A former Cedarville University finance professor whose writings promote a Christian ethic of marriage and sexuality was arrested Tuesday on eight sex-related felony charges involving one or more minors.
The indictment, filed March 27 in Ohio’s Greene County Common Pleas Court, charges John Kent Tarwater with two counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery and three counts of gross sexual imposition.
He was booked into Greene County jail in southwest Ohio, where he remained in custody as of Wednesday morning. No defense counsel was listed in public court records, and no hearing or trial dates were disclosed.
Meh… “eat god, become like god” makes no sense.
The whole point of Christianity (at least in this dimension) is that Jesus’ sacrifice is the ultimate mercyful gift fro God to undeserving humans. Participating in the communion is never a power trip to become like god, but a reminder that “you are still standing solely by his grace”.
2 Peter 1:4 - “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature,having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
John 17:21-23 - “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, circa 318–325 CE - “He became man so that we might become god.”
The concept is called theosis and is developed largely from those two verses and was further contemplated by early Catholics. Whether you become one with the godhead, like unto the godhead, or, such as in Mormonism, can literally become a god-being (though not the God) yourself varies by sect. Most agree that the communion does infer some sort of divine combining of one’s self with the god power. You can also see this concept in the idea of “invite Jesus into your heart”, or the gift of the Holy Spirit. Somehow some part of god is dwelling in you and you are a part of god.
Interesting.
I only know the Protestant flavor of Christianity, and never, in many years, I got that kind of interpretation. It was more like “hey human, you are so doomed. Here you go: salvation. Now, in your unpayable gratitude, go and spread the word of what I’m doing, and do good stuff. Remember, without this gift, you were nothing, so, behave.”
Kind of like tiktokers that give stuff to homeless, trying to become viral… but a bit more ominous…
Sure, glory is promised, but you gotta die first.
Also, this “god entering our heart” seen more like “having the unmeasurable honor of being noticed by this god, and (mind being blown) he cares about me”. So the expected answer is eternal gratitude and a “debt of love”.
Yeah, the debate over the nature of how exactly sacrament works and what the purpose is not a singular belief in Christianity and like the Trinity is one of the things that has been debated within councils and philosophy endlessly. The Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox are the main two that hold it physically becomes the body and blood of Jesus. The big Protestant churches run the gamut of “body and blood is present but it’s still bread and wine” to “present in spirit” to “this is bread and wine; the act is symbolic”. That’s also why some can substitute grape juice or water and the act is still valid.
So for catholics the wine has to be unadultered? Like with alcohol and all?