How Can We Know God?

Be still! The Psalmist tells us in Psalms 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

St. Anselm tells us this at the very beginning of his work entitled, Proslogion, a discourse on the existence of God:

“Come on now little man, get away from your worldly occupations for a while, escape from your tumultuous thoughts. Lay aside your burdensome cares and put off your laborious exertions. Give yourself over to God for a little while, and rest for a while in Him. Enter into the cell of your mind, shut out everything except God and whatever helps you to seek Him once the door is shut. Speak now, my heart, and say to God, "I seek your face; your face, Lord, I seek." . . .read more @ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/anselm.html

“For You hast formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” These are the words of St. Augustine which he wrote in his work entitled, “Confessions” . . . read more @ http://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/augconfessions/bk1.html

We are a restless and anxious people. Consider the words of 20th century theologian and bible scholar, Rudolf Bultmann, in his work, entitled, “Paul’s Demythologizing and Ours”.

Bultmann says this in referring to man’s anxious state, “An illustration of this may be seen in the way our attempts to secure visible security for ourselves brings us into collision with others; we can seek security for ourselves only at their expense. Thus on the one hand we get envy, anger, jealousy, and the like, and on the other compromise, bargaining, and adjustments of conflicting interests. This creates an all-pervasive atmosphere which controls all our judgments; we all pay homage to it and take it for granted. Thus man becomes the slave of anxiety (Rom 8:15). Everybody tries to hold fast to his own life and property because he has a secret feeling that it is all slipping away from him.”