Conversion To Christ, By Dr. Molletes

The Story of Christianity is a book written by Justo Gonzalez; a native of Cuba. Gonzalez serves on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center which is located in Atlanta Georgia. He attended Yale University, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in historical theology; in fact Dr. Gonzalez is the youngest person at Yale to be awarded a Ph.D. He is also one of the first generation Latino theologians and instead of growing up Catholic, comes from a protestant background. In addition to writing many other books, Gonzalez is also Cokesbury’s publishing chief narrator of the Christian Believer study video lessons course and the recipient of the Ecumenism Award from the Theological Consortium in Washington, which he received as a

“On a Christian Mission to the Top” by Laurie Goodstein and David Kirkpatrick deals with the controversial topic of religion, primarily the rise of evangelicals to the top of the social classes and their influence. The essay opens with a description of the differing religious groups in Brown University, originally a Protestant Christian school. After evangelicals surpassed other denominations of Christianity, the societal and political perspectives of America shifted to support Evangelism views. Goodstein and Kirkpatrick examine the attempt to sway colleges to evangelist perspectives. While I wholeheartedly encourage the freedom of religion, I do not support this attempt at mass conversion or the refusal of accepting of other cultures.

In this paper, I will review Charles Ryrie’s book The Holy Spirit. I will detail what I feel the book is about. I will emphasize various points given by the author that stood out to me. Finally, I will give my personal evaluation of the book.

Many people would agree that without faith, the world would be in chaos. The book Christian Foundation by Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart gives an interpretation on faith in our time. Many people would question the definition of faith. Faith is a gift, which is given by God to have trust in him and belief in him. This book is a great entry in anyone's life that has speculation on his or her own faith. The book has many ways into understanding ones own religion. It discusses the Bible, Jesus, Church, God's existence and Images of God. All of these chapters helped me get a better interpretation of what my religion entailed.

One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

The book Discipleship was wriiten by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and was published in 1937. It was his fourth volume of sixteen and has also been published under the title The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany that was alter arrested, imprisoned and executed by the Nazis.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

The social gospel was the biggest inspiration and influence for Civil Rights leader, John Lewis. Which is prevalent throughout the first two books, of the March trilogy, written by Andrew Aydin and John Lewis himself. The Bible made its mark on Lewis when he was young farm boy. Leading him to the social gospel which started him down the path of nonviolence, and longing not just for personal reform but for social reform. As the Civil Rights movements became bigger, and as the philosophy of which John Lewis taught spread, others were inspired by the social gospel.

He further clarifies that in Christianity, God is not even a person. Instead, he is a dynamic, pulsating activity — almost a kind of drama. Additionally, he says the Holy Spirit also shares in the same love that exists between God and Jesus; and like them, He is eternal also. The author informs us that we too can share in that eternal love, and we can help others share in it as well. Here, he reminds us that those superior traits, as well as appalling ones that we know, come by a kind of infection — we come in contact with the source of the infection. Therefore, we can take part in the shared love that exists between the three persons by coming in contact with that love. Furthermore, we can expose others to that love, so that they might also become infected. Each of us, then, can become a "little Christ," which is the whole purpose of becoming a

Jesus and the Disinherited begin the first chapter with the interpretation of Jesus. Dr. Thurman explained that Jesus was a poor Jew and was a minority in the midst of a dominate society. Dr. Thurman gives his analysis on how the world views Jesus. People around the world have their own interpretation of Jesus; yet, people have an orthodox view of him being fully God and fully man. In chapter one, the author references the nonviolent resistance approach, which is a tactic Dr. Martin Luther King Jr used in the civil rights movements. He interprets Jesus as a black man who lived his life as an outsider in the world. Jesus was the disinherited and oppressed like African Americans.

Many people believe that that the motivation of the Christian church is to radically “change the world”. However, through his book To Change The World, James Davison Hunter explains how this common believe is a misconception. Rather, he shows readers that, from a sociological perspective, while Christians thrive in many areas of life by reaching others individually, they fundamentally components of creating cultural change.

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and

In his book, Getting the Gospel Right, Dr. Olson states and I quote that “any sinner can be saved by grace only through explicit repentance faith in the finished work of Christ alone.” This is a very powerful statement and one that brings questions and in many cases confusion as to what is the truth of salvation. In this book the author poses diverse views of salvation truth particularly those of Calvinism and Arminianism, and how they agree in some ways and differ in others from his doctrinal view of salvation in mediate theology. In mediate theology, Christ is the only way to salvation though his saving death and resurrection. Through saving faith a believer inherits a new birth and a right standing with God. When the believer comes to trust in Christ for salvation he receives the

Metzger has strongly defended traditional truths that elevate God and his cause, his mission, his authority and his free grace and mercy as the central theme for God glorifying evangelism. It rightly points out the dangers of shrinking the Bible’s teaching on salvation and brings us back to the core of the gospel in order to reestablish our passion for evangelism. As a Christian, I was pierced many times when I read this book since Metzger pointed out our mistakes and fear. Also when he mentioned of the basis for assurance of salvation, it was clear for Christians to check themselves and go out for evangelism. Assurance of salvation are these: the promises of God made real to the heart, the inner testimony of God’s Spirit, and the