This quote struck me today:
Many Christians have tried to pile a positive theology of salvation on top of a very negative anthropology of the human person, and it just does not work. The human self-image is too damaged and distorted within such a framework.
He was talking about how the notion of "original sin" has made it hard for many people to grasp their original, essential being in the image and likeness of God.
What we call sins are usually more symptoms of sin. Sin is primarily living outside of union; it is a state of separation—when the part poses as the Whole. It’s the loss of any inner experience of who you are in God.
You can’t accomplish or work up to union with God, because you’ve already got it. “Before the world began you were chosen, chosen in Christ to live through love in his presence” (Ephesians 1:4).
What we call sins are usually more symptoms of sin. Sin is primarily living outside of union; it is a state of separation—when the part poses as the Whole. It’s the loss of any inner experience of who you are in God.
You can’t accomplish or work up to union with God, because you’ve already got it. “Before the world began you were chosen, chosen in Christ to live through love in his presence” (Ephesians 1:4).
Personally this truth has, over the years, filtered more and more deeply into my own "knowing". It is a completely different starting place from the "original sin" perspective I imbibed in earlier years.. And in my conversations with many people in spiritual direction I see evidence of Rohr's insight that when one starts with a distorted or damaged self-image it is very hard to truly grasp the wonder of the good news that their essential self is "chosen in Christ to live through love in his presence".
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