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PotOnWheel
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890
| Posted 4/24/2002 1:48 PM (GMT -6) |   | THIS IS A LAST REVISITING OF THE THEME OF "PANENTHEISM" VERSUS "PANTHEISM" (FROM AN EASTERN ORTHODOX POINT OF VIEW)
The following is taken from another site.
Xxxxxxx asked awhile ago about this passage from a book by Timothy Ware on Orthodox theology:
quote:
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The Inner Kingdom, by Bishop Kallistos Ware (posted months earlier by me, PoW)
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt.5:8). Made in God's image, man is a mirror of the divine. He knows God by knowing himself: entering within himself, he sees God reflected in the purity of his own heart..." (page 55)
And to these passages we may add the testimony of a Western witness in our own day, Thomas Merton: "At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will...:"
Xxxxxxx Response
I can't even explain how uncomfortable I am with this language. I really don't even know how to ask questions about it. I need some explanation. I can't think of any statements that are more contrary to the message of the gospel than these.
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Yyyyyyyyyyyyy posted in reponse:
Here is the response I received from my Priest, Fr. Mxxxxxxxxx about this:
quote:
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Welllllll,
the short answer is that "we are made in the image and likeness of God" from the Book of Genesis. This image is masked by the fall of Adam, but is not destroyed. (as evidenced by the actions of the Prodigal Son when he "came to himself". The Father restored him to full son ship.)
The historic Church has always understood this to be a fundamental principle of the spiritual life....At baptism the image of God is restored in us, the remainder of our lives is the struggle to be restored in the likeness of God. Thus... "We must work out our salvation in fear and trembling... Those of your who are being saved..... Take up your cross and follow Me..." One could go on.
Reformed theology does not really seem to understand this fundamental principle due to a new and unique understanding of Sola Gratia and a rejection of early Christian understanding and awareness.
We would agree with Sola Gratia, but understand it in a very different way.
When a new ager says that we are "God within", this is an entirely different meaning than the Church understanding. To them we are part of God in essence (pantheism) rather than creatures who share in God's Energies by His Grace and Design. (panentheism).
There is probably no non heretical form of Christianity that would understand this in any other way before the time of Luther and especially his followers who had their own ideas before he passed on. Luther was already in shock at how it began to morph before his own eyes. (every man for himself after that).
Perhaps that is a start....
Let me know if you need more
FMT
SO, THERE IT IS....MAYBE:
panentheism === creatures share in God's Energies by His Grace and Design. === ORTHODOXY!
pantheism === we are part of God in essence === HERESY!
Edited by - PotOnWheel on 04/24/2002 6:50:08 PM | | Back to Top | | |
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