God Yearns For His Other

11/14/2020

Contacts with God and communion with Him are possible, and dramatic struggle is possible. This contact is the communion and conflict of personalities between which there is neither determination nor causality nor domination nor subjugation. The only true religious myth is contained not in the fact that God is master and aspires to domination, but in the fact that God yearns for His other, for responsive love and awaits the creative answer of man.

- Nikolai Berdyaev, Slavery and Freedom

8 Comments

Fr S Janos link

11/18/2020 01:44:06

https://berdyaevdiscussiongroup.groups.io/g/main/photo/256653/7?p=Created,,,20,2,0,0

I would suggest that the above image captures N Berdyaev's statement concerning "The Yearning of God" for each of us... It also vividly captures L Bloy's so very unique inspiration of the "Aloneness of God", -- Christ Our Lord amidst the desolate bleak landscape with tightly gripped hands and slumped shoulders as though saying, -- "What am I doing here? Is any of this Tribulation worth it??"... which in turn echoes our own moments of an "Absolute Aloneness" which sadly some do not survive... It likewise echoes for Christ and for us those devastating of Christ on the Cross, -- our own words on the Cross, -- "My God, My God, Wherefore hath Thou forsaken Me?", -- that tragic sense of God-forsakenness which courses deeply throughout Russian Religious thought... And then too Christ's Final Words on the Cross, -- "It is Consummated / Consummatum est!", -- which, in turn, may they become our own Final Last Words!...
frsj

Francis Berger

11/18/2020 19:34:56

@ Fr. Steve - That is a powerful image. I possess the distinct sense that the aloneness is keenly experienced on both sides.

Bookslinger

11/18/2020 15:46:38

Frank, you are approaching Restored Christianity (CoJCoLDS).

Francis Berger

11/18/2020 19:26:55

@ Books - Like Berdyaev, I find Traditional Christianity's approach to freedom/agency unsatisfactory. Restored Christianity deals with the issue in a more comprehensible and sympathetic manner, theologically speaking. Nevertheless, I don't believe any form of organized Christianity has successfully cornered the marked when it comes to theology - but I don't regard this as a necessarily bad thing.

Bookslinger

11/18/2020 21:51:26

Well, CoJCoLDS and Eastern Orthodox are the two main religions that openly teach theosis.

I just realized the above NB quote is also close to some of William Arkle's philosophy, that BC has written so much about. Arkle also got pretty close to Restoration things too.

I wonder if NB was an influence on Arkle.

Francis Berger

11/18/2020 22:10:16

@ Books - That's a good question! I'll ask BC. Perhaps he can shed some light on that.

Theosis is a major aspect of Berdyaev's thought, but he goes beyond the basic Orthodox conception of it. It would be interesting to know if Berdyaev was aware of LDS theology - and if so - if it had any influence on his own thinking.

William James Tychonievich link

11/20/2020 07:11:49

"Well, CoJCoLDS and Eastern Orthodox are the two main religions that openly teach theosis."

And the Mormons! Let's not forget the Mormons. ;)

Bookslinger

11/19/2020 20:48:32

"... I don't believe any form of organized Christianity has successfully cornered the marked when it comes to theology - but I don't regard this as a necessarily bad thing."

Technically/literally that is true, because "cornered the market" means no one else has any of the desired commodity. Every major religion has bits of truth. Even Scientology has at least the "confession" aspect of repentance, where an "audit" (confession session) allows the confessing person to "clear" their conscience. And most Christian religions still give at least lip service to the Atonement.

If I may suggest a different tack, consider _authority_ as separate from _theology_ and creeds. Because...

A grand error of the Reformation (Lutheranism, Anglicanism, basically all Protestants) is the conflation of _correct theology_ with _authority_. They wrongly concluded that correct beliefs/practices were all that were needed. Yet, that alone begat further argument: "ok, just what are the correct beliefs/practices?" Hence, hundreds of years of supposed heresies, persecution and bloodshed.

Mere adherance/obedience to orthodoxy or orthopraxy, while infinitely better than disobedience, grants no degree of authority to minister the Lord's affairs. At least in my reading of the Bible.

Moreover, the claim of "correct-theology = authority" reauires everyone to be a theologian. Whereas claims of authority allow a more binary prayer with an intuitive/revelatory answer of yes or no. Truth from the Holy Ghost is promised to all, not just academics/theologians.

Not everyone can think/reason themselves to religious truth as Dr. C. did at first. And even he eventually switched over to intuitive (spiritual) discernment.

--

The Reformation has, in the aggregate, now failed. Only the most fundamental orthodox/orthoprax Protestants are surviving as identifiable groups. The Reformation cannot itself be further reformed because without true authority, and true ongoing revelation, it has always carried the seeds of its own destruction.

The pattern of the apostasies of the Old Testament illustrate _restoration_: a new prophet, and new revelations. As far as I know, only one multi-continent movement that acknowledges Christ As Savior fits that bill. That does not prove anything, but merits sincere investigation.

You're getting close, amigo.

Ya wanna shortcut? Here it is: Just pray about it, in terms of yes/no questions. And if you get no answer ("null" response), then maybe you asked the wrong question. Further details in D&C section 9.

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God Yearns For His Other

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