That's not quite it.
In the Christian view, there is no radical discontinuity between spirit and matter than dualism implies. The physical is manifest according to the spiritual, but being physical it manifests according to necessary conditions for its integrity and continuity, 'time' and 'space' being principle determining factors.
Can you explain this one more time ? I am not sure I understand what you are saying
Man then is greater than the angels because he possesses both spirit and matter in his own nature, whereas angels are greater than men because they are pure intellect.
Yes man is the microcosm of the physical world and the spirit world.
We were created to be God's children and command the angels.
The angels were created before us. Lucifer was more knowlegeable than Adam and Eve when they were babies and was their teacher.
Unfortunately as they grew, he became jealous because of God's love for them. He did not receive less love from God but his jealousy became the seed for the spiritual fall with Eve. The teacher is greater than the students but when the students are the son and daugther of the owner, they are called to become the owner themselves. Angels are helpers
In human nature, uniquely, the whole cosmos of spirit and matter is united. A purely spiritual resurrection would render the physical abandoned and desolate of God ... this would be a tragic outcome for a creation which has God Himself for its architect, and which He saw as 'good'.
The physical carry our spirit and goes back to dust. It was created in this world and stay in this world. Our spirit is like the butterfly. Our children continue our presence on earth. In the womb, we live in a water environment. After we are born, we breathe air and when our physical body dies we go to the SW where we breathe love. I do not see a problem for our physical body going back to the earth. It is not equiped for the physical world. We do have a spirit body for the spirit world.
Why the 'exalted' human cannot manifest himself according to the flesh, when even the lowly fallen human can, escapes me. Without a presence in the physical world, such a man is lesser than his human nature and has not realised his full potentiality of being.
What do you call the exalted human ?
We do not believe, as the dualists hold, that the spirit 'fell' into matter, but rather, according to the will of God, spirit and matter were unified in man.
I agree.
by the way. who are you calling dualists/ What do you mean by that?
I would say that the purpose of man is to unite all to himself, whilst himself is united to God. I'm afraid I see dualist traditions as maintaining these 'walls' by ignoring and excluding the physical from the Glory of God.
You wrote "The purpose of man is to unite all to himself, while himself is united to God"
Man is a created being. His true purpose is determined by his creator. Therefore we must know God's purpose for the Creation in order to understand the true purpose for man and the cosmos.
For the sake of time since I have to run, I would like to keep God's purpose for the creation for a different comment.
Concerning the purpose for man, Genesis is very clear. God gave 3 blessings to Adam and Eve. 1)Be fruitful 2)Multiply 3)Dominate the earth.
A&E did not accomplish the first blessing (even God gave them a commandment to protect them while they grew to perfection).
They multiplied fallen chidren.
To become one with God and his commandement is only part of the first blessing but to mature as an individual is a preparation to become a couple and create a family. There are 4 realms of the heart that we can develop in a family (first we receive love form our parents, 2nd we learn brother and sisters love,3rd when we marry, we experience congugal love and 4th, when we have our children, we learn parental love.) The family is the school of love. It is a preparation for Heaven