"Then God said,
“Let the earth bring forth the living creature
according to its kind:
cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth,
each according to its kind”;
and it was so."
- Genesis 1:24
In the story of our beginning; God ordered life to reproduce after its own kind. In John's Gospel, Jesus, the source of Life came to offer the right to reproduce after His kind.
In the Theology of the Eastern Church this is called: "Theosis."
"The Son of God became man, that we might become god"
- St. Athanasius of Alexandria
Fr. Stephen Freeman, "Glory To God" blog
Much of the theology of "Theosis" has been forgotten in the west, or been distorted to say the very least - but it is ultimately the defining truth of Christianity - and transforms Christianity from "just another religion" that attempts to interpret reality - into the broadest definition of reality itself. We are not creatures at the mercy of a distant God - but children separated from our source by our own choice.
COPY OR ORIGINAL?
I have spent quite a bit of time comparing the version of Christianity that is popular today, with the version that the early Church Fathers preserved as handed down from the original Apostles.
What I have found is that the current, shall we say "Contemporary" Christianity is more of a cult of the individual. The Church is still given a place in the scheme of practice - but it is limited to a physical building at a particular place. It is not seen as the physical gathering place of those who ARE the Church. Where the community of faith gathers to join in on the worship and fellowship that is CONSTANTLY going on in the Eternal Reality that is called "Heaven," but exists outside of time and space in the eternal now that is our real home in full union with the Source of all life.
The Church Fathers taught that communion with Christ was not a personal experience, but rather an experience of being one with all. Not in the sense of a kind of "Sea of Consciousness" - but rather being one as all bodies of water are one with their source. The Church is not a gathering place for individuals, but a state of being where individuals find their true identity beyond the past and future, in the eternal Now that is God's dwelling place.
Someone wisely said: "You have no self outside of the past or future." As I sat with that thought I realized that I could find no bearings of my self without referring to a memory from the past, or by projecting a vision of myself in the future. In the present moment I cease to exist as an individual. This is the true reality - the place where God is. Not a place where I can stay right now - but a place that I can perceive as existing - such is faith.
I am not my thoughts of the past, or my hopes for the future - it is a wonderful realization. God has given all of us an invitation to be with Him now and forever in this eternal Now.
Glory to God.
I will write more on this - stay tuned if you're interested.
COPY OR ORIGINAL?
I have spent quite a bit of time comparing the version of Christianity that is popular today, with the version that the early Church Fathers preserved as handed down from the original Apostles.
What I have found is that the current, shall we say "Contemporary" Christianity is more of a cult of the individual. The Church is still given a place in the scheme of practice - but it is limited to a physical building at a particular place. It is not seen as the physical gathering place of those who ARE the Church. Where the community of faith gathers to join in on the worship and fellowship that is CONSTANTLY going on in the Eternal Reality that is called "Heaven," but exists outside of time and space in the eternal now that is our real home in full union with the Source of all life.
The Church Fathers taught that communion with Christ was not a personal experience, but rather an experience of being one with all. Not in the sense of a kind of "Sea of Consciousness" - but rather being one as all bodies of water are one with their source. The Church is not a gathering place for individuals, but a state of being where individuals find their true identity beyond the past and future, in the eternal Now that is God's dwelling place.
Someone wisely said: "You have no self outside of the past or future." As I sat with that thought I realized that I could find no bearings of my self without referring to a memory from the past, or by projecting a vision of myself in the future. In the present moment I cease to exist as an individual. This is the true reality - the place where God is. Not a place where I can stay right now - but a place that I can perceive as existing - such is faith.
I am not my thoughts of the past, or my hopes for the future - it is a wonderful realization. God has given all of us an invitation to be with Him now and forever in this eternal Now.
Glory to God.
I will write more on this - stay tuned if you're interested.
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