What is a personal relationship with God?

[Mendalla]

And how do you have one?

I mean, even if you believe in a personal deity, they still aren't there, in your face, like a person is. You don't have conversations, you don't take them out for a beer, you don't hold them while they cry over their breakup. I have personal relationships with my siblings, my spouse, my kid, my staff and co-workers, my friends, and so on. I see them, touch them, hear them, and so on.

Even at the peak of my Christianity, looking back on that period, I'm not sure I actually had one with "God". I prayed now and then in times of trouble or joy, but I couldn't say there was a response that I recognized then or now as being one, which I would expect to have in a "personal relationship". Now, I really can't comprehend the idea of having a "personal" relationship with someone who is not intimately and obviously present in my life.

So how do you have a personal relationship with God?

 

[Mendalla]

And the poll is just a discussion starter, not a serious "poll".

Another thought, though.

From the standpoint of pantheism, which I espoused until recently, I did have a relationship with "God" and would have argued that we all do since "God" in a pantheist framework is just everything that is. You can't not have a relationship with the universe because you are part of it. Your body and mind are made up of the matter and energy from the Big Bang, so that alone is a relationship to the universe. All those other relationships you have are relationships to the universe, or at least to other parts of it. But calling that a "relationship with God" is a matter of definition. You have to accept pantheism, or maybe panentheism, to call it that. For those of us who do not, it's merely being part of the "interdependent web of all existence", to use UU speak. And, really, it is not necessarily a personal relationship with the universe in itself, but with the parts of it we interact with. I'm not sure that really qualifies as a "personal relationship" with the whole.

 

[chansen]

I'm not sure I have a personal relationship with my son, let alone somebody else's imaginary friend. I'm mostly good for opening granola bar wrappers and as a random tackling victim. I don't think that qualifies as a "relationship".

 

[Waterfall]

A relationship with God is one that inhabits my being. Some would call it conscience but I have been taught. I speak out loud and in silence....and if I am still and patient..an answer comes.
I also have a relationship with Gods creation and that includes the elements and people....it is spiritual.
It is a centering of my soul that only provides love.
Relationship may not be the best word.

 

[Mendalla]

I'm not sure I have a personal relationship with my son, let alone somebody else's imaginary friend. I'm mostly good for opening granola bar wrappers and as a random tackling victim. I don't think that qualifies as a "relationship".

I would say it's a relationship, though it sounds like a bit of a D-S thing, with you as the sub.

 

[Luce NDs]

Relationship with the eternal is beyond mortals ... so an extended relativity! Einstein had i nailed as out there in the onyx!

Wait folks ... IT is yet to come as a far out technology! Distant intelligence ...

 

[Lastpointe]

Yes I do. I think of it like a relationship with a distant relative. You can talk to them on the phone or Skype. But you don’t see them. Yet they are there

 

[Mendalla]

Yes I do. I think of it like a relationship with a distant relative. You can talk to them on the phone or Skype. But you don’t see them. Yet they are there

I have a relative who lives a good distance away and when we are on Skype, it's very much a two way conversation. And I do see him (webcams). Far more interaction than I ever felt with God. YMMV, but that analogy really doesn't say much to me.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Yeah, the distant relative analogy doesn't entirely work for me, either. I have a lot of relatives in England. I talk to many of them often. I know they are there. If "Godde" is "The Universe and Everything", then it, too, is "there", but not in the same sort of ("did you know that Jo was almost finished repainting her Mom's boat", "Michaela's off to run a half marathon in Budapest this weekend") intimate way.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

And the poll is just a discussion starter, not a serious "poll".

Another thought, though.

From the standpoint of pantheism, which I espoused until recently, I did have a relationship with "God" and would have argued that we all do since "God" in a pantheist framework is just everything that is. You can't not have a relationship with the universe because you are part of it. Your body and mind are made up of the matter and energy from the Big Bang, so that alone is a relationship to the universe. All those other relationships you have are relationships to the universe, or at least to other parts of it. But calling that a "relationship with God" is a matter of definition. You have to accept pantheism, or maybe panentheism, to call it that. For those of us who do not, it's merely being part of the "interdependent web of all existence", to use UU speak. And, really, it is not necessarily a personal relationship with the universe in itself, but with the parts of it we interact with. I'm not sure that really qualifies as a "personal relationship" with the whole.

Yes, but your question was “ personal relationship”, which requires two persons. I do have a relationship with my cat, I just would not call it personal.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

Yes, but your question was “ personal relationship”, which requires two persons. I do have a relationship with my cat, I just would not call it personal.

Mostly- I am the one who can open the cans of cat food and she loves me until the moment dinner is served.

 

[GeoFee]

I have been in relationship with God from my youth. That relationship has never been static. From day to day my relationship with God has grown from passive acceptance to active engagement. I say this as a part of a whole that transcends the sum of its parts.

These words from the gospel offer me insight and encouragement:

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in that person.”

 

[Luce NDs]

In essence ... a non entity between the pages of a tome ... forming the construct of a psyche?

These may be opened to see the light 've IT! It may be subtle in the dimensions of the near dead ... one might need to walk it out ... thus the journey of life beyond one's ELF! Kind 'a out there ...

 

[unsafe]

this is my view on this

This is the only way to have a personal relationship with God -----do this -------

Romans 10:9 ►

Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you don't do this then you are not near God according to scripture --you have another god -------your iniquity has separated you from God ------there is and can be no personal relationship with God ---and anyone that thinks they can or do have a personal relationship with God because of God's Love for His Creation is diluting themselves ------

If Sinners can have a personal relationship with God without repentance and true Faith then Jesus died for nothing or God is a liar and the Bible is a farce ------

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+59&version=NKJV
Isaiah 59 New King James Version (NKJV)
Separated from God

59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with [a]blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.


Do I have a personal relationship with God ---most definitely -----and I will till I die -----and then I will be with Him eternally forever -----

 

[Ritafee]

and anyone that thinks they can or do have a personal relationship with God because of God's Love for His Creation is diluting themselves ------

I am so diluted!

 

[Mendalla]

I am so diluted!

Drink less water?

 

[Luce NDs]

The resolution to piousness requires more water for dilution ... thus dunkings ... it may even become stoic with sticks in the Moors! They can fossilize into celtics ... a kind of free stones ... missals?

Some of the particularly stoic find these excessively righteous! Thus the 90 degree thingy in carpentry parallels ... one more line and there is an asterisk! * Dark things on a sea of white ...

 

[unsafe]

Ritafee ----your quote -----I am so diluted!

And that is your choice to be so -----if you believe diluted --you will think diluted and if you think diluted you will act diluted ------and that seems to be where you are at ------so stay diluted and stay happy with your diluted choice -----it has nothing to do with me ------you either want to get undiluted by adhering to the truth or stay diluted by false belief in what the truth has to say to have a personal relationship with God ------your choice to make -----and your not alone in your choice to stay diluted -----

Bible says there will be many in their end who will say---- But Lord --Lord ----and you know the rest of the story --

 

[Pavlos Maros]

I lack any believe in any of the claims that a god exists. as none have ever shown their god to exist. I can't say that one doesn't exist because I cant travel the entire universe to see if one is hiding under a rock somewhere. And even if I found it, how would I know it was a god.
There is no such thing as a personal relationship with a god. One cant have a relationship with something they cant know exists. No matter how much they claim they can.

 

[dreamerman]

Ritafee ----your quote -----I am so diluted!

And that is your choice to be so -----if you believe diluted --you will think diluted and if you think diluted you will act diluted ------and that seems to be where you are at ------so stay diluted and stay happy with your diluted choice -----it has nothing to do with me ------you either want to get undiluted by adhering to the truth or stay diluted by false belief in what the truth has to say to have a personal relationship with God ------your choice to make -----and your not alone in your choice to stay diluted -----

Bible says there will be many in their end who will say---- But Lord --Lord ----and you know the rest of the story --

I think the word you are looking for is deluded. Funny how the people who are delusional themselves try to pin this on others. You are deluded if you think I am going to drink that wine you diluted with that much water.