Daoist Symbol

The Alchemist , by Paulo Coelho conforms to the idea that everything is a symbol and that the meanings for a symbol can vary depending on the person that is interpreting them. This book is filled with symbolism from the beginning to the end. Every object referenced in the book was significantly symbolic. In the beginning, the scene is set at a giant tree outside of a church, which clearly symbolizes the religious and personal growth that will occur to Santiago. Later, Santiago works at crystal shop trying to make money to go home. His job in the beginning was to clean all the crystal objects. Crystals symbolize clarity and he cleaning the crystal objects in order to make them clean, therefore, if this is connected to his personal journey, he is bringing clarity of the situation to himself and in the and decides to continue the journey rather than give up. One of the more debatable symbols in this book is the desert. To some it may symbolize the hardship and tragedy due to its climate, but to others it may be a journey with rewards at the end. Continuing through every page of the story,

Tripp, D (2000). “Where did I come from”. Exploring Christianity. Retrieved on June 26, 2015 from www.christanity.co.nz

Living in Christian community is a necessity for the everyday life of a Christian. Without community, the Christian has no one else to “sharpen” them, no one else to understand the everyday struggle of living in the world, sharing the Gospel, but not partaking in the sinful ways of the world. In “Life Together”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explores Christian community, and presents not only the benefits of Christian community, but also the toxins that can destroy the community. Living in Christian community brings incomparable joy and community in and through Jesus Christ, but can be easily lost due to humanistic ideals, or “dreams”.

Daoism’s main focus is the Dao. The Dao is near impossible to describe in words therefore it is represented by the Yin and Yang symbol. The Yin and Yang symbol represent balance within the universe. The Yin and Yang may be one the most important ideas in Daoism. (Johnson) The following quotation represents this extremely important idea: “When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.” – Lao Tzu. (The Tao Theme) This quotation is definitely representing the Yin and Yang. The Yin and Yang are both symbols that are harmonic and cannot exist without one another. The Yin represents darkness and the Yang represents the light. You cannot know what darkness is until you have experienced light, therefore the Yin and Yang wouldn’t exist without one another. Just like ugly wouldn’t exist without beauty, as shown in the quotation. (Yin, Yang Theory) Daoism was not the only successful philosophy, so was Confucianism.

Christianity is a well-developed religion, which was formed out of Judaism during the time of the first century. There are a multitude of branches within in the religion of Christianity with some of the major ones being Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Even within the major branches there are even smaller subcategories to which people claim to be their religion of choice. During my research I was able to really find out in greater details more about this marvelous form of religion and why it has the most people of any religion world wide currently adhering to it. With nearly 2.2 billion people claiming to be Christians, Christianity’s beliefs that derive from the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ have stayed true since the formation of their religion. I was fortunate enough to interview Eli Riddle who is a practicing Evangelist and provided me with a vast amount of information about his denomination. Throughout my paper it is my goal to help give a better understanding of the History, Sacred Texts, Worship, Sacraments, Life after Death, as well as a few other intriguing topics covering the broad religion of Christianity while also giving insight about

A Mind For God Introduction The book “A Mind For God” by James Emery White is a very relevant book to todays’ Christian culture. In the book, he hits on seven major topics as well as several ideals every Christian needs to be aware of as they share the gospel with the world. The three ideals that I chose are how Christians spend their time developing their minds, the benefits of knowing the culture around us as Christians witnessing to the world, and Christians being oblivious to the culture around them yet needing to defend their faith.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, ESV). This is probably one of the most recognizable Bible verses of all time because it encompasses the core beliefs of Christianity. The Christian worldview is a set of monotheistic beliefs and values that involve a personal and relatable God that relies heavily on faith in God and Jesus Christ. This paper will describe the essential elements of the Christian worldview: God, humanity, Jesus, restoration as well as evaluate some of the benefits, perplexities, and impacts of being a Christian and explain how I am able to live out my own personal Christian beliefs.

1. Towns, E. (2007). Core Christianity "What is Christianity all about?" Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers., 84 & 90.

Like a pendulum in its unavoidable movement, the significant events in our lives come and go and then return again. Just as certainly as the sun rises and sets, the robustness of adolescence will turn to the feebleness of age; we also know that all things pass. In time, sadness diminishes, making room for enjoyment, and ignorance, with effort and persistence, can be transformed into knowledge. To Daoists, nature is the backbone of human civilization and the idea of this force of opposition is called yin and yang. These abstract ideas play a fundamental role in the beliefs of Daoists: “Yin, associated with shade, water, west, and the tiger, and yang, associated with light, fire, east, and the dragon, are the two alternating phases of cosmic energy; their dynamic balance brings cosmic harmony” (Augustin). Believing in the power of yin and yang meant believing in the power of nature over humankind, and this is congruent with the influence of Daoism in art culture.

Christianity is one of the largest religion in the world with over 2 million followers at the beginning of the 21st century. Christianity is a diverse religion, with many variation in belief among denomination. (Johnson & Judy, 2015). As human beings we all have different worldviews, and we all deserve respect among everything no matter our religion and beliefs. In this paper I will be going through the essential components of the Christian worldview that are made up with God, Humanity, Jesus and restoration. I this paper I will point out important facts according to the Christian Religion and my points of view but with giving respect to the other religions and other people’s points to view.

(Lewis, 1952), as a revised and improved edition, with a new introduction, of the three books Broadcast Talks (1942), Christian Behavior (1943), and Beyond Personality (1944), seeks to explain and defend the believe that is common to Christians at all times. The book focused on its objective to present the “mere” crux of Christianity, which the author referred to as “Mere Christianity,” and explicitly did that in four distinctive books: Right and Wrong as a Clue to Meaning of the Universe; What Christian Believe; Christian Behavior; and Beyond Personality (first step in the doctrine of the trinity).

The Daoism is a traditions practice in East Asian and tend to combine elements by Westerners called contemplation, exercise, psychology, and medicine. The Daoism it was also called it Taoism which it was one of two great indigenous philosophical tradition of China. According to Daoist philosophy by Ronnie Littlejohn, explained,” Daoism corresponds to both Daojia (“Dao or “school of the Dao”), an early Han dynasty (c.100s B.C.E.) term which describes so-called “philosophical” text and thinkers such as Laozi and Zhuangzi”. Then, Taoism it was labeled as indefinable and based on teaching the truth of themselves. Also, Taoism is combine by philosophy, and religion besides it was define as being a system

Native American mascots should not be banned because the Native Americans receive assistance for the usage of the mascot . In the article “Insult or Honor” by Alessandra Potenza, the author states that “ the Seminole tribe granted permission to Florida State University to keep using its Seminoles name as well as its popular Chief Osceola mascot… in return the school provides scholarships and reduced tuition to tribe members.”the University did not have to asked the Indians and they kept their mascot. Instead, the University took the initiative to ask the tribe to give them permission. The University is giving back to the tribe members The University respected the tribe and did not want the tribe to believe that they were

Born in 1906 in Germany and hung in 1945, renowned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer has been known as a pastor, an accused assassin, an anti-Nazi dissident, a key founding member of the Confessing Church, and a modern theological writer with no equal. Perhaps one of his most famous works is “Life Together” a personal meditation of the nature of the modern-day Christian community. Naturally, as the title suggests, the main theme of the book is life together as Christians under the Word of God. In the first chapter of the book, Bonhoeffer establishes his thesis, drawing upon examples and passages from the Bible to explain how we are supposed to live together, specifically explaining the role of Christ in our community. Bonhoeffer professes that

The colors David used are unusually bright and severe for his palette, but the colors are important references to the Empire. “For example, the green carpet in Cupid and Psyche is almost identical to the green carpet in David’s portrait of Napoleon from 1812. The royal or “Empire” blue and gold were the main colors of the Emperor’s private apartments, and the emblems of the laurel branch, gold stars, and a winged insect were taken from David’s design of Napoleon’s grand cabinet” (Thompson). Floating above Psyche, there is a butterfly, which could signify her allegorical death—and that of the Empire. While the butterfly that is engraved into the bottom part of the bed could reference a tomb. With this explanation, Psyche would be representative