Personal Relationship

If one is truly a Christian, The Holy Spirit resides within them - so their utmost desire is that everything they do and say brings Christ honor and Glory and to serve Him better - this is a very personal, everlasting, relationship - so the answer to the first part, yes - to the second part, yes, the person is just spinning their wheels, so to speak - the Real WAY is required.

very personal, everlasting, relationship

Complete, utter BS…unless the Bible says that you can feel ghosts & things…impossible. :)

“…because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” -God says that His Holy Spirit resides in all that believe so yes I as a Christian believe that it is completely possible to have a personal relationship with God.

Furthermore I believe that in Christianity you have to build a relationship with God. No one starts off with that. I believe that the major part of Christianity is strengthening that relationship and growing in your ability to resist temptation and lies that NONbelievers tell you (or their misguided perception of the truth).

Romans 10:9 if you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord you’ll be saved.

:) Take that.

Sophistry..it’s either ALL true, OR none of it is true.

Therefore, anybody claiming they have a “more intimate” or “personal” realationship with god is either pulling a leg or delusional and needs some psychiatric care.

Bottom line as I already said: it’s a system of beliefs…the only relationship you have going is with a voice inside your head…and if you ARE hearing a voice, you need treatment.

sorry my fiend oops I mean friend but I will have to agree to disagreee with you on that one. Throughout the bible there are several instances where God showed preferencial treatment and loved some more than others. e.g. David Psalm 89:49 O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

dvdysljvb, it’s NOT about “old testament” it’s about the New testament, if you’re a Christian, right?

Did God turn cities to salt after Jesus? Nope. When was the last time (either during Jesus time OR after) that somebody talked to God directly? Never.

So…the two are different worlds :) You can’t equate living under “the law” eg, ten commandments, with the time period post the modern bible (eg, Ad 320 ish…)…and, really, you can’t equate that period with modern times due to the reformation (Martin Luther, etc, etc)…depending on your view, there are VAST differences in religious belief among the different time periods of Christianity / Catholicism.

:)

Throughout the bible there are several instances where God showed preferencial treatment and loved some more than others. e.g. David

You’re confusing ‘the bible’ …with ‘the old testament’ …God is portrayed TOTALLY different in the new testament… because Judaism and Christianity are two TOTALLY different religions.

Do agree that to actually be called a Christian you have to have a deep, personal relationship with the Lord, your savior, Jesus Christ?

If you do believe that, your beliefs differ from the earliest Christians, and most Christians throughout history until the Protestant Reformation.

The Bible itself has mixed messages about being Christian, being saved, being born again, etc. That’s one reason you have so many denominations, many regarding each other as being not “true” Christians.

I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from attending Church, and following the precepts of the Christian faith, however, at the same time, Jesus said, If…you love me… you will obey my commandments. So, that is the dividing line I believe. We will be judged according to what we did with the truth that we had.

Well, from my perspective as a nonChristian, I consider anyone who calls themself a Christian to be a Christian, regardless of whether or not they think they have a personal relationship with some guy who’s been 2000 years (assuming he ever existed in the first place).

To answer the first part - no. I think the name Christian serves as an identifier. You may be thinking of “Saved” or “born again” when you are talking about the deep relationship. Second part - its a tough one. I would say NO if you simply do not like having a deep personal relationship. In the end, most people say it is required. Personally I think what matters is following the commandments and any law Jesus proclaimed. Along with that comes trusting in God and believing Jesus is the way to salvation. If you believe this, you may fin yourself naturally gravitating towards a deep relationship before you know it, and will be putting God first in all things.