Is anyone REALLY separated from God?

Posted by Dan C. on

I have not lost my marbles and been sucked into the great abyss of full-blown Emergentville that tells us that ‘all roads lead to Rome’ and we just need to connect with the ‘divine’ within our own hearts.

Modern evangelism many times presents the gospel as needing a ‘personal’ relationship with Jesus, as if we don’t know Jesus, we are separated from God. Is the idea that we have NO relationship with God if we have not trusted in Christ for our salvation really true? Or, is it a matter of being ‘in relationship’ with God’, but not in RIGHT relationship with Him. Ephesians 2 tells us that without Christ we are DEAD in sin and objects of God’s wrath. That sounds like relationship, and it’s personal. that would mean, of course, that even professed athiests are in relationship with God.

On the other hand, the who has believed in the Son of God and trusted Him for salvation has a relationship based on forgiveness – no longer objects of God’s wrath, but reconciled with, and in union with God.

There is a discussion here that speaks to the question I proposed called ‘The Gospel of Personal Relationship’.  I encourage you to listen and share your thoughts!

8 responses to “Is anyone REALLY separated from God?”

  1. B4B,

    Hey there. I found your site via Michelle, via NorEaster. I took a look around and love what I’ve read so fr. I dig it. I gather you are a vet? I’m a National Guard Chaplain Candidate (MP before that) in MO. Good to see a fellow brother-in-arms, both spiritually and earthly.

    See ya ’round,
    Brad
    Confessions of a Seminarian

    Oh yeah, and this post… awesome. A really good point on the difference between right relationship and wrong relationship.

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  2. Brad,

    I love meeting Chaplains and Candidates! We’ve had a few roll through Veteran’s chapel at Carson where we worship a lot.

    I cranked out 28 years of SF stuff before I retired out of 10th Gp at Carson in ’96. Got a chance to get to Iraq as a civilian and help stand up the first four Bns of their new army. I’m still working a job, contract type with Northrop Grumman in the Springs. I have also been part of Christian Military Fellowship for a lot of years. It’s one of the Ministry Links on this page. If you don’t know about CMF, check it out. It’s all about indigenous ministry in the military. Had a chaplain tell me years ago that ‘ground pounders get to places they will probably never set foot!

    I’ll have to zip over to your blog when I get home this evening!

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  3. Dan,

    Wow. SF huh? You’re definitely the ground pounder! I got a buddy who was the youngest soldier to earn his beret. He enlisted soon after they started optioning the SF MOS at signing [pending stellar performance at basic and AIT of course].

    I’ve heard of CMF, but it doesn’t have a whole lot of presence in the MO Guard. It’s hard even for Chaplains to have a ministry presence one weekend a month, much less an indigenous movement. It sounds awesome though, and I bet it is a huge help in the sandbox.

    My old MP company just deployed for a similar mission with the INP’s. Their training law enforcement just north of Badghdad (it’s a killer mission, similar to the Marine Combined Action Platoon program in Vietnam). It’s a pretty awesome mission and it sometimes makes me wish I hadn’t branch-transfered (my wife is not looking back, though!).

    I’ll be stopping by a lot!

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  4. I volunteered for SF in 1968 under what sounds like the same sort of program – basic, AIT, Jump School Ft. Bragg. When I get home this evening I should see a notice on my MSN account with your regular email and I’ll send you the CMF newsletter for May. We have as members, all sorts of active, reserve and guard types.

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  5. I’m sure glad y’all met up – I should have sent you over this way a while back, Brad, I wasn’t thinking. 😳

    I enjoyed listening to the link because I’ve never understood the problem with saying “personal relationship.” The points made helped me to see what the beef’s about. I suppose because I have understood my “friendship” with Jesus as a covenant relationship I never understood why it wasn’t personal. Of course, the guys (didn’t catch the names) on the link aren’t saying it’s not personal, just not in a gnostic/existentialist way…right? Did I understand what I was hearing?

    I know I am a bondservant of Jesus and understand His sovereignty over me, but I still think of Him as my best Friend…

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  6. Michelle, I think you’ve got it. Their issue, as I hear it, is making the ‘personal relationship’ the focus of evangelism instead of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Paul summed up in 1 Corinthians. I didn’t hear them saying not to discuss relationship, but to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ and give those two points preeminence.

    Here’s Dan’s bit: Since no one is able to come to Jesus unless the Holy Spirit draws, there is absolutely NO reason NOT to keep the main points the main points and talk about other things like relationship as an outcome of the first two.

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  7. Hi there…

    Well I thought I would come over and say hi! I really liked your idea…I guess people (at least the ones that were discussing things) can not discuss and be respectful…so the end result is crickets chirping in the background.

    Thanks for your input and i love what you have to say in these last couple of post I’ve read! Keep up the good work!

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