Have you ever read J.I. Packer’s Knowing God? His whole premise is that it’s not enough to know about God – we must know him intimately to know him at all. I know a lot about celebrities, but knowing those things doesn’t make me their best friend. The same is true with God. The path to intimacy with God comes through prayer and study of the Bible. When I read, I always pray that God will show me another piece of his character so that I may know him more fully. Having just graduated from a very academic study of God and the Bible, I know how dangerous the intellectual mountain can be. When we try to explain away the mysteries of God with our neat, prepackaged answers, it’s an indication that we “know” too much. I think you’re right about faith. It’s always a prerequisite for knowing God. Until we surrender to him, we can never really know him. I think it’s a lifelong process.

I was also interested in your comments regarding knowledge versus intimacy with God. Speaking to a friend recently; mutual friends of ours have studied their faith with an intellectual rigour which I’ve rarely found surpassed. However, they now feel they can no longer believe in the living God as it all seems to have been explained away. They are actually very sad and lost about that. I wonder therefore, when all the arguments have been argued and all the discussions had and you’ve reached the top of the intellectual mountain, whether that is the very place to take the ‘leap of faith’ because that is the only thing which will bring together intellectual knowledge with real trust and intimacy. Jumping across the gulf between knowledge and his outstretched arms. Thanks for an interesting read. I’m still, personally, caught between learning and jumping, but in fear and trembling ;-) The Dyce.