God's personal relationship with each human being

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fhansen said:
What does that mean, ‘It never is personal’? I tend to believe the opposite-it’s always personal-that it must be, in fact.
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Its never about you and God. Its always between the Creator and ALL of creation. We cannot get to heaven just by believing in God. Read my signature. To love God and to have God’s love in us, we should love everyone because God loves everyone.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Its never about you and God. Its always between the Creator and ALL of creation. We cannot get to heaven just by believing in God. Read my signature. To love God and to have God’s love in us, we should love everyone because God loves everyone.
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It’s never about you and God. It’s always between the Creator and ALL of creation.

What is happening here is that God is being put in a box and therefore He is either in the box or out of the box. Another thing which can or may happen is that all of creation, including marvelous human beings, is considered as all the very same, something like clones. Obviously, there are essential differences within creation.

The first thing that is noticeable about the first three chapters of Genesis is that God first creates the place, that is the environment of the world, Into this space, God brings forth the animals, non-humans of the earth, sky, and sea. The creation of Adam is unique because here is a person who is both material and spiritual. God has given Adam a spiritual soul and thus we say that Adam and subsequently his descendants you and me are created in the image of God.

Yes. Being in the image of God, we should love all of His creation including other human beings. But loving all creation is not an either-or situation. Humans uniquely can love both creation, including other persons, and at the same time love the Creator. The love of God in Genesis is a personal relationship between the Creator and the individual human Adam. Adam is given the capacity to know and love the Creator. Thus, the Creator knows and loves each individual. This love becomes personal, i.e., directed to and experienced by each person as an individual.

God created man in His image and established him in His friendship. This is what the Garden of Eden refers to. However, being the created one, Adam and his descendants can live this friendship only in free submission to God. In other words, each person is capable of having God’s love within himself or herself depending on personal choices. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, paragraph 396)

Believing in God is the first step of our relationship with God. From our position as the created one, we are personally able to choose how we are going to live. God, because He is the Creator, has a relationship with His creation. With us, God’s relationship is personal because we are individual persons who can freely accept and follow the conditions of the relationship with God.

Tempted by the devil, Adam let his trust in his Creator die in his heart. Abusing his freedom, Adam disobeyed God’s command. Essentially, Adam preferred himself over and against God and thus against the requirements of his status as the created one.
This original sin broke man’s friendship with God. (CCC 397-398) However, not only was the sin a personal one committed by Adam, it affected all human nature which would be transmitted by propagation to all mankind. This is because the unity of the whole human race was in Adam as one body of one man. Therefore, all of Adam’s descendants are implicated in Adam’s sinful choice in the same way that all of Adam’s descendants are implicated in Christ’s redemptive act. (CCC 404-405)

Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a person back toward God; but the consequences for human nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist and thus each person is summoned to spiritual battle. Jesus Christ, through the Catholic Sacraments, continually provides the graces to win the spiritual battle.

Because each of us is an individual with our own personal makeup, God calls us to Himself in a personal way.
 
I like this verse:
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:7

I agree with Constantine that it’s not* just* God and us individually-we’re to love each other as God loves us all. But it’s not either/or-it’s both/and. In any case the greatest commandments aren’t just some arbitrary directives that end up being difficult obligatory impositions placed on us. They constitute creations’* justice*-they make life worth living and are the source of human happiness-because God-who is love-is the source of human happiness. That’s why it was so wrong-so unjust-for man to divorce himself from God-the whole universe fell into disorder.
 
I actually tend to believe that one commandment can’t be fulfilled without the other-they’re sort of mutually dependent-if we truly love God we’ll love our neighbor and vice versa.
 
thistle said:
How would that work for all those in Hell who are eternally separated from God?
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This is just my personal speculation, but I don’t believe that the souls in hell stop experiencing the love of God. However, I think that the love of God is precisely what makes hell a terrible experience for people in hell.

There are two reasons why I believe this;
  1. My own ineffable personal experience with God. I felt the overwhelming sense of God’s love, but that overwhelming sense of total love at the same time felt like a complete sense of inescapable guilt. I think someone who rejects God would only experience the Love of God as Guilt, because in them there is no love.
  2. I was reading a near death experience of A.J. Ayers, a famous atheist philosopher. During his experience he saw a divine light that he understood to be the “governing” of the universe. Everytime he looked at this light he felt intense pain, so he said his goal in existence then became to do everything he could to extinguish that divine light.
 
Jcnava15 said:
This is just my personal speculation, but I don’t believe that the souls in hell stop experiencing the love of God. However, I think that the love of God is precisely what makes hell a terrible experience for people in hell.

There are two reasons why I believe this;
  1. My own ineffable personal experience with God. I felt the overwhelming sense of God’s love, but that overwhelming sense of total love at the same time felt like a complete sense of inescapable guilt. I think someone who rejects God would only experience the Love of God as Guilt, because in them there is no love.
  2. I was reading a near death experience of A.J. Ayers, a famous atheist philosopher. During his experience he saw a divine light that he understood to be the “governing” of the universe. Everytime he looked at this light he felt intense pain, so he said his goal in existence then became to do everything he could to extinguish that divine light.
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Your post says to me that on God’s side, the personal relationship extends love to each human being regardless. What makes the difference comes from the person who extends either love or hate to God. What we choose to do cannot change God. We can only change ourselves.

Was A.J. Ayers an atheist philosopher before his near death experience?
As I keep re-reading your point 2, it sounds like Ayers did not know a personal God because of the term “governing” of the universe. Or maybe he misunderstood Christianity in general. Sometimes people don’t want to understand God’s love because there is responsibility for one’s actions when we desire to have a love relationship with God. Being the created ones, we need to live in free submission to our Creator.

Coincidentally, I read something that described the sun as beneficial since it is needed for plant growth, warmth, etc. The sun is also a destroyer as when a person is lost in a desert without water.

I am trying to put together a different kind of picture of hell in addition to being a free choice of a person – which it is of course. Obviously, the sense of guilt would be linked to a free action. In addition to free choice, could the sense of guilt also be part of the pain of hell?

Personally, I am not too sure about near death experiences. I think that the mind is very powerful, but that pain, fear, guilt, emotions, peace can have some kind of effect on it.

Your phrase “the sense of inescapable guilt” is itself powerful. It makes me imagine that right before death, a person refuses God’s loving mercy. The point of death would then make the sad choice inescapable.

Maybe the fact that we cannot change God’s love for us is the one important fact that we need to remember when we fall into grave sin.
 
grannymh said:
I believe that God has a loving relationship with every human being, past, present, and future.

Am I right or wrong?
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If they respond to His call to have a relationship, yes. God loves every person but we need to respond to His grace to have a relationship with Him.

God bless
 
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

How does God love each person in a personal way?
In ways besides the Cross of Reconciliation?
 
grannymh said:
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

How does God love each person in a personal way?
In ways besides the Cross of Reconciliation?
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Here are some other ways:
He set up an Inalienable Right to Life for you that no one can take away.
He is motivated for you. He wants you to Celebrate with the Awesomeness of Peace, Happiness, and Energy.
He created Everything for you.
He showed you how to be Perfectly Patient and Kind and Motivated.
He filled the Earth with All the Pleasures one could ask for. Unfortunately, others as well as the self, have failed to fully trust in Him and His Ways, thereby causing harm and pain, instead of joy and peace.
He gave you an instruction manual as to How to Be the Greatest Person, Child, Spouse, Parent, Servant, Leader, Authority, “Lover,” Teacher, Counselor, Sibling, Friend, and Enemy.
He Judges you based on your actions alone.
He is Incredibly Merciful.

Thoughts?
 
jochoa said:
Here are some other ways:
He set up an Inalienable Right to Life for you that no one can take away.
He is motivated for you. He wants you to Celebrate with the Awesomeness of Peace, Happiness, and Energy.
He created Everything for you.
He showed you how to be Perfectly Patient and Kind and Motivated.
He filled the Earth with All the Pleasures one could ask for. Unfortunately, others as well as the self, have failed to fully trust in Him and His Ways, thereby causing harm and pain, instead of joy and peace.
He gave you an instruction manual as to How to Be the Greatest Person, Child, Spouse, Parent, Servant, Leader, Authority, “Lover,” Teacher, Counselor, Sibling, Friend, and Enemy.
He Judges you based on your actions alone.
He is Incredibly Merciful.

Thoughts?
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My thoughts?

“He is motivated for you.” really set me thinking because that is so much a personal interest.

Blessings,
granny

Bible means Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
 
grannymh said:
My thoughts?

“He is motivated for you.” really set me thinking because that is so much a personal interest.

Blessings,
granny

Bible means Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
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I really dig, “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”. I just recently adopted the mindset as the Holy Bible is an Instruction Manual, and I am pleased your shared this!

Thank you for making my day better and I hope you have a good day!
 
Originally Posted by grannymh forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

*How does God love each person in a personal way? *
In ways besides the Cross of Reconciliation?
jochoa said:
Here are some other ways:
He set up an Inalienable Right to Life for you that no one can take away.
He is motivated for you. He wants you to Celebrate with the Awesomeness of Peace, Happiness, and Energy.
He created Everything for you.
He showed you how to be Perfectly Patient and Kind and Motivated.
He filled the Earth with All the Pleasures one could ask for. Unfortunately, others as well as the self, have failed to fully trust in Him and His Ways, thereby causing harm and pain, instead of joy and peace.
He gave you an instruction manual as to How to Be the Greatest Person, Child, Spouse, Parent, Servant, Leader, Authority, “Lover,” Teacher, Counselor, Sibling, Friend, and Enemy.
He Judges you based on your actions alone.
He is Incredibly Merciful.

Thoughts?
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emphasis mine

“He judges you based on your actions alone.” That is a mouthful. 👍

We hear the phrase “God creates the soul directly” and most of the time we file it along with God created the world. Jochoa connected the moment of making us truly human with the rest of our lives. Somehow, knowing that God knew us in the safety of our mother’s womb takes away the scary part of being judged. He was with us when we had silly thoughts, with us as we learned how to learn about Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, even with us when we told our first lie. God knows us as the person we have become.

“O Lord, You have probed me and You know me;
You know when I sit and when I stand;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
My journey and My rest You scrutinize,
with all my ways You are familiar.”
Psalm 139

It can be a blessing to know that we cannot fool God. Because this frees us to love God in our personal way even when our love is so meager. Knowing that God is judging us personally frees us to directly ask God for mercy when we turn away from Him. Because we can skip the b.s. and simply ask Him to heal us.
 
grannymh said:
Originally Posted by grannymh forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

*How does God love each person in a personal way? *
In ways besides the Cross of Reconciliation?

emphasis mine

“He judges you based on your actions alone.” That is a mouthful. 👍

We hear the phrase “God creates the soul directly” and most of the time we file it along with God created the world. Jochoa connected the moment of making us truly human with the rest of our lives. Somehow, knowing that God knew us in the safety of our mother’s womb takes away the scary part of being judged. He was with us when we had silly thoughts, with us as we learned how to learn about Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, even with us when we told our first lie. God knows us as the person we have become.

“O Lord, You have probed me and You know me;
You know when I sit and when I stand;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
My journey and My rest You scrutinize,
with all my ways You are familiar.”
Psalm 139

It can be a blessing to know that we cannot fool God. Because this frees us to love God in our personal way even when our love is so meager. Knowing that God is judging us personally frees us to directly ask God for mercy when we turn away from Him. Because we can skip the b.s. and simply ask Him to heal us.
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Excellent Reflections!

I would like to offer another method of God’s Personal Love for Us:
Although, this one needs quite a bit of in-depth understanding/explanation…
If You will Listen for/to God, He Will give you all the answers you seek.
Reflections on Listening for/to God
Every Single Action of a Person is the Culmination of:
-the qualities of Patience, Kindness, Motivation, and Knowledge towards others and the self
-the desiring of Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom for others and the self
-and the achievement of Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom for others and the self
If you will accept that your job in this world is to Achieve and “Spread the Means to” the Greatest Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom in a unique manner given your personal life and relationships, then every time you or your relationships are out of Peace, Happiness, Energy, or Wisdom, you will Listen for/to God, which is Everything/Love/Jesus/Holy Bible/Patience, Kindness, Motivation, and Knowledge in Others and Yourself/Authorities/The Creator of Everything/…

Thoughts?
 
jochoa said:
Excellent Reflections!

I would like to offer another method of God’s Personal Love for Us:
Although, this one needs quite a bit of in-depth understanding/explanation…
If You will Listen for/to God, He Will give you all the answers you seek.
Reflections on Listening for/to God
Every Single Action of a Person is the Culmination of:
-the qualities of Patience, Kindness, Motivation, and Knowledge towards others and the self
-the desiring of Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom for others and the self
-and the achievement of Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom for others and the self
If you will accept that your job in this world is to Achieve and “Spread the Means to” the Greatest Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom in a unique manner given your personal life and relationships, then every time you or your relationships are out of Peace, Happiness, Energy, or Wisdom, you will Listen for/to God, which is Everything/Love/Jesus/Holy Bible/Patience, Kindness, Motivation, and Knowledge in Others and Yourself/Authorities/The Creator of Everything/…

Thoughts?
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I can understand this as another method of “God’s Personal Love for Us, but only if I look at the 'words” individually. I can see God as being all of the above. But for me, personally, it is hard to imagine having all these individual qualities. Yet, on the other hand, could all these qualities be part of true love?

Are you saying that God loves us completely in every way possible way? Of course, we know that God loves us completely; but have we ever tried to put that love into individual words such as those above. Is this a way of “learning” about God?

I believe that your words “in a unique manner” is key to our own personal relationship with God and how we spread God’s message of love. For example, I am finding out that a granny no longer has the energy of youth. Thus, the question becomes how do I use the energy I have in my own unique manner.

There have been times when I have briefly fallen asleep during a 2:00 AM hour of 'Eucharistic Adoration. Our Chapel has Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration 24/7. Sometimes I think that the most important thing is my being there with Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. I believe that Jesus understands when there are times that I don’t have the energy to keep my eye lids open. Yet, what amazes me is that I always am totally awake driving back and forth to the Chapel. There have been times when I spotted deer coming onto the road and each time animals and I pass in safety. I have been able to negotiate a curve in the road when the weather unexpectedly turned nasty. Energy? There must be different kinds of energy.
 
Sometime ago, when I was trying to understand God’s personal relationship with me, I wrote some notes. These are not theological notes; they are my own personal feelings. Something like a personal meditation. Scripture reference is Psalm 139

God Is In Love With Me, Musings on March 16, 2009

God loves me because I am valuable to Him personally.

When He misses me, He searches for me, never stopping until He scoops me up in His loving arms.

He doesn’t mind if I am dirty and beat up. He kisses every wound. He washes away the dirty smudges in the same way He washed the feet of the apostles. He kisses my toes and my forehead so that I know He loves me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head.

He understands my tears, telling me that He will always be with me. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there, He will be true to His promise of loving me.

He probes my soul, my heart, my mind, my being so that He knows and understands all of me because He is in love with me.
 
grannymh said:
I can understand this as another method of “God’s Personal Love for Us, but only if I look at the 'words” individually. I can see God as being all of the above. But for me, personally, it is hard to imagine having all these individual qualities. Yet, on the other hand, could all these qualities be part of true love?
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It is definitely MANY individual qualities. And…The number of individual qualities become even more numerous when considering that all factors must be individually applied to each distinct component of being: the Body, Thoughts, Will, and Spirit. However, Rest Assured, that as you focus on becoming more at one with each individual quality, factor, and component, Unbreakable Peace and Limitless Happiness and Unstoppable Energy will Consume Your Being and Relations, and that my friend, is the Awesomeness of Living in God’s Kingdom!

I personally like to Recognize the Greatest Commandments as True Love/God’s Nature. The following is a personal Interpretation: Achieve and “Spread the Means to” Unbreakable Peace, Limitless, Happiness, Unstoppable Energy, and Complete Wisdom, through the Means of Patience and Kindness and Motivation for God and Wisdom with All Your Body and with All Your Spirit and with All Your Thoughts and with All Your Will towards Others and Your Self, as Stated and Demonstrated by Jesus Christ, according to the Holy Bible, as Catholicism Teaches and Prays, through the Sacraments.
Are you saying that God loves us completely in every way possible way? Of course, we know that God loves us completely; but have we ever tried to put that love into individual words such as those above. Is this a way of “learning” about God?
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Yes, God Loves Us Completely in Every Way Possible, ALL THE TIME!
To come to this Interpretation, I have reflected on Holy Scripture, Catechisms of the Church, Prayers of the Church, the Mass, the Passion of Christ, the Love Dare, and Life Experience. And I am not aware of other direct usage of wording.

The following is a method I use to “learn” about this Calling of God is in a series of Guiding Questions:
Do I want myself and others to experience Peace? If so, then: If my body is feeling tense, or my mind is thinking stressful thoughts: Why or How am I not being Patient?
Do I want myself and others to experience Happiness? If so, then: If my body is feeling hurt or angry, or my mind is thinking sad or frustrated thoughts: Why or How am I not being Kind?
Do I want myself and others to experience Energy? If so, then: If my body is feeling tired of being Patient and Kind, or my mind is fatigued of being Patient and Kind: Why or How am I not being Motivated for God?
Do I want myself and others to have the means to Share The Experience with others? If so, then: If my relationships are experiencing strife or boredom or sadness: Why or How am I not being, respectively, Patient or Kind? I also consider: How can I better “Spread the Means to Achieve the Purpose"?
I believe that your words “in a unique manner” is key to our own personal relationship with God and how we spread God’s message of love. For example, I am finding out that a granny no longer has the energy of youth. Thus, the question becomes how do I use the energy I have in my own unique manner.
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Based on my understandings, I am in complete agreement with you!
Energy? There must be different kinds of energy.
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Please Note: There are different kinds of Peace, Happiness, Energy, and Wisdom. To provide a few examples:
There is Peace of Mind, Peace of Body, Peace of Relationships, Peace of Will, Peace of Spirit, Peaceful Nature, and others I have yet to come to know.
There is Relaxed, Good Mood, Cool, Happy, Excited, Pleased, Celebration, Joy, Party Time, and others…
There is Energetic Spirit, Power, Longevity, which encompasses Personal Lifespan, Offspring Lifespan, Societal Lifespan, Daily Energy, Fame, Remembrance Energy, etc.
There is Wisdom of How To’s(walk, speak, listen, eat, etc.), Wisdom of Peace, Wisdom of Happiness, Wisdom of Energy, Wisdom of Being, Wisdom of Living, etc.

Thoughts?
 
God, as holy Law-giver displays His holiness. As Judge, He displays His hatred for Law-breakers: Psalm 7:11, ‘God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.’

But He is also patient and full of mercy, and in this life daily displays His Fatherly kindness to all His creatures, despite their moral status before Him: Matthew 5:45, ‘…He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’

As for the believer, God says of him:
Jeremiah 31:3, ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.’
 
Today’s Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was one of those special times where the Scripture readings spoke of God’s personal relationship…“For thus says the Lord God: I Myself will look after and tend My sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.”

Maybe this is a time in my life when I truly appreciate God’s relationship with all humans, including you and me.

Today’s Scripture verses listed in the Sunday Bulletin are:
Ezekiel 34: 11-12,15-17
1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28
Matthew 25: 31-46
 
grannymh said:
I believe that God has a loving relationship with every human being, past, present, and future.

Am I right or wrong?
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Yes he loves us all.

He loves us so much he sent his only son to die for our sins so that way we can be in Heaven with him forever.
 
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