Greetings in that Divine and Most Precious Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Irish Hermit said:
What I am hearing is that if salvation is possible for the unbaptized (and it is) then the corollary has to be that people such as the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, the Grand Rabbi of Jerusalem are also in the process of divinisation just as all the baptized are.
I find that illogical. Why are you supporting it? You're basically saying that the entire human race is undergoing theosis.
So you rather say that the clear miracles performed and spoken of by these folks in the past are from their own human efforts and not give the glory to God? I would say this, when push comes to shove, folks outside the Church have access to theosis, however since we have all accepted theosis as a gradual process, folks outside a Sacramental relationship are obviously moving at a mercilessly slow pace, so we can still accept that our Church is the mechanism of Salvation, and yet not have to condemn God to be stuck exclusively in the Church.
Lets be very mechanical about this. Theosis is to get closer to God, sin pushes us away from God. The Grace of God present in the Mysteries sanctifies us away from Sin and brings us closer in Theosis. Sin pushes us away hence the need to Confess and Repent and further for Theosis to be a gradual process instead of some kind of instant becoming. Realistically then, this is Law vs Grace isn't it? The Dhali Lama or Chief Rabbi or Imam are legalists, and they are trying to stop sinning solely by their own efforts by following their respective Laws. We know only Grace can achieve this.
So what I would suggest is that perhaps theosis is obtainable outside of the Church, but Grace to free us from inevitable Sin is not, and therefore folks outside the Church can get closer to God by theosis however their own sins will continually push back and away.
This is why I again asked the very specific and unanswered question, as to what do the Fathers define theosis and prayer as and are these separate according to the Fathers?
I can accept either verdict.
stay blessed,
habte selassie