[quote]How can you believe in the literal interpretation of the bible?[/quote]Very easily, and not everything in the Bible apparently is not to be taken literally. Knowing when to switch between the metaphoric and the literal is the tricky part.[quote]...then arbitrarily decide that God no longer talks to anyone.[/quote]Why do you think the Bible exists? Did Noah, Abraham, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Samuel, John, the Saul who later became Paul, etc have the Bible? Aren't all the apostles dead? Why would God need to continue to talk to humanity even if He made His written Word already available freely?[quote]Just [because] you can't hear him, doesn't mean He's silent.[/quote]Are you admitting that He's silent since you did just state that no one can hear Him?[quote]...we're created in his image...[/quote]Do you honestly understand the context of that statement in Genesis?[quote]...yet you would have me believe that a parent would stop mentoring his child.[/quote]If we are going to stick with a child analogy, let's be precise. When did I state that God no longer mentors His "children?" Do you know what the point of the "Holy Spirit" is? If you do indeed like to advocate that God literally talks to individuals, then I guess we are submit to the word of those individuals even though when they talk about their experiences it goes completely against the Bible? Do you know how Mormonism was formed?