“I love Jesus” or “I have a personal relationship with Jesus” coming from Catholics sounds so weird to Orthodox Christians. What exactly do you mean by that?
I’m neither, but it does sound weird to me, too.
Discussion
Don't watch this. Very inappropriate. Completely unrelated.
It sounded strange to me as well until I had a personal experience of connection with Christ.
It can't really be explained in words. It was and is a felt experience which colors every experience in my life. Moreso at some times than others.
The connection comes and goes depending on context and my attunement.
It sounds like you may have experienced some raised consciousness, awakening, deep connection with yourself and the universe. The so-called “Christ consciousness”. But what does it have to do with Jesus himself?
I agree with your assessment. That experience has left me open to understanding the life of Jesus as it is portrayed in the gospels.
Contemplation of what Jesus did in his lifetime has brought me a much deeper sense of the spiritual conditions of the human experience. Being in the world, but not of the world ect.
At times I have had glimpses of experience in which I feel a connection with Jesus personified. The essence of each of them has been a sharing in Christ consciousness, but the reverance is not inwardly focused. It's focused on Jesus' love and grace, which is unmatched.
Buddha had his own accomplishments and I would say they are similar, yet different. Both were necessary to awaken the earth to its current state. Different vehicles for different lessons and cultural contexts.
There are many intellectual ways I could interpret my experiences. In a sense they provide an entertaining puzzle. In another sense there is no point in thinking about them rationally.
I don't feel a compulsion to convince anyone of my way of thinking. In my experiexperience, all words are cheesy and meaningless without personal experience of the divine, but hopefully some of what I wrote made sense.