Christian Theology Chapter 9 Summary

that the book was “full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord‟s name in vain and h

Tyler Perry’s films frequently contain a Christian message, thus appealing a market that puts religious content and the target market and/or audience as whole ahead of influential people. Perry’s films, specifically those we watched in class, feature prostitutes, drug dealers, domestic violence disputes, and adulterers who happen to find their souls by coming to Jesus and those family members surrounding Christianity. One work that exemplifies this ideology, is Perry’s, Diary of a Mad Black Woman—Brian tells Helen that it isn’t good “to hold on to the things God is trying to tear apart,” but the most vivid reminder of Christianity for me was when Helen’s mother told her that, “God is a jealous God,” which took place during a conversation she and Helen had about Charles and how he was her entire life, rather than God being the center of Helen’s life.

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” becomes very effective for the intended audience when knowledge of the customs and traditions that shape the impacted audience

The verse I picked is Mathew 5:43-48, which says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. (The new Oxford Annotated Bible)

In Kurt Vonnegut’s eyes, America is being taught that some books and ideas are tantamount to diseases. As a consequence, the humorous, satirical novel Cat’s Cradle has been unjustly challenged in a few areas of the United States. The novel looks at the structures that curb our society, especially in religion and science, and contains an educational value that is paramount in correlation to its suggestive themes. Therefore, despite Cat’s Cradle’s minor suggestive content, including religious satire and mature themes, the book possesses important concepts that should not be overshadowed by these negligible reasons. It is puzzling how the novel received bans for such irrational conclusions.

In Chapter 2 of Encountering the New Testament the author talks about a few of the different practices that unified the Jews as well the different religious groups that had different beliefs. Judaism was unified in the beliefs that they had been chosen by God, they were waiting for the messiah to come, they respect the synagogues, they shared the same laws and traditions of elder. Although these beliefs were unifying there were seperate religious groups and leaders that held different beliefs. Probably the most well known group of religious leaders were the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a small group of religious leaders that believed in God, and the coming messiah. Although many of the Pharisees did live good lives many of them were

Chapter three of Engaging the Christian Scriptures goes into detail over selective parts of the sections of history, writings, and prophets. Chapter three gives the reader information over several books in the Bible such as Joshua, Judges, Jeremiah, etc. The chapter dives into the text of Joshua and gives the reader useful insight over Joshua and him leading the Israel across the Jordan river to conquer the land of milk and honey, Jericho. The book of Judges purpose was to teach Israel that God is faithful and certain to punish sin therefore each person must remain loyal and devoted to the Lord. The purpose of Jeremiah was to warn of the destruction that they were about to face and to urge Judah to return and submit to God. Towards the end

We have now come to the fourth and final book of Mere Christianity. In this book, the author takes us to the place in our Christian growth where we begin to rely more heavily on the power of God and less on ourselves to become the being that God originally intended for us to be — a son of God. He begins with an explanation of the difference between “making” and “begetting.”

The Christian religion finds its foundation on the Word of God and the work of Jesus Christ. Christianity finds its beginnings with Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down to earth to teach, heal, and die for the sins of humanity. When God created man, he openly rebelled against God, causing a rift in their relationship. Since humans cannot save themselves, a perfect and completely innocent sacrifice was necessary in order to purify and restore mankind. Christianity is all about Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as denying oneself and following Christ.

Chapter one discusses what a worldview is and more specifically a Christian worldview. A Christian worldview involves believing in God and that he created the universe which has laws. It also includes finding the ultimate truth in the Bible. God has written his truth in the Bible for us to read about. Not only does the Bible tell us truth, it also shows us what ethics we should have. The character of God shows the moral laws we should believing. Lastly, the Christian worldview states that God created humans in his image, but due to sin it has been temporarily ruined. Since Jesus died on the cross, though, humans can be reconciled to God again. Although, this basic break down of a Christian worldview is helpful, it does not give all the answers.

In chapter four the author explains the different school of thoughts, such as modern process theology, the problem of process thought, why this process fails, and the true story of open theism. In simple words, this is the spirit of this age of worldly knowledge and worldly wisdom is dominating society, school systems, and many evangelical churches. As a result, advance thinking and naturalistic view are convinced of their superiority of both knowledge and wisdom denying the existence of God as the Creator of this world. In chapter five Bush explains what naturalistic evolution is – “a philosophical mode by which the world may be interpreted in terms of change rather than stability.”

If I were to sum up what I have learned from this course it would be focused on Faith and a new understanding of the Bible. Faith is not just part of religion but every aspect of our everyday lives, and is fascinatingly carried through the Bible from the beginning to the end. It began with the Creation, and continued throughout the Fall, Redemption, and Consummation of Christ. It is the foundation of the Christian perspective and what leads God’s people to salvation and good works. Our modern world is so corrosive to faith that Jesus Christ asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). He is there to give his people the gift of faith and to help them to grow in living faith that will last forever.

With the eruption of many teenaged and young adult Christian writers in recent years, there have naturally come questions concerning the ethics of writing. What can Christian writers include, and what should they not include in their writing? One such question concerns the usage of characters cussing in writing, and Reagan Ramm, a writer for Kingdom Pen, a community for young Christian writers, attempts to answer this question in an article titled “Should You Include Cussing in Your Story?” First he identifies cursing as a sin, and explains that he found himself conflicted over whether to make a character cuss in his novel. He then gives five points arguing against the usage of cuss words in writing, which, although seemingly strong, fail to convince due to inadequate evidence supporting them.

In many circumstances, close families often sport strikingly different expectations and rules for their children, as red contrasts to blue. Whilst neither convention tolerates sin, jealousy and peer-pressure drive teens to act contrary to their parents’ will. As Paul laid down in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord”, so must children follow. Another stronger, and darker, source threatens to trickle in, quietly nudging a teen to sin: the voice of his culture. Pressure abounds from the surrounding culture and twisted worldviews, like sinking to the suffocating depths of a pond, and total immersion in a culture glutted on immorality produces personal sin. Building up, like arsenic in a body, desire and pressure to disobey authority whispers like a seemingly beautiful yet frosty voice from every corner of the

In his hardback titled The Church: Contours of Christian Theology, Edmund P. Clowney writes a systematic presentation about concerning the doctrine of the church. In chapter eight of his book, he describes the Marks of the Church. Clowney writes about the marks of a true church of Christ, which include the true preaching of the Word of God; the proper observation of the sacraments; and the faithful exercise of church discipline.