Throwback Thursday: 60% of Catholics: “It is not possible to have a personal relationship with God.”

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on October 12th, 2015 and has been revised.

People talk about having a “personal relationship with Jesus,” but what does that really mean? This afternoon, I was listening to a podcast of the “Calling All Catholics” radio call-in show, originally broadcast on March 13, 2015 on the Station of the Cross, WLOF 101.7FM out of Buffalo, New York. Between phone calls, Catholic priest-host, Dave Baker, and moderator, Mike Denz, were disappointedly mulling over a recent survey that showed that a whopping 60% of Catholics agreed with the survey statement, “It is not possible to have a personal relationship with God.”

Priest Dave said he introduced a course at his parish to show people how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. He even sets up special sessions of “eucharistic adoration” for those taking the course so they can “REALLY” get to know Jesus. Hmm. Does bowing down before a bread wafer constitute having a relationship with Jesus?

For centuries, Catholics were never taught by their church they needed to have a personal relationship with God. Receiving God meant being baptized, consuming the communion wafer, and saying plenty of rote prayers. For Catholics, God was somebody to be feared. Every detail of their impersonal, ritualistic belief system was meant to assuage a God who demanded and expected perfect obedience. If you wanted some motherly sympathy and mercy, you were told to pray to Mary. Most Catholics hoped that when they died and stood before God that their “good” would at least outweigh their bad. But all this evangelical talk about “having a personal relationship with God” had contemporary Catholicism in a dither.

So what constitutes having a “personal relationship” with God? Is it some type of warm, subjective, fuzzy feeling? No, it is a relationship based on the truth of God’s Word that proclaims salvation and sonship with God is possible by faith in Jesus Christ ALONE. Every person who has repented of their sin and has placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by faith alone is spiritually reborn and has a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. We can confidently call the all-powerful God of the Universe our Father only because the blood of His Son washed ALL of our sins away – past, present, and future. We can stand humbly but confidently before God clothed in the imputed perfect righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!!!

I walk with the Lord daily as I journey through this life. He knows me intimately. He protects me. He sustains me. He indwells me. He gives me my next breath. He is my Rock. He is my All. I am nothing without Him. I love Him beyond words. He pulled me out of the deep, dark abyss into the bright sunshine. He grabbed me and pulled me out of the icy sea when I had no strength or breath left. He suffered and died for ALL my sins. He took them all upon himself. Oh, my Lord! Not to have a relationship with Him? There could be NOTHING worse.

Kneeling before a bread wafer is NOT a personal relationship with God. Getting more deeply involved with your religion is NOT a relationship with God. Don’t say you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ if you’re trying to merit your salvation. Does not compute. Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith alone. Seek out an evangelical church in your area where the genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone is proclaimed. Devour His Word like your three daily meals. Inhale His Word like oxygen!

People sit in front of a TV screen every Sunday and passionately cheer on their favorite football team, but can’t be bothered with the eternal salvation God freely offers through Jesus Christ and the opportunity to have the Almighty God of the Universe as Redeemer, Father, Friend, and the Rock of their life??? That’s just crazy!

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” – Galatians 4: 4-7

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving me!!!

Addendum: Several Roman Catholics have written to me in the past, angrily insisting that THEY DID have a “personal relationship with Jesus.” Well, my Catholic friends, you definitely CANNOT be in a relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ, when you are trying to merit your own salvation. Can’t be done. Does not compute.