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Alan Creech
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aaron klinefelter
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February 09, 2006
> 9:53 AM
brokenness > 1 It's used a good deal and I think it's fair. It's a fair way to describe our state as human persons. Broken. It seems to be fashionable at present to dismiss the concept of original sin, I think mostly because it's not fair. Well, I suppose if everything was face value and had to do with mere behaviour then there may be something to that. But that's not the case. We usually don't get to the level of ontology in our common discussions, at the level of the ground of our being. We should. If we don't, as deep and scary as it sounds, we really don't get to the heart of any human issue. We skim the surface. We are more than thinking bodies which behave in certain ways. We are part of a much deeper cosmic fabric of which our bodies and minds are only pieces. So whatever happened at the beginning, with people, however, and we know the basic Biblical story, we fell - however that all took place, it did, it happened and it broke us - US. At the ontological level a breaking happened. Our collective being was fractured. Now, theologians have labeled this original sin. It is this deep ontological fracture which separates us from the Life of God. To do away with this shared broken nature is to put undue weight on each individual. What I mean to say is: If there is not this inherited brokenness then each person, logically, is conceived in a perfectly clean and untainted state with their being at union with God for this was the original state of Creation. It would them follow further that, in typical terminology, we're just fine. Why did God even take on human flesh? So, the point is, we each make individual decisions to damn ourselves - now THAT'S fair. We get what we pay for. And we all eventually break along the way. Nobody can be perfect. Whaaaat? Wait. Why? You already are so why can't you remain so? Without writing a book on the subject, I don't buy it. It breaks all to pieces in it's pop logic. It sounds good in some way but that doesn't always mean a whole heck of a lot. Wow, this is still relatively just getting into what's necessary to talk about this business, but for a blog post, getting long. I'll try to shave it down some. I needed to lay a little bit of groundwork. So, accept the premise or not, we're broken at the ground of our being from the get-go. This is what the whole pesky Salvation thing is all about and why everyone needs it. But it's not a simple patch job that's needed. That would be a troublesome concept of Salvation. We have that floating around. To be "saved" is actually not even to be fixed or rebuilt, it is to put on a suit that has "fixed" written all over it. We just go through a line and get "fixed" stamped on our heads but no real ontological change happens. Partly, and I say partly (not all there is to it) this is a problem when "Justification" is considered the whole of our Salvation. It is not. A stamp is certainly not even a sufficient idea to describe what Justification is, much less the whole notion of Salvation. It's much deeper than that. It's much more mystical and real than that. Please. I'm realizing that this will have to go on for at least one more post. Here's a teaser for the rest: this brokenness at the root of our person, our being, can be made more broken. I want to talk, especially of the brokenness that is in the process of being repaired in those who are Christian - who are in Christ. At this point the Holy Spirit has entered in and begun the surgical procedure required to weave the fracture back together so that we can be whole Human Beings again. Our cooperation and actions are indeed important at this point and in this process. More later... Pax vobiscum. technorati tags > brokenness, sin, original sin, theology, spiritual formation, discipleship, spirituality Labels: spiritual formation, theology 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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