Daniel Haskett - God and Thou

Martin Buber has always been an inspiration to me throughout my studies of communication. He talks about communication as a relationship. His theory of the I and Thou was the foundation of a portion of my senior seminary research. Buber also thought of prayer as dialogue. He said, "God is silent because we are silent; the eclipse of God leads to the eclipse of man." Many Christians believe that Christianity is just a religion full of rules. Buber takes the religion out of the equation, and refers to the relationship with God as one on one. Another admirable perspective of Buber is that this relationship should not be hidden.

Maurice Friedman stated, "Modern life is divided into levels and aspects. Modern man enjoys erotic, aesthetic, political, and religious experiences independently of one another. As a result, religion is for him only one aspect of his life rather than its totality. The men of the Bible were sinners like us, says Buber, but they did not commit the arch sin of professing God in the synagogue and denying him in the sphere of economics, politics, and the ‘self-assertion’ of the group. Nor did they believe it possible to be honest and upright in private life and to lie in public for the sake of the commonwealth." This relationship with God was not hidden in the lives of the men of in the bible, as it should be in out lives today. Prayer and dialogue with God is something that can strengthen everything else around you. Though there is a personal relationship with the Lord that is necessary, to be a Christian should mean that you ARE a Christian all the time. In private or in public.