Human Suffering in the Romanian Contemporary Missionary Approach – a Theological Foundation Cover Image

Suferinţa umană în tratarea misionară românească actuală - Fundamentare Teologică
Human Suffering in the Romanian Contemporary Missionary Approach – a Theological Foundation

Author(s): Ovidiu Dan
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă Alba Iulia
Keywords: suffering; sin; Incarnation; the Savior; love; sacrifice; death; cross; providence; health; body; soul; victory; and deification;

Summary/Abstract: The suff ering caused by ignorance, illness, poverty, loneliness and death are the expression of the human condition, caused by falling into a state of sin, by alienation from God, the Source of Life, through the disobedience of Adam and his descendants. Pain is the result of physiological self-infl icted trauma through deviation from the path given by the act of creation, and death is the result of separation from God. The corruptibility of human nature and of the individual, just like death, is not desired by God, in spite of sometimes appearing as God’s punishment for their sin, for breaking the commandments. But these states are not meant to last forever. The pain of sin is converted by God through the work of penitence and repentance (inner change, turning to God), into means to overcome sin. And death itself, through God, is turned against corruption and corruption cause: the destruction of sin so that evil is not eternal, immortal. The true faith, assumed and lived in the Holy Church, is for every believer a source of divine grace, of the power that restores and renews the soul and body, enabling the transition from corruption to incorruption, from death to life, to fellowship with the divine nature . Experiencing the true faith, wherever and in all circumstances, is a source of bodily and spiritual health.

  • Issue Year: XIX/2014
  • Issue No: Suppl_2
  • Page Range: 143-154
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Romanian