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There is an active thread right now in the Relationships forum started by a woman who had a 2 year "relationship" with a man she had never met in person. They "met" online and have communicated via email, text, and phone calls. She has recently learned he is married, despite having told her otherwise. People are telling her they did not in fact have a relationship, that she shouldn't have fallen in love with someone she had never even met, that her perceptions of who he is was all her own fantasy.
It is easy to see that she was deluding herself in this "relationship".
But the personal relationship with Jesus doesn't even have email, texts, or phone calls.
Yep.
This woman fell in love with the idea of who she imagined this person to be ... helped along doubtless by some false claims. How is loving Jesus any different?
I love lots of people I have never met. I love Bach, the music he wrote and which I play on the violin continually inspires me. Not to mention dozens of other composers, literary authors, philosophers. I have relationships with them, they still speak to me, they alter my brain waves. It is real, there is nothing creepy about it. In the same way a person can have a relationship with a religious figure of the past. Their sayings and teachings still have an impact on our lives today. What is creepy is when people deny this and pretend not to be affected by those on whose shoulders we now stand. As if having died one becomes permanently irrelevant. Dishonest to say the least.
I do not have any personal relationship with Jesus.
But, there sure are some NDErs that do...many were atheists before they
met him on the Other Side.
I do not see ANY reason for them to lie about what happened to them or what
Jesus seemed like to them...a hugely comfortable guy that exuded immense love.
It seems an atheist would love to come back and say..."There's nothing over there, ha...just blackness and weirdness....just like I thought."
But, no.
This has greatly influenced me...that he is not an 'idea'...but a beautiful brother
that is on the Other side...just like my uncle is that drops in to visit me from time to time....but, Jesus would be on a bit of a Higher Sphere...
Near dead means not dead.
Plenty of people who have actually been clinically dead who did not see jack crap.
I love lots of people I have never met. I love Bach, the music he wrote and which I play on the violin continually inspires me. Not to mention dozens of other composers, literary authors, philosophers. I have relationships with them, they still speak to me, they alter my brain waves. It is real, there is nothing creepy about it. In the same way a person can have a relationship with a religious figure of the past. Their sayings and teachings still have an impact on our lives today. What is creepy is when people deny this and pretend not to be affected by those on whose shoulders we now stand. As if having died one becomes permanently irrelevant. Dishonest to say the least.
It would be if the claims for a personal relationship with Jesus were the same as relating to historical figures. They are not. With Jesus it is supposed to be more than simple inspiration and admiration. No one claims that Bach guides them in his will for their daily lives. No one prays to Bach. No one worships / deifies Bach. No one says Bach is the only way to be reconciled to god and escape the wrath to come. There are no holy books revealing the Will of Bach.
I love lots of people I have never met. I love Bach, the music he wrote and which I play on the violin continually inspires me. Not to mention dozens of other composers, literary authors, philosophers. I have relationships with them, they still speak to me, they alter my brain waves. It is real, there is nothing creepy about it. In the same way a person can have a relationship with a religious figure of the past. Their sayings and teachings still have an impact on our lives today. What is creepy is when people deny this and pretend not to be affected by those on whose shoulders we now stand. As if having died one becomes permanently irrelevant. Dishonest to say the least.
You actually love the legacies they project....but you don't actually know the people beyond your own superficial enjoyment of said legacies.
Do you love the best coffee bean picker in the Dominican Republic? How about the 112th best?
But along the biblical lines....why do you suppose Jesus never wrote his own testament?
Not have a Personal relationship with Jesus Christ is delusional and people are only a half a person which God plans for Humans....... See Christians are reborn with the temple of Holy Spirit on their beings as God abides on His people with His spirit , which is a profound spirit with substance , as Christians are reborn in the spirit of Christ and there is a presence of God on their lives though out their lives .............Jesus was raised from the dead and it indeed alive today through His spirit ......Where the people without God cannot see Him because they do not know Him ......Most religions of the world cannot see him and some kill to appease the gods and some wish God were there and wonder why this injustice or disaster happened as where is god to them ...... But true Christians have God on their being as God abides on them
I do not have any personal relationship with Jesus.
But, there sure are some NDErs that do...many were atheists before they
met him on the Other Side.
I do not see ANY reason for them to lie about what happened to them or what
Jesus seemed like to them...a hugely comfortable guy that exuded immense love.
It seems an atheist would love to come back and say..."There's nothing over there, ha...just blackness and weirdness....just like I thought."
But, no.
This has greatly influenced me...that he is not an 'idea'...but a beautiful brother
that is on the Other side...just like my uncle is that drops in to visit me from time to time....but, Jesus would be on a bit of a Higher Sphere...
But we don't know what happened to them. The assumption that it was a sort of halfway to afterlife and then whoops they got recalled may be true. I don't mind if it is. But the door has to be kept open for other explanations and making it a 'They met Jesus' double certainty is to close the mind. We saw that with the atheists (I can only recall one,in fact) who had the experience and were convinced. Just raising the possibility there might be some other explanation and then he was working so hard to reject any other possibility than that it was a real preview of the afterlife.
I am watching NED's with interest, but I am not going to be talked in a Faith position about it.
P.s for one thing, I know they can't have met the Gospel Jesus, because I am certain that Jesus never existed. So any such meeting is a dream -construct. Just a personal view.
It would be if the claims for a personal relationship with Jesus were the same as relating to historical figures. They are not. With Jesus it is supposed to be more than simple inspiration and admiration. No one claims that Bach guides them in his will for their daily lives. No one prays to Bach. No one worships / deifies Bach. No one says Bach is the only way to be reconciled to god and escape the wrath to come. There are no holy books revealing the Will of Bach.
Imagine if you went up to a friend and had a conversation like this:
You: Hey Jane, how are you? I want to tell you about a new friend I just met. They have given me such peace in life just by meeting them.
Friend: Really? Wow, sounds great, they must be special. When did you meet this person?
You: Well actually we have never met in person.
Friend: Really? So you have never spoken over the phone or e-mailed or met in person?
You: No, not really, but I have a strong connection to this person and a relationship with them.
Friend: Wow, sounds different.
You: Yeah, it's not like other relationships people have, it's special.
Friend: So just to clarify, you have never met or spoken IN person or communicated by letter and such?
You: Nope. This relationship is so different.
Friend: (Thinking to themselves....how in the world can they think they have a relationship? They haven't even met or anything else. Seems creepy to me. I think my friend is maybe having some issues about making stuff up including so called "friendships" and "relationships". Sounds like they could use some help from somebody who works with these issues.)
Christians: You have a personal relationship with YOURSELVES and YOUR THOUGHTS. Accept this and realize the whole "personal relationship with Jesus" is not only creepy but delusional. The only so called relationship you are having is with an IDEA not a REALITY.
So you don't understand the concept of faith.
It's not for you? Great. Don't waste your time ridiculing people for something you (supposedly) don't care about and don't believe.
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