Personal Relationship concept

[Cat]

You know something, fellow Catholics, I think you’re all making too big a deal out of this.

If someone asks you, “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”–just say, “Yes, I do. He’s my Lord and Savior and I love Him! Thank you for asking.”

It’s the truth, isn’t it? You worship Him at Mass, you pray to Him (hopefully more than just at Mass), you meditate about Him for at least twenty minutes whenever you pray the Rosary, you read His Word (at least at Mass, and many of you read His Word privately, too), you have fellowship with His other children (at least on CAF!), and you receive Him in Holy Communion.

And you do love Him, don’t you?!

Why make a big deal out of terminology? Why go into a huge etymology of the words “personal” and “relationship?” Why try to make the other person look like a fool just because they use a different word than you to describe salvation through Jesus Christ?

Would you take a person from a different culture to task because they used a different word than you? Of course not.

Just surprise the person asking you the question and tell him/her the truth–yes, you DO have a personal relationship with Jesus! Let them know that Catholics are Christians, too!

Heck, maybe they’ll actually be intrigued by your answer and decide to investigate the Catholic Church, and then they’ll discover that Catholics have the BEST possible “personal relationship” with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Gather them in. Be wise as a serpent, but gentle as a dove.

 

[Phil12123]

I find this whole conversation quite fascinating … and I’m also now wondering if I am a little bit weird in my thinking about a ‘personal relationship with Christ’.

As I go about my day, I feel Christ’s presence in my life. He is aware of every move I make and every decision I face. I talk to Him regularly and ask for His advice (I guess a form of praying on one’s feet). I honor Him and respect Him and I want Him near me. I feel I need Him in order to live a life that will honor God.

When I was away from any sort of religion I felt that I was missing the one constant in my life. The One who knew me since I was a baby and heard all my prayers, musings, and troubles, was no longer there. Indeed, I was the one who did this on purpose but it was because I felt that I was so bad in nature that He could not possibly want to be included in my life. I eventually turned my life around but it was by His grace, not mine.

So when I think of the words ‘personal relationship with Christ’ I’m thinking of being aware of His constant presence and accepting it willingly into my life. I WANT Him with me. I NEED Him with me. I am not bringing Him down to my level …** I am trying to honor Him by bringing Him into my everyday life. I am acknowledging that I need Him to live my life in a way that would be pleasing to God**.

I can’t see a single “weird” thing about anything you have said! Sounds like you’re “right on”! Sounds like He is a very personal presence (and Savior?) in your life. God bless you.

 

[DJgang]

You know something, fellow Catholics, I think you’re all making too big a deal out of this.

If someone asks you, “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”–just say, “Yes, I do. He’s my Lord and Savior and I love Him! Thank you for asking.”

I agree with you Cat. But let me tell you what happened to me.

I went to a meeting, homeschooling group that I was considering to enroll my oldest in this year. (Although we decided not to HS and we decided on the local Catholic school)…anyway…

At this meeting, no one there knows me at all. They have no idea what my faith is, they know I’m Christian because it’s a Christian group, but I’m just visiting, you know, checking things out.

A lady in the group starts telling everyone how her daughter (homeschooled daughter, age 16) got into fight with a Catholic girl, the fight was about personal relationship and this HSed girl, told the Catholic girl that she wasn’t a Christian because she didn’t and couldn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. All because she was Catholic. This was actually my first encounter with Anti-Catholic mentality. But it’s there and this concept is used for it, as in what happened to me. This lady, just assumed that everyone there wasn’t Catholic. As she told this story, I decided immediately that I didn’t want to be a part of a group that thinks this way. It made me sick to my stomach.

After this meeting, I started looking more into the Catholic faith. Guess I can give credit to Catholic Radio and this anti-Catholic woman and her daughter for my decision to come home.

So, now, as I’m coming into the Catholic faith, I have found that I answer the question just as you described. I was at the airport, a man gave me a tract and asked me if I had a personal relationship with Jesus…Sure I said.

 

[cecilia97]

I also agree with Cat, but my first experience with this terminology was in 6th or 7th grade, when certain non-Catholic classmates appeared to be “hunting” Catholic souls in our school. In 6th grade, when you’ve never heard these words before and are naive enough to say “what’s that?”, it gives the questioner an opportunityto pounce.

Like Cat says, it’s unfair to use another culture’s lack of knowledge about your language against them. That has happened to me with this phrase. At least I admit I’m angry about it!

 

[Eddy]

I think you’re absolutely right Cat.

SOME (not all) Protestants use ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ as a shorthand for saying ‘is this YOUR faith’. In other words, ‘do you, personally, have a relationship - not your family, not your parents, not your husband, not the people you sit beside in church, but YOU, do YOU have a relationship with Christ’. I think it’s also partly reflected by the assumption by ministers, which I experienced first among presbyterians, that many of those who come to Church are not Christians. And then I discovered that many of those in the pews didn’t actually consider themselves Christian either. I think it’s just a conservative Protestant thing, but it came as a real shock! Some of those who’d been coming to church for years didn’t take communion because they ‘weren’t ready yet’. Bizarrely, when I talked to them or prayed with them, it was quite evident that they loved Jesus dearly. Which is a long way fo saying that it’s a question that shouldn’t be taken too personally - given that it’s asked within Protestantism as well as outside of it…

That said, I think some Protestants (and Catholics) can overdo the reverence, in the sense that the emphasis becomes so much on the majesty of God, that his immanence, humanity and love get squeezed out. The original disciples laughed with Jesus, ate with Jesus, had discussions and arguments and (if men in their late teens and early twenties haven’t changed that much) talked about worries and struggles and dreams and played pranks and teased each other. I’m a disciple too, and as such the same relationship is open to me. Jesus DOES sit next to me on the bus, and hold my hand when I’m scared, and laugh with me. He’s also the Lord and Creator of the universe. That’s what makes it so amazing

 

[St_Violet]

I think the personal concept has been taken a bit too far, people seem to forget that Christ is still our Lord, and Our Lord will still judge us, it’s not the terminology that bothers me, it’s how they protray Jesus when they speak of this concept. the way I kinda see it is that some of these people have the habbit of taking Christ for granted to the point where it seems that Christ doesn’t care if we sin anymore. maybe I run into too many OSAS christians, but I also run into protestants who do not believe in OSAS and seem not to worry about sin either.

 

[DebCWil]

As I read these posts I am reminded of a story I heard at Mass while I was a child. The priest asked a group of ten year olds “How big is God?” The reponse to that question from one of the children was “God is so big that the universe cannot hold Him and small enough to fit into my heart.”
Allowing God to dwell in my heart is what I see as leading to the personal relationship I now enjoy with him. Have I argued with God? Absolutely. Does He always win? Again, of course He does. I know that I can talk to God about the smallest thing in my life as I would talk to my closest friend. Simultaneously I am aware of his sovereignty and am in awe that He would spend time with me.

 

[thomasf]

Yes, of course, He came for all of us, but you will be standing before Him alone some day and it will be a matter of Him and you, no one else. What He did will then only matter as between you and Him. YOUR judgment will be a very personal thing. If He isn’t YOUR Savior personally now, He will say to you, Depart from me, I never knew you.

And when He judges me, He will do so as the Lord and God, not as my buddy or personal friend. It will be then when we are finally made aware of the power that Jesus has as God, as I discussed earlier. And I get the impression many, many people are going to be suprised at the outcome because they never realized that power before.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

We do have a personal relationship with Christ. We also relate to the Godhead corporately as a Body of Christ. It’s a both/and, not an either/or.

O+

- and it does not necessarily imply any absence of reverence.​

One of the great excellencies of the Puritans is their strong emphasis on what they called “experimental religion” - that is, experiential religion, or faith in God as a fact of daily experience rather than as an abstract (& unfruitful) theory. It’s the difference between knowing God, & knowing this & that about God. A personal relationship with God is not opposed to corporate worship as such, but to the sort of aridly over-intellectual Christianity which is all head & no heart. (Father Faber launches a vigorous & eloquent attack on arid religion of this type in “All for Jesus” - the entire book is a plea for a service of God that is based on love instead; & only persons can love, & be loved.)

The Puritans are far from irreverent; as well might the author of the “Imitation of Christ” be called irreverent. Nor do they drive a wedge between personal piety, & that of the Church in its corporate worship. AFAICS, that idea came along only in the 18th century: as a side-effect of the rise of Methodism, perhaps ?

 

[DebCWil]

“It is not the one who cries Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of God but the one who does the will of the father.”
How do we know we are doing God’s will. I like the prayer of Thomas Merton in which he states (paraphased) If I desire to do God’s will than I believe that I am doing God’s will.
Each of us, as Catholics, have received the Holy Spirit through Baptism and Confirmation. Allowing the Holy Spirit to become an integral part of our lives is what is meant by developing a personal relationship.
In the Act of Contrition we pray “most of all because they (my sins) offend you, my God, who is deserving of all my love.” The personal relationship to which we individually are called is a response to the Love that God has given us through his son. When we love somebody, we do not want to hurt him/her. The Holy Spirit acts as guide convicting of sin and aiding in the repair of the relationship that God initiated. The Holy Spirit is our advocate before the throne of Grace. He is my counsellor, comforter, and friend.

 

[centurion50]

Picture this, God the Father on His throne in heaven, we fall on our faces before Him, He is the Almighty after all, He is due respect, reverence, awe and submission, now, Jesus Christ is God made Flesh dwelling among Us, on our level so that we can have that one on one Relationship with God, He made a way for us into the Holiest that we didn’t have before. Although catholics don’t use this personal relationship terminology and protestants abuse it is beside the point.

 

[boppaid]

The last I checked, Jesus didn’t live next door to me. He doesn’t ride the bus with me. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is human no more.

He may not live next door, but he’s even closer…he lives in our hearts.

 

[boppaid]

When I hear people using terms like “having a personal relationship with Christ”, it is always put forth as something I don’t have. “Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?” - I’ve been asked this so many times.

I have a personal relationship with my best friend. Do I grovel at his feet and kiss them? No. If Christ was here in front of me, I would fall flat on my face and do just that - I am reminded of Mary Magdalen in this thought. “Personal relationship” doesn’t seem to measure up.
.

But think of all the people in scripture who DID have a personal relationship with God. Moses, Abraham, etc. Why is so hard to think that we could have one with Him today?

 

[centurion50]

The Holy Spirit was given to us on pentecost day, 50 days after the resurrection, 50 is the number also of the Jubilee when the slaves were set free and ancestral lands were returned, the Holy Spirit has freed us from being slaves to sin and He is leading us back to the promised land, catholics think more of the the word Communion to express the idea of personal relationship through receiving the Real Presence in the sacrament, you can’t get any closer phisically or through the Holy Spirit, spiritually, than that. Wouldn’t that mean that catholics can get closer to Lord in more ways than one, than can protestants who don’t believe in the Real Presence.

 

[jabelltulsa]

But think of all the people in scripture who DID have a personal relationship with God. Moses, Abraham, etc. Why is so hard to think that we could have one with Him today?

They were servants - charged by God with a task.

The term is too light. Jesus doesn’t take my body, I take His. We don’t share each other. At least not until I worthily receive him. A personal relationship is a ‘human friendly’ way of saying, “I depend on everything You give, and I am unworthy without Your Grace!”.

I believe there is too much bending to the human comfort level.

From now on, I am just going to go to my knees and make the sign of the Cross when I am asked this.

 

[boppaid]

They were servants - charged by God with a task.

Exodus 33:11 (New International Version)
11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

 

[DebCWil]

If we look back at the original post, what I see is a call for balance.
Many Protestants speak about a personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ and could learn from the reverance that Catholics practice. On the other hand, Catholics can be more open to a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour that is given by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many of these posts state the idea of personal relationship and reverance as being two separate things. That is not necessarily the case. A personal relationship can actually increase reverance. Until Pentecost, the apostles were afraid. When the Holy Spirit fell upon them, they became emboldened and were able to perform signs and wonders in the name of Jesus Christ who strengthened them. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ means that the all-powerful God who made the heavens and the earth dwells within my heart. He speaks His words through my mouth and ministers to those in need using my hands. To accept a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can be a very humbling experience that leads to a better understanding of the crucifixtion and subsequent resurrection.
Before he died, Jesus told the apostles, " I no longer call you slaves but friends. A slave does not know what his master is about."
The personal relationship with Jesus that a Catholic might enjoy is not simply a Him and me relationship. The gifts that God bestows on his Beloved (and we are all loved by God) are meant to be used for service to the community. Using the words of John the Baptist," I must decrease that He may increase."

 

[centurion50]

They were servants - charged by God with a task.

The term is too light. Jesus doesn’t take my body, I take His. We don’t share each other. At least not until I worthily receive him. A personal relationship is a ‘human friendly’ way of saying, “I depend on everything You give, and I am unworthy without Your Grace!”.

I believe there is too much bending to the human comfort level.

From now on, I am just going to go to my knees and make the sign of the Cross when I am asked this.

YOU have made the best comment so far. I wholly agree, the best thing to do is to fall on one’s knees and make the sign of the cross.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Why not just say that then? “Do you center your life in Christ?” Because that’s a whole lot easier to understand.

emmmm, no our relationship is very personal with Jesus, and very full of respect of who he is.

A personal relationship with God is reflected throughout the scriptures, starting with Adam and Eve walking with God in the Garden, read the Psalms, David speaks of God on a very personal level throughout, Abraham was a freind of God, and even barganed with God about saving S&G where lot lived. Practicing the Presence of God is a good thing, but one must relate to him too, that is talk to him daily. Whenever, I hear a siren for example, I go to my knees for the person the siren represents.

Simply, go to your knees and talk to God, he is listening.



Maybe, this personal relationship thing explains why we protestants refer to Jesus as Jesus ( first name ) as my homeboy and catholics refer to him as Christ ( kinda like a last name ) out of respect.

 

[Scottgun]

Lemme ask this, has anyone had a discussion with someone who has asked, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour?” or some variant involving “personal relationship?” I ask because I would like to know if there were any follow-up questions and what they were because they would give a strong indication of the motivation for framing the question.

Mark Shea had an interesting quote related to this:

Certainly my own experience of Evangelicalism tends to bear out the notion that there is something profoundly gnostic happening there. “Salvation by faith” very often means, in practice, “salvation by intellectual works”. A good test for this is simply to see if a given Evangelical will take yes for an answer when he tells a Catholic he needs to ask Jesus into his heart as his personal Lord and Savior. I customarily say, “Okay. Done.” If I am then told that I have to abandon the Catholic faith, that is prima facie evidence that faith is not really the issue. What is really at issue is the demand that I abandon my understanding of faith for my interlocutor’s.