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A note to Kosta: I really mostly meant that I simply had not heard (or maybe better, understood) that idea before. My little "amazed" comment was meant partly kiddingly, but party along the lines of: "In order to love someone, you must know the person. How can you know someone if there is no relationship? God reveals a sufficient knowledge of Himself in the Bible so that we can know Him "enough" to love Him as God intended." That's where I was coming from, anyway. :)

I really hesitate to come back into this thread but perhaps if you read these writings by three of the Fathers you'll see whence Kosta is speaking.

Welcome back, Kolo! I originally wrote you a 19,000-word response to this with 187 separate issues I was asking you to address (a normal post for me). But, then I decided to scrap it. I didn't want to singlehandedly be responsible for a new Freepathon because new hard drive space was needed for my posts! :)

Thank you very much for those passages. While I don't claim to get all of it, I think I see that a relationship or union with God is very desired, it is just a little more involved than something I would be used to.

God reveals a sufficient knowledge of Himself in the Bible so that we can know Him "enough" to love Him as God intended." That's where I was coming from, anyway.

My point was that one-way relationships are not true relationships. God's love and sacrifice for us is immersurable compared to our minimalist approach. It's all God and nothing us. It's not a relationship in any sensible way. We adore God, we worship Him, we "love" Him in a selfish-way. That is neithe rlove nor a relationship.