Spirituality concepts and approaches

Partakers of Divine Nature

In the book Partakers of Divine Nature: an Inspiring Presentation of Man's Purpose in Life according to Orthodox Theology, author Archimandrite Christoforos Stravropoulos discusses how the religions of the western world evolved their religious practices to include deification of individuals who lived within the realm of human beings, such as Jesus Christ. Theosis, which is the term Stravropoulos discusses and defines, deals with the concept that human beings might achieve immortality of the soul and a level of existence concurrent with their god. He says, "As human beings we each have this one, unique calling, to achieve Theosis. In other words, we are each destined to become a god; to be like God Himself, to be united with Him" (Stravropoulos 2). According to the Christian tradition, human beings who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and who follow His teachings by obeying the Bible and going to church and worshipping appropriately will be rewarded for their diligence following their death by being allowed to enter Heaven. This text informs the reader that human beings can become defied and also informs the reader about the ways and means in which a person might hope to transcend humanity and join the celestial beings who reside in Heaven, and by extension what happens if they fail to do this.

In Stravropoulous' book, he describes deification in logical and realistic terms, despite the supernatural and, some would say, fantastic process he is discussing. Religion is not a new concept of course. Since the time of the first human beings in existence, people have looked for answer to the inexplicable phenomena of life on Earth. The more a people experienced the world, the more questions they had without being able to explain it rationally. So, they created religions to help explain away the mysteries of existence, including conception, birth, and of course death. However, in creating their religions, they understood that god must be somehow like human beings and since here was a classist hierarchy in human relationships, this same must be true of the divine, and therefore a series of gods must be responsible, with each being in charge of a certain aspect of human life. They were not able to comprehend the existence of a single, all-powerful entity who could possess all the powers of their pantheon but infinitely more. Further, they falsely understood humanity as separate from the divine whereas Christians understood that they were in fact connected deeply and that more than this, the job of every Christian was to earn their elevation to the divine through following the word of God, not merely as a recommendation of life and behavior, but as a series of laws more serious than those created by man.

The relationship that God has defined with human beings allows them to transcend simple humanity. Stravropoulos states that "Within each human being, God sows all those seedlike gifts which make us His image and lead us toward His likeness, insomuch as we cultivate these gifts" (4). God has given human beings the chance to achieve something that no other population has ever been able to hope for, namely the ability to become godlike and to live amongst Him and his angels and other celestial beings. What happens upon the earth and during a person's lifetime are immaterial except in how the person behaves and whether they behave according to Christian tenets. All humans have to do is follow the rules of the Bible and to obey God. The rewards for such behavior so outnumber the plenary and temporary satisfaction of sin that it seems incomprehensible to true Christians why anyone would choose to partake of it, yet unfortunately many do.