Ascetical Theology - Who Is Christ, and What Reason Is Given For Following

Who Is Christ, and What Reason Is Given For Following

Christians believe, in the manner of affirming rather than supposing, that Jesus Christ, the historical individual, is the eternally- and only-begotten Son of God, and that He (often capitalized) emerged from the Hebrew faith tradition, which, Christians hold, was given by God so as to prepare humankind for Jesus. The reason given for this preparation for and arrival of Jesus is to be found within the Old Testament, particularly in the Book of Genesis, in which it is said that man fell from God's graces by being proud and making his own choices, particularly in seeking to have the same knowledge and freedom as God has. Christians believe that in his mercy, God sent a savior to redeem mankind from this fallen state, that is, redeem those who would be willing to believe and have faith, theoretically possible to all. Jesus was sent to provide mankind with a way to be re-linked (re-ligion) to God. Christian theology teaches that those who truly follow go to Heaven, where there will be no religion (or re-linking) because love for God will be the ubiquitous and permanent state of the people so fortunate as to be in Heaven. We need religion in our fallen state, continues the theological stance, because our nature is disordered and we cannot see clearly what to do: so we must have faith, and live the way shown to us by Jesus. This is the self-stated purpose or essence of Christianity: to provide the means by which to follow Christ so we may enter the eternal bliss that God intended us to live with Him. Whereas God, according to the same Scriptures, is indicated to be love, Christian perfection is a perfection of charity, i.e. a perfection of love. Attaining this love involves rejecting (or denying) that which is disordered within ourselves, learning to love and trust God, and growing in prayer life toward union with God. This may or may not be accompanied by mystical experiences such as visions, rapture, or miraculous events such as levitation or bi-location (held to have occurred in some cases). This progression and the various means by which to traverse it are described in the field of ascetical theology.