Philosophy Of Religion Research Paper

“When you argue against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.” I got that quote from Mere Christianity. God is omnipotent and He is all- powerful. He knows and sees everything, God is unlike Santa Claus, God is something to really believe in. God has given C.S. Lewis a very intriguing way to spread his word. Mere Christianity has many ideas on faith and truth that helps my walk with the Lord.

A worldview is a term used to describe one’s theories and beliefs about the world. “No human being lives without a worldview, but few ever give thought to what worldviews are, how they come into being, how they change and how they are held.” (Webb, p.1) Upbringing, life experiences, attitudes and morals can all have an effect on a person’s worldview and in turn, will affect how one decides to live their life every day and the choices they make. “All of us at some time ask what is real.” (DeWeese, pg. 34) Christian Worldview answers, with certainty, the questions to origin, identity, meaning/purpose, morality and destiny. When you believe the Bible to be true, you allow it to be your guide for what you say and do. –Word count 128

List the religion(s) from our study this semester you believe are represented in, or have influenced, the United States’ system of governance. Give specific examples of the element(s) represented for each religion, and how they are represented. Are there “threads of truth” all the religions we studied share, which are represented in our civic society?  Cite scripture passages from each religion to back up your claims. Cite specific laws, documents, currency, patriotic music, sculpture, etc. that illustrate your assertions

My Christian faith has been a cornerstone throughout my life, calming and supporting me within the trials of life. My faith has reminded me and taught me, that my achievements are not my own, rather, they are a gift from God. This is something I have often struggled with, pride controlling and limiting the growth within my life. However, through the refinement of my faith, as well as having great mentors and examples, I now understand that these gifts I have are given, are gifts, not a result of anything I have done or could do. Within the classroom, my faith aids me as it reminds me that I am called to work heartily in all areas of life, in addition to being a good steward of the abilities which God has given to me. Throughout the stressful times and the hard times I can also remember that God is going to love me no matter what, and perhaps remembering this, and keeping

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. This meant waking up early on weekends, going to church every Sunday and the days of obligation, and attending catechism, no matter how much I protested. It also meant being unhappy. I detested most of the rules. I did not believe in an almighty God that could give me free will, but wanted to limit my actions. I also could not stand to believe in someone who could kill one of my best friends and continue the world like nothing had happened. All I wanted was to be able to live, not just survive. Six months after I was confirmed, I stopped going to church. After that I did not know what to believe. God was supposed to be watching over me. Instead, I felt He had forgotten my name.

My faith has been very important to me and my family since my birth. I was baptized at Broad Street United Methodist Church by Rev. Mark Ale on January 17, 1993. The reason my faith has played such a vital role for me is mainly due to my Mom’s United Methodist influence. After my Dad began to live on his own he grew distant and stopped going to Church until he married my Mom, and she told him that a condition of being married to her was that they would go to either her Church or his Church every week. When I stated Kindergarten my parents and I were attending Holy Name Roman Catholic Church each week and decided to raise me as a Catholic, so I was brought into the Catholic Church not missing any sacraments due to my valid United Methodist

Theologians worldwide believe that Judaism begins with God's promise to Abraham in about 2000 BC - "I will make you a great nation" (Genesis 12:2). The descendants of Abraham are often referred to as the "Children of Israel."

With approximately 2.1 billion followers, Christianity is one of the world’s largest religions. Christianity—the religion of martyrs—is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Before the establishment of Christianity, the idea of the Messiah as the world’s savior, depicted in the Old Testament, was widely believed and accepted among Jewish communities. Since these ideas existed, the Christian movement popularized the idea of Jesus as the Messiah to legitimate his life. Writers then began to propagate the idea of his death as the centerpiece of Christianity after the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion was portrayed as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices; Christians believe that Jesus died for their sins. Consequently, a shift within the idea of the Messiah occurred from a physical and political figure to a spiritual and universal figure. This shift provided Christianity with a solid foundation that led to an easier acceptance of Christianity. Since the kings and emperors believed in the godliness of the Messiah, the teachings of Jesus were slowly politicized into the Roman Empire. Therefore, when authoritative figures adopted Christianity, the amount of Christian followers increased, manufacturing social solidarity and prestige for its members.

Being some of the biggest religions in the world today, Christianity and Catholicism are considered to be symbols of stability, comfort, and security because of its strong faith. This, however, has not always been true. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, Christianity and Catholicism have gone through tremendous changes through different major events in history. Ranging from the Council of Nicaea—the early church community prior to 1054—to the Spanish Colonization of the New World—prior to 1900—to the Second Vatican Council—after 1900—all of these events created waves of change in these religions and helped form them into what they are today.

Bronislaw Malinowski (1931: 641) states: religion is not natural or born out of assumption or replication, still less out of perception or misconception, on the other hand, relatively out of the misfortunes of existence, or out of struggle between human plans and realities. Chaos over one’s life circumstances poses a predicament. Evil misfortune causes individuals to feel abandoned. Religion permits a sense of oneself to feel that, there is greater power and hope which is greater than one self

The Cosmological argument argues for the existence of God a posteriori based on the apparent order in the universe. For Aristotle, the existence of the universe needs an explanation, a cause, as it could not have come from nothing. Nothing comes from nothing so since there is something, there must have been some other thing that is its cause. Aristotle rules out an infinite progression of causes, so, that led to the conclusion that there must be a First Cause. Likewise with motion, there must have been a first cause; Aristotle calls this the ‘Prime Mover’. There is a God, says Aristotle -for how else does motion begin? Whilst this argument does generally offer some support for the existence of God, it does not prove his existence.

In various cultures, religion and philosophy have a big impact on daily life. Religion affected India in several ways, and philosophy affected China. Hinduism and Buddhism are two religions that influenced India. China was also impacted by philosophies such as Legalism, Daoism, and Confucianism. People’s daily lives evolved around all of these factors.

There are several reasons why I have the religious affiliation that I do. My membership, unlike that of so many, has very little to do with the choices my friends and family have made. My decision was based on reason and personal experiences. While some may say that these things are both easily influenced by parents and peers, in my case I have parents of different faith and therefore have less direct influence from them.

Today, it seems like science and religion are in a constant, bloody war with one another, similarly to the on-going war between the Palestinians and the Jews, but what are science and religion? Science is the intellectual study of the structure and behavior of the world through observation and experiment. Religion is the belief in a superior being or many superior beings. Although science and religion seem like two diverse topics, the two methods of explanation are more alike than one would think, and both of these things together complement each other to give us our modern technology and how we as a society should use it. First, to explain how science and religion are similar, we have to look back in time. Throughout our history and deep in

Religion is the prominent key source that has brought people together conforming around one solid belief of God’s plan. Throughout history, different paths of religions have taken course and formed different segways of beliefs and followed the words of the bible in different ways. Any religion has brought peace to people, keeping their trust around faith worshiping of a superhuman with power. My family and friends have helped shape my religion towards the Catholic church, even if the older generations in the family have gone different directions, such as, methodist or lutheran. Overall, even with different religions and practices of church in my family, I have allowed myself to keep an open mind with studying religions, even if mine is solely catholic. Altogether, my family and I have allowed ourselves to be overall christians and believe in the higher power.