Aron, thank you for your kind words. You are a brother in Christ to me and I do respect you and your faith too.
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Originally Posted by aron
I have an entirely different reading of this scene.
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Actually, you are right. I checked out the context (John 10:25-38). There was more than a statement against a charge of blasphemy. In His conversation with the Jews, Christ revealed the central truth of His identity, declaring His essential unity with the Father. In other words: “If those mortal men who have received the honor to be called gods by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?”
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Originally Posted by Igzy
Here's another, more basic, issue I have with the whole LC mindset about deification and even our relationship with God in general.
The Greek Orthodox doctrine talks about the essences of God as opposed to the energies of God.
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That's right, Igzy! Sorry, I noticed your comment after I had sent my first reply.
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Originally Posted by Igzy
LCers have always been wrongheaded about the process of sanctification. Yes, we have the empowering of the Holy Spirit to help us. He is the wind beneath our wings. But we must still spread our winds and flap them.
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For LCers, it looks like a magical and automatic process. Everything I need to do is to be in the LRC, read WL's books, shout "Oh Lord Jesus", and then one day the Lord will come and transform/ or rather rapture me. (BTW, we don't believe in the Rapture in the Orthodox Church. The belief is credited to Margaret Macdonald and John Darby. But you won’t find this teaching among the writings of the Church Fathers or the early Protestant reformers. The doctrine of the “rapture” was not heard in Christianity until the 19th c.).