(David:)
Many people experience God in various
ways. We experience God in a very
personal way, as a lover, and we also
perceive God as a universal Energy of
Love which seeks to inspire all people on
earth to come together.
We encounter this energy coming through
so many, and through such different
people.
(Shekinah:)
Observing nature is another way how we experience God.
(David:)
We recognize God as an inner voice that speaks to us, and God is also speaking to us through other people.
(Shekinah:)
Through walking and communing with God as pilgrims we came to realize that the way the writers of the Biblical scriptures had perceived God was incomplete and in part distorted, influenced by the culture and traditions of their times. Jesus Christ clarified various issues concerning what God is like; and according to the record of the New Testament before his death he said that more of God was yet to be revealed.
(David:)
We relate to God as the ultimate source and author of life and love. We do not see God as a religious entity, we experience him/her as a Liberator, which is one of his/her many true titles.
The male entity of God revealed himself to us as Yahweh, the God, who liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Name Yahweh comes from Hebrew and means something like "The One who is, who exists, and who takes effect."
(Shekinah:)
We also experience and communicate with a Female Entity of God. Like Yahweh, she too has various titles or names. The name we like to address her by is Shekinah (see article The Name Shekinah). We feel she is partly described in some passages of the Bible as the Holy Spirit.
(David:)
In our relationship with God we observe neither ceremonies, nor rituals; because our relationship is a daily reality, there is no need for representations.
We do not worship God in the religious way of prostration. We share our lives with God and walk with him/her. We interact with God in a natural way like with the human beings we encounter.
(Shekinah:)
We don't use set prayers. We use prayer as a means to communicate with God, similar to to the way people use cell-phones, our prayer times with God are two-way communications.
In our opinion God has always sought to communicate with human beings.
Throughout history there have been people who attempted to verbalize that, which they perceived to have been communications received from God. In some cases such verbalizations are regarded by some religions as the absolute and unquestionable "word of God". During the years, when we were still Christians, we saw the Bible more or less in this way. We have come to understand that this is an unrealistic view, which only gives way to God being viewed as a dictator.
(David:)
We rather feel that God wishes to communicate not only to, but with every single person, and that verbalized communication from God wants to come out of all of us and overflow onto those around us, not primarily in instruction but as a means of communication among equals.
By getting close to God we can all become fountains of words of love and truth, a human verbalization of God's energy of Love.
(Shekinah:)
There are various levels and aspects of relationship to God. We see ourselves as son and daughter of God. But growing up from spiritual childhood, we started primarily seeing ourselves as God's lovers, God's spiritual bride.
We mutually exchange words of appreciation with God like lovers do with each other.
(David:)
Although we voluntarily serve God and others in Love, as God serves us in love, we are not his/her slaves. As two lovers find joy in service for each other, yet do not consider one superior or inferior to the other, so God told us that he/she wants to relate to us as equals, equal to him/her in the eyes of love - a love relationship of equality, not one of superiority and inferiority. God gives himself/herself voluntarily to us and we give ourselves voluntarily to him/her. We feel that God and the Human Being are the perfect match, the perfect couple.
(David:)
We think that one of the reasons why God chooses to be invisible to us is to help bring out the beauty of the voluntary spirit in human beings in their loving interactions with him/her and each other. God purposely tones down his/her magnificence towards us so that we are not intimidated.
In our opinion the perception of God is dependent on the quality of one's interactions with fellow human beings and the recognition of one's responsibility towards mankind in general.
(Shekinah:)
If we ignore our social obligations to others, our perception of God will become distorted. If we nourish our social vision it enhances our perception of God.