...The problem of evil; if God is all good how could he allow his people to suffer? This has been a controversial topic many people have questioned over the centuries. The first record of this question is dated back to the Greek philosopher Epicurus. If God is a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God, how could he allow such horrible things to happen to good people? "Western religion has always held that there is a deep problem about why there is pain and other suffering—which there would not be if God were not supposed to be morally good" Richard Swinburne, Providence and the Problem of Evil pg.7 1998. It is only natural for people to question why God would seemingly do nothing to prevent the bad things that happen everyday. Some of the...
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...Why the words 'under God' should be in the Pledge of Allegiance The words 'under God' were in the Pledge of Allegiance since 1954. They added those words to show the contrast between the United States of America and the communist regime. They also show how we are a true nation under God. Having a nation under God is very important because we get are freedom from God, not the government or anyone else. Everything we got from this country came from God. We ask him for help when in need or if we need guidance. He will protect this country and the words 'under God' need to be kept in America’s Pledge of Allegiance. Christian people have a huge say in if 'under God' should be kept in the pledge. The United States was brought by the Christian background. Our nation was developed and established that way. Christians made up most of are country and fought for it under Gods name. Every constitution of the fifty states that make up are union, contain a reference to God. Oaths sworn in court use the phrase “so help me God.” The Supreme Court summons with a prayer, “God save this honorable court.” We use these phrases because we put are faith and trust into God. The people that want 'under God' to be removed from the pledge say that...
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...Atonement?(2) Reconciliation between God and Humanity. (b) Do you think Jesus died to save people?(4) Give two reasons for your point of view. • yes because Jesus says in the Gospels that he was dying to save people from sin. This is the reason why we are born without sin. This is important for Christians as we can get to heaven. • Also as a christian The catechism teaches that Jesus’ death brought salvation upon us people yet again providing evidence that Jesus did die to save us people on Earth. (c) Explain how one religion community expresses its love of God.(8) They take vows to be obedient to God, one community is the Carmelite nuns who take vows. These vows are very strict and by following them you are showing your love to God. Also religious communities should spend time with God in private prayer. The Carmelite nuns spend almost 12 hours of everyday in pray2011-Beliefs And Values 2011-Beliefs And Values er, worship and contemplation. This truly shows they are committed to God. Also in religious communities the people give up their freedom. In order to show their complete love towards God, the Carmelite nuns give up things like money and sex so theres simply no distractions. Lastly, the Carmelite nuns live in an enclosed area away from the rest of the world simply not to get distracted allowing them to show full devotion and commitment to God. (d) “Christian should not believe that god is three” (6) Do you agree? give reasons for your opinion...
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...When I heard of the word Ecology, I can’t help myself to visualize and wonder how God created the Universe. My idea of God creation of course, is the one that I read in the bible, book of Genesis. The Earth was formless and desolate. Total darkness and the power of God are moving over the water. With his command, everything appeared. Then we have the day and night. Then, He divides the water and keep it in two separate places, and so on and so forth. He created every single thing that man will need of, for its survival. At my young age, I have a lot of question: Why the earth is round? Why is the sky so high and why man can’t reach it? Why there is land, mountains, seas, rainbows, trees, and grass and animals and flowers and fruits? Why God created all these? I know very well that God made us human the highest form of animal, thus protector of all His creation. It is now our obligation to do protect all that he created. How can we do that? What is the power of man that God has given to protect his creation? Do we really have to be concern about God’s creation? Do we really have to care for our Land, Water, and Air? How do these creations affect us Human? Maybe this time we have stop, and think. They say ecology is the scientific study of interactions of organism with one another and with the physical and chemical environment. How do we people interact with these organisms? It seems so simple, but it’s not. Interactions, there is a relationship, right...
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...christian life “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ...” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, then you are a Christian. According to the New Testament, you are also a new creation. You are beginning a whole new life! And just as a newborn baby needs certain things in order to be healthy and to grow up, so do you, as a new Christian, need certain things to grow spiritually. First, you need to be in fellowship with other Christians. It is through fellowship that you will learn more about God and about how to live as a Christian. You should plan to attend church regularly and join a kinship group so that you can develop close friendships with other believers. Vineyard has many kinship groups that meet on different days and in different locations throughout central Ohio. Choose one that is convenient for you so that you can be encouraged in your new relationship with God! Second, you need to pray, which is simply talking to God. Prayer is how you will grow in your relationship with God and how you can begin to allow Him to work in areas of your life. And third, you need to read the Bible on a regular basis. It is through the Bible that God will speak to you about Himself and your life needs. Beginning the Christian Life Series was developed by Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus for new Christians. It is...
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...say: faith, belief. It serves as a moral compass for human beings. It is a sort of guideline. For me there are two extremes: heaven and hell. Hell indicates the bad and heaven is for the good. The preacher who actually came up with this idea wanted us to maintain the delicate balance and stay in the center. So yeah, it is a guideline for me. G: it is probably a way of life. Our faith tells us how to live our life, keeping in mind the afterlife M: And what constitutes it? G: my religion has five basic pillars: shahada (faith) which is the declaration stating that there is only one god, the Allah, the creator of all beings; salat (prayer); charity; fasting and pilgrimage. G: i think it is a way to live our life E: yeah, but that’s kind of subjective as, I mean we don’t actually worship any type of god. Look at Hinduism, they have many gods, all different but they worship all of them. So, god in fact has many forms and shapes. It can be anything whether it’s a being, air or other inanimate object. B: exactly, I fell that religion is set a belief and guidelines; it is not necessary that it should have some definite shape. It...
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...The Existence of God PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning The existence of God Since the beginning of time, people have often questioned the meaning of life, how the universe was created and the purpose for the wildlife and creatures that roam the earth. These things often lead us to question the existence of God. In order to even begin to answer these complex questions, we must uncover the source of all of these occurrences. In this paper, I will discuss the issue of Gods existence; present one basic dispute and clarify the arguments on multiple sides of this issue. I will structure an argument that supports the side of the issue I find to be better defended while explaining why I find my side of this debate stronger. In conclusion, I will state my own view and defend it with an argument. Does god exist, or did the “Big Bang theory” or other natural theories play a role? Even though it is absolutely impossible to prove Gods existence, I personally believe that the presence of God is so evident; we do not need solid proof to verify that he is our creator. When it comes to the issue of Gods existence, everyone has his or her own view of whom or what “God” really is. Some people believe that there is one God while others believe in multiple gods or even goddesses. Most believers do not feel that it is necessary to prove that God exists however; there are others that believe that it is essential to provide proof since there...
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...Gods existence Believers: Science is based on the premise that everything comes from something. To think that something originated from absolutely nothing is unreasonable and illogical. It would be ridiculous to look around us at all the intricacies and complexities of nature and deny the existence of a higher power and to say that all these things happened by random chance. Every group of people, every civilization believed in God or some form of after life. That is more than the people in the world squared. They can't all be wrong can they? Science involves the rejection of the belief of God but Science actually proves Gods existence. You can't destroy matter. The "Big Bang" tells of everything coming into existence out of nothing. Well obviously there must be something to have made everything, everything has a creator. Non-Believers: If there was a higher power that was responsible for everything that has and will happen on Earth, then Earth would be perfect. The theory of evolution, produced by Darwin, states that there isn't a 'God' at all. There is no authenticated evidence to suggest that 'God' does exist. Whereas, there is more than enough evidence to support Darwin's theory. The human eye is imperfect, if there was a 'God', surely he would design us so that we were perfect beings, there wouldn't be a blind spot for example. There...
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...the church needs to insure the faith by training children and young adults “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”(Ephesians 6:4). When the youth of the church are not taught the importance of a vibrant and active relationship with God, then the church will see its ranks become thin and aged. With age comes wisdom and experience, but with youth comes energy and determination. In order for the church to be effective it must see youth ministry as a vital part of the body. Since the church needs youth ministry, it is important that the youth ministry itself has a vision and structure to provide organization to reach goals and growth. I believe that youth ministry needs to focus on three key goals or values in order to be effective in the local church. These values are to connect, grow, and serve. These three values will provide structure and vision to ensure a healthy youth ministry. The first area that one should start with when building a youth ministry that will be profitable to the church and its families is connection. We need to make sure that our teens and parents of teens are connecting with God and others. Connecting with God is the base foundation that any believer should be building upon from the moment they begin a relationship with God. Romans 10:14a says “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” Paul says here that for an individual to call out for God, he must first believe in Him. This is not a simple head knowledge of Who God is, although...
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...Professor English 15 May 2015 Birth of the New American Gods: The Video Game God There are gods, old and new, among us and little do people know they are born by humans. The Video Game god is a new god because people spend time, money, and worship games in a new ways which allows this new god to exist. People can say it’s in the past where gods have been created through worship but the creations of these gods haven’t stop just because people just stop worshipping certain named deities, but only have been forgotten. These gods still live today and are still being created by human beings; in similar ways gods have been created in the past, but people subconsciously do it. A new god that can be seen today in our time can be the Video Game God, and this god has been created by people all over the globe. The Video Game God is a new god that people spent hours, days, even weeks on enjoying the entertainment, influences and effect the god has had on human, and what the god provides to his people. Before proving that there is a Video Game God that exists in the modern world, one needs to understand what a god truly is. After reading Neil Gaiman novel one can grasp a better understanding that religion isn’t needed for a god to exist and that, “Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms[…]” (Gaiman). In this part of the chapter people can understand how religion isn’t needed and is rather...
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...religion, tackle the subject of an all-powerful and good God with depth. The way they deal with this controversial question is through the concept of suffering and how they can use suffering to explain this question. Not only do they ask questions that common people don’t ask, but they also answer these question through the lens of many types of religion and explanation. They have their opinion and also arguments to both sides of the points they illustrate. They were concerned more with opening every door available and letting the reader decide which path they would like to take as far as investigation or their opinions with the topic. Besides that, it was clear that Ehrman was not in favor of an all-powerful and good God and that suffering proves that while Stackhouse was. Ehrman, a man who previously served the lord but changed his ways, makes the case through suffering that a good, powerful God does not exist. He starts off by saying that God brought Jesus to our world in a point of darkness or sin. (7) Why doesn’t God come into our world again? There had been many tragedies after Christ and we can sure use guidance to help with the new sufferings. Using the fact that God hasn’t visited us again, Ehrman asks if God wants people to suffer. (41) Is there a reason we do suffer, if so then why? Regardless of the reason we are suffering and God is accused of not being all good and not having the power to prevent it because we do. The idea of suffering...
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...section 22 November 18, 2014 God of Providence The Israelites have left the Desert of Sin. There is no water, so they begin to complain to Moses. In response, Moses asks God what to do, and God gives Moses instructions so that the Israelites may have water (Ex. 17-1-7). This happens in order that the Israelites would learn to trust to God. God is trying to show them so much more than they may realize. In Exodus 17:1-7, the Israelites are put into a situation with a lack of water so that they may know that God is their sole provider, and He will not abandon them in their journey through the desert. Throughout the book of Exodus, there are many repeating elements relating to Exodus 17:1-7 that play a great...
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...hungers for the love and presence of God there are people that are homeless and hungry. I take drives in the early morning on the weekends frequently into downtown Denver in Colorado where I live and I see our streets crowded with homeless people. As I drive I observe many sitting on the ground in the cold weather, their clothes are ripped and dirty. Beside them is either a grocery cart full of items that they have collected from the trash or bags packed with clothes, food, and other items that they have collected from the homeless shelters or the trashcan that they rummaged through to eat to survive. I noticed some just sit there with a blank stare on their faces wondering off into the distance with their mind. Some are trading the collectibles that to them are of...
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...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 to choose to do evil if they are to have free will (Sherry). Another argument...
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...power of Godly worship. Christians need feel convicting to substitute work for worship and to direct their lives toward worship. Humans were designed to seek the will of the one and only God who created everyone is his image. Tozer reminds us and explains what it means to worship in his book, Whatever Happened to Worship? Loving God is man’s whole reason for existence. That is why we were created and why we have been recreated. Tozer says, “I am of the opinion that we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshiping Him.” Tozer emphasizes throughout the whole book that true worship must always be in spirit and in truth. It is possible to have a form of worship that isn’t pleasing or glorifying God. The book starts by looking at worship in the church, where people often feel like they are rich and lack nothing. But what is really lacking is the true meaning of worship to God. Chapter 1, Worship in the Christian Church, worship of the loving God is man's whole reason for existence. That is why we are born and that will determine where eternity will be spent. Making the decision to follow Christ and asking the Father for salvation is how humans determine this. Fake Christians aren’t acceptable to God. People were not created to obey a set of laws, but to worship God and enjoy Him forever. He does not need worship and praise, but He loves it. Tozer next discusses the fact that God cannot be found by someone’s own...
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