For the last 14 years I have heard, and carry on a running conversation with, a Presence in my mind that I understand to be God. I can say these things: first, God uses a voice which, to me (and He may do so with others who can hear Him), is authoritative in a way without needing to prove itself or stand on punctilio or anything like that. The voice carries authority in an infinitely more 'comfortable' way than any human ever could. Second, God's way with me is that of how we remember our favorite teachers and how we wished ALL our teachers could be that way. While God has started explaining things at greater depth and length to me lately, God still asks questions much more than anything else. And through this process God has helped me find some answers--and the process itself engraves the answers on my heart. Finally, God answers questions and shares information on what can be called an 'ability to digest/need to know' basis. And God knows better than any of us what we do need to know and what we can digest at different points in our lives. God can be trusted about this and all other matters. After some dialogue, God usually leaves the decisions to us. This is how this process unfolds with me. I cannot speak for anyone else save to say that God never advocates injury of any kind to the 'different' but otherwise innocent .