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The sad thing is not that she listens to this quiet voice, but that she can’t admit it’s her own. She has to label it God’s voice in order to take it seriously. In my time as a professor, I’ve met a lot of young people like this who don’t believe their own feelings matter, that their own thoughts are worth paying attention to. These young people need to learn that it’s important to listen to their own feelings. Even though they’re not always right, feelings tell you things you need to know.

When a young person has to label the voices in her heart “God” in order to believe they’re worth listening to, she doesn’t really believe it’s OK for her to be perceptive about her situation, that it’s OK to realize her boyfriend is bad for her and do something about it. In short, she doesn’t realize she has a right to be a morally responsible adult. This new theology has undermined her sense of responsibility and self-knowledge—not to mention her faith in God as a real person who exists outside her own thoughts.