...sacrifice to God or a way in with him. Jesus, who is the son of God born of the Virgin Mary, came to earth with a purpose. His purpose was to protect mankind from themselves and restore the world to a loving and compassionate place, like that of which God had for humanity despite the corruptness of the world. Jesus was initially a man brought here by his father so that the inhabitants of the world could see the wonder of God through the eyes of Christ. From him healing the cripple to making the blind see, Jesus became God walking on earth to make the people believe again, not only in him but in the love for themselves and his love for us. The Son of man took on the sins of all of Gods people and, by doing so, he paid a big price for it. The cross that he carried, became nailed to, beaten and died on was for the worldly sins of humanity so that we may live again and have a chance at a...
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...1 John 5:4-21 To overcome the world, death, sin, the devil, and idols These section are brought together as John write to the church as a whole, as there is no greetings or farewells, however, throughout each section John talks about love of God and to the brethren. John uses the word “love” 47 times. This table will show the pattern used by John moving back and forth between love towards God and love towards others. Chapter | Love in connection to God | Love in connections to others | 2 | 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you | 7b to love one another10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, | 3 | 1 See how very much our Father loves us16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us 17b how can God’s love be in that person | 10b Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers 11b We should love one another14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters… But a person who has no love is still dead. 18 let’s not merely say that we love each other 21 love one another, just as he commanded us | 4 | 7b for love comes from God… Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by...
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...People struggle with faith because they follow their perceptions of what is true rather than what they know to be true by faith. Although theology does involve human constructs, one must not think of God in herself; instead, she must think from a center in God in order to know and understand Him because if God is based off one’s self-knowledge, the content of Christianity changes. Theologians Karl Barth and Thomas F. Torrance raise questions concerning the understanding of the doctrine of the immanent Trinity today. Despite Barth and Torrance’s belief that theology must allow the unique nature of its object to determine what is said about the triune of God, the beliefs of Arianism and Gnosticism are wrongly evident in the thinking of some theologians in their attempts to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. Even though the Church has rejected the beliefs Arianism and Gnosticism, they still continue to threaten Christian theology. Arianism states that Christ was not truly divine, but a created being. Fourth century priest Arius believed if God is ‘one and absolute’ then Jesus, the Son, could only be considered divine in a ‘subordinate sense.’ If Arius thought of Jesus as God Himself, then he believed he was compromising God’s oneness. The Council of Nicaea condemned Arius, and declared the Son to be ‘of one substance with the Father.’ St. Irenaeus rejected the heresy of Gnosticism in the second century. The heresy states humans save themselves through knowledge that...
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...willingness to know things but through the minds limitations, it’s a fact that there are things that we know and things that we don’t know, to support this statement, The critique of pure reason according to Immanuel Kant is that to point out a knowledge based on experience according to him as posteriori knowledge and that of the universal knowledge we individually experience in turn is the Priori knowledge, my point is that we cannot stop wondering of things since we are imperfect human beings who were not fed with all the mysteries...
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...My essay will summarize the problem of evil and analytically assess how it is that evil weakens the traditional characteristics of God. I will attempt to explain how the existence of evil challenges the traditional characteristics of God such as omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence and Omni benevolence using Hume’s famous quote, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?” (Hume) The theological and metaphysical problem of evil was formulated in 1779 by David Hume in his work “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion” where he asked the question, if God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and omnibenevolent then why does evil exist (Sherry)? The problem of evil causes us to look at the traditional characteristics of God and to analytically assess our suppositions about evil itself. If our God is a good, all powerful and just God as many people believe, then why would such a God allow evil to exist? This problem also brings to light questions about what is considered to be evil, whether it is moral evil committed by man or natural evil such as earthquakes, hurricanes and famine (Sherry). There are several arguments that have developed in reaction to the problem of evil that was suggested by David Hume. One such argument which is known as the free will defense claims that evil is solely caused by human beings, who must have the opportunity...
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...a triune, personal God. God is both transcendent and immanent. Meaning, He exists independent of His creation and exerts full sovereignty over it but that He is also omnipresent and entirely involved in His world. What are the basic assumptions about the nature of reality? Theism views reality as both material and spiritual. Theism asserts that God is volitional, moral, creative, purposive, rational, and knowable to other persons. Transcendent means that God is distinct form the universe. He is able and willing to interact with the creation, but His existence is not bound by or limited to the universe. Everything that exists is contingent upon God’s creative act. God is both creator and sustainer of all things. God maintains access to the created order and involves Himself with it as he chooses. God designed the universe in such a way that nature follows a recognizable patter. Because God acts with purpose, reality is inherently meaningful. What is a human being? Human nature is both biological and spiritual. Humans are the unique creation of a personal God, and shares His likeness as personal being. Therefore, they have intrinsic worth as human beings. They were created to enjoy and external relationship with our Maker. Our lives have objective meaning and purpose. Because human nature is a composite of external spirit and mortal flesh, the death of the body is not the end of personal existence. They live externally, either in conscious communion with God or under His righteous...
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...knowing God Calvin said that we can know God through Sola Scriptura (faith in God as revealed in scripture alone) and Sola Fide (salvation through faith alone). Calvin argued that we can have two fold knowledge of God (Duplex cognition Domini). We know God as creator and the redeemer. We can know God as the creator through the sensus divinitatis, conscience, creation as mirror of God and scripture. The sensus divinitatis is having a sense of the divine; Calvin said that we all have a natural, inbuilt sense of God. ‘There is indeed within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity. This we can take beyond controversy.’(Calvin, Institutes 1.1.3.) Calvin supported his claim with the universal consent argument, which was suggested by philosopher Cicero. The argument is that a God or Gods must exist as so many people from different ages and cultures, believe in a God or Gods of some sort. This seems to imply that all people have sense of the divine. Calvin developed the idea from St Paul that all humans have an innate, natural disposition to believe in God. In his letter to the Romans Paul wrote that knowledge of God is ‘plain to them, because God has shown it to them’ and Paul argued that we all know God unconsciously as without God we would not survive and thrive. A problem with this is the fact that many people believing in God does not prove his existence. Calvin said that God would still exist if no one believed in him, furthermore the only way...
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...the power of God and how he will leads us to salvations. He is trying to teach us about condemnation, justification, and sanctification. He talks about those who reject God, reject his knowledge, because they think that they are better. We “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:24). Through faith in Jesus Christ it will lead you to salvation. Paul describes how our worldview should be on the natural world, human identity, relationships, and culture. Natural World In Romans 1:20, Paul writes that the world was created by God. We all know that He created the earth and everything in it. There is no excuse to sin since we know that He created all things. God has made it very clear how a person is to act within this world. As stated in Romans 1:20, “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse”. Those who have acted wicked and has shown ungodliness will see the wrath of God. We were all born with sin because of the sins of Adam and Eve. Christians should not be ashamed to practice their faith in God, because in faith it will lead them to salvation (Romans1:16). Human Identity Mankind was created by God in his image (Genesis 1:27). God had plans for mankind to do great things and to live in this world to do great things. We are to be obedient in our faith. God created us to...
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...essay. Many students are very puzzled by Berkeley's claim that his theory is intended as a 'defence against scepticism'. I don't know what a 'real' tree is, because I have never met one, and never will. All I know is my perception of this tree and other trees like it. - This seems an open invitation to the most extreme scepticism which denies that the objects of our perception exist. Berkeley's answer is that there is no 'real' tree, in the sense of some object or entity that exists apart from perception. All there is, is the possibility of my perceiving the tree, of enjoying my tree-perception, vouchsafed by God's unwavering attention to all the objects of his creation, which exist as nothing more than perceptions in God's mind. This response differs from another possible anti-sceptical response which avoids the God-hypothesis altogether. Why not say that the 'possibility of my perceiving the tree' is just that and no more? There is a hypothetical statement - or list of hypothetical statements - whose truth is equivalent to the 'existence of the tree'. You know what a 'statement' is, and what 'truth' means. You know what it is for a statement to be hypothetical ('if A then B'). Why not stick with that? The clear advantage of this theory - also known as 'phenomenalism' - is that we are not giving a hostage to fortune in positing a God whose existence the sceptic would be all-too ready to deny. However, as Berkeley clearly saw, phenomenalism suffers from a defect...
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...laws that governs are relationship with God. These laws were given in different throughout the Bible. Law one: God loves you, and offers a wonderful plan for your life. In John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” In this verse gave us the solution to all of our problems, He loves us so much He gave us a way out from all of our sins. This was Jesus plan when He came to Earth, in John 10:10 says, “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”. The reason most people don’t experience an abundant life is because of the second law. Law two: Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life. In Roman’s 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” This verse alone states that everyone is a sinner, and everyone fall short of the glory of God. When Adam chose to go on his own independent way, the fellowship with God was broken. Sin became are natural nature in our lives, this is why there’s no one righteous through the eyes of God. In Roman 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death” meaning we are spiritually separated from God. The third law is the only way we could be righteous through the eyes of God. Third law: Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life. In Roman 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us,...
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...surprise I don’t know any atheists. I struggled trying to think of one of my friends who doesn’t believe but I found none. So the only thing I can do is tell you what an atheist is. Atheist simply means non- believer in a deity or deities. There are several kinds of atheist, which are, ethical, psychological, sociological, pragmatic, metaphysical, and epistemological. The only thing an atheist has in common with another atheist is the fact they both don’t believe in a deity or deities. You could never make a statement like she is a good atheist or a true atheist because the only credential needed to for atheist(ism) is for someone not to believe in a deity or deities. Theist The theist I interviewed was my former Youth Pastor and Current Associate Pastor: Pastor Melanie Davis. Me: Does God exist? Pastor Mel: Yes he does exist. She answered with any hesitation or pausing. She was confident with her statement no explanation needed. She said as if it was a fact. Me: How do you know God exist? Pastor Mel: I know this because I’ve seen him work in my life. He has done things that neither man/woman nor myself could have done. I was happy with that answer, but I still had to ask one more question. Me: If God exist like you say he does, then why is there evil in the world? Pastor Mel: There is evil in the world because of our own choices. God gives us free will, and we have to choice to do right by God and man. My Point of View I believe there is a God and I believe...
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...need to answer this very question has come about all too often throughout time. It has at times driven a wedge between men because in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the truths of the world, Science deems it necessary to prove the truths by presenting the facts through a systematic process. The Bible on the other hand is presented to man by God and offers knowledge of the truths of the world through having faith and building a relationship with Him, which brings forth the knowledge needed to understand the world. In fact many times being a Christian can mean it must be impossible to be a scientist at the same time. But what many people do not understand is that Christianity and science are quite compatible. It has also been said that Science and Scripture are in no way at odds with each other but rather two distinct ways of thinking. On one hand are the believers of creation whom take the Bible as the only truth needed to understand the world. While on the other hand stands the evolutionist who seeks to explain and understand the truths of the world created by a God that cannot be seen or touched. For many years man has worked diligently to explain and prove the phenomena of the universe. This field of study as we know it is called Science. In today’s world Science can best be described as a systematic method used by scientists to prove the phenomena of the universe through observations, measurements, testing and documented results. This systematic approach...
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...beliefs about the meaning and purpose of the universe and its inhabitants (my teleology), my beliefs about the existence and nature of God (my theology), my beliefs about the nature and purpose of Man (my anthropology), and my beliefs about the nature of value and the value of things (my axiology). The general beliefs that are my worldview shape not only how I see the world, but also profoundly influence the particular beliefs I come to hold, the judgements and decisions I make, and all that I think, say, and do. My worldview is so fundamental to what I do, and indeed, what I am, that it would be intellectually dishonest for me not to offer it for examination. If you are to understand me and to understand what I say and do, you must know something of my worldview. So I set it forth for you here, not in the form of a lengthy argument, but as a set of assertions. I believe them to be true, but I leave it to you to reflect on them yourself and judge their validity. I am a Christian, and my worldview is a biblical Christian worldview. So I have decided to present it in the form of an exposition of one of my favorite passages from the Bible, the Prologue to the Gospel according to John the Apostle (John 1:1-18, New International Version): In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,...
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...Running Head Biblical World View 1 Biblical World View THEO-104 D34 Paul Dioguardi LIBERTY UNIVERISTY Biblical World View 2 I want you to know as a new Christian I have learned more in Theology, Apologetics and Bible than the 30 years of going to my catalytic church and listening to the word of God. I feel the word of God coming in to my hart and I have no problem being vigilant about sinning. The Biblical world view I am going to talk to you about is Gods image from two sides. Frist I will share with you the view of the Old Testament and second I will share the view of the New Testament. The Theological world view on the Old Testament and the New Testament on Gods image there is no big contradictions if you understand how to read the narratives and understand the Bible. I will say that in the Old Testament narratives do talk more about man made from God image from flesh narratives then flesh and bone narratives except one passage. The characteristics of...
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...Introduction In John’s Gospel, John provides clear evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and that by believing in Him believers in Christ may have eternal life. In the Gospel of John, it is easily discovered that John discusses the issue of sin compared to the other Gospels. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Therefore, John makes it very clear that unless sin is cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ, people will perish eternally. Thusly, this scripture illustrates the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for believers by giving the gift of eternal life through the sacrifice and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ. Further, despite there being a final judgement in the future, eternal life is in the preset-tense. For example, in John 5:24 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to...
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