A friend born and raised as an atheist in Moscow, Russia, received Christ in her twenties a few years ago. Her elderly grandmother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian all of her life, wept because she couldnt understand why God let that boy be crucified! In the Orthodox Church for 81 years, she knew by heart every ritual and the order in which to kiss the icons and light the candles—but she had no idea that that boy had died for her sins on the Cross. Orthodoxy had so blinded her that she couldnt understand when her granddaughter gave her the gospel! The very heart of Eastern Orthodoxy is the call to become gods through Church ritual and good works. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Baker Books, 1994), Daniel B. Clendenin explains that in Orthodox theology Deification...is the ultimate purpose of Gods creation. He quotes Orthodox saints to the effect that we become god through union with God by faith (p 135). The science of stillness, contemplation, and the interiorization of prayer through constant invocation of the name of Jesus are also of chief importance (p 136). We must also participate faithfully in the sacraments...keeping the commandments of God is indispensable: In the end they make a man god.... (p 137). Deification is a lengthy process in which the Church and its priesthood are absolutely essential. Salvation by grace through faith is vigorously opposed. Eastern Orthodox Theology, A Contemporary Reader, edited by Daniel B. Clendenin (Baker Books, 1995), explains Orthodox theology, with chapters by a number of leading Orthodox scholars. Yet the index contains no listing for gospel, redemption, saved, salvation, etc. Christoforos Stavropoulos, leading Greek Orthodox scholar, explains (p 184), In the Holy Scriptures...we read of a unique call directed to us...: You are gods...all of you (Ps:82:6; Jn:10:34)....As human beings we each have this one unique calling, to achieve theosis...to become a god, to be like God Himself.... Such was Lucifers ambition: I will be like the most High (Isa:14:14)! Psalms:82:6 is not a call to become gods but a declaration that men already were gods through Adams rebellion (the man has become as one of us - Gen:3:22), which caused the expulsion from the Garden (vv 23-24). There is only one true God; all gods are false. God declares, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth [no man-god created the universe], even they shall perish from the earth... (Jer:10:11). dlvr.it/8BRNm9
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 06:25:38 +0000