EOC and the Fall

[marvmax]

I'm teaching a Sunday School lesson tomorrow on the fall and am hoping that an EOC could help me with how you view the fall. I've read that you don't look at it like the tragedy that the Western Christians think that it is but I can't remember exactly how you differ.

Hope that you can help me before tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Llauralin]

I'm teaching a Sunday School lesson tomorrow on the fall and am hoping that an EOC could help me with how you view the fall. I've read that you don't look at it like the tragedy that the Western Christians think that it is but I can't remember exactly how you differ.

Hope that you can help me before tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

By EOC do you mean Eastern Orthodox? If so, I'll see what I can find.

 

[Orthosdoxa]

When man sinned, he didn't so much break God's divine rules (though that's part of it), as he rejected God's grace and love. God is the source of all love and life, and to reject Him is to die - not as a punishment, but as a natural consequence, because there is simply no life apart from Him. It was indeed a tragedy, because we were meant to live in perfect communion with Him, but instead we are cut off from Him -spiritually, it's like trying to live with no oxygen. When Christ rose from the dead, He conquered death and shattered those bonds that held us back from God, and made that communion possible again.

Muy oversimplified, but that's the jist. HTH

LK

 

[Oblio]

Hi Marv,

I would suggest reading the first three chapters of On the Incarnation. This should give you a quick overview of the fall from an EO perspective.

In XC,

Rdr. Christopher

 

[Sabra]

I'm teaching a Sunday School lesson tomorrow on the fall and am hoping that an EOC could help me with how you view the fall. I've read that you don't look at it like the tragedy that the Western Christians think that it is but I can't remember exactly how you differ.

Hope that you can help me before tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

Even though it's too late to help you out, while the fall is certainly a bad thing, I believe that God's love and grace shine through in the punishment. Imagine being stuck here on this sin cursed world for all eternity, living with people like Hitler for all eternity and most of importantly of all living separated from God or all eternity! What a horrible thing it would be! This is partly why I believe that death is a merciful curse/blessing of God - He is giving us a second chance to know Him and dwell with Him forever again in a perfect place where "the lamb and the wolf will lie down together"!

 

[heron]

When man sinned, he didn't so much break God's divine rules (though that's part of it), as he rejected God's grace and love. God is the source of all love and life, and to reject Him is to die - not as a punishment, but as a natural consequence, because there is simply no life apart from Him. It was indeed a tragedy, because we were meant to live in perfect communion with Him, but instead we are cut off from Him -spiritually, it's like trying to live with no oxygen. When Christ rose from the dead, He conquered death and shattered those bonds that held us back from God, and made that communion possible again.

That was beautiful.

 

[eoe]

That was beautiful.

That is Orthodoxy.