Attachment and Spiritual Maturity 15
delegated tasks with their creator. When they chose against maintaining the consultative
relationship, it cost them their security and they were left to their own limited resources.
This had a damaging emotional impact. It left them with guilt for disobeying, shame from
not meeting expectations, uncomfortableness in God's presence, and the anxiety of being
alone. They had distorted their image ofGod. Anderson (1998) also affirms that sin
creates alienation from our creator.
Through sin, humans have forfeited their participation in the divine Logos, i.e., rational relatedness to God. Humans have become infected with the disease of sin (p. 10).
This original sin in relationship with God and with others continued throughout
the centuries through all generations of people. This is reflected in what the Apostle Paul
calls the "works of the flesh" which are symptoms of sin reflected in social spirituality
labeled in biblical terms as enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions
(Galatians 5:20). These sins in social spirituality today can be seen in the breakdown of
marriage, family, community and church relationships.
Although relationship with God has been distorted, the capacity for Godly
relationship has not been lost because of sin. When people hurt or offend another human
being, they are hurting a person who has been "made in God's likeness" (James 3:9) but
the offender has not destroyed their capacity for relationship. Therefore, our
relationships with God and with others are in need of restoration.
Being conscious of our guilt is not a type of spiritual maturity that leads to
restoration (Pannenberg, 1983). He suggests that "Pietism" in its late revivalistic forms,
made meditation on guilt and sinfulness the basic condition for a relationship with God.
This type of spirituality allows no escape from the alienation experienced when guilty of
sin. Also, there is no establishment of a new identity that can again relate with God
(Pannenberg, 1983). Rather, restoration comes through the death and resurrection of
Christ who thereby broke the power of sin.
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