The Christian Idea Of The Kingdom Of God

The word worldview means how an individual view the world around them. A worldview is a complete system of how we perceive the world and process it. According to Waddell (2014), “a worldview is a foundational set of assumptions to which one commits that serves as a framework for understanding and interpreting reality and deeply shapes one’s behavior.” The worldview of an individual is usually influenced by the person’s cultural background, life experiences, and upbringing. The Christian worldview is under the board umbrella of theism, which is “a worldview that entails belief in the existence of at least one personal and intelligent divine being” (Cosgrove, 2006). A person of a Christian worldview itself is someone who believes in the teaching of Jesus Christ and believes God created the world and everything in it. This paper would attempt to summarize and analyze the essential elements of the Christian worldview describing God, Humanity, Jesus, and Restoration. The writer will also reflect on his own worldview.

The term ‘Kingdom of God’ (or as is otherwise referred to as ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ in Matthew's Gospel) is mentioned throughout the Four Gospels. Over the centuries many scholars have reached the same conclusion that the central theme of Jesus’ message regards the ‘Kingdom of God.’ But what did Jesus mean by this term? This essay aims to discuss the meaning of the term ‘Kingdom of God’ and what Jesus must have meant by this.

Harnack understands the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ teachings to have two basic aspects. First is the traditional view as a future event, establishing God’s rule on earth. The roots of this view come from the historic elements of Jewish apocalypticism and in the teachings of John the Baptist. Jesus accepted and supported but also surpassed the teachings of John the Baptist. However, Jesus presented an idea of the Kingdom of God that was in contrast with the traditional understanding of the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ understanding of the Kingdom is a present and internal event which happens in the hearts of those of faith. According to Harnack Jesus would have seen the two aspects as complimenting one another wherein those of a present perspective would see a tension between the two. Harnack says that it is the second aspect of God’s Kingdom that held as the most important in Jesus’ teachings. The Kingdom of God then should be understood as “coming to the individual, by entering into his soul and laying hold of it. ” It is then that the Kingdom of God fills the Christian with the life of God. Looking at the Kingdom of God in this way makes it the rule of God “in the hearts of individuals.

In Romans 1-8 Paul is writing to teach the doctrine of Christ. Although Paul goes into much more depth in these eight chapters, his message ultimately boils down to the following sentence. We have all sinned and deserve death, however, through the redemption and sanctification of Christ we have been saved and should now lead, Christ centered lives of faith.

From what I know, Planet Earth consists of seven continents. Collectively, those seven continents are home to approximately seven billion humans. And each human has their own unique worldview. Defined as, the bias or presumption a person holds as a result of the environment, culture, or faith they live in, worldview influences how everyone responds to life’s pertinent questions. (A Christian Worldview?) Throughout this paper, I intend to give a description of my own worldview, answering what I believe about God, creation, humankind, epistemology, and ethics. Whilst comparing my worldview to that of O. Henry's illustrated in the short story "The Ransom of Red Chief".

Throughout the history of Christianity, there have been many different ideas on how a Christian should interact with the world in which they lived. From the biblical writings of The Gospel according to Matthew, and The Acts of the Apostles, to the non-biblical writings of On Philosophy, and The Prescription Against Heretics, the ideas of Christianity were brought together. The two non-biblical documents highlight the arguments of whether or not Christians should study Greek philosophy. The books from The Bible showed that Christian beliefs focused on how one should primarily seek their ultimate reward or satisfaction in the Kingdom of God (spiritual), rather than in the here and now (temporal). Christianity, as it began, was a faith that emphasized the importance of acting charitable towards the less fortunate, while understanding that it was ones duty to worship God and spread that love for Him to those who didn’t believe.

N.T. Wright releases “How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels” with the affirmation that the church has come to emphasis almost exclusively on Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. Although, the gospels devote the majority of their time on Jesus’ life. Jesus’s life, death, resurrection and rise did not hint the end of the old Israel story, but redirected it further to a worldwide effort of adaptation. Wright addresses several New Testament documented interpreters who present the gospels as simply “the prognosis of early Christian faith, reflecting the disputes and predicaments of the early church,” something Wright calls a “half-truth”. Wright argues that notwithstanding the gospels countless differences, none of

The scientific method is a tool that enables a person to seek out new knowledge, or correct and integrate new knowledge. It is composed of eight individual steps: which start out with defining a question, gathering information and resources, form an explanatory hypothesis, test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data in a reproducible manner, analyze the data, interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis, publish results, and ends with a retest. The steps can be grouped into four different essential elements: operation, observation, model, and utility function.

Every person on earth has a mental reality, which we call worldview. It is what a person finds in his/her world and it could be true or not. In other words’ it is putting together of all the things we believe whether they are or not. It could be through education, observation, experience or just because those we trust also believe. Every decision we make is based on the worldview we have developed.

A Christian worldview is based on ideas and beliefs in which a group or culture interprets the world and interacts with it. Most Christians believe in God and Jesus and try to live according to the teachings of the Bible, however as we have seen throughout the themes in this course that all Christians do not all practice them in the same way. This paper will cover the themes of (The Holy Trinity, Jesus Speaking into Chaos and The Widow, the Orphan, and the Alien: Caring for the Oppressed).

God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of

The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.

In the book by Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, the author argues the very existence of Jesus Christ in the New Testament is portrayed within the Old Testament. Wright writes, “the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you will come to the heart of Jesus” (ix). Wright explains many Christians love Jesus, but do not know much about the Scriptures that He read. This is the author’s intention of the book, bringing the readers to a deep understanding of the Old Testament and gaining a greater understanding of Jesus. The purpose of this review is to summarize and critique Wright’s work along with presenting the strengths and weaknesses of the book.

In part four Lohfink shows that this “foundational reception of Jesus' praxis of the reign of God continued beyond the New Testament communities into the age of the ancient church”

In this article Harold Attridge examines Luke’s background, the scriptures Luke wrote, Jesus’s values, the context and purpose of Luke’s gospel and the treatment of Christians at the time of Luke’s writings. The article expresses that Luke’s Gospel was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and at a time when Christians were being persecuted for practicing their faith so consequently the purpose of his Gospel was to show an ethical example and imply that Christians could be good citizens. This source is relevant to the topic as it suggests the purpose of Luke's Gospel and the treatment of Christians before the fall of Jerusalem. A limitation of the website is that it has not been recently published, it’s publish date is April 1998 so it may not be up to date with the latest, accurate information. Nonetheless, this source is very beneficial and appropriate to the task as it provides facts and research on the chosen sacred text. This source will not be the cornerstone of my research but will add a good understanding to the purpose of the sacred text.