A Book On God 's Sovereignty

Religion plays an important role in the narrative “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God” by Mary Rowlandson. The story is about a woman during the 1600’s. She is captured by Native Americans and separated from her family. The natives were upset that the immigrants were taking over their lands, so they burned downed their houses and kept the people captive. Mary uses a bible and her faith in God to help her get through the pain and separation.

“If God does not exist, then everything is permitted,” in other words, if there turns out to be no God then nothing is morally wrong.

Divine Command Theory theorizes that God it is the author of moral law and the right actions are those willed by God and that God clearly defines right and wrong. This allows the concept that sometimes situations are only right or good because God deems it so. In the simplest terms, God can determine right and wrong since he is omnipotent. Since God is all powerful, he can establish moral norms. Critics of Divine Command Theory believe that if a specific action is only right because God wills it so then evil acts would also be right since God willed them into existence. For example, if God wills murder or torture than these actions would be considered morally right.

God is depicted in the Old Testament with a very bad reputation. David Lamb is an old testament professor and he addresses some of the reasons for this bad reputation. In Lamb’s book, God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist? In his book, there are seven specific citations addressed that provide proof and evidence for those who would believe “God behaves badly.” The examples that Professor Lamb chose are: angry or loving, sexist or affirming, racist or hospitable, violent or peaceful, legalistic or gracious, rigid or flexible, and distant or near. With each chapter that Lamb writes, it provides multiple biblical narrative accounts and establishes a basis for the particular argument aimed against God.

The divine command theory states that “An act is morally required just because it is commanded by God and immoral just because God forbids it” (Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, p.67). In interviewing an Elder of a local Jehovah’s Witness congregation on the ethics involved in religion, he agreed that the divine command theory is correct, and that there are many commands and things that are forbidden in the bible that are considered to be God’s standards for the way we live our lives. But, when asked the modified version of the Euthyphro Question: is an action morally right because God commands it, or does God command an action because it is morally right, (Shafer-Landau, The Ethical Life, p.57) he picked the latter. Despite agreeing with the statement that the divine command theory makes, picking the latter is not uncommon even if the first affirms the theory. The statement that God commands an action because it is morally right, “implies that God did not invent morality, but rather recognized an existing moral law and then commanded us to obey it” (Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, p.67-68). This does not make the Elder’s message wrong, in fact most theists don’t follow the divine command theory. This is based on the fact that if the theory were true, whatever God says is a command, and therefore morally right, but God could have said that rape, murder, and stealing is morally right if that was the line of thinking.

I joke that he is a dead mentor to me, because when I read his writings there is a longing in me to imitate his faith, his passion for God, his conviction about being holy, his understanding about the grace of God. I admire just how plainly and affectionately he wrote about heavenly things as though he truly understood them. I just sit amazed at what God revealed to him and wonder if I will ever truly know without a shadow of a doubt the things he speaks about. His writings are not just fluff, but are the meat and potatoes of Christianity. If you read them you will not be disappointed, but you will be challenged and inspired to believe you really can be godly through Jesus Christ. This is one of my favorite books, perhaps because it provoked such thoughts of what true surrender is in the life of the Christian. Should you ever find yourself driven to know the truth about the surrendered life, select this book and encounter the concepts within. I would recommend this book to current believers who wish to take their relationship with the Lord to the next level. His writing is geared towards adults, as the language is appropriate for advanced

After arriving in Tennessee, my parents were very adamant about getting plugged into a church. I was raised in church but up until then, I went because I was told to. Usually I had to count ceiling lights or people in pews to keep from falling asleep during sermons. We attended countless services, but it wasn’t until one special Sunday that we found Sand Ridge Baptist Church. Unbeknownst to me, it would change my life.

strives to answer in most of his books: What has life come to mean and

Jane Austen once said, “My style of writing is very different from yours, ” which reveals how every writer uses different writing styles in order to express their individual intended messages. Writers use numerous stylistic techniques to communicate a particular message to their audience. Jonathan Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, especially, is a powerful and strong example of a writing piece with stylistic techniques that enhances the intended message. Jonathan Edwards first delivered this writing piece in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741. During the time he wrote this sermon, an event called the Great Awakening had sparked, which was a series of religious revivals. Edwards played a major and important role in the Great Awakening

She continued, "This whole retreat was a moment of God speaking to me. The prayer meeting was a time when God reminded me of Pentecost. the part in the book of acts where the spirit came down and the tongue was given to the disciples came to mind. The power of the prayer meetings were so strong on me. I'm praying for the gifts of the spirit. My granny spoke in tongue and pastor Ileane said I should pray for it too. I use to pray for it as a youth, but gave up", and she finished by adding

While reading Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards I came across some points that caught my attention. This story is based on how a pastor tries to persuade his congregation from the sins and make them to be fearful of the divine wrath, of God. I personally can relate to this story because of my religion. I am Pentecostal and I can see why Edwards would use such words towards his congregation so that they won’t perish and go to hell. My Pastor uses similar approaches like this when she preaches. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards uses frightening words and religious metaphors to divert people from the congregation from the sins and condemning them to hell if they provoke the wrath of God and to establish that everyone should be fearful of him.

Philosophers base the idea of objective morality on the assumption that some moral ideals are universal and should be the moral responsibility of everyone. Subjective moralists counter this argument by explaining that each moral decision is independent because each moral situation is unique to its own conditions. Ultimately, these two views shape the nature of moral philosophy and theology, each describing the different natures of morality (Hammond). These two theories have a large impact on the thinking process of humans on an everyday basis. This process then leads up to a person valuing different things more than others. The separation of objective and subjective theories all boil down to whether or not a theory is universal or not. A subjective theory has an absence of universal truths, and an objective theory has universal truths. Two vary popular theories that will take part in my research were the Divine Command Theory, and Natural law theory. Two theories that may seem similar, but in fact are very different.

He puts himself as an equal to some of the greatest literature artists in history before he has even began his work in earnest. He also scoffs at sinners, showing arrogance and that he is more worthy in God’s eyes then them. He also chooses himself to go on this journey, among the entire world population. And in his own

Is the churches moral teaching of value only to Catholics or to everyone, and either way, why?

So, we moved business and our home to Cypress, TX., this is where we made another change in where we would attend church.