What does the phrase "personal God" mean?

[sidetrack]

It kind of bothers me a bit when I’ve read about the beliefs of certain famous people like Einstein how they’ve said that they “dont believe in a personal God” (but in the case on Einstein he said he believe he in Spinoza’s version of God).Just to say I dont know about how Baruch Spinoza described God as.Now here’s a defination that I found on wikipedia that I found as a good intro to explaining this

“A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an “impersonal force”, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”.”

One version of an “impersonal God” that pops up to my mind is Voltaire’s where he describes him as a watchmaker who after setting up all the* gears* of the universe in place (natural law?) let it be and did’nt intervene agian.Personally (seriously,no pun intended) I’ve got no problem thinking of God as both personal and impersonal.I mean after all he’s he omnipresent and omnipotent so he manifest himself any way he’d like to.Is this comprimise possible or (even though God gave me free will) do I have to think of him as one or the other (personal or impersonal).Is there more to what the phrase "personal God’ means then that?.Thank you for your time and happy new year’s.

 

[Ian_Ward]

You are right to think of him as personal because God is the greatest servant of all. God knows you so intimately when he reveals how well he knows you it will spook you. Therefore be as personal and intimate with God as possible. There is not one thought you think that God does not-explicitly know or one thing you have done that God does not know about. God knew who you, you personally you out out of the whole human race, yes you!!! Before God created anything he knew you would even ask this question and he even put that though in your mind. God is more personal God then you are a personal human. God knows how many times a day you sneeze , God knows the exact amount of liters of Blood in your body, God knows how many spots are on your body. God knows you more personal and intimate that you know yourself.

Make God your personal God because he wants to be as personal as you can get and he will be that way with you wheather you like it or not if not in this life then in the next.

 

[empther]

I second what Ian Ward said and add the following:

I’ve heard it said many times over the years, and by many priests who know what they’re talking about, that Jesus would have gone to the cross even to save a single man.

That’s about as personal a God as you can get.

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Human beings are personal to each other. They care about each other etc etc etc.
Is it possible that God does not have that which the human beings he created do? This is impossible.

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This easy to remember, four sentence version of the 23rd Psalm,
which I call Empress Theresa’s Summary of Theology,
expresses our personal relationship with God…

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want
He maketh me to lie in green pastures; he leadeth me to still waters
Though I walk through the valley of death I will fear not evil because Thou art with me
Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

 

[KenChute]

Simply a close relationship with God, as in after doing confesion praying to God for forgiveness as well. Some Priests approve of this while some object.

 

[Carlan]

You are right to think of him as personal because God is the greatest servant of all. God knows you so intimately when he reveals how well he knows you it will spook you. Therefore be as personal and intimate with God as possible. There is not one thought you think that God does not-explicitly know or one thing you have done that God does not know about. God knew who you, you personally you out out of the whole human race, yes you!!! Before God created anything he knew you would even ask this question and he even put that though in your mind. God is more personal God then you are a personal human. God knows how many times a day you sneeze , God knows the exact amount of liters of Blood in your body, God knows how many spots are on your body. God knows you more personal and intimate that you know yourself.

Make God your personal God because he wants to be as personal as you can get and he will be that way with you wheather you like it or not if not in this life then in the next.

I like it Ian and I thank you. We must long to receive Him personally in Eucharist as often as possible. Peace Carlan

 

[Sacred_Heart_1]

God gives you faith (his son) so that you can know him–that is a personal God.

 

[joshrp]

It kind of bothers me a bit when I’ve read about the beliefs of certain famous people like Einstein how they’ve said that they “dont believe in a personal God” (but in the case on Einstein he said he believe he in Spinoza’s version of God).Just to say I dont know about how Baruch Spinoza described God as.Now here’s a defination that I found on wikipedia that I found as a good intro to explaining this

“A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an “impersonal force”, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”.”

One version of an “impersonal God” that pops up to my mind is Voltaire’s where he describes him as a watchmaker who after setting up all the* gears* of the universe in place (natural law?) let it be and did’nt intervene agian.Personally (seriously,no pun intended) I’ve got no problem thinking of God as both personal and impersonal.I mean after all he’s he omnipresent and omnipotent so he manifest himself any way he’d like to.Is this comprimise possible or (even though God gave me free will) do I have to think of him as one or the other (personal or impersonal).Is there more to what the phrase "personal God’ means then that?.Thank you for your time and happy new year’s.

I once asked someone I knew what the term personal God meant, because I had read Martin Luther King write somewhere about the fact that even most people who do not believe in a personal God do believe in some kind of creative principle in the universe.

But this person I asked said to me, that generally what is meant by a personal God as opposed to other conceptions is that of a conscious, thinking, creative personality who has composed the universe out of nothing and whom one can enter into a relationship that takes the form of a dialogue. I am radically paraphrasing, because I don’t remember exactly what he said, and I am kind of adding in other ideas that have developed from that answer in my own mind. But you talk to me, I talk to you, I think about what you say, you think about what I say. Of course, God’s role in His dialogue and His interaction and “speech” to us, is very different than our limited roles, because we are merely limited to one location and to one body, but God created all things that exist in the universe out of nothing, and He can speak to and through all of us at the same time. He created each of our minds, hearts, and souls, and bodies and can speak to us through all creation. He does not force our wills, but He can speak to us in whatever way He pleases and as best suits His own plans, but He respects our own personhood, our own identities, our own dignity. He is in dialogue with our free will, not in control of it. He could control us, but He does not impose His will upon us, because it was His plan to be in love with free people, who could choose to deny Him if they ultimately wish to. I’m rambling now, so I’ll just post this and ask if any of this helps at all. I had the same question years ago as I mentioned at the beginning of this reply, so if you want to talk further you can PM me. I still get a lot out of understanding why God is very “personal”. I guess we would have to investigate the origins of the word person. But a person at the very heart of it is someone who wants to be known and loved. God wants to be known and loved, and in order to be known and loved He needed to create beings (us) who are capable of knowing and loving, and that is why He made us in His own image and likeness, because it is in His own nature to know and to love.

Hope this helps some,
Joshua

 

[sidetrack]

I’m rambling now, so I’ll just post this and ask if any of this helps at all.

Yes Joshua.What the others and you have said has all helped me understand the concept.Thank you.

 

[Whadyamean]

It kind of bothers me a bit when I’ve read about the beliefs of certain famous people like Einstein how they’ve said that they “dont believe in a personal God” (but in the case on Einstein he said he believe he in Spinoza’s version of God).Just to say I dont know about how Baruch Spinoza described God as.Now here’s a defination that I found on wikipedia that I found as a good intro to explaining this

“A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an “impersonal force”, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”.”

One version of an “impersonal God” that pops up to my mind is Voltaire’s where he describes him as a watchmaker who after setting up all the* gears* of the universe in place (natural law?) let it be and did’nt intervene agian.Personally (seriously,no pun intended) I’ve got no problem thinking of God as both personal and impersonal.I mean after all he’s he omnipresent and omnipotent so he manifest himself any way he’d like to.Is this comprimise possible or (even though God gave me free will) do I have to think of him as one or the other (personal or impersonal).Is there more to what the phrase "personal God’ means then that?.Thank you for your time and happy new year’s.

Read The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object by Franklin Merrell-Wolff, and see what you think after that.

 

[Carlan]

Read The Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object by Franklin Merrell-Wolff, and see what you think after that.

All I know about Franklin Merrell-Wolff is that he is a Guru type, Indian spirituality and all that,rather like the kind of thing John Lennon went to India to check out.
Sorry Whady, but to me it is all about Jesus, He in the Eucharist, is the very center of Christian worship and it works for me. Peace, Carlan

 

[Whadyamean]

All I know about Franklin Merrell-Wolff is that he is a Guru type, Indian spirituality and all that,rather like the kind of thing John Lennon went to India to check out.
Sorry Whady, but to me it is all about Jesus, He in the Eucharist, is the very center of Christian worship and it works for me. Peace, Carlan

Fine to be all about Jesus, of course. F M-W was an electical engineeer who also mined gold in California. Sounds a lot like a “guru type” to me. But the question the thread title raises is "What does the phrase “personal God” mean? Seems to me you could answer many questions about a “personal God” by understanding the dynamics of Conscious awareness. Seems to me some work in epistemology is merited here with such a fundamental issue. And yet by the looks of it, most folks spend more time figuring out how their car or computer works than how their own mind works. Good luck, buddy.