A personal relationship with God?

[Straw Dog]

I'm fundamentally confused by this particular notion. God-believers want other people to have a relationship with God, but how is that even possible? Where is God? How do you talk to him? How does he talk back? Is prayer like leaving a message on an answering machine except God never calls back? It's like someone commissioning forty odd authors to write down everything they want to say to you nearly 2,000 years ago and then just disappearing without a trace. Yet that person still demands that you believe that they love you or else he'll set you on fire forever.

The entire relationship would be based on the rather impersonal method of commissioning someone else to write about it rather than direct interaction on a personal level, which is how I conduct my personal relations with other people. I know some believe in signs here and there, but you can make any ambiguous event mean almost anything and it's still impersonal. I mean a single child survives a tsunami and it's called a 'miracle'. Never mind the thousands of people, including other children, that died without a reason because then it's called 'God works in mysterious ways'.

So essentially I'm asking how can I have a personal relationship with God, much less worship him, whenever I've never even met him in person or know whether he even exists?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

It's kind of the same way people have a "personal relationship" with imaginary friends.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Just smile, nod, pat their head, and move on.

 

[Songbird]

Just smile, nod, pat their head, and move on.

What's your excuse for doing that to me?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

What's your excuse for doing that to me?

Don't take it personally, I do that to everyone.

 

[Songbird]

Don't take it personally, I do that to everyone.

Don't take it personally, I don't kick anyone but you in the kneecaps.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Don't take it personally, I don't kick anyone but you in the kneecaps.

You know, if you want me on my knees in front of you, all you have to do is ask.

 

[Tarheeler]

…

So essentially I'm asking how can I have a personal relationship with God, much less worship him, whenever I've never even met him in person or know whether he even exists?

Don't see how you can then.

I never really got into trying to force people to understand or accept things they don't believe in. It seems to be much too similar to banging your head into a brick wall for my tastes.
:banghead3

 

[Songbird]

You know, if you want me on my knees in front of you, all you have to do is ask.

No, I like my way. Pleases me to see you in pain.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

No, I like my way. Pleases me to see you in pain.

You and the rest of humanity.

 

[Songbird]

You and the rest of humanity.

I can see why you're misanthropic.

Quit whining, shut up, and finish washing the floor.

 

[Quagmire]

I'm fundamentally confused by this particular notion. God-believers want other people to have a relationship with God,

Not all. Some figure that someone else's relationship with god, or lack thereof, is none of their business.

Personal means just that.

but how is that even possible? Where is God? How do you talk to him? How does he talk back? Is prayer like leaving a message on an answering machine except God never calls back? It's like someone commissioning forty odd authors to write down everything they want to say to you nearly 2,000 years ago and then just disappearing without a trace. Yet that person still demands that you believe that they love you or else he'll set you on fire forever.

You're talking about a cpl of specific religion here and about specific factions within each. IMO, as long as you equate belief in God with religion and religion with the Judao/Christian religions, and equate those religions with the hell and brimstone variety exclusively, ...

Put it this way: someone whose vision is that narrow isn't going to be able to see mundane reality all that clearly, let alone any thing outside of the mundane.

The entire relationship would be based on the rather impersonal method of commissioning someone else to write about it rather than direct interaction on a personal level, which is how I conduct my personal relations with other people. I know some believe in signs here and there, but you can make any ambiguous event mean almost anything and it's still impersonal. I mean a single child survives a tsunami and it's called a 'miracle'. Never mind the thousands of people, including other children, that died without a reason because then it's called 'God works in mysterious ways'.

So essentially I'm asking how can I have a personal relationship with God, much less worship him, whenever I've never even met him in person or know whether he even exists?

My advise: stop trying. Try taking a deeper look into this reality and into yourself. If you find something there worth calling "God", there ya go.

 

[Sunstone]

I like Jerry Falwell's statement that ministers who think they've experienced god merely had too much pizza to eat and they actually experienced only an intestinal disorder. Ever since I read him, I've wondered about Jerry: Was a good fart really the biggest life experience he could imagine for himself or anyone else? You know, that's a serious question when asked about a man who could not believe homosexuals felt love.

 

[Penumbra]

I'm fundamentally confused by this particular notion. God-believers want other people to have a relationship with God, but how is that even possible? Where is God? How do you talk to him? How does he talk back? Is prayer like leaving a message on an answering machine except God never calls back? It's like someone commissioning forty odd authors to write down everything they want to say to you nearly 2,000 years ago and then just disappearing without a trace. Yet that person still demands that you believe that they love you or else he'll set you on fire forever.

The entire relationship would be based on the rather impersonal method of commissioning someone else to write about it rather than direct interaction on a personal level, which is how I conduct my personal relations with other people. I know some believe in signs here and there, but you can make any ambiguous event mean almost anything and it's still impersonal. I mean a single child survives a tsunami and it's called a 'miracle'. Never mind the thousands of people, including other children, that died without a reason because then it's called 'God works in mysterious ways'.

So essentially I'm asking how can I have a personal relationship with God, much less worship him, whenever I've never even met him in person or know whether he even exists?

Those that use the language of having a personal relationship with god are often evangelical Christians.

It seems to me that the tendency is to interpret hunches, or gut feelings, or emotions, or one's own conscience, or coincidences, as all being god's form of communication with them.

 

[doppelganger]

Don't take it personally, I don't kick anyone but you in the kneecaps.

I beg to differ . . . {rubs sore kneecaps}

 

[Songbird]

I beg to differ . . . {rubs sore kneecaps}

I like the begging.

But if you'da stayed out my way while defending Trout, I wouldn't have kicked you by mistake. Maybe you should stop defending people. Ha, a lawyer joke.

 

[Sunstone]

Those that use the language of having a personal relationship with god are often evangelical Christians.

It seems to me that the tendency is to interpret hunches, or gut feelings, or emotions, or one's own conscience, or coincidences, as all being god's form of communication with them.

James Dobson, in one of his books, writes that a Vice President of Focus on the Family used to shop for donuts before work each morning. He would drive to the donut store, and if he didn't find a parking place, he'd circle the block praying to his god to open a place for him. When it "worked", Dobson wrote, the man knew his personal relationship with his god was on the right foot that day.

 

[doppelganger]

What can I say . . . I defend the weak.

 

[InChrist]

So essentially I'm asking how can I have a personal relationship with God, much less worship him, whenever I've never even met him in person or know whether he even exists?

Is this a sincere question or are you just mocking the idea of knowing or having a relationship with God?

 

[doppelganger]

James Dobson, in one of his books, writes that a Vice President of Focus on the Family used to shop for donuts before work each morning. He would drive to the donut store, and if he didn't find a parking place, he'd circle the block praying to his god to open a place for him. When it "worked", Dobson wrote, the man knew his personal relationship with his god was on the right foot that day.

Focus on the Family had a pigeon for a vice-president?