I want a personal relationship with Cthulhu.

[varkam]

Er...after looking at that...maybe not.

In any event, I was talking with some folks the other night about religion and the subject of having a personal relationship with Jesus came up. I tried to ask what that meant, but the answers I got were not very satisfactory. Does anyone else care to weigh in? What does that mean, to have a personal relationship with Jesus?

[tekisui]

1. It means you have a good imaginary friend and a strong imagination

And you like to talk to yourself.

[rox63]

2. I always pictured Cthulu having more eyes than that n/t

[LynneSin]

3. I'd like to think it's someone who has a strong understanding of his life teachings

and tries their best everyday to live the same way. Jesus was a pretty humble man who did not promote wars or excessive wealth. He did his best to accept all people and questioned those who judged others.

Needless to say alot of people who 'claim' they have a personal relationship hardly have a clue.

[Evoman]

23. How the fuck was Jesus even humble.

The guy constantly bragged he was basically god. I don't know about you, but if I walked around saying that I was a god, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't think I was being very humble.

Sorry Jesus...false humility is not really humility.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Just as soon as I can read misshapen as miss-shapen instead

of misshapen.

[librechik]

5. he looks like somebody you could have 6 to 12 beers with

all at once

[htuttle]

6. "It Found Me"

Campus Crusade for Cthulu
http://www.greatdarkhorde.org/cthulhu/

[Beregond2]

7. ?

I don't know. This is a phrase used by fundamentalist/evangelicals. I was raised in a more traditional kind of Christianity, so I can't address this.

[jimnasium]

8. A personal relationship with Cthulhu...

Would be very brief. :yoiks:

[Silent3]

16. Nah, Cthulhu would want to prolong your extreme suffering...

...if you tried to start up a personal relationship with him. More out of amusement at your pathetic impudence rather than anger, I'd guess.

This behavior is very much unlike Jesus and his Infinitely Loving and Ever Merciful Dad, however, who will torture you for eternity for NOT having established a personal relationship.

[izquierdista]

9. He is risen!

It means that you believe that He is risen!



And once you know that, you can pop him in the oven and develop your personal relationship with him using butter and strawberry jam.

[cosmik debris]

10. My experience

(at a Baptist University) is that the phrase means that the person has a large emotional investment in that religious belief. It is similar to the emotional investment you might make in a spouse or child.

Edit to clarify:

We have all know people who were unable to see the shortcomings of their spouse; who were unable to believe that their spouse did not reciprocate their investment; who were unable to see that the investment was not paying dividends.

In other words, a personal relationship with Jesus is like stalking your imaginary friend.

[Zebedeo]

11. It means that you let Jesus into your heart

To do so requires that you soften your heart and become meek. A hard heart will never allow it.

The following stanza is instructive:

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him,
still The dear Christ enters in.

O Little Town of Bethlehem
Phillips Brooks, 1868

Have you ever heard that "the meek shall inherit the Earth"? Well, there it is.

[moggie]

12. Softening your head also helps

Can't say I've noticed much meekness from the people who make the most noise about their personal relationship with Jesus.

Have you ever heard that "the meek shall inherit the Earth"?

Did anybody get his name?

[Zebedeo]

14. Christians are encouraged to question

and not to "harden their heads." The Bereans are described in the Bible as "more noble" because they "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11

So you are incorrect when you suggest that a personal relationship with Christ involves softening one's head. It does not. You might be interested to know that some of the most brilliant human beings in history have been committed Christians. Christians are not stupid.

[Meshuga]

17. Unrelated question

Hi Zeb, I have been meaning to ask you this for a long time now but you haven't been around for a while.

I see a difference between some of the liberal Christians here in R/T and you as far as who Jesus was. Perhaps there is no difference since it could be a misunderstanding in my part and that is why I want you to help me understand.

Who was exactly Jesus in your opinion? Some people here seem to believe that there was only an "ethical" Jesus sort of ignoring or even rejecting the "apocalyptic" Jesus. Some here seem to view Jesus as a prophet they want to emulate, sort of like a prophet of brotherhood of man. They see the "kingdom of God" as something you can't touch (or something literal), but rather, a "God's Kingdom" in the heart of men which can be "brought about", perhaps, because of their ethical achievements through the teachings of Jesus.

The other Jesus, the apocalyptic one, is a prophet of the end of the world and this view pays less attention to what Jesus has to say and focuses instead on a few known facts about him, about his actions, and, even more so, about his death.

You seem to believe in the latter. Am I wrong?

Which is the right Jesus in your opinion? The "ethical" Jesus or the "apocalyptic" Jesus? If both are the correct Jesus, even when they seem to contradict, should the apocalyptic Jesus be ignored like many liberal Christians seem to do?

Thanks in advance. Perhaps this should be its own thread.

[varkam]

18. So does being meek mean that...

you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Or is being meek a necessary but not a sufficient condition for having a personal relationship with Jesus?

[Zebedeo]

19. necessary

but not sufficient condition.

You still must consciously choose to accept Christ. Or reject Him.

[varkam]

20. So if you're meek *and* if you accept Christ, then you have a personal relationship with him? eom

[Zebedeo]

21. You won't want to accept Him

unless you are meek. The opposite of meekness is pride. Pride is on display in many posts in this forum.

[varkam]

24. Well I guess those posters will just never know the joy...

of having a personal relationship with Jesus, will they?

[kestrel91316]

13. Cthulu doesn't have arms and legs, silly!

He's a gelatinous, bloody blob with tentacles and beaks and such.

[Silent3]

15. In the upcoming election...

[Evoman]

22. I was playing Settlers of Catan the other day.

And I was losing badly (which I hate because I'm a bad loser and I usually win at the game). Anyways, I had a bunch of settlements on resources with 8 on them, but despite how much dice we all rolled, 8 (one of the most likely numbers) wouldn't come up.

One of my friends offhandedly told me that maybe I need to pray to Jesus.

I called Jesus a douche.

I lost the game, but I won the next one.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

25. Maybe Jesus is pretty hot

If he was hot then maybe I'd want a personal relationship with him. No strings mind you.

[knitter4democracy]

26. Personal relationship with Jesus means that you feel His presence when you pray.

That you can feel God when you're out in Nature or in church or wherever. It's an emotional experience, to be sure, and difficult to describe.