How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

[reteeks21]

When he comes over and plays pool?

No. It’s more like when we pray and commune with our fellow body of believers.

 

[Catherine_S]

There is NO doubt that Communion is a very intimate and personal thing. Us Protestants believe that-well, if we read what Paul has to say, we SHOULD believe that. But he was speaking to Christians who already had a relationship with Christ. He never mentioned or stated how that led to a relationship. In fact Paul said do it in rememberance of Christ, not as a way to be saved/have a personal walk with Christ. If we read Paul we see, slearly, that Paul constantly speaks of a personal relationship cntered on faith. It would seem to me that, based on what he said, the other aspects were a part of that relationship.

Note: I in no way think baptism and Communion take a back seat in their importance, especially with Paul. I just don’t read where he stresses those more than faith in Christ.

Jesus Christ* stresses*** it…
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-6)
:bible1:
Truely, truely, I say to you,unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me , and I in him. As the living Father sent me, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever. (John 6:53-58)
.

 

[reteeks21]

Jesus Christ* stresses*** it…
***Abide ***in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-6)
:bible1:

Truely, truely, I say to you,unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me , and I in him. As the living Father sent me, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever. (John 6:53-58)
.

I know the standard John 6 answer, but how many times did He say anything like that? Only a few times. But how many times did He speak of faith and belief? Way more times than He spoke of Communion. I am not trying to discount Communion like many others! I am simply trying to point out some other things that Jesus said, especially the things He mentioned the most.

 

[Catherine_S]

I know the standard John 6 answer, but how many times did He say anything like that? Only a few times. But how many times did He speak of faith and belief? Way more times than He spoke of Communion. I am not trying to discount Communion like many others! I am simply trying to point out some other things that Jesus said, especially the things He mentioned the most.

How many times would you have Jesus Christ say it before you took it as a matter of life or death?

 

[reteeks21]

How many times would you have Jesus Christ say it before you took it as a matter of life or death?

And how many times will you refuse to acknowledge that the other things he said are a matter of life and death? I seem to recall Him saying numerous times that truely believing in Him would lead to eternal life? I never, if you recall, said your belief in Communion was not a matter of life and death. I simply want to know why the Catholics I have met on here will not acknowledge anything else Christ said in regards to the way to eternal life with Him.

 

[NDfan]

How many times would you have Jesus Christ say it before you took it as a matter of life or death?

Catherine I have a question. Do you eat the Eucharist to have eternal life? Or do you believe in Jesus to have eternal life? Does John 3:16 say for GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON so whoever **eats **HIM will not parrish but have eternal life? No it says believe.

How do you feed on the word of GOD? Do you eat the Bible or do you read the Bible. This is Jesus using a direct analogy for believing in HIM. Saying eating HIS flesh so He can abide in us is the same thing as saying believe in me so I can abide in you.

Same thing can be said of chopping off your hand and gouging out your eyes so only they go to hell sparing the rest of the body. Have you chopped off your arms and gouged out your eyes yet? Or are you not a sinner? This is Jesus again using an analogy to let us know HIS exreme hatred for sin and how serious we need to take it.

PEACE

 

[rinnie]

I like to talk in laymans terms thats how i am. This is my personal opinion, I have always had a personal relationship with God. I think everyone does, its our conscience. ITs when i do right and rather it comes off like that or not it doesnt matter God knows and he is proud of me. And when i do wrong and i do wrong on purpose he knows that too and he is ashamed of me. I really believe that God is our conscience. And people who can intentionally due harm and bad things, dont have that God in them. Just my opinion. thats why its worth is Free.

 

[Catherine_S]

And how many times will you refuse to acknowledge that the other things he said are a matter of life and death? I seem to recall Him saying numerous times that truely believing in Him would lead to eternal life? I never, if you recall, said your belief in Communion was not a matter of life and death. I simply want to know why the Catholics I have met on here will not acknowledge anything else Christ said in regards to the way to eternal life with Him.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-6)
:bible1:

*Truely, truely, I say to you, **unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me , and I in him.
.
This is the pivotable embrace (Holy Communion) with Jesus Christ. The main connection if you will and all else follows!!
We can reject *what Jesus Christ taught (as those who did so in scripture) or believe, **genuinely receive, and abide in Him!
.

 

[reteeks21]

**Abide **in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides **in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and **I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 4-6)
:bible1:

*Truely, truely, I say to you, **unless **you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me , and I in him.
.
This is the pivotable embrace (Holy Communion) with Jesus Christ. The main connection if you will and all else follows!!
We can reject *what Jesus Christ taught (as those who did so in scripture) or believe, **genuinely receive, and abide in Him!
.

Then why did Jesus mention faith before He mentioned Communion? In John 6, before ever even mentions eating His flesh He says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. How can you assume that that fact follows Communion? If you continue to say that Christ meant His words literally, then why can you not acknowledge that He said these other things 1.) first, and 2.) literally?

 

[Ilroy]

Then why did Jesus mention faith before He mentioned Communion? In John 6, before ever even mentions eating His flesh He says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. How can you assume that that fact follows Communion? If you continue to say that Christ meant His words literally, then why can you not acknowledge that He said these other things 1.) first, and 2.) literally?

And here lies the problem with cherry picking verses. Christ said many things were necessary for our salvation. When you are reading your bible please read and take in ALL of it as we Catholics do. If we wanted, we could pick a few verses and “prove” just about any position we wanted to take. Not intellectually honest.

For whoever said Paul stressed faith above eating Christ’s flesh etc., if you read ALL of Paul’s letters, you will see that he stressed love way above faith…

 

[reteeks21]

And here lies the problem with cherry picking verses. Christ said many things were necessary for our salvation. When you are reading your bible please read and take in ALL of it as we Catholics do. If we wanted, we could pick a few verses and “prove” just about any position we wanted to take. Not intellectually honest.

For whoever said Paul stressed faith above eating Christ’s flesh etc., if you read ALL of Paul’s letters, you will see that he stressed love way above faith…

We do not cherry pick. We simply look at Jesus’s words throughout the whole of Scripture, and we make simple and “intellectual” observations regarding the things He emphasized. And if you bother to read Paul carefully he explicitly states that love is born of faith.

 

[Catherine_S]

Then why did Jesus mention faith before He mentioned Communion? In John 6, before ever even mentions eating His flesh He says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. How can you assume that that fact follows Communion? If you continue to say that Christ meant His words literally, then why can you not acknowledge that He said these other things 1.) first, and 2.) literally?

Faith is a gift…without faith through the Holy Spirit it is impossible to accept this most wonderous Gift that Jesus Christ bestowes upon His Church.
This Miraculous Gift of Himself holds us in intimacy with Him, and provides the means by which He brings unity to His Church.
All else will follow!
One Body One Bread.
This has everything to do with what Jesus Christ is doing for us and when we receive Him in awe and love we are close to Him and in intimacy with Him.
Some lacked faith when He taught this Truth** and some lack faith until this day.
.

 

[reteeks21]

Faith is a gift…without faith through the Holy Spirit it is impossible to accept this most wonderous Gift that Jesus Christ bestowes upon His Church.
This Miraculous Gift of Himself holds us in intimacy with Him, and provides the means by which He brings unity to His Church.
All else will follow!
One Body One Bread.
This has everything to do with what Jesus Christ is doing for us and when we receive Him in awe and love we are close to Him and in intimacy with Him.
Some lacked faith when He taught this Truth** and some lack faith until this day.
.

“All else will follow”? What is your basis for that? Jesus never said that. I do believe that faith leads us to accept His words as truth (if you look back you will see that I do not disagree with the importance of Communion), but I think that what Jesus said the most should be given a lot more attention than what it is getting here.

 

[Lampo]

You will know because everything you do and say will be centered on Christ.

Even sinning?

 

[lizaanne]

If you believe that it is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, not just a wafer or a symbol, then it can’t get any more personal than receiving Him in Holy Communion. Just because people receive communion, whether it be a catholic going through the motions, or a protestant who doesn’t have the real presence, doesn’t mean that they are taking it seriously and/or in a sacramental way. Once you understand that it IS Jesus, and He is giving His life to you so that you may have eternal life, it can’t get any more personal.

Well said!

~Liza

 

[graceandglory]

I think that is a pretty ambiguous quote. By that question/statement we mean does that person live and breath Christ. We use Paul and his teachings on faith, and we reference Christ and he teachings on believe on him as the Messiah, on communing with Him through a body of believers.

God made so many different types of people and personalities. Some people are “really out there” with their faith, outgoing, talkative, emotional, comfortable talking to strangers about what is going on inside of them.
Other people are quiet and reserved about matters of their faith. They are “good people,” they don’t hurt anyone, and they have the same kinds of sins in their lives that Christians do.

Do they live and breathe Christ? It’s hard for me to judge, because I am that outgoing, “talk to the guy next to me on the plane about my faith” kind of person. My Dad, for example, wasn’t like that.
Did he have a personal relationship with God?

I am Catholic now, and I have a Catholic answer for my question, but what does a protestant say to this question?

Can I have hope that my dad will be in heaven someday?

 

[reteeks21]

God made so many different types of people and personalities. Some people are “really out there” with their faith, outgoing, talkative, emotional, comfortable talking to strangers about what is going on inside of them.
Other people are quiet and reserved about matters of their faith. They are “good people,” they don’t hurt anyone, and they have the same kinds of sins in their lives that Christians do.

Do they live and breathe Christ? It’s hard for me to judge, because I am that outgoing, “talk to the guy next to me on the plane about my faith” kind of person. My Dad, for example, wasn’t like that.
Did he have a personal relationship with God?

I am Catholic now, and I have a Catholic answer for my question, but what does a protestant say to this question?

Can I have hope that my dad will be in heaven someday?

Please forgive me if that came across wrong. I was in now way trying to say that “living and breathing” meant you had to be outgoing or verbal with your faith all the time. I think Francis of Assisi is an excellent example of that. My dad is very much like your father was, and I have no doubt you’ll see him in heaven (along with your dad ) because I know that it is real to him. Does that help clarify at all what I had posted? If not, please tell me and I will try to help some more. But good question, though:thumbsup:

 

[graceandglory]

“Amazing Love” is one. “Amazing love how can it be, that you my King would die for me” I want to fall to my knees in wonderment because really who are we?? Nothing without GOD and we can’t get to GOD without Jesus. That’s what makes it personal. That realization.

PEACE

Amen! That is SO CATHOLIC!

We literally fall to our knees at the foot of the cross every day, whenever we walk into a Catholic Church.

We don’t have to imagine it. We DO it! Jesus really is there. His Real Presence is right there! It IS SO AMAZING!

(I dare you to try it sometime, just pop in, and fall to your knees: nobody will look at you funny, we do it all the time )

(ps. I like that song too.)

 

[reteeks21]

Amen! That is SO CATHOLIC!

We literally fall to our knees at the foot of the cross every day, whenever we walk into a Catholic Church.

We don’t have to imagine it. We DO it! Jesus really is there. His Real Presence is right there! It IS SO AMAZING!

(I dare you to try it sometime, just pop in, and fall to your knees: nobody will look at you funny, we do it all the time )

(ps. I like that song too.)

I do go when I get the chance. I prefer my church, but I love experiencing new ways to encounter Christ. See, we prot. (especially us Southern ones) aint all that bad!

 

[NDfan]

Amen! That is SO CATHOLIC!

We literally fall to our knees at the foot of the cross every day, whenever we walk into a Catholic Church.

We don’t have to imagine it. We DO it! Jesus really is there. His Real Presence is right there! It IS SO AMAZING!

(I dare you to try it sometime, just pop in, and fall to your knees: nobody will look at you funny, we do it all the time )

(ps. I like that song too.)

I agree Jesus is there. It’s a matter of getting in touch with HIM personally and then feeling HIS presence. But I would also say this. When I hit my knees at night and pray I feel HIS presence. If you allow Jesus to be present HE will be.

PEACE