Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
The Bible does not say we are "becoming God." Lee said it, not based on scripture, but on the writings of certain "church fathers." [ N.B. Jesus said call no man "father." Matt. 23.9 ]
The writings of these so-called "church fathers" are in no way binding on us as the church today. If we accept Athanasius as authoritative, then we must also acknowledge Ignatius who gave us the bishopric hierarchy which gave authentication to the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. These early post-apostolic writers and ministers were definitely used by the Lord in their day, but perhaps their only lasting legacy was the canonization of the New Testament. Only the Bible is definitive for the church today.
In the garden of Eden, the Serpent tempted first man Adam and Eve with the subtle deceit of "opening their eyes, and you shall be as God." (Gen 3.5) Today the oldest sect, the Eastern Orthodox, and a relatively new sect, the Mormon Latter Day Saints, both use this teaching to their advantage. But it's hard to say if any of their adherents are actually regenerated, blood-washed children of God. It's no wonder that Apostle Paul, fighting the earthly wisdom of extraneous errors, reduced his message to "Christ and Him crucified." (I Cor 2.2)
Why would any Christian denomination doggedly adhere to these extra-biblical teachings, espoused only by the fringes of Christendom, and rejected by nearly all Bible-based, fundamentally sound, professing, evangelical Christians?
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To be strictly correct, Gen 3:5 says to be like God in knowing good and evil, and man has already become God in knowing good and evil. Gen 3:5 was a truthful statement, that if Adam and Eve ate the fruit they would become like God.This is proved by Gen 3:22:
Gen 3:22
And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
If Gen 3:5 was a general prohibition on man becoming like God, then no Christian should even talk about being conformed to the image of Christ and immortality.
Gen 3:4-5, and Gen 3:22 shows two conditions for being like God - knowledge and immortality. Mankind has already acquired the first. Jesus secures us the second. Since God has not denied immortality from any of his children, it is appropriate to say that God desires His children to become like Himself.
It does raise issues for "Bible-based, fundamentally sound, professing, evangelical Christians" when the vast majority of early church fathers who gave us the Canon and the Trinity doctrines, all believed in theosis to one degree or another. They believed it as much as they were comfortable to talk about Christians as gods, a step that an average evangelical would never take. And yet these same
"Bible-based, fundamentally sound, professing, evangelical Christians" would rather hold onto and defend their European pseudo-pagan/Christian Christmas and Easter traditions than consider the early church beliefs.