The Doctrine of Divine Providence

Divine Providence is the way God rules over all things in the world and the Heavens. Gotanswers. org states,

"The purpose, or goal, of divine providence is to accomplish the will of God. To ensure that His purposes are fulfilled, God governs the affairs of men and works through the natural order of things. The laws of nature are nothing more than a depiction of God at work in the universe. The laws of nature have no inherent power, nor do they work independently. The laws of nature are the rules and principles that God set in place to govern how things work" (Gotquestions.org, 2010)

The Bible, Proverbs 16:9 states: "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Though God allows man free will, he also has a guidance control in our life.

In Acts 9, God directly deal with Saul through a blinding light and converts Saul to his will changing his name to Paul. This is the divine providence of God and the control of the universe through direct or indirect means.

Faith

Faith is the act of believing and trusting in God though we cannot see or feel his existence. The believing in Jesus and His atonement for our sins by way of His death on the cross is a form of faith. Faith can be described as the belief in God for His mercy and goodness, even though we have all sinned and disappointed God.

Eternal life is granted to the saved by the repentance of our sins, and the belief in Jesus as our Savior. Paul states in Ephesians 2: 8-10,

8" for by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift -- 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 for we are His creation -- created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them" (Holman Christian Standard Bible, 2004).

One of the best examples of the description of faith comes from ChristianityEtc.org's website article, "What is Christian Faith?" And states,

" the Bible is the record of God's ongoing efforts to restore this relationship that he intended with his human creatures. It relates over and over again his calls, his invitations, to human beings to trust him, to have faith in his word, and to accept his good gift of grace and his good will" (christainityetc.org, 2010).

Faith is surrendering...

It is the spiritual awareness of God and his love, grace, and mercy.
Modern Definitions of Christian and Secular Definitions of Theology

Modern day critics of theology and the religious systems state that religion is irrational and lacks usage in human society. The inventor of the theory of Marxism and Socialism, Karl Marx has been noted as referring to religion as the "opiate" of the people.

Secular society defines theology as the belief of radicals and extremists. Answers.com gives the definitions of secularism as:

"George Holyoake's 1896 publication English Secularism defines secularism as:

Secularism is a code of duty pertaining to this life, founded on considerations purely human, and intended mainly for those who find theology indefinite or inadequate, unreliable or unbelievable. it's essential principles are three: (1) the improvement of this life by material means" (answers.com, 2010).

The Christian has been defined as believing in unseen forces and is irrational; and the secularist movement believes in rational thinking and beliefs. They believe that humans control all aspects of life.

Conclusion

In this paper, 5 topics have been analyzed and researched. The subject of Christianity is a broad topic and this paper could have easy turned into 10 to 20 pages. The best possible answer was concluded and given for each of the topics.

References

"Baptism FAQ." 2010. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://paracleteforum.org/archive/articles/baptism_faq/dialogue.html

Cloud, D. 2006. "What about Hyper-Calvinism?" Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.wayoflife.org/database/hypercalvinism.html

Holman Christian Standard Bible. 2004. Holman Bible Publishers. Nashville, TN.

"Secularism." 2010. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.answers.com/topic/secularism

Slick, M. 2010. "Titus 2:11-14, the Results of Saving Grace." Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.carm.org/christianity/sermons/titus-211-14-results-saving-grace

"What is Faith?" 2010. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.christianityetc.org/faith.php

"What is Divine Providence?" 2010. Retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.gotquestions.org/divine-providence.html