NewAgeLink
W00t! ... hm, are Mormons pagan?
razz (J/k; I seriously don't know much of anything about them except I've heard that they believe you can become a god, still subservient to Jesus/God, but a god nonetheless.)
Theosis (Deification) is not a "Mormon Doctrine" it is an Early Christian Doctrine.
The Early Christian Doctrine of Theosis (Deification):
Interestingly, Early Christianity, the Gnostic Christians, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, various Christian Saints and Christian Mystics, and even several Word Preachers (Including Kenneth Copeland) believe in the Doctrine of Theosis (Deification). Here is some information I've compiled on this subject from various online sources:
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Jesus Christ in John 10:34-36 was quoting Psalm 82:6: "Ye are gods; and all of you children of the most High." In refution to the Pharisee's accusation that He was a blasphemer for calling himself the Son of God, when we are all children of God, Sons and Daughters of the Most High:
"Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
Also of note is that in the Gospel of John, God is refered to as HO THEOS (The God) and we are refered to as THEOI (gods), Images of the Prototype.
To those who follow Christ and receive His grace and power, great promises are extended. We are promised that we can receive "the fullness of God" through the grace of Christ (Ephesians 3:19). Christ said that we can become one with Him, as He is one with the Father (John 17:20-23). Paul said that Christians can become "joint heirs with Christ" and be glorified with Him (Romans 8:14-1
cool . He challenged us to pursue the example of Christ "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Philippian 2:5,6). Peter said that through Christ, we can "put on the divine nature" and receive great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:3-4). Those who follow Christ can become "like Him" (1 John 3:2), can "inherit all things" (Rev. 21:7), and can be kings and priests before God (Rev. 1:6), sitting with Christ in His throne (Rev. 3:21).
1. To become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, being glorified together (Romans 8:14-1
cool 2. As sons (and daughters) of God, to inherit all things that the Father has (Revelation 21:7)
3. To become one with Christ, as Christ is one with the Father (John 17:20-23)
4. To sit with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21)
5. To receive a glorified, immortal body like the body that Christ has (Philip. 3:21)
6. To partake of the divine nature and be given all things pertaining to life and godliness, receiving glory (2 Peter 1:3-4)
7. To be made - in some way - like Christ when He returns (1 John 3:2)
8. To be made kings and priests unto God and his Father (Rev. 1:6) As children of God, to become partakers of his holiness (Heb. 12:9-10)
9. To be exalted by God (1 Peter 5:6)
10. To become perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:4
cool Theosis (Deification) is an important doctrine of Early Christianity...
Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology from the article titled "Deification":
Deification (Greek theosis) is for Orthodoxy the goal of every Christian. Man, according to the Bible, is 'made in the image and likeness of God'.... It is possible for man to become like God, to become deified, to become god by grace. This doctrine is based on many passages of both OT and NT (e.g., Ps. 82 (81).6; II Peter 1.4) and it is essentially the teaching both of St. Paul, though he tends to use the language of filial adoption (cf. Rom. 8:9-17; Gal. 4:5-7) and the Fourth Gospel (cf. 17.21-23). The language of II Peter is taken up by St Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, 'if the Word has been made man, it is so men may be made gods' (Adv. Haer V, Pref.), and become the standard in Greek theology. In the fourth century St Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word, and in the fifth century St Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons 'by participation' (Greek methexis). Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St Maximus the Confessor, for whom the doctrine is the corollary of the Incarnation: 'Deification, briefly, is the encompassing and fulfillment of all times and ages',... and St Symeon the New Theologian at the end of the tenth century writes, 'He who is God by nature converses with those whom he has made gods by grace, as a friend converses with his friends, face to face.'...
Finally, it should be noted that deification does not mean absorption into God, since the deified creature remains itself and distinct. It is the whole human being, body and soul, who is transfigured in the Spirit into the likeness of the divine nature, and deification is the goal of every Christian.
(Symeon Lash, "Deification," The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. Alan Richardson and John Bowden, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983, pp. 147-148.)
Eastern Orthodoxy still retains much of the original Christian doctrine of theosis or deification. Here's a quote from Orthodox writer, Dr. Seth Farber ("The Reign of Augustine," The Christian Activist: A Journal of Orthodox Opinion, Vol. 13, Winter/Spring 1999, pp. 40-45,56):
Eastern Christian theology, Orthodoxy, has not been marred by the misanthropic premises that have been characteristic of Western Christian theology, Roman Catholic and Protestant, for centuries [e.g., the concept that infants are already great sinners worthy of damnation, that man is totally depraved, etc.] From the early Greek fathers to modern Orthodox theologians, one dominant theme has sounded again and again: the purpose of the Incarnation was to make it possible for human beings to be reunited with God, to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). As St. Athanasius put it, "He (the Son of God) became man, that we might become God."
Early Church Fathers:
"If the Word became a man, It was so men may become gods." [Irenaeus, Against Heresies, bk. 5, pref.]
"Do we cast blame on him [God] because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as gods? Although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence, that no one may charge him with discrimination or stinginess, he declares, "I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the Most High." ... For it was necessary at first that nature be exhibited, then after that what was mortal would be conquered and swallowed up in immortality." [Irenaeus, Against Heresies,4.38. Cp. 4.11] [(2): "But man receives progression and increase towards God. For God is always the same, so also man, when found in God, shall always progress toward God."]
Saint Clement of Alexandria wrote, "Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god." [Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks, 1]
"If one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God.... His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, 'Men are gods, and gods are men.'" [Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, 3.1 See also Clement, Stromateis, 23]
Saint Justin Martyr insisted that in the beginning men were 'made like God, free from suffering and death,' and that they are thus deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the highest. [Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 124]
Saint Athanasius - that tireless foe of heresy after whom the orthodox Athanasian Creed is named - also stated his belief in deification: "The Word was made flesh in order that we might be enabled to be made gods.... Just as the Lord, putting on the body, became a man, so also we men are both deified through his flesh, and henceforth inherit everlasting life." [Athanasius, Against the Arians, 1.39, 3.34]
On another occasion Athanasius stated, "He became man that we might be made divine" [Athanasius, De Inc., 54]
Saint Augustine himself, the greatest of the Christian Fathers, said: "But he himself that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. 'For he has given them power to become the sons of God' [John 1:12] If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods." [Augustine, On the Psalms, 50.2]
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