Casual Chat on redemption, repentance, conversion,

[timmy]

Casual Chat on redemption, repentance, conversion, sanctification, incarnation, baptism, and orthodoxy
2015-12-1
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CONVERSION AND SANTIFICATION
In orthodox Christianity, (as opposed to unorthodoxy most north american protestants believe), internal satisfaction does not come gradually, it is fully received at once when one understands the mind of Christ, (of course, when one believes that Christ represented the full essence and attributes of the Father). It will flow like a fountain from ones heart, without a need to subscribe to continuous religious activities.
But what some people call "santification", or "theosis", is not the once for all internal satisfaction. It is a gradual process of putting off the neural system built from human mindset and perspectives, and gradually develop a neural system built from the mindset and perspectives of Christ. That was called repentance, change of mind, putting on Christ's mind. It is a gradual process, because the connections between ones neural cells do not change quickly.
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MESSIAH'S MISSION AND REDEMPTION
Calling Jesus "lord", (as oppose to calling Ceasar "lord"), was to believe that Jesus was the God-sent-Messiah christ. Which meant believing that Jesus was the Ultimate King on earth sent from God, to represent God's own kingship and God's own attitude toward humans.
As the Messiah King/Lord, Jesus' most important mission, (as believed by the church fathers), was to incarnate God's mind in human form, so that humans could finally see the mind of God in humanly understandable form, so that humans could put on God's mind or Christ's mind. As Athanasius put it, "God became a man, so that men can become God-like".
This point was emphasized over and over and over by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul; and what extremists on earth could study the Bible over and over and over and yet still didn't see its explicit message?
Instead, the extremists would see the cross as something to wash away sins, or to redeem sinful acts; of which they believe Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John simply had forgotten to mention?
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John explicitly talked about Jesus fulfilling the Messiah kingship when he was on earth, and they emphasized that Jesus' idea of kingship was different from the human idea of kingship. And eventually at the cross, being the symbol of shame, the cross had nothing in contrary to God's idea of kingship, glory, power, authority, honor, happiness, and dignity. This is the ultimate expression of a mindset clash, revealing God's mind to humans, and the need for humans to change mind (repent) for a life of fullness intended by God.
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REPENTANCE AND BAPTI***
The biblical word "repentance" was majorly used as a one time change, but it was not restricted to one time. A big change of mind was usually publicized by going through a water rite, in the Syrian-Greek culture. So it was majorly a one time declaration of change of mind. It was called baptism.
Baptism was not the magic, it was just a declaration. The real change was when one repented to the Messiah's representation of God's mind (who God was like)
The real change does not happen, when I change from one mind of human thinking to another mind of human thinking coded with biblical terms. The change has to be toward Jesus' presentation of God's way of thinking or perspectives.
Jesus' presentation of God's way of thinking or perspectives, are recorded in the New Testament especially in the four gospels. But we need to read for the obvious intentions of the writers, with sound flows of meanings.
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FROM ABOVE VS FROM EARTH
When Paul talked about "things above", Paul was referring to Jesus' teachings about "bread from Above", "from the Spirit", which was actually Jesus himself, which was the only revelation from above and from the Holy Spirit. This was different from things from human thinking, which was from earth, from the flesh.