Original Sin Essays (Examples)

Augustine derived from Plato, a perspective that the human self exists as a thinking immaterial soul. Plato stood firm in believing that after dying, the souls with the greatest love for the forms would rise and ponder over eternal truths. This to Plato was a kind of heaven, existing beyond time and space. Augustine interpreted such forms as concepts within the mind of a perfect and eternal God. Augustine said the main requirement was that humans love the eternal, perfect God. Thus, Augustine emphasized the significance of will as well as the ability to choose between evil and good. Loving and serving God was to Augustine, a fundamental religion responsibility. Sticking to this duty, one can succeed in avoiding evil and choosing good.

Part I

Chapter IX of Book Three has Augustine discussing the crimes and vices that plague humanity, even with men who are in the process of working…

Good people do not use their power as belonging to the dominant group in society to make those who are minorities -- because of their race or their gender, their religion or their ethnicity -- feel lesser.

Simple, right? Multiculturalism preaches tolerance, and this is a very good first step. But critical multiculturalism teaches tolerance plus the need to be honest with ourselves and others about who in any relationship or interaction has power. Simple, right? Well, not really. One of the striking things about the responses to Straw was that while many of his critics chastised (or excoriated) him for siding with Western values against the values of his Muslim constituents, some of those who supported him praised him for siding with Western values (such as freedom and self-autonomy) against patriarchy and sexism. When he said that veils were not a good thing for a society that includes Muslim…

Faustus, as Christopher Marlowe's character, is a German scholar who wants to exceed the limits of traditional logic, medicine, law and religion by practicing black magic. Through this, he calls upon Mephistopheles, a demon, who arranges a deal between Faustus and Lucifer for 24 years of power and glory in exchange for his soul. Despite Mephistopheles' warnings about the horrors of hell and his own doubts about what the deal really means, Faustus persists in the decision to enter into the bargain, which he signs in his own blood. ich gifts and displays of pleasure from Mephistopheles and Lucifer, though, distract his doubts and lull his senses and reason, in addition to Mephistopheles' impressive information about the nature of the universe. The parade of the seven deadly sins particularly wins Faustus' mind and will. In the fulfillment of their end of the bargain, Mephistopheles takes Faustus to ome, the court…

high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misinformation, so much so that I have even heard people defend the idea that knowledge of the historical church is irrelevant to modern Christianity. Reading through the class material, I was struck by how critical this historical information was to the understanding of the actual church. One critical piece of information is the idea of Jesus as the head of the church, despite him not establishing Christianity as a separate religion. Another critical idea was that prophets could play a continuing role in Christianity, when my traditional understanding had suggested that after Jesus there would be no more Jewish prophets. I also found myself wondering about the very obvious and significant…

religion, answering three questions, one page per question.

Martin Luther once said "In order to be truly free, one must be properly enslaved." Evaluate this statement using your knowledge of the Catholic Tradition. 2) hat is the Catholic Tradition view of Original Sin and does this view still have relevance today, why or why not? 3) hy has the Church ruled and maintained the ruling that only men may serve as priests, should this practice continue or change, why? Three sources. MLA.

Religion

Martin Luther, a 15th century monk of the Augustinian order, symbolizes the split within Christianity between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Luther once said "In order to be truly free, one must be properly enslaved." He was referring to his belief that human beings have free will only by the grace of God. Luther believed that without God one would have no free will. According to Luther, a…

Many believe that this judgment takes place within a person's lifetime through sufferings for acts committed, and one does not have to wait for the end of time. The basic belief of Christianity is that there is a Christian God, who is benevolent and giving, but who is also a vengeful God. In fact, a large part of Pilgrim theology was premised on God being vengeful, and that self sacrifices were needed to appease God. Christians also believe that Christ was the son of God, who came to fulfill the Messianic prophecy espoused by sages from the Old Testament. Goodness, kindness, good deeds, generosity, honesty are divinely inspired. Christians keep Christ as a cherished beacon to be emulated every step of the way. Good deeds (which would satisfy uddhists) without true faith is meaningless.

The uddhists have an assigned eight-step path to enlightenment. These are not far removed from any…

Gospel: Gospel is a message that has contents on Jesus, God, salvation, the Kingdom of God, and everything that is done to reach out this message to the believers. Gospel is also one of the books in the New Testament talking about the life, death, resurrection, and the works of Jesus Christ.

• Original sin: Original sin refers to the tendency and deprivation to the evil that is seen as innate in all humankind and it is passed from Adam to all human beings, resulting from the sin engaged by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The sin is naturally adapted to every born human being, born of Adam being the initial sinner.

• Fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is a 20th-century religious movement emphasizing on a strict belief in the literal understanding and interpretation of the religious texts.

• Heresy: Heresy is a theory that is developed to be at…

" Therefore, the Second Coming and the Rapture are coincidental events, both of which have to do with Christ returning to Earth. The Rapture specifically refers to what happens to human beings. Once Christ returns, the "thousand-year reign" on Earth begins. According to the FFM website, "Jesus Christ will one day return to bring believers home to Heaven and will reign with them over the Earth for 1,000 years." The thousand-year reign has scriptural origin, and is also called the Millennial Reign of Jesus. A "new heaven and earth," ostensibly a holier and happier one, will result from the Second Coming.

Speaking in tongues is a phenomenon that occasionally accompanies the baptism rite. Many Protestant and evangelical groups encourage speaking in tongues as proof of one's salvation during baptism (Robinson 2005). More formally known as "glossolalia," speaking in tongues is considered to be a supernatural manifestation of the glory of…

Islam

Select a eligion

eligion is considered to be belief and acts of worship, which concentrates on worshiping a deity and gives a detailed and comprehensive outline for the way of living. It teaches the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and morality and immorality. This paper has selected Islam as the religion to be discussed.

Analysis of Christianity

Analysis of Christianity

Analysis of Islam

eligion plays an essential role in providing spiritual, moral and ethical guidelines to individuals in order to apply it into their daily lives (Fisher, 2005). eligion is considered to be belief and acts of worship, which concentrates on worshiping a deity and gives a detailed and comprehensive outline for the way of living. It teaches the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and morality and immorality. There are several religions in the world, which includes Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism.…

Universally accepted as one of the world's foremost epics, John Milton's Paradise Lost traces the history of the world from a Christian perspective. (Milton, 1667) The narrative of the poem largely deals with falling and how desires -- God, Satan, Jesus, Adam and Eve's -- lead to it. The book is about mankind's fall -- Original Sin -- Adam and Eve's disobedience of God. There are other instances of falling in the plot too. First, Satan's fall from God's graces, as related to Adam and Eve by the angel Raphael, represents the past in the Universe's creation. The second instance -- the present (in the narrative) -- is the Adam and Eve's eating of the Forbidden Fruit. The third instance represents the future. Michael, as he readies to escort Adam and Eve out of Paradise, presents to them the various falls of man until Jesus comes to rescue by dying…

" When these words of mine were repeated in Pelagius' presence at ome by a certain brother of mine (an Episcopal colleague), he could not bear them and contradicted him so excitedly that they nearly came to a quarrel. Now what, indeed, does God command, first and foremost, except that we believe in him? This faith, therefore, he himself gives; so that it is well said to him, "Give what thou commandest." Moreover, in those same books, concerning my account of my conversion when God turned me to that faith which I was laying waste with a very wretched and wild verbal assault, do you not remember how the narration shows that I was given as a gift to the faithful and daily tears of my mother, who had been promised that I should not perish? I certainly declared there that God by his grace turns men's wills to the…

Mattew Fox: Te Man, Te Controversy

Mattew Fox: Ten and Now Mattew Fox is a literary groundbreaker in te world of teology, in particular te doctrines of te Catolic Curc. His 1983 first-book, Original Blessing is a solid look at te blessings of life rater tan te concept of original sin. Te notion of Original sin is a central tenet to te Catolic Doctrine, and in 1989 te Vatican silenced Fox for one full year because of is teacings from Original Blessings.

In Original Blessings, Fox divides is book into four sections, befriending creation (te via positiva); befriending darkness, letting go, and letting be (te via negativa); befriending creativity, befriending our divinity (via creativa); and befriending new creation: compassion, celebration, and erotic justice (te via transformativa). He states tat awe and goodness will be te greatest counters to our society's predominantly pessimistic and fearful mood.

Fox believes tat Jesus teaces…

McGrath's comments above suggest periods of conceptual adjustment as observers of the Christian faith worked to make explanations for the presence, even the commonality, of sin as it exists in spite of God's innate goodness.

So again, to the idea that Christianity's incredible facets couldn't rationally be reached by outsiders to the faith with some guesswork does not hold up against the process by which we know Christianity came to be. McGrath points out that in this discussion on how best to reconcile sin with God's innate goodness, Christianity was in a place of coming into its own identity. Answering questions such as this quandary on the dualism of good and evil would be very much a part of 'guessing' the structure of Christian faith as it were, but directly within the framework allowed by the basic tenets relating to God, man and the universe.

The text by Lewis demonstrates…

Clarence-Smith 6)

In so doing the commodity market and global trade developed a new history for chocolate, one that makes it a very fitting liberator in the small French village depicted in the film.

This new history is a story of sweetness and power, that is, the power to define what constitutes refined taste (Mintz 1985). All these accounts relate how Spanish nuns or monks were the first to domesticate a bitter, cold drink judged to be "more fit for pigs than for human consumption" (compare Constant 1988, 29; Robert 1990, 20). Chocolate was supposedly tamed by adding heat, sugar, and more refined flavorings such as vanilla, cinnamon, amber, and musk. This triumphant transformation heralded the introduction of chocolate to European nobles at court. "Hot, flavored, sweet; virtually nothing recalled its savage origins and, throughout the seventeenth century, the brown ambrosia would attract new followers" (Schiaffino and Cluizel 1988, 18).…

Anderson, Neil. The ondage reaker: Overcoming Negative Thoughts, Irrational Feelings, Habitual

One of the most fascinating aspects of Neil Anderson's work of non-fiction, The ondage reaker, is that despite all of the different aspects of Christianity, spirituality, history, and contemporary culture that he details, the book revolves around a relatively simple precept. This tenet is the founding one of Christianity and the principle that has seen many an adherent through any assortment of beneficial or malefic circumstances. Quite simply it is that Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross, and in doing so gave a redemptive power to the world and to all who were willing to believe in him and his sacrifice. This power is referred to in Anderson's work again and again as a means of overcoming sin, evil, and self-indulgence, and to triumph in the spiritual warfare that the author posits occurs daily between Christians and minions of…

Salvation will come based on one's deeds rather than on his capacity to achieve a high spiritual level, as in the Hindu faith and others.

Christianity does not necessarily provide all the answers. Christian believers will still have doubts about their existence, about their role on Earth and about their lives, as well as about their capacity of attaining salvation. However, Christianity provides the means by which one can integrate successfully into his or her life, enjoy the life here, while committing to a life within the Church and doing the good deeds that can help an individual attain eternal salvation. The idea of salvation puts things into perspective, but with a direct impact on the present, because it is the acts of the individual here that will get the salvation or not.

Christianity can be considered, from all these perspectives, the most complete religion in existence and a way…

Once his word is accepted as truth, he promises eternal salvation, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die," (John 11:25-26). Despite believing in the Lord and observing his rules by his rules, the Jewish people are still in danger for they do not accept Jesus to truly be God's messenger. If God's word is truth and is honestly recorded in the Bible, how can one ignore Jesus Christ as the Messiah? For he is "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me," (John 14:6).

Accepting Jesus' message as truth is "being justified before God," (Halverson 2). Christianity, through Jesus is a fulfillment of the old prophecies and brings God to mankind in a personal way where each individual can accept…

Machiavelli, Luther, And Muntzer

Must a good politician be morally bad? In the context of the Reformation, this question revolves around how Christians would define what is "morally bad" had become suddenly and seriously complicated by competing definitions of what constitutes "morally good" behavior. The rhetoric very often yielded more heat than light: Luther's and Muntzer's apparently sincere eschatological belief that the Vatican was to be identified with the hore of Babylon in the Book of Revelations made the question of cooperation with wicked temporal powers more than a purely academic one. Yet it is arguably the religious situation of Roman Catholicism in the first place that leads to the ethical differences in the political philosophies of Machiavelli, Luther and Muntzer. Indeed, the religious distinction that Luther upheld against the Vatican -- insisting on salvation sola fide, by faith alone, rather than by deeds -- indicates that in response to…

Pop is tomorrow's Classical"- Paul McCartney. Discuss this contention within the context of rock/classical music collaborations since the early 1950s.

Classical Rock and Popular Prophecy

To the average music-listener, musical genres are easily divided into homogenous groupings without any danger of overlapping one another. Certainly, there are rare occurrences of "cross-over" hits on the radio that find airplay on both Adult Contemporary and Country stations, or those releases which find an audience among both Easy Listening and Rock fans. Another seemingly strange occurrence that may be observed by the slightly more alert music consumer is that time shifts musical pieces from one genre to another, and yesterday's Alternative Rock is today's Easy Listening, yet even this phenomenon is considered an anomaly of the music industry. A simplicity is desired among musical elitists that preserves some musical forms as valid, labeling others as mere fads. However, the deep impact of musical…

Parableman. 11 Aug etrieved from: http://parablemania.ektopos.com/archives/2008/08/rightreason2.html]

Machiavelli notes how the smart and successful ruler never allows the public to know his true intentions. This brings to the light of day the knowledge that what one sees is not what one always gets and that the most pleasing ruler might in reality be the most evil and corrupt ruler but who is smart enough and strategic enough to pull a sleight of hand and deceive those over whom he rules. Suppose for instance that Lucifer is already residing in a major world city. Then consider what city he might choose. According to Machiavelli, the city would be one that demonstrated "great enterprises" and from the view of Machiavelli's theory the city would exude the magnificence of its ruler. Two cities come to mind in the contemporary age and those being the cities of New York City and the city of Dubai…

Initially St. Augustine favoured the dualistic view that evil was external and separate from the world and mankind that in evident from the Manichean worldview. However, he was later to reject this strict dualism and taker another view of the nature of evil. This was more Platonic and was based on the writings of Plotinus and Porphyry. This refers to the view that evil is a measure and result of our separation from God.

For Augustine, the measure of all existence was God. Instead of the Manichean view that evil existed outside humanity "…as an invasion," he posited the view that evil only existed to the extent that we do not acknowledge and live within God's word and law. ( Augustine Influences Christianity). Stated in another way, evil exists only because mankind refuses to acknowledge God. In essence Augustine defines evil as "…a privation in goodness." (A Brief Response to…

Judaism and Christianity both have fairly common as well as totally contrasting religious concepts. In spite of the apparent differences and divisions it has to be understood that both these religions are like different streams of water merging in the ocean of god.

Christianity and Judaism are both religions of abrahamic origin. There are many similarities and differences between the two religions. Since Christianity originated from Judaism, it lends to the thought that both the religions are very closely related. However, in spite of their common origin, they differ considerably in some of the important issues while at the same time exhibit resemblance in many aspects. Even the monotheistic belief, which both these religions stand for, is quantified by entirely different perception of the attributes of godhead. Similarly, in the understanding of the messianic concept there is a significant contradiction giving us a hint of the vastly different nature of…

King David as Described in 2 Samuel 11

Samuel 11 describes the events surrounding the sin of King David with regard to Uriah, whom he essentially had executed so that David's adultery with Uriah's wife would not be made known to him. This shameful action on the part of David displeased the Lord immensely, which is described in the following chapters. This chapter, however, reveals a side of David's character that prior to this incident had not been explored before. Much of what is known about David's character is celebratory -- from his time as the boy who slays the giant Goliath, to his handling of the Ark of the Covenant. David is described as a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14) and most of his actions support this idea. His "humility and innocence" in his approach to Saul, playing for him on his lyre and soothing the…

In Chapter 5, the great churchman informs us that Water is in fact an apt designation for the Divinity, better than any of the other elements.

Water possess the unique properties of being more moveable than earth (though less movable than air) while at the same time being essential to the creation and sustaining of life, as in the way water must be added to the soil in order for plants to grow.

This signification of matter first conveys its end, that is, that for the sake of which it was made; secondly, its formlessness; thirdly, its service and subjection to the Maker. Therefore, it is first called heaven and earth; for its sake matter was made. Secondly, the earth invisible and without form and darkness over the abyss, that is, the formlessness itself without the light, as a result of which the earth is said to be invisible. Thirdly,…

His followers claimed He had risen as He said He would, bodily appeared to them and then bodily ascended into Heaven, as Elijah prophesied. This experience emboldened them to come out of hiding and they gathered at the upper room of the Cenacle on the Day of the Pentecost. From then on, they openly preached the radical ethic taught by Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the origin of Christian worship and prayer and it directly links Jesus to God and Jesus has been called Lord, the Christ, the faithful and true witness. His followers who observed and advocated His teachings of the Good News were called Christians. Christianity was later founded and spread by the Roman soldier, Saul, who persecuted the Christians but was converted into an apostle by a direct encounter with Christ on Saul's way to Damascus. He was later renamed Paul.

Jesus as a Jew demanded…

Psalm 1 read in different translations.

The New International Version (NIV), The American Standard Version (ASV), The New Living Translation (NLT), The King James Version (KJV), The Contemporary English Version (CEV), The Message (MSG), and The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

I read the NIV the most often because I grew up reading the NIV and am comfortable with its language and cadence. I find that, of the Bibles I read, it is the one that feels the most familiar. I actually found reading MSG a little disconcerting; I do not know that it conveyed the feelings that the other translations conveyed. It actually made me think about the number of times the Bible has been interpreted and how connotation and denotation both impact the meaning of different passages.

To me, Psalm 1 is a reminder that sinners have no place in Lord's kingdom. It was…

The Pope and the leadership guide us in our interpretation of scripture and tradition.

As stated previously, Roman Catholicism is truly a lifetime experience. From cradle to grave, Holy Baptism to the Anointing of the Sick, we are surrounded by these life giving and soul building acts and rarely appreciate them fully. This investigation has not only, truly deepened the author's knowledge of the sacraments by choosing Holy Eucharist, Baptism and Penance. They are an organic whole that represent the totality of our lives and with the spread of the Church's doctrines will hopefully encompass humanity as a whole.

orks Cited

Benedict 16th, (2009, June 14). Angelus. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20090614_en.html

Catechism of the catholic church. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3E.htm

Consequences of original sin for all humanity . (1986, October 1). Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19861001en.html

Knox, James, & right, John. (1977, March 31). A letter from the vatican: first penance, first communion.. Retrieved…

4. How does Luther and Calvin's view of moral evil differ from that of Catholicism?

The classical Christian approach to the dilemma of moral evil has been that people are abusing the freedom of choice given to them by their creator. With free will and the ability to choose between good and evil actions, people who exercise the wrong choices can create moral evil, which impacts others. The Catholic Church essentially takes this approach to evil. To understand their approach, one must understand the concept of original sin. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were created in the image of God, but with a presumably much more limited intellect than modern humans. They were forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, because it would give them moral reasoning, thus making them closer to God. However, they chose to eat of this fruit, which distanced…

These Gods subjugated humans in a way that never happened in other primitive river-valley cultures yet seemed to follow a political will as the concept evolved. This finally culminates in the marriage between the God of Above, Nergal, lord of Summer, Growth and Heat; and the Goodness of the Below, Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld, inter, the Cold, and of Death. e now have opposites, attracted, and yet polarized in deed, action, and even interpretation (Messadie, 1996, 90-7).

This conception then seems to flow mythologically out of the Middle East into other cultures; we have the trickster, the shadow, the evil one, and even the unknown. However, considering the geographical location of the Abrahamic religions, it is logical that there would be a cross-over from the archetype that would manifest itself within these religious traditions.

Satan in Judaism -- in traditional Judaic thought, there is no conception of the Devil…

The Palestinians have never the Jewish version of history and desire to have all the land returned to them. This conflict is intractable and there is little hope of a resolution in the immediate future.

In applying Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism to the conflict summarized above it should be noted that Niebuhr was a Zionist who strongly supported the right of Israel to occupy the land and defend itself. His Christian realism combines there elements of realism, political realism, moral realism and theological realism (Moseley 23). Thus, the conflict must be understood firstly as a problem on sin in the lives of the inhabitants of the area. The groups involved will firstly need to understand their action as a product of a sinful experience (Inboden). They should be prepared to act in moral and right way toward their fellow men. The Jews should be prepared to live peacefully with the…

Allestree indicates that flattery is a form of mental slavery and says that love and friendship are far too valuable to prostitute them. In addition, he believes that flattery is harmful because, by failing to point out a man's flaws, or by transmuting those flaws into assets, one condemns the man to continue in those faults. Furthermore, he points out that flatterers are often treacherous, because their affection ends when the one that they have flattered falls out of favor. In fact, when the formerly adored friend falls out of favor, the flatterers are often the first to point out their faults to those who are coming into favor.

In section nine, Allestree speaks about boasting. Boasting is not limited to people speaking bombastically about themselves, but also includes people who cannot hear talk on any subject without trying to turn that subject towards them. Therefore, it becomes clear that…

Religion

Saint Anselm, the Duke of Canturbury, was "one of the most important Christian thinkers of the eleventh century," (Sadler). This is because Anselm used a reasoned philosophical argument to address theological questions. In Cur Deus Homo, or hy God Became Man, the author addresses the Incarnation of Christ and the theme of Atonement for sin from this philosophical perspective. Anselm distinguishes between "different ways in which an action or state can be just or unjust, specifically just and unjust at the same time," (Sadler).

hy God Became Man is divided into two sections. The first part addresses sin and redemption in a general fashion. Anselm outlines the concept of sin as fulfilling the satisfaction of God, which is related the concept of being indebted to God. This is outlined best in Chapter 11 of Book 1. The author states, "To sin is nothing else than not to render to…

To combat subjectivity, he called for interpretation to be subject to church authority, which was the voice of reason. Reardon (1981) echoes this interpretation: "Hooker sets out to refute the puritan contention that in religion holy scripture affords the sole and absolute authority and rule" (p. 280). Hooker shows that the narrow principle of sola scriptura "disregards the larger context of the divine law in creation within which even the scriptural revelation must be placed if we are to understand its proper scope and purpose" (Reardon, 1981, p. 280). Not far from the Reformers, they upheld the idea that the directly inspired written word contains supernatural revelation. There is perhaps less emphasis on preaching and proclamation in the Anglicans than in the Reformers.

hat is the status of the creeds and traditions? In Anglicanism, the Nicene, the Athanasius, and the Apostle's creeds are stressed as true because they are taken…

Theology: The aptism Debate

Peter's encouragement sermon on the Day of Pentecost -- "repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38) has been the source of raging debate, marred by conflicting views on i) whether Peter was referring to spirit or water baptism; and ii) whether through the phrase 'be baptized…the forgiveness of sins', Peter was identifying baptism as a requirement for salvation[footnoteRef:1]. In other words, should Peter's exhortation be interpreted at face value, or should it be understood some other way? This text purposes to interact with the opposing views on these issues, examine their theological and syntactic viability, and then conclude with an interpretation that aligns with both the immediate and the larger contexts of the verse in question. [1: 1 ruce Compton, "Water aptism and the…

Islam and Christianity have a lot in common because they originate from a single source. Abraham is believed to be the source from which Islam, Christianity and Judaism took roots and this is one of the reasons why these religions are also known as Abrahamic religions. Due to their common origins, the scriptures of birth Islam and Christianity have a lot in common and at the same time, they also differ in a few aspects.

Christianity and Islam have been divided into many smaller sects and sub-sects that believe and follow differing thoughts and ideas. For example, Christianity is divided into Roman Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventists, Orthodox and other groups and each of these groups have a different way of practicing the religion and the underlying beliefs. Similarly, Islam is also divided into Shi'ite, Sunni and to a smaller extent Sufi that have their differences as well. Moreover,…

Martin Luther's Life:

Martin Luther took his birth on November 10, 1483 in a peasant family in Eisleben in the Holy oman Empire, presently known as Eastern Germany. After the birth of Luther his family migrated from Eisleben to Mansfeld. His father was a comparatively effective miner and smelter and the Mansfeld was then a larger mining town. The Parents of Martin were Hans and Magarete Luther and he was their second child. Martin started his schooling in Mansfeld most probably around seven. The School emphasized Latin and a bit of logic and rhetoric. When Martin was 14 he was brought to Magdeburg for taking up his further studies. He resided there only of a year and then admitted into a Latin School in Eisenach till 1501. During 1501 he entered the University of Erfurt that was regarded as one of the oldest and best universities in Germany where he…

Christian knows the earliest verses in the ible. The ook of Genesis proclaims powerfully, that man was created in the image of God. We are also told that Man was created so that he could hold "dominion" over all of other God's creation. Yet, soon after, there was the Fall. And God cast Man out of the Garden of Eden to suffer on earth burdened by the pains of the Original Sin. Through Christ's advent and resurrection, we are informed that Christ was also the image of God and also in the image of Man; and, that we have a way out from our sinful ways. The doctrine of the Image of God emerges as a powerful mandate for good Christian Living. The rewards are eternal salvation and the restoration to how we were originally created. As the book of Revelations relates, the consequences of not doing so would consign…

Personal Theodicy Apologetics
The problem of evil is something everyone has to face sooner or later. As Schlesinger points out, philosophers want to understand “why there is any suffering in the world at all.”[footnoteRef:2] The problem with a philosophical approach to suffering is that it does not reveal the whole story or the whole picture of why suffering (evil) exists. Religion, on the other hand, does provide that whole story—and depending on the religion, the story will be a little different. Christianity teaches that evil is a result of sin—that it is not something that came of its own into the world or that God created but rather something that His creatures chose of their own free will. The choice to pursue evil (defined as an absence of the good) altered God’s world—or at least man’s perception of it. Prior to man’s fall, he lived in happiness in the Garden…

philosophy of education through a historical and then through an explicitly Christian lens, with a focus on the political role of education, and the Christian philosophy of John Milton. Milton's 1644 works Areopagitica and Of Education are invoked to justify the true Christian purpose of education as being exposure to the sort of free expression and free exchange of ideas that are guaranteed in America under the First Amendment.

What would a true Christian philosophy of education look like? The answer might actually be surprising to the majority of Americans who identify themselves as Christian and seek a Christian education. In 2014, frequently Christian education can seem retrograde, a form of ressentiment and indoctrination that derides Darwinism and has a greater interest in upholding a political consensus than in embodying the ideals set forth by Christ Himself. I propose to examine a Christian philosophy of education through a somewhat unique…

Apologetics: Evil, Suffering and Hell
1. What are some of the facts of history and experience that give rise to the problem this course calls the problem of evil?
The facts of history and experience that give rise to the problem of evil are primarily war, pain, death—i.e., suffering. This is what Lewis describes as the problem of pain: Why would a good God create a world wherein people suffer and are doomed to die? Why does it seem, moreover, that innocent people suffer? These are the questions that Lewis asks, noting in particularly that “all civilisations pass away and, even while they remain, inflict peculiar sufferings of their own probably sufficient to outweigh what alleviations they may have brought to the normal pains of man.”[footnoteRef:2] [2: C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (Samizdat University Press, 2016), 2.]
2. To what extent would you defend the following claim: the…

Faustus, who sees his time also coming to a close, becomes a kind of Hamlet-figure and doubts that he can be forgiven. Faustus' problem is more than a life of misdeeds -- it is a problem of lack of faith. The faith of Everyman may have been lukewarm, but it was not corrupt. The faith in the time of Everyman has been polluted by Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines.

Considering the form of the narrative, this is not surprising: Faustus is obsessed with fame and renown. Everyman has no name proper -- and neither does his author. That the author of the medieval morality play should be anonymous is nothing out of the ordinary, and indeed seems all the more fitting when one considers that the second most printed book after the ible was The Imitation of Christ, a work whose author never put his name on the original (and which…

The only material similarity between Prynne's scarlet "badge" and Faith's pink ribbons is that both are made of cloth and adorn some type of clothing, i.e., Faith's ribbons are part of her cap while Prynne's "badge" is sewn into her dress as needlework.

The reader is first introduced to Prynne's "badge" in Chapter Two of the Scarlet Letter when she emerges from jail -- "On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter a." Upon being led to her "place of punishment" for committing adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale, all eyes are immediately drawn to the scarlet "A" which "had the effect of a spell, taking (Hester) out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself" (ell, 163-164). Obviously, this scarlet emblem upon Hester's dress seems to emit a life…

He "almost" despises himself but still seems not to think that his actions were absolutely wrong. Furthermore, the narrator of the Shakespeare Sonnet finds solace and comfort in thinking of his lover. By thinking of the one he loves, a human being, the narrator feels absolved of any wrongdoing. The narrator of the Shakespeare Sonnet is more concerned with the consequences of his actions, such as being an outcast, than with whether the action was right or wrong. For Herbert, morality is quite the opposite. Herbert suggests that the human condition is itself a state of sin.

Therefore, a central difference between secular and religious morality as expressed in Elizabethan poetry is between absolute and situational ethics. For Herbert, morality is based on a set of absolute values that God and only God can create. God is the "Just Judge" and God's judgments transcend any human laws (l 12). Moreover,…

Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life

"He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the priest establishes a mandate for Christian Living. Historically, at the Last Supper, Christ used bread and wine as a supreme metaphor for the rest of our lives. Jesus was in turmoil. He was aware of what was about to befall him -- namely, suffering and death. This was the last major lesson he would teach before his arrest following Judas' betrayal. Eschatologically speaking, the above set the stage for the Christian ministry of the apostles, evangelists and priests. Indeed, every Christian is called to give of him or herself for the Glory of God and the Glory of Mankind. The message at the Last Supper was powerful. People have put themselves through…

Montanism / Theology

Like many early heresies, Montanism has not left behind much in the way of written testimony: only one Montanist writer, Tertullian, has works that survive, and it is primarily in his work that the statements of the Montanist movement (Montanus, Prisca and Maximilia) survive in quotation. Gonzales notes that, among many differing interpretations of Montanism, one view sees them as something like "an early Pentecostal group." [footnoteRef:0] It is clear from accounts of Montanism that it included the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, including manifestations of glossolalia, that are seen in contemporary Pentecostals. ut overall, Montanus seems to have combined several contradictory impulses into his schismatic movement. The first hinged upon greater involvement of women in ministry: the heresy of Montanus is seldom mentioned without reference to "those demented women Prisca and Maximilia," as Saint Jerome calls them in his letter to Marcella refuting the Montanist heresy.[footnoteRef:1]…

Confucianism in Pre-Modern China

Confucianism comes from the Chinese philosopher Confucius, after whom the philosophy takes its name. Confucius lived from the middle of the 6th century BC to the first part of the 5th century BC and was a teacher of the values of those who lived in the days of Chinese antiquity. For Confucius, the greatest years of the Zhou dynasty had come in the three centuries prior to his birth. The dynasty itself lasted for centuries following Confucius' life, though in a much different form from what came before. Confucius viewed the lessons of the early Zhou dynasty as containing valuable nuggets of wisdom. Confucius' teachings carried on well after his day as did many other schools of thought in China, where philosophy and wisdom were highly prized and sought after by many Chinese leaders from Confucius' own time till the end of the 3rd century BC.…

God I Don't Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith

Preface and Introduction

The Preface explains why Wright chose to write this book. He felt that it could be a more personal and humble approach to God than that achieved in his other books, which were about "knowing God." In this book, Wright wants to address some of the more confusing aspects of God. He justifies this approach by showing how God Himself points out that His ways are not our ways in Scripture. This is a valid point, and what Wright is doing is drawing attention to the fact that we are not God's equals and therefore should not try to humanize Him but rather should try to understand that He knows and sees all and therefore has a good reason for why He commands and does things that might seem disturbing or odd to us.

However, in Wright's…

Gustavo Gutierrez did just that in Latin America, employing Marxist analysis to interpret the Jesus' teachings in the Gospel. Gutierrez founded Liberation Theology, which is, essentially, the twentieth century take on Violence and the Cross. Christ is viewed less as Redeemer and more as Liberator.

Evans discusses this same interpretation in black theology, which is, essentially, a continuation of Liberation Theology: "In spite of the ravages of their kidnapping and the disorientation that they endured, African slaves retained an outlook on their experience that continually reaffirmed their worth as individuals and as a people…The Jesus whom they encountered as they were exposed to the Bible was a caring and liberating friend who shared their sorrows and burdens" (12). Yet, in black theology, Jesus does not bring grace through suffering that can perfect one's nature and lead one's soul to Heaven (as classical theology insists); in black theology, Jesus is the…

St. Anthony is recognized as the head of the monastic family. His date of birth was in 251 and somewhere in Egypt. His parents died when he was only sixteen years old. He remained to be the guardian of his younger sibling, Dious. Six months after the demise of his parents, he went to the church to hear the word of our lord. 'If you would be perfect, go sell all you have, given to the poor and come follow me.' (Matthew 19:21)

He regarded to this advice as a personal message sent to him God himself. From the fortune his family left behind, he sold 300 acres land that was fertile and the proceeds he gave the poor remaining with a little for taking care of his sister. He left the sister to be taken care of by the community of virgins. This allowed him to be free and…

man is born with a sinful nature? Why or Why not? If you do believe this, what is the solution to man's sinful nature? If you do not believe it, what do you believe and why?

What constitutes a 'sin,' versus a character flaw or a violation of human law, is defined as the absence of good, and what is absent of good is absent of God. When a human being sins, he or she turns away from his or her true nature. To sin is to resist God, which is why the first sin is said to be eating from the Tree of Knowledge. It is not that eating fruit is 'bad.' What was sinful about Adam and Eve's action was that it resisted what they knew was God's will. However, if we are to accept that God's punishment was just, we must also believe that the first humans…

Culture & Religion

Roman Catholic: The Roman Catholic religion believes in the Holy Trinity of a creator God the Father; Jesus Christ, His Son; and the Holy Spirit. Other beliefs that characterize the religion are the original sin; the forgiveness of sin; the second coming of the Lord; and life after death (CIM, 49). Given its belief in sin, the religion offers the hope of salvation through its sacraments and baptism. Infant baptism is encouraged to erase the original sin and as a start to a spiritual life through the Church. In addition, the Roman Catholic Church holds that the mass is a continuation of the sacrifice made by Christ and thus teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation or that the bread and wine at communion actually become the body and blood of Christ (Biblical Discernment Ministries, 1997). Generally, the religion has no dietary restrictions. However, it advocates abstaining from meat…

baptism was "dipping." The word was widely used in the New Testament in Jesus' teachings and also in the letters of Paul. Jesus uses the term 'baptism' to refer to the death/suffering that awaited him (Mark 10:38)[footnoteRef:2]. He draws parallels between the suffering that awaited him and some form of immersion -- which he was to be drowned in. He says that the immersion was necessary and until he emerged from it, his work is incomplete (Luke 12.50). It therefore means that, right from the start, baptism symbolized Christians sharing in the suffering of Jesus Christ by immersing themselves into a mold similar to that of the suffering of Christ. Paul talks of baptism 'into' Jesus' death (Romans 6.3). Christians experience this as they celebrate Good Friday and also during the Holy Communion as they break the bread.[footnoteRef:3] [2: Williams, Rowan. eing Christian: aptism, ible, Eucharist, Prayer. 2014: 1] [3:…

Personal Theodicy
Theodicy is the vindication or justification of divine goodness in spite of the evidence of a world where evil exists. When one has faith in the divine goodness of God, the question of why God allows evil things to happen is one that is not troublesome; it is one when one has no faith or has doubts that the question becomes pertinent. Thus, it is helpful to explain how and why a good God would allow evil to exist and evil things to befall innocent people so that others might come to believe or might come to believe more strongly. The main reason for the existence of evil is that God gave to men (and to the angels) freedom of will. Men and angels were given the choice, in other words, of whether they would serve Him or their own desires. The fallen angels (led by Lucifer now…

John Woo's Face/Off

John Woo's 1997 Face/Off was only the Hong Kong filmmaker's third American feature, preceded by Hard Target (1993) starring Jean-Claude van Damme and Broken Arrow (1996) starring Christian Slater and John Travolta. Travolta would star again in Woo's third Hollywood effort alongside Nicholas Cage. The film's solid success with critics and at the box-office would move Tom Cruise to hire Woo to helm the second installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. But that film would prove to be the apex of Woo's success in America: his next two films would draw scant positive reviews and box office receipts. By that time, Woo had traded his inimical style for more overtly transcendent themes of sacrifice and spirituality: Windtalkers heavily embraced both Christian and Native American spirituality and Paycheck (based on a Philip K. Dick story) was more psychologically driven than action-oriented (like his more popular films before that).…

Hawthorne

Hooper suddenly dons a mysterious black veil "which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things," (Hawthorne). This "gloomy" veil is the central symbol of Hawthorne's short story, "The Minister's Black Veil." As with other Hawthorne stories, "The Minister's Black Veil" offers a poignant critique against hyper-religiosity in ultra-Puritan New England. Hawthorne shows that a Christian obsession with the theme of sin has been taken to an extreme, evident in Hooper's mentally deranged methodology. By wearing the veil continuously in her personal and public affairs, Hooper alienates himself from those who care about him, including the community members who used to count on him. On the other hand, guilt-ridden members of the community view Hooper's veil as a sign that the minister is ultra-pious and therefore capable of…

All human beings are, however, impure and imperfect, which does not make it very difficult to rise above the rest in terms of self-perceived perfection. In comparison to God, however, this changes. The human being who is never dissatisfied with him- or herself, however, never becomes aware that there is a contrast to be made with God.

This is what Calvin appears to mean by piety. People with true knowledge of themselves as imperfect and unholy in comparison with God are those who are most pious. They are aware that there are imperfections to be addressed and aspire to do so by contemplating the nature of Gold. Instead, impious and hypocritical human beings are never aware that there is much wrong with them. They create a type of cycle by only contemplating other human beings to compare with themselves. By doing this, they become aware only of their excellence and…

" The point made by the poet is similar to the poem above. The reference to John,

The Father of our souls, shall be,

John tells us, doth not yet appear;

is a reference to the Book of Revelations, at the end of the Bible.

That despite the promises of an Eternal life for those who eschew sin, we are still frail and have the faults of people. We are still besought by sin and temptations and there's really no escape. People are people. No matter what we say or do, we find that life is not so simple. Consider this reference, which really refers to a person's frame of reference or "way of seeing."

Wise men are bad -- and good are fools,

This is a paradoxical statement: there is large gap between spirituality and reality. Those we consider wise or bad, might make decisions that are globally profound,…

Magdalene Sisters

Peter Mullan's 2002 movie The Magdalene Sisters depicts the dark side of Irish culture, church, and history. From the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century, the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland ran profitable asylums for women. The laundry businesses allowed the convents to earn money while keeping socially scorned women behind bars. Yet far from being a place of spiritual refuge, the Magdalene laundries often became torture houses closely resembling concentration camps. As Mullan shows, spirituality was completely superceded by cruelty, greed, torture, and manipulation. The brutality shown on screen reveals a chilling behind-the-scenes glimpse of what actually did occur regularly in Magdalene asylum laundries.

The culture that supported such institutions was an inherently sexist one, as many of the interred women committed no offense other than having shamed their families or being attractive. Although a fictionalized account, The Magdalene Sisters shows what mental and physical abuse…

In fact, Abraham showed that grace, not works, was what God wanted and expected. God made it clear that the children of Abraham would be justified "by faith," (Galatians 3:8). Paul makes it clear that it is faith and grace, not works and law, that justifies a human being before God.

The connection between grace and works is therefore a highly complex one. On the one hand, it took the law and the work required to follow it to bring the Gentiles to Christ in the first place. "The law was a school master to lead them to Christ," (Henry 2010). An individual must come to Christ of his or her own volition, which can be described as works. That same individual must develop some kind of willingness to believe in Christ. Although not effort in the sense that Paul describes, this type of work is nevertheless a human step…

Nature of God (200)

From the Jewish point-of-view, God is the unique supreme authority, the creator of the world and the father of all people and nations. This opinion is quite different from the Christian point-of-view that considers that besides the creator God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit form the religious pedestal than rule their spiritual life. Jews stress the unique character of God, saying that He is the sole creative force within the universe. Jesus, the son of God in the eyes of Christians, is considered by Jews as being an ethical man that challenged and fought the religious authorities of that time. Another interesting opinion is the Islamic view that indicates Jesus as being a simple prophet, in contrast with Mohamed who was chosen by God to distribute the real faith, belief in divinity, all not modified by human intervention.

Satan is the contrast of God, according to…