Did Jesus Preach About a Personal God?

[Radio Frequency X]

What did Jesus have to say about a personal relationship with God?

 

[Darkness]

I am no longer a Christian but from reading the New Testament, the best way you can be closer to God is to Love.

I John IX:VIII
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is Love.

If God is Love, every act or emotion of Love is actually God. When we Love, we create more God, so to speak. If you are trying to be close to God, Love. It can't hurt.

 

[sojourner]

Jesus told us to call God "Abba," which means "Daddy." I don't think one could get more personal than that.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

It depends on what you mean by "personal relationship with God."

The term as used by evangelicals I think has nothing to do with Jesus and little to do with Christianity. This heresy has its roots in modern Western individualism that is foreign to the New Testament. We don't experience God personally, but as a group. It is the Church that experiences God together - no one is saved individually, but all are saved communally through the grace of God.

 

[sojourner]

It depends on what you mean by "personal relationship with God."

The term as used by evangelicals I think has nothing to do with Jesus and little to do with Christianity. This heresy has its roots in modern Western individualism that is foreign to the New Testament. We don't experience God personally, but as a group. It is the Church that experiences God together - no one is saved individually, but all are saved communally through the grace of God.

What he said...

 

[sojourner]

This is why I tend to be a universalist. If one person is left out, God's kingdom is diminished. It's all of us together.

 

[lunamoth]

This is why I tend to be a universalist. If one person is left out, God's kingdom is diminished. It's all of us together.

This is my view as well.

Good answers AE and Soj.

 

[may]

It depends on what you mean by "personal relationship with God."

The term as used by evangelicals I think has nothing to do with Jesus and little to do with Christianity. This heresy has its roots in modern Western individualism that is foreign to the New Testament. We don't experience God personally, but as a group. It is the Church that experiences God together - no one is saved individually, but all are saved communally through the grace of God.

"Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you."—JAMES 4:8.
(Isaiah 55:6) Search for Jehovah, YOU people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near.

 

[sojourner]

"Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you."—JAMES 4:8.
(Isaiah 55:6) Search for Jehovah, YOU people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near.

Not "individual."

 

[michel]

There is an interesting take on that quesation here:- http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/03/pimping_jesus_2.html

March 24, 2006

Your Own Personal Jesus: Is the language of "a personal relationship" biblical?


The song "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode describes the faith of many: "Your own personal Jesus. Someone to hear your prayers. Someone who cares." In this post, John Suk, a professor of homiletics at Asian Theological Seminary in Manila, The Philippines, challenges popular evangelical jargon by questioning whether having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ" is poor theology or, worse, a capitulation to theraputic secular values? Below is an excerpt. You may read Suk’s full article at Perspectives Journal's website.

<------------------------------------------snip------------------------------------------------->

Rather than saying, “I have a personal relationship with Jesus,” why don’t we say instead, “I have faith in Jesus,” or “I believe in Jesus.” Where the language of personal relationship has a very questionable pedigree, amidst a therapeutic culture, to cut God down to a manageable size, the language of faith is deeply rooted in Scripture. The apostle John put it this way: “This is [God’s] command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23).

 

[KingNothing]

Look into the Gospel of Thomas. It's more or less Jesus talking about having a personal relationship with God. Or atleast about finding spirituality within, which is kinda the same thing.

 

[may]

"Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you."—JAMES 4:8.
(Isaiah 55:6) Search for Jehovah, YOU people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near.

Let each ONE do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God LOVES a cheerful giver.

 

[sojourner]

Look into the Gospel of Thomas. It's more or less Jesus talking about having a personal relationship with God. Or atleast about finding spirituality within, which is kinda the same thing.

Personal is not synonymous with individual. Our goal is not to achieve a kind of spiritual "God and I alone together." Our goal is to "put all things in subjection under Christ," each person taking his/her proper place.

 

[KingNothing]

Personal is not synonymous with individual. Our goal is not to achieve a kind of spiritual "God and I alone together." Our goal is to "put all things in subjection under Christ," each person taking his/her proper place.

Well that's a semantics argument, which is why I used words like "more or less" and "kinda". But if a person has the holy spirit within then I fail to see the difference.

 

[sojourner]

I don't believe it is an argument of semantics -- it's a valid theological argument, posing a difference between a theology where individuals are saved, and a theology where humanity is saved as a group.

 

[doppelganger]

This is why I tend to be a universalist. If one person is left out, God's kingdom is diminished. It's all of us together.

And God's love is compromised.

 

[!Fluffy!]

Jesus used a lot of imagery to define relationships. It seems we are encouraged to follow individually, as sheep knowing the Shepherd, we know his voice. Each of the disciples responded to his invitation with an individual decision. He seeks out one lost sheep among a hundred. He sets a little child before us and says we are to be as children. Some of his parables, esp. the Prodigal Son, speak to us in a very personal and individual way about our relationship as heirs, a forgiven child returns home to the embrace of the father. He uses a lot of "us" imagery as well: give us this day our daily bread.

So I would hesitate to over emphasize either relationship and say, when we stand before the Lord it will be as an individual. Yet we will forever be the bride.

 

[sojourner]

when we stand before the Lord it will be as an individual.

Will it? Or shall we all come to stand together before the Lord?