Is our "nature" really natural?
I have been pondering a question lately. I posed it to Herman, my husband, but he didn't seem to get what I was pondering. According to orthodox spiritual writings it is our nature to be with God. Meaning, our whole earthly life is spent pursuing a union with God. This seems to be the whole purpose of our being. My mind then tells me that the closer we get to death, the closer we are to truly being with God in Heaven. Why then, is it our nature to fight for life whenever we feel death approaching? We scramble to hang on to each breath and search frantically for the cure of our fatal illness. The doctor tells us we have about 6 months left to live, maybe 8. Our first instinct is to question, get mad, grieve, deny and finally accept. Yet don't we still search the internet and seek other doctors for an ounce of hope? I would think that if our nature is to seek union with Christ then we would address this news with, "Yippee! I finally get to die, wow have I been waiting for this!"
But look at the human body. It works to survive even without the participation of our own will. When a person drowns, their lungs start to fill up with water, forcing the body to shut down to protect the invasion. The body fights to survive, ironically resulting in death.
So it is our natural instinct to fight off death? And it is the human body's natural instinct to protect itself from dying?
So what really is our "nature"? Is it to gain our salvation from bodily death, or to gain our salvation for Heavenly life?
I'm sure my husband will still be confused by this question if he reads this post, but if you were inside my head you'd totally get what I'm pondering.
posted by juliana @ 7:11 PM
3 Comments:
This is the conflict that comes form the fallen man and the ideal spiritual man. Perhaps out bodies reaction is Gods way of telling us we need to do some more repenting.
Matthew
Now that makes sense. Herman suggested that because God breathed life into us that maybe that's why we hold onto life, unknowingly. But basically I'm getting the idea that we have both the spiritual and human instict which should work against each other, but actually it's our desire to be with God yet it's our desire as well to stay here longer to repent. Ok, it's late so maybe it's not sounding as flowery as it does in my head. But thanks for the input-it puts my "purpose" in proper perspective. I think.
I got another comment via the telephone so I thought I'd put it in. It's from David. He said that "this" is not our normal nature, it's our fallen nature that is clinging onto life. Our intended nature is the one that longs to be with Christ. I surmised that, that is why our two natures are at odds with each other. David, did I get that right?
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