...Introduction Through my research, study and prayer while progressing in the course Theology 104, I have gained knowledge and learned new principles that have helped change my understanding of what it means to be a Christian. One of the main topics that I read about in this course that really had an impact on my beliefs as a Christian, and reinforced my relationship with God was the fulfillment of prophecy that is seen throughout the Bible. A second topic that was addressed in this course was dealing with the assurance of salvation that God gives Christians in the Scripture that assists them with their daily struggles in life. These two topics together have stood out to me and have led me to further my study and research. Fulfillment of Prophecy The topic of fulfillment of prophecy is very important in a Christian’s life due to it proving that God is real and the Bible is truly his Word. These prophecies given to the authors of the Bible by God came sometimes hundreds of years prior to their fulfillment. It was necessary that these occurrences be fulfilled due to it providing further proof that the Bible is the Word of God and also to show God’s plan being fulfilled. There are numerous prophecies throughout the Bible that have been fulfilled as well as prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled. The birth of Jesus Christ was prophesized by Isaiah hundreds of years prior to the birth. In Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah is speaking to the House of David and tells them the Lord will give...
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...Reflection Paper 2 I. Introduction: As I said in my first Reflection Paper, my knowledge and exposure to Christianity has been somewhat limited. Throughout my life I have been a person who wanted to know “Why” and have factual proof to support my thoughts and ideas. I have chosen Historical Theology and Fulfilled Prophecy as my two topics. By reading about Historical Theology I am developing a better understanding of some of the essential points of Christian Doctrine. Fulfilled Prophesies provide definitive proof to give my beliefs in Christianity and the Bible a solid foundation. I plan on using both to develop as a knowledgeable and responsible Christian. Since my knowledge of these two topics is in its infancy and I must always keep in mind to crawl before walking and walk before running. II. Part One: Historical Theology a. Historical Theology is described as the study of the development and history of Christian doctrine. While closely related to Historical Theology, Church History should remain separate from Historical Theology. Historical Theology records changes in doctrine that led to divisions and movements within church and Church History is the record of the divisions and movements. b. Luke gives us the Biblical Foundation for Theological History. He began by recording his account of “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1). The book of Acts is the account of what Jesus continued to do and teach through his church. Acts 28:30-31 conclude with,...
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...Reflect Reflecting on Better Christian Means REFLECTION PAPER I. Introduction There are many that would argue that there is no God. They would argue that the Bible is just another book, and Jesus is just another man. They would most likely tell you that they outgrew Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and God, a very long time ago. So what is it that makes a believer different? What makes us think that we are right, and that the others are wrong? I believe it to be a question of authority. I believe that the Bible is a book of absolute authority. If that is in fact the case that would mean that Jesus has walked on this earth, and He will come again. So if I believe that the Bible has authority, and Jesus has been here and is coming again, is there a way that I should act because of this knowledge? I believe that there is. I will try to explain my beliefs and what I have learned, through this paper. II. Does the Bible have authority? There is a very simple and quite easy to understand answer to this question. Yes! I will tell you that although it is a simple answer; coming to that conclusion can be more difficult. There seems to be almost as many questions created by the Bible, as there are answers in it. If studied though, even by a non-believer, the Bible becomes an answer unto itself. The Old Testament predicts many things that happen in the New Testament and beyond. It predicts the birth of...
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...several branches of theology found in Scripture. 1. The first is “Bibliology.” The Bible is the starting point, or the source, of our religion. Without it, we may as well be at home it the bed this morning, or perhaps on the golf coarse, fishing, maybe lying out at the beach. The Bible is the foundation for Christianity. Without the Bible, how would we know about God? The Bible is the standard, the criterion for everything we as believers do. It is simply put, how God speaks to mankind. 2. Theology Proper: The study of God. Without it, we would have no way to view God. To understand His nature. We would not know who God is. We would not understand the personality of God. The wisdom of God, the love of God, and so on. 3. Christology: The doctrine of Jesus Christ. Need I say more about this? 4. Pneumatology: The study of the Holy Spirit. 5. Angelology: The study of angels. 6. Satanology: Yelp, the study of Satan. There are more, but you get the idea of how much theology is in Scripture. The last study of systematic theology is Eschatology, which means the study of last things. The study of eschatology is the study of last things, however, like the underlying theme of all theology is Jesus Christ. The first verse of the book of Revelation sets the tone. “1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants…” Eschatology is not a study of just prophecy, although it includes that. Biblical eschatology deals with end things in two specific...
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...Prophecy is a declaration of something to come, a prediction forth telling by God to man. When God speaks, He sets in motion spiritual activities and the destiny of all things. Many of things which God in the past prophesied have already come to pass with perfect accuracy, other things spoken forth by God are yet to be fulfilled in the course of God's timing. Old Testament prophecy contains exciting expectancy of the coming Christ, the Anointed one while the New Testament contains the manifestation of him. The Old Testament describes 300 prophecies of the first coming of the Messiah, with this there are also 500 prophecies of His second coming; All of these prophecies were made hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. The Old and New Testament will forever be bonded by the Prophecy recorded in the Old Testament. In this paper I will focus on two major methods that the New Testament writers used to connect Christian New Testament with the Hebrew Bible. These methods are Fulfillment and Typology. The method that deals with the actual words of the prophets, who, according to New Testament, vocally predicted events that the Messiah would accomplish, is fulfillment. Typology is quite similar, however it is not a prediction, nor does it directly relate to future events in the manner that fulfillment does. Moreover, it is merely an event from the Hebrew Bible that is said to foretell another occurrence in the Christian New Testament. Concerning fulfillment, the...
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...The Bible Questions for Review (Page 11) 1. What does the word bible literally mean, and how does this definition express the nature of the Bible as an anthology of religious literature? The Bible is known as the Good book, but the word bible literally means “little books,” meaning the bible is a collection of many individual books. The word bible is translated from the Greek word biblia. The definition expresses that it is a book that consists of diverse compositions, ranging from poetry, narrative to law, and prophecy. 2. Explain the relationship of the Christian Old Testament to the Hebrew Bible; define the term Tanakh, and name and describe the three main sections into which it is divided. In what way to Protestant editions of the Old Testament resemble the contents of the Tanakh? How do Catholic and Orthodox editions of the Old Testament differ from the Tanakh in content? Define the terms canon, Apocrypha, and deuterocanon. The Christian Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible are looked upon as the same even though there are significant differences between them. The most important of these variations is a change to the order of the books: the Hebrew Bible ends with the Book of Chronicles, which describes Israel restored to the Promised Land, and the Temple restored in Jerusalem; in the Hebrew Bible God's purpose is thus fulfilled and the divine history is at an end. In the Christian Old Testament the Book of Malachi is placed last, so that a prophecy of the coming...
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...CWV-101: Bible Story Worksheet and Journal #1 Module 1 - Part 1 – Bible Story Worksheet For Part 1 of this assignment, you will complete this worksheet by reviewing the "The Story of the Bible" "flags" and fulfill each writing requirement. http://lc.gcumedia.com/zwebassets/courseMaterialPages/cwv101_biblical-timeline-v1.1.php Please keep your answers brief. Solid academic writing is expected. Refer to the GCU Academic Writing Guidelines in the Student Success Center. Briefly answer each section from "The Story of the Bible": ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining why the Creation account is so significant to the Christian worldview. The creation account is so significant to the Christian worldview because it describe in the book of Gensis. So with that being said the Christian have proof of what God did and belief that God does exist. ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining what the Fall reveals about humanity and human morality. The fall reveals about humanity and human morality is that there is evil amongst us. Humanity reveals that there is a good/bad side and evil won in the fall. Human morality will change over time and God will forgive us. ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining the importance of God revealing Himself through covenants. The importance of God revealing himself through covenants were to provide a legal binding relationship...
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...Bibliology: Is the Bible credible? By Matt Massey Professor Ted Marvin Theology 3305 – Lectures in Systematic theology Outline I. Definition of Bibliology II. Importance of the Bible III. Reasons to trust the Bible A. The “A Priori Argument” B. The revelation of Jesus Christ C. Fulfilled prophecy of Scripture D. The suffering of the apostles E. The power of the message of the Bible F. The inexhaustible infinity of revelation G. Unity of the Bible H. Transcultural Appeal I. The honesty of the Scriptures J. The superiority and influence of the Bible K. The test of personal experience and the inward witness of the Spirit L. The indestructibility of the Bible M. History and archaeology gives credibility to the Bible N. The completeness and timelessness of the Bible O. The claims of the Scriptures themselves IV. Closing Bibliology is simply “the study of the Bible.” For Christians, the Bible is the most sacred of books and on it hinges the entire religion of Christianity. Were the Bible to ever collapse, Christianity would have no foundation on which to rest and it too would follow suit shortly thereafter. For the skeptic, the Bible is a book in which good ideas, morality, fables, myths, and oftentimes blatant lies are contained. It is the express purpose of this paper to examine the evidences which give rise to the credibility of the Biblical text. There are a great many different aspects of...
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...Joseph Kropholler Professor Scott ENGL 1301 20 December 2015 Two Sides to Every Bible Have you ever heard the expression: “two wrongs don’t make a right”? This popular phrase is very applicable towards understanding the modern dilemma of hostility between the religions of Christianity and Islam. Both religions have many followers that openly and subtly attack the opposing religion today. The fact that both religions preach strong beliefs and devout lifestyles that contradict each other creates an environment for struggle. Additionally, the expression “two wrongs don’t make a right” helps encapsulate the root of the problems that continue to persist between the two religions. This prolonged hatred is the result from centuries of conflict between religious descendants. In the modern world, social media is increasingly influencing both Christianity and the Islam faith through raising awareness and presenting biased opinions. As Christianity and the Islamic state globally become more aware of each other, the differences in each religion have become an expansion of animosity against the opposing faith. A popular view from both faiths of Islam and Christianity involve a defensive and aggressive stance towards the opposing religion. Islamic followers in many aspects of belief disagree with and reject Christian views. This is created by feedback loop that has influenced many Muslims on different levels towards having a hateful mindset. Largely due to media created...
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...For us as Christians to stay in accordance with God it is vital to stay educated on theology.as long as we continue to educated on theology ourselves. As long as we continue to educate ourselves and keep the scriptures hidden in our hearts, It will be less difficult to witness to non-believers and to loose focus. In addition to the benefit of not losing focus reading the bible can also let us be sure that Jesus in fact will return a second time. Although we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This doesn’t give us an excuse to live our lives as christians anyway we wish. Once we have a strong foundation in Christ we can use our churches in many ways to help carry out the great commission. How can we be confident that Jesus is returning? Prophecies are an important part of the bible scriptures. The Old testament prophecies fore seen the birth of Jesus. This came to pass 4 BC. In addition to the accuracy of this prophecy this should leave us no doubt that the Old Testament prophecy of the second coming of Jesus will be accurate and will come pass. As early as genesis in the old testament makes reference to the second coming of Christ. Genesis 3:15 says “and I will put enmity between thee and the women, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise his head, and thy shalt bruise thy heel. The first book of the bible predicts that the incarnate of God, which will be born from a women will defeat Satan. This is a reference to the great tribulation...
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...CWV-101: Bible Story Worksheet and Journal #1 Module 1 - Part 1 – Bible Story Worksheet For Part 1 of this assignment, you will complete this worksheet by reviewing the "The Story of the Bible" "flags" and fulfill each writing requirement. http://lc.gcumedia.com/zwebassets/courseMaterialPages/cwv101_biblical-timeline-v1.1.php Please keep your answers brief. Solid academic writing is expected. Refer to the GCU Academic Writing Guidelines in the Student Success Center. Briefly answer each section from "The Story of the Bible": ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining why the Creation account is so significant to the Christian worldview. ------------------------------------------------- The creation account is so important to the Christian worldview because it identifies in depth how man was created out of nothing. In addition the creation account signifies that God’s creation was made valuable. ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining what the Fall reveals about humanity and human morality. ------------------------------------------------- The Fall reveals that the fall of man had an impact on all humanity and that man did not live up to God’s expectations. The Fall relates to the human ethics as it signifies that God’s initial plan did not waver but required a deviation due to the choice man made. ------------------------------------------------- Write 2-3 sentences explaining...
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...Christianity, Islam and Judaism Student’s Name University Affiliation CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND JEWS Comparison of Views on Jesus as the Messiah Matters of faith or religions are one of the major issues that form trends globally. The main religions well practiced today include Christianity, Judaism religion and Islam. Roughly, four billion people globally identify themselves within either of the religions. The three religions share so many similarities and differences depending on the topic and what their Holy book instructs them. The Christians will follow what the Bible says, and the Muslims strictly obey the Quran. On the other hand, the Judaism religion takes their teachings from their holy book The Hebrew Tabakh. These religions have often been subjects of engender disagreements. The disagreements have often kept communities apart, created divisiveness, ended friendships and sometimes lead to violence. If one analyzed the religions of the world, you would realize that so many aspects are same which include central beliefs, doctrines and morality. All of them trace their origin from Abraham. The Muslims, Christians and the Jews believe that God is responsible for designing and creating the whole Universe and anything that is in it. This belief in one God makes all the religions Monotheistic. Although there are fundamental commonalities that are evident in the three principal religions, the greatest difference that exist between Christianity and both...
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...INTRODUCTION: We find that the kingdom is a very important theme that we find in the Bible and John Bright describes it like this. “The Bible is one book. Had we to give that book a title, we might with justice call it “The Book of the Coming Kingdom of God”. Many names are used in the scripture to describe this millennial kingdom.[1] In Matthew 19:28 Jesus describes it “in regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory”. In the third chapter of Acts it is spoken of as “times of refreshing” (v. 19) and “times of restitution of all things”. (v. 21) Hindson states that “there can be no true kingdom without a king”, and the kingdom has to be associated with the king. [2] TIMING, DURATION AND NATURE: The word “millennium” is derived from two Latin words, mille and annus, which is translated as “thousand” and “year”. Thus it is a period of one thousand years. The Greek word that is used for millennium is chilias and this term is found six times in the book of Revelation.[3] It is the time after the church age and the Tribulation and prior to all eternity. All the promises and covenants that God made to Israel will be fulfilled at this royal reign of Christ on the earth.[4] Christ will return to the earth, Satan will be 2 bound, and because Satan’s world system has been destroyed the way is made for Christ’s kingdom on this earth. Because much prophecy of this time has been written in the Old Testament, the book of Revelation does not...
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... Charismatic Gifts Debate 2 The Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit have been in debate among the Christian Community since the emergence of the Charismatic movement: An expression used to refer to a movement within historic churches that began in the 1950’s. In more recent years it has frequently been referred to as the “charismatic renewal movement”. Therefore members are known as “charismatics”. The background of the charismatic movement is “Pentecostalism” dating from the early twentieth century with its emphasis on baptism with (or in) the Holy Spirit as an endowment of power subsequent to conversion, speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of this baptism, and the initial evidence of this baptism, and the continuing validity of the spiritual gifts (charismata) of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (W. Elwell 2001). “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” (King James Easy- Reading Study Bible). The debate is: Are sign gifts for today or have they ceased? What is the purpose of the sign gifts, and if they are being...
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... 2 I. Introduction To define yourself as a Christian is to believe in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the text of the Holy Bible. Many believers think that this is all it takes to be welcomed into Heaven and enjoy the afterlife in peaceful bliss with their maker. Much of what has been learned in this class these past two months has given me the opportunity to explore Christianity beyond face value, as it should be explored. The true model Christian delves into the inner workings of the scripture and promotes the promises made by God when one lives their life as a messenger of that scripture. Education is the only way to make a person aware of what it truly means to be a Christian. In reflecting on the concepts learned in this class, a series of questions were presented, three chosen, then answered on the basis of what I have learned. The first question I chose was, Does the Bible have authority? Through the Doctrine of the Bible and arguments that the Bible is the Word of God, this question will be answered along with the information in Towns book. Secondly, I chose, Why are personal testimonies important in sharing the gospel? This topic was of great interest to me because I am capable of explaining it from a personal viewpoint. Lastly I chose, If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life? According to Towns (2007) “There are a growing number of people who have mistaken...
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