Deny Theosis that God became Man so that man can become god? What then do you believe is the Gospel/Good News?

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On another thread, it’s been made know that some Catholics deny the the Gospel, that God became Man so that man can become god even though it is clearly taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Theosis is the very heart of the Gospel! It is the Good News that Jesus came to earth to share, that He was restoring to mankind what we’d lost through sin, what we were created with of being created in the Likeness of God which was the goal mankind was created with. In Genesis we read how Adam and Eve, knowing that becoming like God was their goal, tried to become like God without god by eating of fruit forbidden to them - this was the first sin.
In the New Testament we read how Jesus expects us to become One with God as He and the Father are One. We also read that being Baptized we “Put on Christ”. We also read that the great and precious promises of God is that we are to paricipate in the Divine Nature.
In the Church, from the very beginning, we learn that the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel of Christ, is that God became Man so that man can become God.

So I ask those that reject the Good News, the Gospel, yet still claim to be a Christian…What is the Good News? What do you think the Gospel is?
 
SingleMomMonica said:
On another thread, it’s been made know that some Catholics deny the the Gospel, that God became Man so that man can become god even though it is clearly taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church…
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I think the only difficulty in that thread was a lack of care in some of the posts in protecting the distinction between Creator and creature. That lack of care led to some confusion about just what was meant by becoming “gods”.
 
SingleMomMonica said:
On another thread, it’s been made know that some Catholics deny the the Gospel, that God became Man so that man can become god even though it is clearly taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Theosis is the very heart of the Gospel! It is the Good News that Jesus came to earth to share, that He was restoring to mankind what we’d lost through sin, what we were created with of being created in the Likeness of God which was the goal mankind was created with. In Genesis we read how Adam and Eve, knowing that becoming like God was their goal, tried to become like God without god by eating of fruit forbidden to them - this was the first sin.
In the New Testament we read how Jesus expects us to become One with God as He and the Father are One. We also read that being Baptized we “Put on Christ”. We also read that the great and precious promises of God is that we are to paricipate in the Divine Nature.
In the Church, from the very beginning, we learn that the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel of Christ, is that God became Man so that man can become God.

So I ask those that reject the Good News, the Gospel, yet still claim to be a Christian…What is the Good News? What do you think the Gospel is?
Click to expand...
hi singlemommonica:) are you pointing to the teaching of the Church that states we will share in his divine nature? fascinating. i understand what you are stating and you have no disagreement here. should be interesting to see where this goes. God bless you and yours:)
 
dvdjs said:
I think the only difficulty in that thread was a lack of care in some of the posts in protecting the distinction between Creator and creature. That lack of care led to some confusion about just what was meant by becoming “gods”.
Click to expand...
I agree. I think there was a misunderstanding of what St. Athanasius’ statement (the Son of God became man so that man might become God) meant/means.

However, I feel that theosis is not particularly…known or emphasized as much in the West as it is in the East (both Eastern Catholicism and Orthodoxy). I’m not sure how it is among the laity of Orthodoxy, but at least in the literature, I see frequent mention of theosis in the East.

Here’s a question I have: is sanctification equivalent to theosis?
 
benidict said:
hi singlemommonica:) are you pointing to the teaching of the Church that states we will share in his divine nature? fascinating. i understand what you are stating and you have no disagreement here. should be interesting to see where this goes. God bless you and yours:)
Click to expand...
the Catholic Church does say that we will share/partake in the divine nature (which is a phrase found in the Bible-2 Peter 1:3-4). From the Catechism:

460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:“For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”

2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining “the promised inheritance of eternal life.” The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness. “Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts.”

1721 God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

1692 The Symbol of the faith confesses the greatness of God’s gifts to man in his work of creation, and even more in redemption and sanctification. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate: by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become “children of God,” “partakers of the divine nature.” Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life “worthy of the gospel of Christ.” They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
 
TheosisM said:
the Catholic Church does say that we will share/partake in the divine nature (which is a phrase found in the Bible-2 Peter 1:3-4). From the Catechism:

460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:“For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”

2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining “the promised inheritance of eternal life.” The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness. “Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts.”

1721 God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

1692 The Symbol of the faith confesses the greatness of God’s gifts to man in his work of creation, and even more in redemption and sanctification. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate: by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become “children of God,” “partakers of the divine nature.” Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life “worthy of the gospel of Christ.” They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
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i appreciate this theoism. this is something i never learned as a protestant, and it blew my mind when i first learned about it. love the clarification. thanks:)
 
Wonderful link! Thanks for sharing!

I am eager to find out what those who don’t believe in theosis think that the Good News/Gospel is.
TheosisM said:
Here is an interesting article from the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America on theosis, entitled “Theosis: Partakers of the Divine Nature”-

antiochian.org/node/16916
Click to expand...
 
SingleMomMonica said:
On another thread, it’s been made know that some Catholics deny the the Gospel, that God became Man so that man can become god even though it is clearly taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Theosis is the very heart of the Gospel! It is the Good News that Jesus came to earth to share, that He was restoring to mankind what we’d lost through sin, what we were created with of being created in the Likeness of God which was the goal mankind was created with. In Genesis we read how Adam and Eve, knowing that becoming like God was their goal, tried to become like God without god by eating of fruit forbidden to them - this was the first sin.
In the New Testament we read how Jesus expects us to become One with God as He and the Father are One. We also read that being Baptized we “Put on Christ”. We also read that the great and precious promises of God is that we are to paricipate in the Divine Nature.
In the Church, from the very beginning, we learn that the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel of Christ, is that God became Man so that man can become God.

So I ask those that reject the Good News, the Gospel, yet still claim to be a Christian…What is the Good News? What do you think the Gospel is?
Click to expand...
What Catholics deny that God became man? And, what do you mean that Man Becomes God?
 
ralphinal said:
What Catholics deny that God became man? And, what do you mean that Man Becomes God?
Click to expand...
It’s ‘…man become god’ (little g) as in sharing the nature of God but not obtaining the essence of God. (I hope I phrased that right 😊)
 
ralphinal said:
What Catholics deny that God became man? And, what do you mean that Man Becomes God?
Click to expand...
See my quotes from the Catechism. She isn’t really talking about Catholics denying that “God became man”, but the full phrase: “God became man so that man might become God” which is a quote from St. Athanasius (from “On the Incarnation of the Word”). See the quotes from the Catechism I listed above, the article from the Antiochian Orthodox website, and perhaps the OrthodoxWiki article on “theosis”.

orthodoxwiki.org/Theosis

I think that theosis, while not denied in the West, seems to be more emphasized in Eastern Catholicism and Orthodoxy. There is a good book on the topic from a Roman Catholic perspective, called “Deification and Grace” that I still need to read.
 
Prodigal_Son1 said:
It’s ‘…man become god’ (little g) as in sharing the nature of God but not obtaining the essence of God. (I hope I phrased that right 😊)
Click to expand...
Yes.👍 To put it briefly, “theosis”/“deification”/“man becoming God/gods” is partaking of the divine nature.
 
Prodigal_Son1 said:
It’s ‘…man become god’ (little g) as in sharing the nature of God but not obtaining the essence of God. (I hope I phrased that right 😊)
Click to expand...
TheosisM said:
See my quotes from the Catechism. She isn’t really talking about Catholics denying that “God became man”, but the full phrase: “God became man so that man might become God” which is a quote from St. Athanasius (from “On the Incarnation of the Word”). See the quotes from the Catechism I listed above, the article from the Antiochian Orthodox website, and perhaps the OrthodoxWiki article on “theosis”.

orthodoxwiki.org/Theosis

I think that theosis, while not denied in the West, seems to be more emphasized in Eastern Catholicism and Orthodoxy. There is a good book on the topic from a Roman Catholic perspective, called “Deification and Grace” that I still need to read.
Click to expand...
TheosisM said:
Yes.👍 To put it briefly, “theosis”/“deification”/“man becoming God/gods” is partaking of the divine nature.
Click to expand...
I was making sure that SHE meant it that way. Otherwise, you end up somewhere around LDS type thinking
 
The best I’ve heard it explained is it is like heating metal in a furnace. The fire is God, and we are the metal, going into the furnace the metal begins to take on many of the properties of the fire, but is not of the same essence as the fire.
 
Nine_Two said:
The best I’ve heard it explained is it is like heating metal in a furnace. The fire is God, and we are the metal, going into the furnace the metal begins to take on many of the properties of the fire, but is not of the same essence as the fire.
Click to expand...
Purgatory?

Just teasing…😛
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Wonderful link! Thanks for sharing!

I am eager to find out what those who don’t believe in theosis think that the Good News/Gospel is.
Click to expand...
They may just be thinking it sounds Mormonish, but not realizing it is entirely acceptable to believe as a catholic and is not at all the same theology they have.
 
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