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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Christmas
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
So Christmas is almost upon us.
In the general sense, it means remembrance of Jesus' birthday.
In the more particular sense (at least for early creedal Christians) it remembers the incarnation: God became man.
What does that mean?
One article I read recently says it means this:
quote:
It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs - be it in the Houses of Parliament or the stock exchange. Christians should not shun the world; they should engage with it.
What does God become man mean to you?
How does the fact that God became a human being make any difference to your life?
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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EtymologicalEvangelical
Shipmate
# 15091
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong
What does God become man mean to you?
It means that Christianity is the true humanism.
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You can argue with a man who says, 'Rice is unwholesome': but you neither can nor need argue with a man who says, 'Rice is unwholesome, but I'm not saying this is true'. CS Lewis
Posts: 3625 | From: South Coast of England | Registered: Sep 2009
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Anglican_Brat
Shipmate
# 12349
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Posted
It means that revelation is not simply about receiving a message from on high, revelation is about the divine Word, the same Word that is the source and the architect of the universe, the one who upholds all being, is wed to our human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
Fully divine, he brings us into the divine life. Fully human, he demonstrates true humanity.
Christmas celebrates this miracle, the incarnate God who enters into the reality of contingent, human existence. The one who all creation worships, has become a baby, gurgling, laughing and crying in the arms of his blessed Mother. In this incarnation, all that is ordinary, all that is human is revealed as icons for the divine.
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It's Reformation Day! Do your part to promote Christian unity and brotherly love and hug a schismatic.
Posts: 4332 | From: Vancouver | Registered: Feb 2007
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Mudfrog
Shipmate
# 8116
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Posted
It means that he was born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law.
He became a man so he could die, thereby expressing the saving love of God that he also demonstrated beautifully in his words and actions.
Posts: 8237 | From: North Yorkshire, UK | Registered: Jul 2004
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Freddy
Shipmate
# 365
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by EtymologicalEvangelical:
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong
What does God become man mean to you?
It means that Christianity is the true humanism.
It means that God became visible, so that He could be seen, understood, loved and obeyed.
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"Consequently nothing is of greater importance to a person than knowing what the truth is." Swedenborg
Posts: 12845 | From: Bryn Athyn | Registered: Jun 2001
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Mechtilde
Shipmate
# 12563
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Posted
It means that everything about being human, including our "bodiliness," has been entered into and sanctified by God. It confers the ultimate dignity upon us: we aren't so far below God that we might as well be cockroaches. God designed and intended us to be in intimate communion with him/herself, & was so committed to that happening that Incarnation (& all that followed) was worthwhile.
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"Once one has seen God, what is the remedy?"
Sylvia Plath, "Mystic"
Posts: 517 | From: The cloud of unknowing | Registered: Apr 2007
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W Hyatt
Shipmate
# 14250
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
What does God become man mean to you?
That the creator of the universe is with us and serves us in the gentlest way possible.
quote:
How does the fact that God became a human being make any difference to your life?
It inspires me to try to be with the people around me and serve them in the gentlest way I can.
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A new church and a new earth, with Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life.
Posts: 1565 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 2008
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
It means that the Christ is in you. I try to honour that, but of course, often forget it.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Ruudy
Shipmate
# 3939
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Posted
God became man, that we may become divine.
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The shipmate formerly known as Goar.
Posts: 1360 | From: Gatorland | Registered: Jan 2003
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Tortuf
Ship's fisherman
# 3784
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Posted
It means that God loves us and cares about us.
Posts: 6963 | From: The Venice of the South | Registered: Dec 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
It means that the great gulf between God and Humanity, contrasted in Genesis by the image of God walking with man in the Garden, is bridged. God is incporporated into humanity, and at the other end of the incarnation, Humanity is incorporated into God. There can no longer be a gulf between the two, because of the one who is both.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Mudfrog
Shipmate
# 8116
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ruudy:
God became man, that we may become divine.
Can you expand on that? What does it actually mean that we will 'become divine'? In what way, with what attributes?
I know what it means that God is divine - but will we become divine in the sense that we will be of the same essence as God? If not, then what divine attributes will we have, and if we will not actually be the same as God, then how does the word 'divine' apply?
In John 1 v 1 where it says that the Word was God it doesn't actually say that; in my limited understanding it used the word 'God' more as an adjective tan a noun - I've seen it translated as 'what God was, the Word was'.
If we 'become' divine, will we become 'what God is' and therefore be exalted to the Godhead?
It all seems very strange to me.
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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid."
G.K. Chesterton
Posts: 8237 | From: North Yorkshire, UK | Registered: Jul 2004
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Mudfrog
Shipmate
# 8116
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
It means that the great gulf between God and Humanity, contrasted in Genesis by the image of God walking with man in the Garden, is bridged. God is incporporated into humanity, and at the other end of the incarnation, Humanity is incorporated into God. There can no longer be a gulf between the two, because of the one who is both.
But before the fall, Adam wasn't incorporated into God; he was a separate being with no divine attributes. How does salvation/atonement incorporate humanity into God when that wasn't the original state?
I agree that the atonement is literally meant to restore the close fellowship between man and God but I can't see how it was ever supposed to incorporate humanity into God. It sounds like assimilation to me.
My reading of both Eden and Babel suggest that God was rather against the idea of men becoming 'like us' (God).
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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid."
G.K. Chesterton
Posts: 8237 | From: North Yorkshire, UK | Registered: Jul 2004
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Corvo
Shipmate
# 15220
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
[QB] So Christmas is almost upon us.
In the general sense, it means remembrance of Jesus' birthday.
In the more particular sense (at least for early creedal Christians) it remembers the incarnation: God became man.
What does that mean?
That we should make more of March 25th?
Posts: 672 | From: The Most Holy Trinity, Coach Lane, North Shields | Registered: Oct 2009
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Hairy Biker
Shipmate
# 12086
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
In the more particular sense (at least for early creedal Christians) it remembers the incarnation: God became man.
It means there's more to this faith than PSA
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there [are] four important things in life: religion, love, art and science. At their best, they’re all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help.
Damien Hirst
Posts: 683 | From: This Sceptred Isle | Registered: Nov 2006
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Hairy Biker
Shipmate
# 12086
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Corvo:
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
[QB] So Christmas is almost upon us.
In the general sense, it means remembrance of Jesus' birthday.
In the more particular sense (at least for early creedal Christians) it remembers the incarnation: God became man.
What does that mean?
That we should make more of March 25th?
Why is it the 25th? (apart from tradition of course.) 40 weeks would take us to the 20th, but most pregnancies seem to last more like 42, so we should celebrate the Annunciation on the 6th March.
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there [are] four important things in life: religion, love, art and science. At their best, they’re all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help.
Damien Hirst
Posts: 683 | From: This Sceptred Isle | Registered: Nov 2006
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