On March 1, Ron Johnston asked (in his letter entitled Some Pertinent, Philosophical Questions), "Does God really exist and speak to us through His Divine Word (the Bible) and, if not, are all religious leaders not really called of God into their vocations and therefore deceiving themselves?"

The idea that religious leaders are "called by God into their vocation" is just the same as any other person's call to work as a carpenter or an architect or whatever. We humans are blessed (or cursed) with both intuition and conscience, the voice inside. Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify and conscience establishes whether they are right or wrong.

To pursue the career of your choice then is to follow the path which you believe feels right for you and in that way you are acting with conscience. Christians refer to conscience as "the voice of God within". Therefore, since religious leaders are no different (anatomically or psychologically) than other human beings, the voice that calls them to their vocation is the same voice that calls others to pursue a different career. So they are not deceiving themselves, they are doing what feels right for them. But the term "called by God" then must be used for any career and not just priesthood or other religious occupations.

I would not say that His Divine Word resides in the Bible. Firstly, I believe that all religions should be treated equally, but for this case I will use the Christian Bible since it is the one I know most about. Let us take a logical step about this Divine Word (you can start aiming your guns at me now). If God wanted to pass an important message to us, why would God do it in writing? Didn't God know that literature is bound to different interpretations? Also, did God not know that back then (when the Bible was written) many people could not read?

That would mean that only the literate people (nobles and clerical classes) could read it and they would have to verbally teach His Word to the illiterate. So the literate taught their own interpretations of His Word. This means that His Words would do no better than chance at getting the real message through. If we believe God to be perfect and all powerful, can you logically comprehend the idea that God needed human literature and a select few humans to get his message out, risking the thwarting of the real meaning His Word intended? Did God not create us in his own image and all equal? It would be very inconsistent with God's perfection if God preferred some humans over others, don't you think?

Huge volumes can be written about the inconsistencies of the God concept and religions.

I will leave readers with a question to conclude the original question and hopefully generate more fruitful discussion: If we humans haven't even brushed the surface of understanding ourselves and our mortal existence, what is the point in seeking and trying to understand the existence of an entity that is synonymous with Perfection, Eternity and Immortality?