A Believer 's Relationship With God

1. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the argument for the existence of God based on religious experience. (18) 2. ‘The argument merely indicates the probability of God and this is of little value to a religious believer.’ Discuss. (12)

Faith in Christ has given me a unique life filled with optimism and purpose. From a young age, I have been raised in a home where I was taught about the love of Christ. Not only at home did I learn about Christ, but at school and at church. Thus, my life has been filled with experiences that have amplified my faith. For example, when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I found that my relationship with Christ grew. Through all of the difficult circumstances that I have faced, faith in Christ has given me the encouragement that I need to persevere through any situation. Additionally, faith has influenced my decision making, which is why I strive to make all my decisions and live my life according to faith-based principles. This means

At the very core of the Christian religion is the belief that God and humanity have a broken relationship, and God desires to restore the relationship with His creation. Unlike other religions that stress the importance of humans pleasing a god, the Christian religion is about God reaching down to His people, who disobeyed and denied Him. Because the Christian religion is about restoring a relationship, many crucial elements comprise the Christian faith.

Our relationships with other people give a strong sense of what our relationship with God is like. How we interact with people on a daily basis and the relationships that we build goes a long way in showing just how we feel about them. In Romans 1:10 we see that Paul wanted desperately to come to Rome to teach, to interact, to fellowship, and build relationships with the Christians that were there. Just as God wants a personal relationship with His creation we all feel a deep need for relationships with each other. It was not meant for man to go through life on his own without being able to interact with each other. We see the genuine love that Paul displayed toward the people and churches throughout his epistles and it should make us want to have an even stronger relationship with our Creator.

tells me God has spoken to him in a dream… it is no more than to say

time is right for me. I need to do what is best for my family, financially, but emotionally, too. If

One argues that today we have a crisis of belief, not a crisis of faith. To explain this crisis, I will briefly examine the relationship between faith and belief, explain why cultural shift is important to note when trying to understand religious issues, go into detail on the three hallmarks of each of the two cultures by showing how they compare to each other, show how Tillich’s notion of correlation deals with this idea of culture and a crisis of belief, and explain how Marsh’s notion of a “theology of negotiation” (33) fits with Lonergan’s definition and allows him to argue that film can help us raise theological questions.

Church and religious services are the most important aspects of the society and each person is required to devote themselves to God through their religious studies

a) Christians believe many different things about God’s nature; due to the huge spectrum of Christians that there are. However, as a general rule they perceive God as being one of the following four things:

There are many aspects of religion that causes positivity in the life of its followers. For one, religion is composed of a congregation of followers who share the same faith and beliefs that unite them with one another. Studies show that people, especially those without a family, feel comfort in religion because they feel welcomed by the members, along with being accepted by them. In many religions, members often gather together not only to partake in religious activities but also to pray together in

1. Based on the course material, how “just” is the world and the relationship that exists between man and god that is envisioned in the different myths you have read? Based on the course material there's a hierarchy in the world where gods are above all human kind due to the fact they created them for the purpose to serve. For instance, in the "Enuma Elish" myth it's widely expressed the gods created the human race. The gods are divided up into two groups younger and older gods. Each group shared the interest of having the human kind worship them and become loyal servants. In this myth, gods are viewed above humans and humans are viewed to be beneath gods. In fact, they're viewed in the lowest form possible and shed in a very good light in relation to the gods. This is the first aspect of where we see hierarchy in the world and unjust world. Another example of this is suggested in this myth when the gods comment on how unjust the humans are to each other. In fact, in this myth, the humans are so unjust and unruly towards each other that the gods contemplate what to do with them. As a result, the humans were flooded by the gods. Also in the Enuma Elish, the relationship that exists between man and god is as I mentioned before man was meant to be a lowly, worshipping servant and the gods were to be high, powerful, mighty, and worshipped with great importance. In several other myths such as the Sumerian version of this one, the concept is similar. Both versions are similar in

The Dynamics of Faith is an in-depth look at what faith is from a theological perspective. Tillich seems to be replying to all of the writers we have read thus far and placing their arguments within the context of faith. Nowhere is this more apparent than on page 24, in his discussion of community. He rightly acknowledges that faith is usually seen in its sociologic setting. He then proceeds to sort out the different claims, saying that

In today’s world, religion plays a profound part in many people’s lives and they find it important to firmly follow the guiding principles of a religion. Religion has been

One thing that people from different eras have in common is that they were continuously inspired by faith. Throughout time people have consistently sought for answers to the mysteries of this world; in doing so a multitude of religions have burgeoned, with the Greek Gods and Christianity being among the most prominent religions in history. There are a plethora of Greek texts, with some of the more notable including Homer’s Iliad and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which focus on man’s relationship with the Greek Gods. Likewise, Saint Augustine, an illustrious figure in the Catholic Church, wrote Confessions which focuses on his relationship to God throughout his long, confusing path to conversion.

The catholic four common core questions, what is our relationship to God, How does one live a life of meaning and purpose, what is our relationship with the natural world and how can we form a more just society for the common good can be answered differently. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition answered these questions in a broad distinctive way. This essay will examine the question, what is our relationship with God, from the view point of three writers, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Pope Paul. What is our relationship with God was a better one answered by these writers. Most Christians refer a relationship with God to praying and communicating with him. As an explanation, many well-meaning Christians will explain that you can develop a personal relationship with God by “seeing Jesus. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition such as Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain, etc. have a broader explanation of our relationship with God. They say a relationship with God is being fully human, living a meaningful life and having a relationship with the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.