SingleMomMonica, thank you very much for starting this thread. This is one of the reasons why I joined this forum - to network, to learn, to remember — not to argue, have bible verse wars or go out of my way trying in earnest to answer someone’s questions knowing full well that person’s just messing with me and couldn’t care less about my answers
Theosis is an exciting and fascinating teaching that I think is very neglected in the CC. I do remember learning this teaching way back in school, but I don’t remember it ever being repeated after that. I mean, at Mass the Priest says that we share in His Inheritance, but since catechism classes, and theology classes, no one ever really talks about it. And to be honest, I don’t think I ever fully understood it until now, not only because the catechism was pointed out, as well as the two articles linked by TheosisM, but I was much younger when I learned this, and can understand it better now as an adult. Again, thank you for the reminder and the clarification! It truly is a beautiful teaching!
I don’t know why it’s not taught as frequently in the CC as it is in the EOC. But I think that it’s a hard teaching to understand. I think people get caught up with the statement by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, when he said, “The Son of God became man, that we might become god”. It can be very confusing, which can then be threatening, frightening and crazy for someone to read because they don’t understand it. I mean, it sounds arrogant doesn’t it? “that we might become god”. I can hear the Protestants protesting right now over the ‘blasphemy’ of it all. Where are all the anticatholics? shouldn’t they be rallying right now? How dare we want to become like god? isn’t it similar to what the Serpent said to Eve in Genesis 3: 4-5
4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. 5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.
I’m expecting fundamentalists to show up any minute now and refute these quotes with ‘beware of the antichrist’ verses. Pages and pages of them even
Perhaps Catholics are trying so hard not to err and be tricked by the serpent that they just don’t think about it? I really don’t know why it’s teaching is not continued like our other teachings
One definitely needs to understand that it doesn’t mean to “become God”, That’s just a misinterpretation, plain and simple, and it’s just silliness. No one thinks they’re going to become like God. They need to understand that it means to partake in God’s Nature, which is not the same thing as becoming God.
Consider what Peter said, in 2 Peter 1:3-4
3 As all things of his divine power which appertain to life and godliness, are given us, through the knowledge of him who hath called us by his own proper glory and virtue. 4 By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world.
And if they don’t stop there, and continue reading, they will see that Peter is not just handing us an Inheritance on a silver platter as if we’re entitled or deserving by default, but we’re actually called to live up to a standard. In order to be worthy (if one can even be worthy of such generosity and love), one has to live up to the expectations requiring us to be like God: good, loving, charitable, forgiving, unselfish, honest, to name a few. So it’s not just a freebie. We have to live a certain way in order to share in His Inheritance.
And then there’s the simple matter of faith: Faith in a God who is not confined by our limited thinking, does not live by our rules, does not need to explain Himself (even though He did), who has infinite mercy, love and understanding. How can such a God be that generous that he wishes to share Himself with us? Of course we’re not worthy, but He loves us all the same.
I also had a question SingleMomMonica: In the original Greek, is the word “God” the same as the word “god”? In other words, perhaps the confusion lies in the ambiguity of the translation from Greek to Latin to English? Was it worded in a way that was easier to understand in the original Greek? I know they make an effort to reduce the confusion by using “god” instead of “God” but I was just wondering about the original Greek text.
Anyway, someone throw some rotten veggies at me beause this sounds corny, but when I first read this post this morning, I got so excited that I made my mom drop what she was doing and sit there and listen to me read the passages out of the Catechism as well as the article from Orthodoxwiki. I think she was relieved that I had to go run an errand
Anyway, I left for a few hours and then did PM chores and when I got back, I expected to find pages of responses.
This post came at a good time for me. I’m just starting my last semester of school and I don’t have time to argue until 3am anymore
doh2: ) So again, thank you for the thought-provoking and exciting thread. It opened my eyes to something I had forgotten
It really is a beautiful fact of life, isn’t it?
