I don't care for this "personal relationship" jargon at all. Many people used to say we have a relationship with Christ. Then it became a personal relationship. Then it became an intimate personal relationship. Then it was a deep, intimate, personal relationship.
Good grief, how many qualifiers do we need to add to a word that scripture never even uses?
This "personal relationship" nonsense, in the eyes of many, has replaced faith as the way of access into grace. I've heard it said that the way to eternal life is through a deep, intimate, personal relationship with Christ. That's some bogus nonsense, really.
What is a personal relationship supposed to look like anyway?
A few years ago, my mom and dad had to come live with me - old age and such.
Now, my mom and I never had much use for each other, all the way from my childhood. My dad, however, was my hero and I was his favorite (out of 6 kids).
My dad had left when I was 3, so we lived with our mom. He came by periodically when he was drunk, or broke, or hungry, or just wanting to argue, etc.
But I remember that any time I had a spelling bee to prepare for, he'd be there every evening for 6 weeks or more, helping me. Then I might not see him for another 3-4 months. He never made it for birthdays or any other "events"
He had lived with me for a couple of years when she had to come, too. She, being naturally extroverted, had a penchant for gabbing it up. We sort of just ignored our dislike for each other, and talked every evening until she went into a nursing home. I saw her three times over the next two years before she died.
My dad had become an introvert, stayed in his room. It also helped him avoid my mom. He'd come out to get a bite to eat, cup if coffee, bathroom, etc. He hardly ever spent more than 5 minutes at a time out of his room. He always greeted me when he came out, asked me how my day was, etc. About once a week we'd spend about 5 minutes catching up, and about once a month we had a legitimate conversation that would last a half hour.
I asked each of them, before going to nursing homes, if they thought we had a good personal relationship.
My mom said, "Not really. We never did seem to get each other. Such a tragedy."
My dad said, "What do you mean?"
I tried my best to put it in objective terms, but really struggled to define, or even describe, what a personal relationship is or looks like. Eventually, we assessed our adoration for each other, common interests, intimacy, bents, respect, interest in each others life and wellbeing, how much alike we were, and a whole host of other things, and we came to the assessment that we had a great personal relationship.
Now I ask, if you were promoting a personal relationship with Christ to an unbeliever, would you want them to seek the kind of personal relationship like I had with my dad?
By the way, I don't like the word "intimate" either. My dad and I agreed that men shouldn't be getting intimate with each other
