Jerry Martin Archives -

“There is an Inaccessible aspect of me”

July 2, 2026

I was guided to look into the ancient Mystery Religions, of which the Eleusinian and Orphic are the most famous. The Mysteries were cults whose rites were open only to initiates. Participants were sworn never to disclose what took place and, remarkably, none ever did. What little we know is thanks to historians’ detective work. The rites were apparently connected with nature and the seasons, and especially the harvest. After a lengthy training, the ultimate secret was revealed to the successful initiate: a single grain of corn in a stone bowl. Not much. But if God was in that drop of water I had encountered, He could well be seen in that grain of corn, that source of life. I was told that the Mystery Religions connected the polytheistic reverence of natural phenomena to Nature as an encompassing whole.

The Mystery Religions are a bridge from one to the other and also, and precisely because of or through, the inner dimension. The self is unitary, and when the self relates fully to nature, nature is its unitary opposite.

“So Mystery Religions are important?”

(Yes), because one way I manifest Myself is esoterically, and this heightens My own sense of specialness. I am not only the same as human beings but also different. There is an inaccessible aspect of Me that the mysteries apprehend and try to get at.

“And this does something for You?”

Yes, it lets Me get at that aspect of Myself.

I found this hard to understand. It seems that there is an aspect of God that, while not totally inaccessible, is manifested only esoterically, in some secret or private way. And this inner dimension heightens His sense of specialness.

I wondered whether this might be true of all of us.

“Lord, is there a less accessible aspect of each of us that heightens our specialness?”

Yes.

“Beauty also becomes possible . . .”

April 23, 2026

Beauty also becomes possible, as you see in prehistoric cave paintings.

Creatures from a very low level enjoy and appreciate sensory stimulation. In that sense they find a scene (though not quite a “scene” for them yet) “beautiful.” But true appreciation of beauty is seeing an ideal form in something material. What they are drawing on cave walls are ideal bulls.

“I have seen those drawings. They are amazing.”

Study the cave paintings and other artifacts.

They respond to, reflect, how I was presenting Myself to them. You will be able to see or infer what My experience was like, what I was trying to do.

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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, autobiography and sparks of wisdom. In addition to scholarly publications, Dr. Martin has testified before Congress on educational policy, appeared on “World News Tonight,” and other television news programs

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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.

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.

“Do you think I could come to the ancient Jews in the same way I came to the seventh century Chinese? to Americans today?”

March 26, 2026

How God Comes To Different People:

I had been told that culture is a factor in divine revelations.

“Lord, why is culture so important?”

That’s like saying, why language? If I am going to communicate with people, they need a language. For the same reason, they need a culture.

“They need a culture, but why such a variety of cultures?”

There are many ways of realizing (actualizing) the human story. Culture enables lives of different (types of) significance (meaning).

“But why, in terms of Your story?”

I need to come to people in all their particularity, not to mankind-as-such. The Chinese is one way of being. The primitive is one way of being. I come to each in its own terms. Each enables Me to show a different side of Myself.

Do you think I could come to the ancient Jews in the same way I came to the seventh century Chinese? to Americans today? to you?

Learn more about how God comes to different people.

This is Not Weird

March 19, 2026

Some of the people I knew in Washington were men and women of great probity and spiritual depth.

One by one, I told each about hearing the voice, and what I had been told. One, a distinguished biologist, responded, “First of all, this is not weird.” Nothing he could have said would have been a greater relief to me. Another, a prominent 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?”

While there were also cautionary responses, no one seemed to think I was crazy or a fool to take the voice seriously.

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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.

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.

“I am boundless.”

March 5, 2026

Boundless God:

“Lord, are You infinite?”

I am boundless.

“Are You omniscient?”

I know everything that is important.

“Are You omnipotent?”

I can do everything I want (care) to do.

God had just contradicted every key attribute in the traditional definition of God. He is not exactly infinite, not exactly omniscient, and not exactly omnipotent. All this was so new, I just didn’t know what to think, but I was beginning to sense that one reason God spoke to me was to clear up some misunderstandings.

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. In addition to scholarly publications, Dr. Martin has testified before Congress on educational policy. He has appeared on “World News Tonight,” and other television news programs.

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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.

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.

“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.

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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.

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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.

“Any religion that does not allow for this aspect of My presence is missing something.”

October 30, 2025

It sounded as if there were something true in polytheism. Abigail’s father had also been a philosophy professor and I married into his library, which included Martin P. Nilsson’s Greek Popular Religion, a classic on ancient Greek polytheism.

According to Nilsson, anything that had potency or an aura was regarded as holy. Spirits lurked inside striking features of the landscape such as trees, forests, lakes, and mountains. River crossings and cave entrances would be marked with stones or statues.

“Were these valid responses to You, Lord?”

You lump them all together.

We would have to take them one by one. You see them as generic types of actions. I see them as specific communications or acknowledgements. One person looked at a stream and saw the current of My energy running through it and marked the spot in homage. Another was superstitious and marked the spot for good luck.

Some were fearful and thought they might drown crossing if they did not place a token on the bank. Some actually stopped and prayed or meditated or sang a song of praise. These are very different kinds of communications, with different degrees of reality.

If your question is whether streams and mountains and so forth do in fact embody My presence, the answer again is not so simple.

Of course, everything embodies My presence and it is always a good thing when someone pauses to acknowledge that. But some things do embody it more. There is truth to the sense that I am more distinctively present in aspects of energy and force than in matter that is relatively more inert. We would have to go into physics, into the physics of the future, to discuss that in detail.

At particular times, I am especially present in a certain place or to a certain person.

It is not mere superstition that causes (people to) pause before the fact of death, for example. That is a moment and place of particular interaction between Me and the deceased and their survivors. However, there are some dramatic elements of nature, such as lightning, that might be appropriate symbols for divine power but are not in fact times and places of special presence or interaction.

But, in general, did polytheism respond to a divine reality? Yes, it did.

And any religion that does not allow for this aspect of My presence—My presence in nature, in objects, in places, and in forces—is missing something.

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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.

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.

“With life, spirit comes into play.”

October 30, 2025

With life, comes spirit:

For millions of years, before there was life, there was just God and a barren universe.

“You felt all alone?”

Yes, I wanted more. In retrospect, the inanimate years feel very lonely. The emergence of life is a delight. With life, spirit comes into play.

Wonderful to see amoeba, moss, and so forth. The frogs (and other creatures), each with a soul and personality, each in a sense in tune with God. I can play with the animals, “walk among them.” I love their myriad forms. I am not alone anymore.

The creatures that began to stir on the earth are amazing, more amazing than anything that had yet occurred in creation.

They move on their own, they have “internal principles of motion” as Aristotle said, have dramatic lives—even the worms and fishes.

There is birth, growth, death, mating, offspring, colonies and flocks, emergent social orders—ideality as well. There is telos and purpose, success and failure, standards of perfection and imperfection.

And, over time, further developments in the species, a most amazing, creative ramifying of the evolutionary ladder.

New species emerge that could not have been imagined before. Your paleontology tells the story: the first horses could easily fit into the palm of a hand, and so forth. Can you imagine the spectacle?

“Yes, I think I can.”

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. In addition to scholarly publications, Dr. Martin has testified before Congress on educational policy. He has appeared on “World News Tonight,” and other television news programs.

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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.

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.

I am the medium through which man understands the world.

September 11, 2025

I understood what the point of interaction meant in the context of physical causation, of one billiard ball striking another, but here God seemed to be saying that He was the point of interaction—almost like the portal—through which we understood the world.

“Lord, what do You mean by point of interaction?”

I am the medium through which man understands the world.

“Is mind the medium?”

Yes.

“Lord, are You saying that, in addition to the human mind and the natural world, there is divine mind somehow essential to the act of understanding?”

The answer I received addresses, though in an unusual way, one of the deep mysteries of philosophy. How is it that consciousness relates to or “intends” an object such as the Liberty Bell? For example, what is it about a thought that makes it the thought of the Liberty Bell? The thought is “in your head” and the Liberty Bell is in Philadelphia. What “connects” them?

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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.

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.