usually assumed that, if there is a God, then it is a monotheistic God and it has the traditional set of characteristics.

But I had not believed in God, and I did not have a worldview that had room for a God, either traditional or otherwise. My agnostic worldview had no room for any kind of “supernatural” beings. So, if there was a God after all, as I now believed, it was a wide open question what God was like. One God, many, gods, an infinite god, a finite god, and on down the list—all were equally improbable and therefore equally possible. I had become radically open-minded.

So I asked, “Lord, are there many gods?”

Yes.

Okay, I had asked but, in spite of my vaunted open-mindedness, I did not like the answer at all. It was hard enough to believe in God. Was I now supposed to believe in Zeus and Odin?

“Lord, please explain that answer.” I hoped He would explain it away.

Remember that your concept of identity is not very helpful in these things. But there are many gods.

I had heard various theories of multiple gods, so questions tumbled out. “How do they relate? Is there a hierarchy of gods? Is there one highest or encompassing divinity? That would be at least quasi-monotheistic.”

Your questions involve so many false (crude) assumptions that it is difficult to answer.

I found that irritating. They seemed like good questions to me. I put the issue aside for the moment but, a few days later, I asked again. “Lord, is there only one God?” I was hoping for a different answer.

No, there are many gods.

Maybe “god” was being used in an unusual way. “Lord, what do You mean by ‘god’?”

Divine beings, holy beings.

“But You said You were the God of All.”

I am also the God of Many.

“No, animals are not cruel …”

January 1, 2026

I had been asking God about the early stages of life.

Personality develops (think of your own pets) and intelligence, problem-solving, lives with continuous purpose and plans, individual recognition of one animal by another, life-long mates. Now I have not just a playpen, but a menagerie, a zoo, of my own, a private jungle where I can be Tarzan.

There is nothing wrong in this world.

“Aren’t animals sometimes vicious, sometimes cruel?”

No, animals are not cruel—their personalities have not developed to that point. Nothing (is) wrong. It is delightful, a joy. I love all the animals, and bear their suffering.

Things that Seem Reckless to You Are Not Reckless

December 4, 2025

I do not want to rush you or make you do something that feels reckless, but I have to push you. Things that seem reckless to you are not reckless. They are safe. What is reckless is wasting your time, wasting your life away. Life is short. You must make the most of it now. It is now time to move on.

Start reading and studying. Start doing some writing. Start talking to people on a careful, gentle basis. Find out who your friends and allies are. Do not hold back. Seek support. Not everyone walks so closely with God. Can’t you tell that I am already blessing you, already keeping My covenant with you?

I have prepared you to be a risk-taker. I have always rewarded you for it. Now I am asking you to take another risk.

“You need both.”

November 27, 2025

Most of my prayers were about the ups and downs of daily life and often about my still new relationship. I often began the day by praying while still in bed. One morning, I was asking something about Abigail. For a second time, the answer came in a woman’s voice. “Is that a female voice?”

Yes.

“Are You a woman?”

When I want to be.

“Why do You usually appear as a man?”

It goes over better.

“With most folks?”

Yes.

Many days later, I had an experience that felt like the feminine presence of God—like a powdery shower, like perfumed talc being sprinkled over my whole being. When I had unusual experiences like this, I found them both heady and troubling. “Lord, I could get lost in experiences like this.”

This is a phase because it is new. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it.

“Lord, is there special meaning to the feminine presence?”

You need both (masculine and feminine). What you call the masculine presence gives you strength and energy. It is a bonding in My service. The so-called feminine gives you grace and peace. It is a healing between you and Me.