What exactly does "I have a personal relationship with God" mean?

[Cieza]

Many times I've heard Christians say things like "I have a personal relationship with God" or "I have a personal relationship with Jesus". Just what exactly do these statements mean?

Let's say you met an adult intelligent person who had never been introduced to the concept of God, had never read the Bible, who didn't know what Christianity was and had never been taught about Jesus. If you had to describe to this person in 50-100 words what you mean by "I have a personal relationship with God" or "I have a personal relationship with Jesus", what would you say or write?

 

[drich0150]

That the Holy Spirit Lives with in You. Guides you in a way as to produce Spiritual fruit, and provides Spiritual gifts.
Keyword:Spirit Fruit, Spiritual Gift

BibleGateway.com: Search for a Bible word or phrase in over 35 languages and 50 versions.

 

[hedrick]

I'd be interested to see this question posted to a forum with a broader readership, because I'm not sure what everyone would say.

However I think you'll find that there are a variety of experiences among Christians. First, the "personal relationship with Jesus" is not a Biblical phrase, although it is intended to summarize Biblical teachings. Not all Christian traditions use it, not even all Protestant ones. As far as I know it's not actually part of my own tradition, which is Reformed. Here's a very nice treatment of the topic from a Reformed point of view: Perspectives: Essay: A Personal Relationship - RCA. As you'll see, the author finds the phrase troubling. I've spent a bit of time with Google. I think you'll find a fair amount of concern about the phrase, and about false impressions that it might give. This fairly brief article gives you a sense of where it came from and why it was important, but also of its limits: Rethinking our Vocabulary: “Personal Relationship with Jesus” | Said at Southern

Jesus himself spoke of loving God and loving our neighbor. He prayed a lot, and spoke of God as his father. I think that's the kind of relationship he would want us to have with God.

At times the "personal relationship" thing gets out of hand, to "God my good buddy." Our relationship with God is different from with our friends, for all kinds of reasons. God is purely spiritual. He doesn't speak audibly to most of us. I'd say most Christians expect to hear him speak to them through Scripture. We'll often feel a sense of God's presence both while praying or reading Scripture, and when we are with other people, or even just doing other things. Jesus does tell us to think of God as our father, and that God loves us. So it makes some sense to speak of this as a personal relationship, but it's not what you'd normally think of when you see that phrase.

And most Christians would tell you that our status with God doesn't depend upon our feelings. Yes, from time to time we get a sense of God's presence. But not everyone gets it equally, and most don't feel it uniformly. Indeed even the saints experience dark periods, when they have no feelings at all. And people who are by nature less emotional may experience it only rarely.

I think the phrase originally emphasized that Christianity isn't just a matter of going through certain ceremonies, but involves our whole person, and is based on the concept that God cares about us personally. But it has its dangers.

 

[bling]

That is something you show in your life, if others do not see the difference in your life Christ is not there.

 

[Cieza]

That the Holy Spirit Lives with in You. Guides you in a way as to produce Spiritual fruit, and provides Spiritual gifts.
Keyword:Spirit Fruit, Spiritual Gift

BibleGateway.com: Search for a Bible word or phrase in over 35 languages and 50 versions.

What exactly do you mean by "the Holy Spirit Lives with in You"? Remember, you need to keep in mind that you have a secular audience. Therefore, using circular logic to answer the question isn't going to help one iota.

 

[Cieza]

That is something you show in your life, if others do not see the difference in your life Christ is not there.

By that logic, it has nothing to do with what one believes about history or supreme beings. What you're saying is two different people can have a "personal relationship with God", yet one of them doesn't believe in God and the other one does. As you have said, it's subject to what others observe in us.

 

[ChristianT]

Q: "What does it mean to 'have a personal relationship with God'?"

A: This means that G-d, the creator of the universe (who is completely powerful, all knowing, all-loving), took the lowly position of human for 30 years, then sacrificed himself so I wouldn’t have to die physically and then spiritually. Because I realized that God exists and that he saved me from my second death, I choose to change the way I live and match my life to how He wants me to live. The spiritual death is where people who choose not to believe or love G-d choose to kill their spirits. Do you have any questions?

there's my ~100 "cents."

 

[Cieza]

Q: "What does it mean to 'have a personal relationship with God'?"

A: This means that G-d, the creator of the universe (who is completely powerful, all knowing, all-loving), took the lowly position of human for 30 years, then sacrificed himself so I wouldn’t have to die physically and then spiritually. Because I realized that God exists and that he saved me from my second death, I choose to change the way I live and match my life to how He wants me to live. The spiritual death is where people who choose not to believe or love G-d choose to kill their spirits. Do you have any questions?

there's my ~100 "cents."

I have lots of questions:
1) What evidence do you have that God created the universe?
2) How does God being human for 30 years allow humans to avoid physical death?
3) How can a human realize that God exists when God (if he does exist) never shows himself?
4) Please describe the physiological process of what happens during a "spiritual death".
5) How can one know how God wants them to live?

 

[ChristianT]

I have lots of questions:
1) What evidence do you have that God created the universe?
2) How does God being human for 30 years allow humans to avoid physical death?
3) How can a human realize that God exists when God (if he does exist) never shows himself?
4) Please describe the physiological process of what happens during a "spiritual death".
5) How can one know how God wants them to live?

1.
a) math: a creator with intelligence is a very convincing reason of all the order and logic it takes to make something as all the complex math that can exist in the universe.
b) life and living things: a creator with power is a very convincing reason explaining how living things, which are made of cells made of particles (carbon, oxygen, etc.) can have functions, order, and well, all that a life is.

2.
because he lived for 30 +/- years, he could take our sins and actually become sin and punish the sin that "was" Jesus, that way our spirits wouldn't have to dies because of the sin they died with. (If we believe and follow Jesus, the sin that he became was our sin).

3.
exactly. That's why I realize God exists. He set it all up in my life so I could see all the evidence and believe, and now do what he asks. If by showing himself, you mean physically, he already did. *cough* Jesus *cough*

physiology |ˌfizēˈäləjē|
noun
the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts.
• the way in which a living organism or bodily part functions : the physiology of the brain.
DERIVATIVES
physiologic |ˌfizēəˈläjik| adjective
physiological |ˌfizēəˈläjikəl| adjective
physiologically |ˌfizēəˈläjik(&#601lē| adverb

spirit |ˈspirit|
noun
1) the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character; the soul : we seek a harmony between body and spirit.
• such a part regarded as a person's true self and as capable of surviving physical death or separation : a year after he left, his spirit is still present.
• such a part manifested as an apparition after their death; a ghost.
• a supernatural being : shrines to nature spirits.
• ( the Spirit) short for Holy Spirit .
• archaic a highly refined substance or fluid thought to govern vital phenomena.

4.
N/A. a spirit is not a living organism. your spirit is not some animal that lives in your head or something (unless you're an alien, but that isn't a spirit, that's some alien body part...). A spirit is what you use your body with. It acts as the electricity in a computer. If it's not plugged in (and the battery if it's a laptop) runs out, what use is it? It's dead. So too with our bodies and spirits. When our spirit leaves our body, our body dies. It loses it's spirit, or "electricity." A spiritual death is where your spirit (what you exist with) ceases to exist.

5.
these awesome people that actually got to learn what G-d expects from us, and their literary work soon became compiled into this one singular book entitled, "Holy Bible." The words inside are not G-d's literal words, but the themes and lessons are G-d-inspired, and show us what G-d wants.

Thank you for your inquiry, feel free to question! (and please, don't hold back the intensity ).

 

[ChristianT]

For most Christians, it doesn't mean anything. It just means they believe they are not going to hell when they kick the bucket, nothing more.

true, and those "christians" did not base their faith on a strong foundation. Their foundation is that heaven is some consolation prize that is given to you if you say the words after the pastor says them. And they think they can continue living their lives un-repentive and continue to sin. It's sad that they have deluded themselves so...

 

[drich0150]

What exactly do you mean by "the Holy Spirit Lives with in You"? Remember, you need to keep in mind that you have a secular audience. Therefore, using circular logic to answer the question isn't going to help one iota.

God or a small piece of the Holy Spirit lives with you. This is made evident in the Fruit of the Spirit. Again follow the link and look up "Spirit fruit" if you are interested.

 

[Cieza]

1) What evidence do you have that God created the universe?
2) How does God being human for 30 years allow humans to avoid physical death?
3) How can a human realize that God exists when God (if he does exist) never shows himself?
4) Please describe the physiological process of what happens during a "spiritual death".
5) How can one know how God wants them to live?

1.
a) math: a creator with intelligence is a very convincing reason of all the order and logic it takes to make something as all the complex math that can exist in the universe.
b) life and living things: a creator with power is a very convincing reason explaining how living things, which are made of cells made of particles (carbon, oxygen, etc.) can have functions, order, and well, all that a life is.

Is the creator more complex than all these complex living things?

Who created the creator?

2.
because he lived for 30 +/- years, he could take our sins and actually become sin and punish the sin that "was" Jesus, that way our spirits wouldn't have to dies because of the sin they died with. (If we believe and follow Jesus, the sin that he became was our sin).

Please explain the biological process that occurs to allow humans to avoid physical death and how it is physiologically connected to Jesus.

3.
exactly. That's why I realize God exists. He set it all up in my life so I could see all the evidence and believe, and now do what he asks. If by showing himself, you mean physically, he already did. *cough* Jesus *cough*

I meant that he hasn't shown himself to you or me. How can you believe such a thing exists if it hasn't shown itself to you or anyone you know.

What is the primary reason you don't believe in unicorns?

4.
N/A. a spirit is not a living organism. your spirit is not some animal that lives in your head or something (unless you're an alien, but that isn't a spirit, that's some alien body part...). A spirit is what you use your body with. It acts as the electricity in a computer. If it's not plugged in (and the battery if it's a laptop) runs out, what use is it? It's dead. So too with our bodies and spirits. When our spirit leaves our body, our body dies. It loses it's spirit, or "electricity." A spiritual death is where your spirit (what you exist with) ceases to exist.

If you're trying to say a spirit has nothing to do with our physical bodies, then the computer analogy is a poor one at best.

If a human body is completely destroyed, does its spirit continue to live on in a non-physical form? If so, other than to provide comfort to those who lost a loved one, what purpose does it serve for the spirit to live on when the physical body dies?

5.
these awesome people that actually got to learn what G-d expects from us, and their literary work soon became compiled into this one singular book entitled, "Holy Bible." The words inside are not G-d's literal words, but the themes and lessons are G-d-inspired, and show us what G-d wants.

How can one distinguish if what they have written was inspired by God?

 

[Cieza]

God or a small piece of the Holy Spirit lives with you. This is made evident in the Fruit of the Spirit. Again follow the link and look up "Spirit fruit" if you are interested.

Why is it you keep reverting to circular logic to answer my questions. Were you taught in Sunday school to hold back on giving information about Christianity to the secular world?

 

[Cieza]

For most Christians, it doesn't mean anything. It just means they believe they are not going to hell when they kick the bucket, nothing more.

I gather "kick the bucket" means when they die. But what does "going to hell" mean? Please, please use secular terminology when answering the question!

 

[Erth]

I gather "kick the bucket" means when they die. But what does "going to hell" mean? Please, please use secular terminology when answering the question!

Why isn't regular English good enough? Isn't it like asking someone to use culinary terms when writing a report on air pollution?

 

[ChristianT]

Is the creator more complex than all these complex living things?

Who created the creator?

yes, the creator is more complex than anything. Why does the creator need a creator? What then is the purpose of the creator if he needed to be created? Then what would the creators creator need a creator? A creator which has all the qualities of the Christian G-d doesn't need (nor can have) a creator, because he is perfect and was existent from eternity (before time) and will last until after time (the other side of the eternal "line". ).

Please explain the biological process that occurs to allow humans to avoid physical death and how it is physiologically connected to Jesus.

There is no evolutionary or organic compound that can make a person escape physical death (I hope you got this from your biology class(es) in high school and/or college.... Only God could allow a person to disregard the rules of nature and escape death (ie Enoch)

I meant that he hasn't shown himself to you or me. How can you believe such a thing exists if it hasn't shown itself to you or anyone you know.

I said my statement with that assumption. I couldn't believe without evidence. God gave me evidence of Himself in my life.

What is the primary reason you don't believe in unicorns?

Horses don't need horns to survive



If you're trying to say a spirit has nothing to do with our physical bodies, then the computer analogy is a poor one at best.

If a human body is completely destroyed, does its spirit continue to live on in a non-physical form? If so, other than to provide comfort to those who lost a loved one, what purpose does it serve for the spirit to live on when the physical body dies?

Yes, a spirit is not some neurological/electrical energy field emanated from nerves or organic compounds... It's well, a person's existence. The thing that makes one "animate" instead of an [in]animate object. the greater purpose is for your spirit to be forever with God. Otherwise, your spirit lives eternally separate from Him, or doesn't exist at all, as can be interpreted from the bible

How can one distinguish if what they have written was inspired by God?

yes, if the multiple authors came up with different accounts and stories, with the ultimate backdrop (found in the new testament, based on the gospels) which agrees and completes the old testament, the law.

 

[Cieza]

Is the creator more complex than all these complex living things?

Who created the creator?

yes, the creator is more complex than anything. Why does the creator need a creator? What then is the purpose of the creator if he needed to be created? Then what would the creators creator need a creator? A creator which has all the qualities of the Christian G-d doesn't need (nor can have) a creator, because he is perfect and was existent from eternity (before time) and will last until after time (the other side of the eternal "line". ).

If one of the reasons you argue that there was a higher intelligent being which created us is because we are so complex, then you should be able to posit a theory as to how this even more complex creator was created. If not, then why the need for a creator in the first place?

Please explain the biological process that occurs to allow humans to avoid physical death and how it is physiologically connected to Jesus.

There is no evolutionary or organic compound that can make a person escape physical death (I hope you got this from your biology class(es) in high school and/or college.... Only God could allow a person to disregard the rules of nature and escape death (ie Enoch)

Please explain how God allowed Enoch to escape death.
Is Enoch still living at this time? If not, then he didn't really escape death.
How was it determined that Enoch escaping death was a result of God's actions and not merely a freak occurrence?
Are there any other documented & credible instances of God allowing a human to escape death?

I meant that he hasn't shown himself to you or me. How can you believe such a thing exists if it hasn't shown itself to you or anyone you know.

I said my statement with that assumption. I couldn't believe without evidence. God gave me evidence of Himself in my life.

How is your life evidence of anything above and beyond your life?

What is the primary reason you don't believe in unicorns?

Horses don't need horns to survive

Please elaborate. I don't quite understand your point. Horses don't need long tails to survive.
Does the fact that there is no documented evidence of unicorns existing play any role in you believing that unicorns do not exist?

If you're trying to say a spirit has nothing to do with our physical bodies, then the computer analogy is a poor one at best.

If a human body is completely destroyed, does its spirit continue to live on in a non-physical form? If so, other than to provide comfort to those who lost a loved one, what purpose does it serve for the spirit to live on when the physical body dies?

Yes, a spirit is not some neurological/electrical energy field emanated from nerves or organic compounds... It's well, a person's existence. The thing that makes one "animate" instead of an [in]animate object. the greater purpose is for your spirit to be forever with God. Otherwise, your spirit lives eternally separate from Him, or doesn't exist at all, as can be interpreted from the bible

Please explain what it means for a spirit to be with God.

If a person's spirit is merely their existence, then every human has a spirit, as every human has existence. Likewise, every dog, horse, chicken, armadillo, tarantula and rhinoceros must have a spirit. How is it determined what happens to the spirits of such animals after they die - especially because they lack the brain capacity to recognize what God is?

How can one distinguish if what they have written was inspired by God?

yes, if the multiple authors came up with different accounts and stories, with the ultimate backdrop (found in the new testament, based on the gospels) which agrees and completes the old testament, the law.

I'm having a tough time finding an answer to my question in your response. Once again, How can one distinguish if what they have written was inspired by God?

For example, let's say you write a very wonderful piece of music. You claim you were inspired by God to write it. I also write a wonderful piece of music, but don't claim I was inspired by God to write it.
-How would you have known that you were inspired by God to write the piece of music?
-And is it possible that I may have written a piece of music by the inspiration of God while not being aware I was inspired by God?

 

[oi_antz]

Hi Cieza, when I rededicated myself to God and asked Jesus into my life, that very night the Holy Spirit fluttered down from heaven like a dove and said "I will never leave you", and He taught me over the next few weeks by speaking to me and lifted my consciousness above the state of communication by word to a point where my very thoughts are inspired by Him. So when I go through trials He is always there to help me get through, and I have been through some thick and thin. I remember the poem "footprints in the sand", that is what it is like. Sometimes when I need to hear from God I can ask Him for a verse in the bible and the name of a book, chapter and verse will pop into my mind, I will read it and it will give me the answer I need. Sometimes God just speaks directly to my mind and I know it is Him and not my own ego. One time I was at a backpacker hostel and I heard a guy speaking to his friend about how he had no money for food and he was going to shoplift the supermarket. The next morning I got an overwhelming sense to give him some money for food, but I was too shy and I struggled with the idea. Then as I was leaving to go to work God told me to read a passage in the bible, it was something to the effect of fasting and God asked me "how would you like to be forced to fast if you didn't have faith", so I swallowed my pride, went back in there and gave him the money. This is what my relationship with God is like.

 

[Cieza]

Hi Cieza, when I rededicated myself to God and asked Jesus into my life, that very night the Holy Spirit fluttered down from heaven like a dove and said "I will never leave you", and He taught me over the next few weeks by speaking to me and lifted my consciousness above the state of communication by word to a point where my very thoughts are inspired by Him. So when I go through trials He is always there to help me get through, and I have been through some thick and thin. I remember the poem "footprints in the sand", that is what it is like. Sometimes when I need to hear from God I can ask Him for a verse in the bible and the name of a book, chapter and verse will pop into my mind, I will read it and it will give me the answer I need. Sometimes God just speaks directly to my mind and I know it is Him and not my own ego.

When the Holy Spirit spoke to you, did it come across as an audible sound?

When God speaks directly to your mind, does it come across as an audible sound?

If each of these are answered with "no", then how can you know for sure that these weren't merely unexplained inclinations?

One time I was at a backpacker hostel and I heard a guy speaking to his friend about how he had no money for food and he was going to shoplift the supermarket. The next morning I got an overwhelming sense to give him some money for food, but I was too shy and I struggled with the idea. Then as I was leaving to go to work God told me to read a passage in the bible, it was something to the effect of fasting and God asked me "how would you like to be forced to fast if you didn't have faith", so I swallowed my pride, went back in there and gave him the money. This is what my relationship with God is like.

An atheist is just as inclined to have such an experience as you are. It's merely a matter of semantics. So I will reword it from the atheists perspective.

One time I was at a backpacker hostel and I heard a guy speaking to his friend about how he had no money for food and he was going to shoplift the supermarket. The next morning I got an overwhelming sense to give him some money for food, but I was too shy and I struggled with the idea. Then as I was leaving to go to work I got a strong unexplained inclination to read a portion of a book I have which has a bunch of good moral lessons. The lesson said something to the effect of fasting and in the lesson I was asked "how would you like to be forced to fast if you didn't have a strong sense that the lessons in this book are of value?". So I swallowed my pride, went back in there and gave him the money.
How is that any different from your relationship with God? It seems like your relationship with God is merely a game of semantics.

 

[Leat]

It's explained as a still, small voice. It's not audible in a manner such as using your ears and stimulating your ear drums. But, it's just like when you think to yourself. You know how you can say "I like doughnuts" without speaking a word, yet you still "hear" it in your brain, without ever stimulating your ear drums. It's just like that, except it's a "thought" that is not natural for you to think, and will even contradict your wants and desires.

The question you asked was what is the need for a creator? What is the need for a creation would be the correct question, if the creator is so powerful.

In atheism, life is revolving around science. Just because someone has a religious faith of any kind, doesn't mean their mindset is "science is wrong and The Bible is right".

Whenever you ask a question and a Christian replies with "Cause God said so/made it that way/etc" it is them saying "I don't know" and attempting to answer a question, or perhaps avoiding it altogether. Just because Secular Science wants to disprove God, doesn't mean it's right if it "does" disprove God.

If we don't have any kind of God in existence, explain to me how we are so amazingly made/evolved? Why do we have many muscles, with only one that doesn't rest until our demise? And why do our bodies need rest, yet our brains never do. How is it that we are the only planet with life forms? Explain how math equations went above and beyond times tables, seeing as how that's all that's needed for the monetary system. And where did we get our ability to learn so much, the ability to define it, our ability to successfully clone another life form, the ability to teleport[albeit the end results are nasty] and how is it possible that everything in The Bible regarding humanity and it's future demise, although figurative language doesn't give us an accurate modern day description of what's to come, still if we modernize The Bible[substitute out-dated measurements and the like with modern things] it makes sense.

As for spiritual things, if you can't grasp it, this might help.

The Body and The Spirit exist on two entirely different planes. One is restricted by time, the other is not. One plane your abilities and life are restricted, one plane you are not. And explain ghost/hauntings stories, as well as possessions such as Emily Rose and the like. If you don't believe in God and a Soul/Spirit, then what is it that makes cabinets and plates and cups go flying all over the place?