Does the Church today know more about Love?

[OneSheep]

grannymh:

First, God with His assumed human nature conquers bodily death. However, that still leaves a human nature in the State of Mortal Sin, no longer capable of enjoying God’s Sanctifying Grace. Sanctifying Grace is the special grace which brings us into friendship with God by giving us a share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity. Our human goal is to remain in the State of Sanctifying Grace.

What good is freedom from eternal death when the hidden Adam does not have the power to open the door to God, his Savior? It should be common sense that Adam had to atone, which is the demonstration of true sorrow, for his mortal sin. It is Adam who had to clean the slate which is the simple meaning of atonement or expiation. God remained the same God after the Original Sin. It is Adam who changed. Adam shut the door and remained behind it. It is Adam’s responsibility to make amends for his own decision.

God, standing at the closed door, loved Adam so much that He took on Adam’s human nature with all its pain and suffering. John 3: 16-17 not only refers to Adam, but to the whole world of human creatures. God, with His human nature, freely chose to stand in Adam’s place in order to atone for Adam’s defiant choice by suffering the results of Adam’s sin in a visible way. Today, this choice is re-presented in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

God did come to Adam, ready to give him His loving forgiveness. But Adam was behind a closed door and without the power to open it. God did not abandon Adam. God so loved Adam that He assumed Adam’s human nature so that there would be human obedience in the place of the disobedient Adam. This obedience was not lip service; it was the ultimate obedience of human suffering unto death. No one can say that natural atonement as a pledge of sorrow was lacking when Jesus freely chose to hang bloody on His cross.

Again, from the Introduction to Christianity:

His (Anselm) view has put a decisive stamp on the second millennium of Western Christendom, which takes it for granted that Christ had to die on the cross in order to make good the infinite offense which had been committed and in this way to restore the damaged order of things.

“Now it cannot be denied that this theory takes account of crucial biblical and human perceptions; anyone who studies it with a little patience will have no difficulty in seeing this. To that extent it will always command respect as an attempt to synthesize the individual elements in the biblical evidence in one great all-embracing system.

So, yes, the expiation point of view makes sense in terms of “crucial biblical and human perceptions”, and the point of view can (and should!) command respect. I really agree with this part from the Cardinal!

So, do you see, Granny? Can you give respect to the possibility that there is another way of seeing the whole picture? Is it scary to think that there is another way of seeing God? That’s okay, you don’t have to change your point of view. I would like readers to know that there is another way of seeing the whole picture. The “knowing about love” part involves understanding and accepting the differences and realizing that we are still all One Body.

God Bless your day, and thanks for your reply!