[logos]

Is it possible - just a thought before I dig deeply into all the rest of this - that Christian dualism springs from the difficulty that most Christians have in realizing that they already participate in eternal life? In other words, that we tend to look forward to some unspecified future date and destination, failing to realize that we've already arrived now? "In the world but not of the world" must have some meaning greater than simple human aspiration, don't you think?

Or am I missing the point completely?

[lockeliberty]

Sorry for the delay. I was going to post a techinical refutation of Platonic dualism but I think I covered that enough for now.

that Christian dualism springs from the difficulty that most Christians have in realizing that they already participate in eternal life? In other words, that we tend to look forward to some unspecified future date and destination, failing to realize that we've already arrived now?

I'm not convinced that it springs from the ignorance most Christians have of thier present kingdom authority but rather Platonic dualism that has infested Christian theology is the cause of that lack of knowledge. Following Platonic theory we are just "hovering" between earth and heaven in some sort of synthetic no-mans land reaching for the sky while being pulled by some sort of evil grativational force toward the earth. With that sort of mindset it is only natural that the natural is considered evil.