Implicator wrote:
Didn't Jesus talk out loud?
It would seem that yes, He did. I believe his last words were 'It is finished.'
However, I see no reason to feel that He still does. If I saw some sort of apparition, vision, or even person, who declared itself to be Jesus, I would say:
'What time did you get up? Because it wasn't early enough!'
People are masters of self-deception. The thing about it, though, is our deceptions are limited by what we believe, IMO. I don't think that our beliefs, by necessity, define our possibilities. That is, if our belief is the type that remains undefined and undetermined by what we decide to allow ourselves to believe. I really don't say that I believe in anything. Because what I believe is only because somehow it made itself known to me, and the rest I leave open. The way I see it, most people confuse 'beliefs' with choosing what seems to a valid opinion or possibility.
A true belief is not a choice, but an understanding that arises from some sort of experience. Faith is not belief. Hope is not belief. Belief is personal knowledge that is convincing and useful yet never complete and totally dependable or unchanging.
Most think that because it makes sense to their way of thinking and works as therapy to soothe their inner beast, that it is something they can believe in. That is why so many seem willing to consider anything other than what they already 'believe.' If they are open to something other than what they have already padded themselves with, there might be a few moments of discomfort in the transition. And discomfort is how fear feels if it is a constant inhabitant of the self.
I am in shock! 
