Fullness, Exile, Middle Condition

"What is terrible in this latter condition (exile) is that we lose a sense of where the place of fullness is, even of what fullness could consist of; we feel we've forgotten what it would look like, or cannot believe in it anymore. But the misery of absence, of loss, is still there, indeed, it is in some ways even more acute."

Secular Worldview = within or inside

Christian Worldview = without or outside

"Today we think of salvation (FULLNESS) in moral and legal terms: We have committed certain transgressions, we deserve to be penalized, we need forgiveness. The ancient Christians understood it quite differently. We're gravitating toward death (EXILE), and we need a total reorientation so that our lives start moving toward God. ---When you think about it like this, you no longer see salvation (FULLNESS) as a one-off event--yesterday I was guilty, today I am forgiven. You start seeing it as a lifelong process of growth and transformation"