Spirituality and Tech

St. Athanasius talking of the divine exchange that was enabled at the cross. Jesus became incarnate that we might be reunited with God in the way that Adam and Eve were in the garden. That is what the rescue operation was about. That is why Jesus came, showed us what communion with the Father looked like, then gave himself to unlock this for us. This is salvation. We will talk about this over the next few weeks.

Father, as we seek for hints as to who you meant us to be, be with us. Guide our hearts and our minds as we look at these Psalms today. Help us to understand who we are, so that we can be truly humble, cross-shaped, sacrificial lovers of you and others. Holy Spirit, be present with us today. Jesus, come and remind us of who you are that we might emulate you. In Jesus’ name, Amen So the only passages that I could find relatively easily that suggest humanity’s true nature are in the Psalms. That means that they are poetry, so take them for what they are. We will read sections from Psalm 8 and 82 this morning, and I will try to show that they support the idea (indirectly, mind you) of theosis. Feel free to flame me in the comments, call me a heretic or a proof-texter. Let’s have a conversation. Anyway, back to the passages at hand. (all passages are from The Passion Translation) Psalm 8:4-6 Why would you bother with puny, mortal man or care about human beings? Yet what honor you have given to men, created only a little lower than Elohim, crownedwith glory and magnificence. You have delegated to them rulership over all you have made, with everything under their authority, placing earth itself under the feetof your image-bearers. Psalm 82:6-7 Didn’t I commission you as judges, saying, ‘You are all like gods, since you judge on my behalf. You are all like sons of the Most High, my representatives.’ Nevertheless, in death you are nothing but mere men! You will be laid in the ground like any prince and you will die.” Taken together, these passages paint an interesting picture, don’t they? Psalm 8 opens with ecstatic praise to God for the splendor and glory of creation, then questions in v 5 why God would value us, when there are so many larger, more powerful, more majestic things that He made. Yet, we are just a little lower than Elohim (God) in the created order. Not lower than angels, for how can a lower being accurately judge one that is above it? (1 Corinthians 6:3) If it is the case, as Paul says, that we will judge the angels, then we must have greater authority and status than they do. If we are above the angels, but just a little lower than God himself, then we truly do have the right to judge all things, as Psalm 82 suggests. God gave us discernment and wisdom. He created us to partake in His nature, to fully partner with Him, but we asserted our own will, our own pride over realizing that truth. How is it that we have this delegated authority, that we are just a little lower than Elohim? We have been made in the very image of God. That topic has taken many great theologians many books to try to sort out, and I find most of their solutions incomplete at best, not that I would pretend to know better or to have a better solution or definition at the moment. Suffice to say, for now, that for our purposes here, relationality is the aspect of the imago Dei that I am leaning on. That is the necessary assumption, and seems to be the basis of this theosis and deification language in the East. If we are like God, then how are we like God? Clearly we are finite and He is infinite, so that cannot be it. He is Spirit, and we have a spirit, so that could be a part of it. We seem to have three parts which are nigh inseparable (Body, Soul, and Spirit, in community with one another... We see David talking to his soul in a handful of places in the Psalms), and God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (in Eternal, Perfect Community). That could be a part of it. We also exist in 3 clusters of relationship, God & Us, Us Among Ourselves, and Us & the World. Threes seem to matter. So that relationality is what I am after. God made us in His image, and because of that, we have the right to steward the world, the responsibility to care for one another, and the capacity for relationship and communion with Him. These passages establish those things for us, and we need that foundation to look at what theosis is in the New Testament next week. This week’s memesplanations will seek to support that with some patristic thought, and some verses, but more of that will actually come the week after next, after which we will wrap this series up. After that, we will shift to a more liturgical focus, with Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Resurrection Sunday.

How does theosis work, Gregory? We come into communion with God through prayer, purity, and praise. It is simple, but not easy. What are these godlike virtues? St Gregory would tell you that they are natural similitudes with God, and they begin with the end of our impassioned throughts, which he says are contrary to nature. As we pursue these “godlike virtues”, or things which are in keeping with our true natures, they become “divine passions” and move us into position to receive the grace of being able to unite with God through prayer and praise.

Check out my devotion on Sunday, we'll talk through a couple of passages from the Psalms which suggest this interpretation... you make your own call in that regard. https://rumble.com/v2cju4w-theosis-in-the-old-testament.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y

I have talked a bit about St. Gregory in the past, but as we begin this journey into looking at theosis, about which he had much to say, it is important to ground who he was. He was a hesychastic monk and priest in Greece during the 14th century, well educated, well spoken, ascetic, and deeply spiritual. From this font sprang volumes of theology, among which was this quote. Our response to God’s grace, in his opinion, should lead to ascetic purity and mental prayer, such as the Jesus prayer, which we talked about around a month ago. This purity and devotion, not lessons on theology, will lead to revelation about union with God. Because we are slow, and descendants of the”enlightenment”, we will go through this month of introduction to the idea, it is up to you what you do with it. Will you choose to press in in ways that Gregory Palamas would encourage you to do, or will it stay as simple information for you?

This Psalm seems to be talking about the Heavenly council, the word used in Hebrew is elohim, and God is talking to the rulers in his council, whom we know as elders and perhaps some angels, or perhaps his seven spirits. Yes, the seven spirits of God. But Jesus, in quoting it, seems to imply that, in the vein of Psalm 8, God may have been talking to us, after all. In Him, we become sons of God, and can look forward to living in perfect communion with Him, the Holy Spirit and the Father. That is the essence, if you’ll pardon the pun, of theosis.

To rephrase himself, here is another quote from St Irenaeus. Jesus is the Word, the Son of God and the Son of man: he became like us, so that we might become like Him through communion with Him. That is how we become sons of God in Him. This is theosis, the end goal for the Christian walk in Eastern Orthodox belief. One of the things that I love about Orthodoxy is that they have allowed mystery to be a real part of their spirituality, rather than having cut & dried answers for every little thing under the sun, as we Western Christians believe that we must, for the most part.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons on the nature of salvation. In Orthodoxy, Original Sin is not a thing, though they do admit to nature being slanted toward evil. Jesus came to make us one with Him. God knows that we are separate from Him by nature, but He wants to be with us, for we bear His image in His world. Love makes it so that He does not force the issue, but that we would have the choice to live into that which we were designed for from the beginning: communion with Him and one another. That is Heaven, union with God and peace among humans on earth.

If you know theology you know St. Thomas Aquinas. He is the “Angelic Doctor”, one of the best known academic theologians in the Western Tradition. He still saw this as the case, particularly in light of passages such as Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Peter 1:3-4, Psalm 82:6, and others. What does it mean that Jesus wants us to share in his divinity? After all, he did not consider his divinity a thing to be grasped or clung to, he emptied himself, so that we could be one with Him. That is good news, y’all. That is the nature of salvation, at least in the Eastern half of the Church.

Father, As we look at this topic that has been hushed up in Western Christianity for so long due to misunderstanding, I ask that you would send the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and hearts to grasp, or at least begin to grasp the truth of it. Help us to break through the molds of Western Christendom that have taught us that we are less than, or far away and need the Church to help us get closer to God. Help us to see that there really is not much difference between theosis and sanctification, other than language. Let the Spirit in which you prayed in John 17 permeate these brief thoughts. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen. What is theosis? Simply put, it is the ultimate goal or telos of salvation in Orthodox Christian traditions. What is it, though? It is the belief that Jesus came to earth as a man, so that by believing in Him, we humans might become one with Him. What is sanctification, then? The process of walking out our salvation, with the help of the Holy Spirit, until we become “perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect”. It is the process of becoming holy so that we are fit for heaven when we die. Do you see the difference in language? In stance? In Orthodox belief, original sin is not a reality. Was there a fall? Yes. Do they tend to see it as having or being a norming norm for humanity, in the way that many protestants, at least, see the doctrine of total depravity? No. Gregory of Palamas, whom we will look at over a couple of memesplanations in the coming week, believed that human passions were actually not native to us. He believed that they were things which were actually counter to our nature. The process of becoming holy (whether you term it sanctification, theosis, or divinization doesn’t matter much) is the process by which we grow closer to God, toward the end of becoming one with Him in heaven. Does this mean that we lose our individuality? No. It means that we gain communion with Him, for eternity. We get all of God, for eternity, and God gets all of us, His whole image, reunited. The way I see it, heaven is unity with God. What is this based on? There are several prooftexts, and a long tradition of thought about it among the Orthodox Churches. Ever wonder what the image of God is? Ever wonder why there is such an emphasis on unity in the New Testament, in particular? Theosis can explain some of that. The unity in question for the New Testament writers is not a top-down thing, but rather it is a Spirit-up kind of thing. The Holy Spirit comes and knits us together, and we grow in unity and love among ourselves as we grow closer to God. That is the unity I am talking about, mutually self-sacrificial love. That is what is supposed to characterize the Jesus Community, not infighting, empire building, or sniping at one another for doctrinal misunderstandings. I digress. So what is theosis, then? It is the process of walking out your justification, of, “Working out (y)our salvation with fear and trembling”. That is not a favorite scripture for many of us, I’d wager. That is not fluffy bunnies and rainbows, that is the meat of the Word, boys and girls. So what is sanctification, then? It is the process, aided by the Holy Spirit, of doing good works in response to the Love that we have received. I think that is more or less how most Western Christians would probably define that term, in a rough sense. It is the Holy Spirit working in and through us to realize the justification we received at the foot of the cross when we surrendered our lives to Jesus and made Him our Lord and Savior. How different are these terms, really? In practice, not very, in end goal, particularly in terms of linguistics, worlds apart. I touched on that earlier. In the West, we are nothing but poor, miserable sinners, saved by grace. That, while saying that we still in some small, corrupted way, carry the image of God in us. This line of thinking puts a great chasm between us and God, which only the cross can span. Most of the West would agree with these metaphors. In the East, man is still basically good to start with, but in need of a doctor and a hospital to heal and restore him, not a judge in a courtroom to merely declare him righteous. In the East, the cross does pave the way, but to wholeness and Communion, not to penal justice and rule keeping, to “stay within the boundaries set by the law”. In the East, we can be restored to full Communion, and that is the expected end of the Christian life. In the West, we simply “go to heaven when we die”. Personally, the Eastern concepts speak far more to me. I want you to really consider these things, as we walk through the next month of teachings on this, both in devotions and in soundbite form in the memesplanations during the week. Part of what I want to do in this study is to show that although we have come to use different terminology, the ends truly are the same. I want to show that we are not as different as we have come to see ourselves as being. I hope to stoke your sanctified imagination with new metaphors and understandings as we go. Next week, I will show you some of the Old Testament texts used to support theosis, as an echo of some of my memesplanations this week, then the following week, we will dive into the New Testament to see what is there. After that, we will wrap it up with a nice little bow at the end of the month.

As we march forth on this March fourth, keep this in mind and choose humility. Do you want knowledge, understanding, and wisdom? Are you tired of living out the definition of insanity? Maybe it is time to stop, reevaluate your attitudes and actions, and submit to a mentor or two. Make sure that they are godly and were successful in areas where you want to grow. That will set you up for the best outcome. #memesplanation #wisdom #humility #proverbs #Bible #knowledge #understanding #Truth #spritiualityntech #TechFreedom

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Be humble, don’t go rogue. Seek out wise people, elders, and ask for advice, then follow it. Allow yourself to be taught. Treasure the experiences shared by your elders. Does that mean do things exactly as they did? No. The point of asking them is so that when you run into a similar situation, you don’t HAVE to repeat their mistakes. At the end of all of that, you will have some wisdom. Don’t think that you can just skate by, if you want things to be different from previous attempts. Find a successful teacher. #memesplanations #wisdom #Bible #advice #mentors #elders #humble #humility #Truth #spiritualityntech #TechFreedom

This is an alternate concept of wisdom, one that has no reference to the Creator. It will have its shortcomings, but in principle, this works. Knowledge has to do with the head, wisdom is heart-based. True wisdom finds its source, though, in God, rather than your feelings. This kind of wisdom could fit with chokma, but stops short of that, because in most uses, chokma is this, plus connection with God. Without the latter, it is merely lessons learned from experience, which are powerful things, but miss the fullness. To echo yesterday’s thought, seek Him, ask for wisdom, and He will give it freely. #memesplanation #wisdom #earthly #knowhow #seekGod #Truth #spiritualityntech #TechFreedom

This is why I started the series on Wisdom with definitions, so that we could know what I was talking about, as close to unequivocally as possible. Socrates is typically a bit outside of my wheelhouse here, but we need to know what we are talking about when we speak, particularly in the present day, when the powers that be seem intent on changing all the definitions so that they can say one thing and mean the opposite, but we miss it. #memesplanations #quotes #definitions #wisdom #socrates #spiritualityntech #TechFreedom #Truth

This is a reference to Proverbs 8, hear the Lord saying this today. “Seek me early, and you will find me.” He is the Author of all knowledge and wisdom, so when we seek Him, we seek wisdom. Choose to prioritize seeking His face, then doing what He says to do. Stop trying to run your own life. I’m talking to myself here, too. Seek Him. Seek wisdom. Make that your #1 thing. #memesplantions #Truth #Proverbs #wisdom #seekGod #Bible #God #spiritualityntech #TechFreedom

No one else knows what is going on in your head. Don’t expect them to know what is going on in there, unless you tell them. Even actions do not interpret themselves. It all needs explanation, perhaps there is something you missed in your analysis that they’ll pick up on, if you let them into your thought process. Relax. Let someone in. I’m reminded of that classic from The Beatles, “Hey, Jude”. You cannot function as an island. That is unsustainable. You need to let someone in, before you explode. #memesplanations #quotes #wisdom #explain #notexplode #insideinformation #spiritualityntech #TechFreedom #Truth

Father, As we wrap this series up, come and be with us. Open our hearts and minds to you, that we may receive all that you have for us this morning. Help us to be humble and submit to your voice as we finish this brief look at what you tell us about wisdom in your word. Holy Spirit, you are welcome to do whatever you like in me today. I submit to you. Bring wisdom and insight. Help me to be and stay in step with you, rather than trying to do my own thing. In Jesus’ name, Amen So for the last month, we have been talking about wisdom, and I feel that it is time to let that marinate in us, so we will move on to a different study next week. This has been a very high level survey, and is as far from being exhaustive as East is from West. I wanted to introduce us to or remind us of these concepts, not teach something which I am not qualified to teach on. I certainly have prideful moments, sometimes they are more than moments, though. I used to be a generalized atsel fool, with shades of the keciyl for good measure, as it were. I was cocky, lazy, and while I might occasionally seek advice from elders and whatnot, I rarely put it into action. I knew what was right for me, and probably for others, too. It was often cloaked in false humility, so that I would fit in with the good little churchians I hung out with. What did it look like? I would work hard at what I cared about, but more or less ignore that which I didn’t or found that I was less proficient at doing. I would do reasonably well in school, and my parents used that as a club to browbeat my younger siblings from time to time. I also had a gift of wisdom, so people would approach me with questions which I had no business having any clue how to answer. I would give them good answers, so I eventually got cocky. I figured that I would become a therapist, so I studied psychology and applied for a few different MFT programs. I did not get into any of them. You may be wondering where the false humility came into the picture... Wonder no more. I knew all the religious language and ritual actions to make it appear as though I was teachable, but while I would take in the information, I rarely applied it. I would confront those who did not believe as I thought right, in very entitled and bratty ways. But then when I would get called onto the carpet for one thing or another, I would make a great show of being contrite, and it would usually get whichever authority off of my back and net me a lighter punishment. So I learned to feign repentance and keep the rules most of the time, being obedient when it was necessary, helping behind the scenes, when I wanted to be front and center. Oh, I would trip hard if someone actually put me where I thought I should be, freeze, stutter, etc. I would demure if anyone complimented me, deflecting most of their praise, but really soaking in it. But I was really lazy. I was prideful, never really trying as hard as I could because I knew I was smart, but didn’t really want to test how smart. I didn’t want to find my real limits, so I would coast through most things. I was afraid that if I found them, I wouldn’t be as smart or valuable to others. I still have elements of those things, but adulthood has beaten much of that out of me, and I have had very good mentors over the years. Is my life perfect? No, not even close. Am I wise? Don’t ask me hard questions. Ok, I’m joking. I have places where I feel strong, and places which I know are blind spots for me. I do not claim to be wise. I am working toward that, one step, one day at a time. I make some really bad choices, as anyone who knows me will attest to. Sometimes, entire seasons are subsumed with folly, and others are better. As I said last week, I want wisdom, but struggle to walk that path. I see the path of wisdom as almost synonymous with sanctification or even deification. Choosing the path of wisdom could be equated with allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you in all things, as He is the Spirit of Wisdom. Let me recap the last 4 weeks, though: Our first week, I talked about what humility is, then I talked about what wisdom is and how it relates to humility. Then I talked about the nature of being simple in the Bible, and how it could either be negative, neutral, or positive. Finally, I covered the types of fools we see in the Old Testament wisdom literature. Today, I gave an example from my own life about how I have been both foolish and wise.

The lame excuse for a definition in the current Webster’s dictionary is pitiful, even utilizing what is more or less a tautology. In a sense, it is a right definition, but come on, that is pitiful. Compare it to the older definition, that feels much more full. It refers to justice, propriety, discernment, and discretion; things which are purposely and sorely lacking in today’s world. Things which are actively campaigned against by the powers that be. Wow. Not that the 19th century was a perfect time, by any stretch, but at least words meant something back then. Wisdom, worth it, or not? What do you guys think?

If wisdom is the first, most important thing, then why do we treat it like a red-headed stepchild? We run the other way because the journey to attain it seems daunting, and even the end in and of itself doesn’t seem particularly appealing, right? We like to think that we know what is going on, that we have it together, and the never ending quest for wisdom seems like a slap in the face. Well, it is. Humility isn’t fun or sexy, so to speak, so we turn to the easy way, to the dark side, like I talked about on superbowl Sunday. Pride is quick, pride is sexy, pride can seem fun in the moment, but pride is the dark side. Pride is the antithesis of wisdom.

According to Dr. Stanley, earthly wisdom is basically common sense. It is what comes naturally for us as humans, it makes sense in the twisted logic of this life. You can do well with common sense and a bit of experiece, but if you want even better results, you need Godly wisdom, which can only come through purposeful connection and alignment with Heaven. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom, he will give you the wisdom you need, if you ask, then follow through on the insights you receive. Don’t ask for wisdom, then ignore it when you get it. The Holy Spirit will get offended, look at Proverbs 8. Don’t be that person.

To build on yesterday’s idea, if we truly see things as they are, we will experience more sorrow, because that does not allow for rose-tinted glasses or cognitive dissonance. When we see things accurately, we will gain more good knowledge, and will go through more grief. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? Not a good sales ploy, “Become wise, your life will be more sad” doesn’t exactly sound good, does it? However, if we are wise, we can build our lives, in accordance with Heaven, in such a way that we personally experience less sorrow and grief because of messes we made.

This quote is from Chabad, which is a Jewish organization. Interesting take, here. Wisdom is the power to see the truth as it is. This is a very different angle. If we try to shove what we see and experience into some mold we have, it is unlikely to fit, therefore makes things foolish. Things get distorted, and we make bad decisions based on our mold for the situation. If we are wise, we allow things to be as they are, then set up our strategy to get through whatever it is based on that, rather than our preconceptions.

St. Augustine laying out the difference between wisdom and knowledge, or at least A difference between wisdom and knowledge. You can have knowledge until you are about to burst, without wisdom. That is simply hoarded information, though. I have to split hairs with the great bishop from Hippo in North Africa. I don’t necessarily agree with his comment about understanding. That’s how I’m defining “apprehend”, here. Anyone who studies any given thing enough can “apprehend” them, at least on some level, without wisdom or reference to God. I think I understand what he is getting at otherwise, though. He wants to reserve wisdom for spiritual things, while knowledge gets relegated to material things. That is a little too clean, as one needs wisdom in an earthly realm in order to live well here and now. Wisdom allows us to see patterns, whether in the natural or the supernatural.