thesoulpurposedotorg

Turning ourselves over to God is in reality returning to our original self. As the Christian faith moved across the globe toward the East and toward the West, there developed a theological division in understanding of our true nature in the 11th century. The church to the West, under the authority of the Roman papacy, took the path of emphasizing “original sin” . The church in the east, which we now know as the Orthodox Churches, knew none of this. This church considered the doctrine of original nature, known also as Imago Dei as foundational to understanding our relationship to God.

….we are the icon, the image of God, this means that there is an innate goodness in the human being that, once uncovered, needs no outward enforcement, All we have to do is become what we are: to be ourselves as God made us; to do what we see to be right according to our inherent sense of what is right and our best ability.

from A Different Christianity by Robin Ammis

The day my firstborn arrived, I threw off the doctrine of original sin. This doesn’t mean I am naive to the reality of evil and our human propensity to make destructive choices. However, being created in God’s image is the prior reality and of more consequence.

What does this mean practically? By practicing the presence of God through the Jesus Prayer (also known as the Prayer of the Heart)and other spiritual disciplines, we grow in our ability to perceive that we are indeed, in our truest nature, divine. Like Jesus, we are fully human and meant to fully realise full divinity. Very few of us get to that place but it is our calling in Christ to be saints. It is our calling to be one with God, Creator, Christ and Santifier.

This is a process, over time, called sanctification by the western church and deification in the orthodox tradition.

“Now seekers after knowledge must know exactly how to make out true orthodoxy for themselves by using natural examples; and especially such as are drawn from our very selves, for they are surer and are a true means of proof.”

Saint Gregory the Sinaite Discourse on the Transfiguration