God and Covenant Orientation

Covenant and law are both prevalent themes that are used throughout the Old Testament of the Bible. A covenant is a binding contract in which “a kinship bond between two parties” is created when each party carries out assigned expectations established in the making of the covenant (Hahn and Bergsma 1). A law is a binding rule or regulation that is used to regulate the conduct of a community or group of people and is usually enforced by some kind of authority. There are many similarities and differences between covenant and law, and in some cases covenant and law can be connected so that one supports the other. This is especially true when talking about the Mosaic Law and God’s covenant with Israel. In these two items God creates expectations through the covenant, rules and regulations through the Law, and allows for covenant-maintenance by using both together rather than a simple law code.

4. State your own theology of proclamation, incorporating a statement on the way in which preaching relates to a "theology of presence."

Fr. Bruce Ritter founded the Covenant House in 1972. The first location of the Covenant House was Manhattan and the second location were Staten Island. The Covenant House was designed to get the homeless youth between the age of eighteen and twenty-one off the street and give them skills to handle and improve their situations. Now in today’s time there are Covenant Houses in more than thirty-one sites across six countries.

The tithing (or giving) issue is one that comes up often and that tends to bring up larger issues of law, Christian freedom, grace, generosity, faithfulness and priorities. With this issue, as is true of so many areas of the Christian life and, more specifically, church life, there is broad freedom with respect to many particular decisions or courses of action we might take, provided we take them for biblical reasons and with biblical principles in mind.

Ethos plays a great part in “Crisis Number One”, unlike in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, there are numerous examples of ethos, and here are some… “Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better.”, indicating that if the Revolutionary War, and it supports, started earlier, they would’ve been better off, in his opinion. The next example is Paine is showing his experience, trustworthiness, reliability and credibility to the people about his personal knowledge of the war, “As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with several circumstances, which those who live at a distance know but little or nothing of. Our situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being a narrow neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack. Our force was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring against us.” Another example of ethos also illustrates trustworthiness, reliability, and credibility, since he lived side by side with the Tories while great amounts people have not, and how they shouldn’t be in America if they are going to support the King 's decision. “I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories…” Thomas Paine really doesn’t like

reality. It was as if boats had their rudders removed, and they were permitted to drift freely. Today, we often refer to our Judeo-Christian heritage as based on law and legal precedent. In reality, the Christian part of this tradition did not become part of our Western morality until after the English referred back to the Torah, began to read Hebrew and incorporated the Jewish tradition in the system of laws based on written laws and legal precedents and then became known as the Judeo-Christian tradition. Until then, the governance of a community was based on power – those with it made individualized decisions based on at best their own personal dictates or, at worst, expediency. For their daily lives the people looked to the village priest,

Throughout the history of the world, God has been working to bring humanity back to him. Due to the loss of constant communion in the fall, God set forth multiple promises to eventually establish his eternal Kingdom, the New Testament, is the culmination of these promises. The Gospels are the most specific in how Jesus Christ fulfilled the covenants God made with Abraham and David. More importantly he is the fulfillment of the new covenant, which washes away sin and brings humanity back into communion with God. What is modeled in the Gospels is reaffirmed in Acts, by the way the church is to function according to the culmination of the Covenants. Acts begins to reveal the great mystery that is the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s covenant. Paul’s Epistles take the culmination a step further and defend the idea that the fulfillment of God’s covenants does not just affect the people of Israel, but the Gentiles as well. The General epistles teach that the people are no longer bound by the mosaic covenant since the New Covenant was fulfilled via Jesus Christ. Yet practice of the law is still an important factor of the Christian life style even if superseded by the New Covenant. Revelation shows that covenants are leading up to the lord’s victory and salvation of his people. The sins of the Jews and Gentiles are washed away by Jesus the blood of the lamb so in reality the battle is already won because of the New Covenants fulfillment in Jesus. It is clear from

a. What would be the most important message to communicate to the target patients? To physicians? To partners?

The bible teaches us many things about God. From Genesis and Exodus we can learnwhat the Judeo-Christian view of God was. Genesis shows us that God made the sun, the moon,the earth and every living thing. During the days of creation God made all things good. On theseventh day of creation God rested and declared all he made to be very good (Genesis 1:31). God created human beings in his own image. We as humans can be certain of our owndignity and self worth because we have been created in the image of God. The book of Genesisshows us that people disobey God by choosing to do wrong. Even great bible heros failed Godand disobeyed him. The bible teaches us that God is forgiving. God has many attributes. God makes no mistakes and this is wisdom. God is infinite, heknows

Biblical covenant is “legal term denoting a formal and legally binding declaration of benefits to be given by one party to another, with or without conditions attached.” (Arnold) Biblical covenant is a part of God holy plan and they reveal enteral plan. Each covenant plays a part of God plan of salvation. The Mosaic covenant showed that being saved by works was impossible and reveals God’s Holy character the need of a savior. “The Mosaic Covenant was like the vassal treaties of the ancient Near East, where a more powerful king entered into a relationship with a lesser king.” Knowing the Bible)

It all began in the covenant with Abraham, God promised many things to him. God promised numerous descendants, land, and a relationship with him. God’s first blessing would provide Abraham with numerous descendants, which in turn would become a great nation. His second blessing would provide him and his family with a place to call home. His third blessing states that Abraham will have a relationship with God. This means that, anyone who blesses Abraham will be blessed by God, anyone that curses him will be cursed. In return for all of these promises, Abraham and all of his male members and descendants were circumcised to let God know that they belong to him.

A. We all know that humans have a good side and a sinful side by nature. However through Christ we can redeem ourselves and live a new life in Him.

The word ‘covenant’ is, in the Old Testament, it is the Hebrew word ‘berith’ and is used

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all my