Jesus said that he would actually live inside us by his Spirit (John 14:16-17)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nEssentially, all religion is subjective; none of it can be scientifically proven to be genuine.<\/p>\n
This is not to say that all religion is valid; only that God is the one that judges its validity. But aside from its subjective nature, pure religion must have its source from God. And if the source is from God, I don’t have any control over your experience. I may have an opinion about it, but ultimately, your experience is between you and God.<\/p>\n
Experience is a part of Relationship<\/h2>\n God wants a relationship with his children (us humans). But just as with any relationship, there are conditions for how that relationship begins and continues.<\/p>\n
But a problem arises among Christians when I begin to think that the conditions and experiences of my relationship with God are normative for all other children of God. We get into trouble if I think that my relationship with God is what every other relationship with God should look like.<\/p>\n
But this expectation does not match any other relationship in life. While there are similarities in all marriages, no marriage relationship began or continued to develop like any other marriage relationship. Every marriage is unique. In the same way, While there may be some similarities in all parent-child relationships, no parent-child relationship progressed or grew like any other parent-child relationship.<\/p>\n
So if my marriage looks nothing like your marriage, do I have any right to say that you are not, in fact, married? No!<\/p>\n
But this is what we sometimes to as Christians.<\/p>\n
I look at how I became a child of God and if your story of how you became a child of God does not match up with mine, I might be tempted to think that you are not, in fact, a child of God at all! Or if I have certain experiences in my relationship with Jesus, but you don’t share those experiences at all, I might be tempted to think you don’t have a relationship with Jesus. In both cases, you might think the same thing about me. And if we get to arguing about this, it’s going to cause divisions and problems.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, God has it all figured out<\/h2>\n One thing we can be sure of, and this is what we must hold to, is that God knows every man intimately, and He promised to reveal Himself to any man who wants to know Him.<\/p>\n
So it matters little what I think of your experience with God. Nor does it matter what you think of my experience. What matters is what God sees deep down in our heart.<\/p>\n
The tricky part, however, is what we see from Elwood P. Dowd. Though his belief in Harvey made him different, I am certain that it is not God\u2019s intent just to make us different from the world. His intent is more complicated than that.<\/p>\n
I have found that my relationship with God does make me different, but there is the huge distinction. Harvey made Dowd different according to Dowd’s own propensities, but Jesus makes each of us different according to God\u2019s propensities and His character. This is never easy, and there is a strong part of me that continually fights this change. But change I do, not just outwardly, but deep inside.<\/p>\n
And, by the way, this is how I know that my relationship with my “invisible friend” is genuine: my propensities change into something I never wanted or imagined.<\/p>\n
To try to convince anyone of this subjective experience is futile, and a waste of time. The fact is, God does a better job, we only need to ask Him to reveal Himself to us, and if our heart is honest, He will.<\/p>\n
Are you uncomfortable with comparing your relationship with Jesus to Dowd’s relationship with an invisible, talking rabbit? Explain why in the comment section below. <\/em><\/p>\nOr maybe it gives you comfort to know that your relationship with Jesus has been tailor-made to fit you and your personality, and to bring you into a deeper relationship with God, so that what you experience with God will not ever be duplicated or matched by any other person you encounter? Maybe this gives you the freedom to stop trying to “measure up” to the experiences of others.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you think that your relationship with God is normal for everyone? Do you think that if others do not share the same experiences with God that you have, that maybe they do not have a relationship with God at all? <\/p>\n
In this post, Peter Rouzaud encourages us to see that our relationship with God is completely unique, and this is the way God wants it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2245],"tags":[19,2414,1471,1336,1812],"class_list":{"0":"post-40090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-redeeming-life","8":"tag-discipleship","9":"tag-experiencing-god","10":"tag-following-jesus","11":"tag-guest-post","12":"tag-relationships","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n
Salvation is Like a Seven-Foot Invisible Rabbit<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n