In Reply to: why is that the core? posted by lydia on April 13, 2004 at 07:50:42:
Beautifully put...eros in the NT isn't really mentioned, however agape is...we had too little sound background...same Berg, sad to say...
I do think in this discussion about sin (besides that harmatia means missing, failing, also a spiritual goal...sin in "paradise" was equivalent to disobedience...) it's important to mention, that you usually feel disappointed, sad, unfulfilled,if you miss something...
I think, that that made us search for the answer, a lack of righteousness in the world, a lack of love, lack of sympathy & real joy, instead of only fun & foolishness...a lack of real peace...
One senses, that we can't buy it...one senses, that's not in us...incomplete as we prove ourselves to be in daily life & we learn to discern, that behind the bold mask of a nasty religious imposter, there is really nothing more, than we have/had...
So that lack leads you to ask, simple like a child, who lacks...or a child who goofed things up,broke a window or whatever...hard as it is, you have to confess & you're happy to find out, you are forgiven for whatever went really wrong in your life, with the commandment, to do likewise unto others...asking for it & even harder, not asking for it...as I would put it...it's getting rid of burdens...it's getting rid of weights, that's what's about as well & that's why I can 100% recommend Jesus...because it/HE works...it functions...why should it only work for some...I know plenty others, for who it worked as well...so it's not just theory...it's "applied theology" ; )