The Church Of The Christian Faith

Theology translates to “God-Talk.” Weafer explains that if Christian theology is meant to assist in the understanding of modern day and past interpretations. Therefore, Christian thought will explore many aspects of Christian belief. There are four sources for Christian thought. They are the Bible, tradition, reason and experience. The Bible refers to specific writings that are inspire by God and believed to be holy. When God reveals himself it is called a revolution. When Christian study the bible they try to understand God and what God is saying. Tradition refers to the collected writing, practices, artifacts, and wisdom handed down from one generation to the next. Reason is the rational thought , inquiry, and intellectual thought process of a human being. Experience comes from within.

John Wesley, son of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, on June 17, 1703. On February 9, 1709, a fire broke out in the Wesley household in the middle of the night. John, only five years old, was left sound asleep in his bed. Fortunately, a stranger was able to help John escape just before the building collapsed. This monumental moment led Susanna Wesley to begin a “strict reform.” She wrote in one of her personal meditations, “I do intend to be more particularly careful of the soul of this child, that Thou hast so mercifully Provided for, than ever I have been, that I may do my endeavour to instill into his mind the principles of Thy true religion and virtue. Lord, give me grace to do it sincerely

He communicates justification is by grace through faith as a qualified change in a person's conversion. Besides, he accentuates the real change that takes place in a person’s heart and life as a soul become new creatures in Christ. “I will make you a raw heart and place a young spirit in you; I will take away from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 336:26 NIV) Salvation is not a static act of God is showing towards the past; Wesley understands salvation as a revitalizing procedure. It begins with justification and new birth and stays as the Christian matures in

Additionally, the realization of an overly pragmatic theology found in chapter nineteen proved interesting; especially in consideration of Wesley’s Experiential Theology. We mustn’t become overly skeptical in our beliefs if we wish to discover as many new ideas that we possibly can. In this case, the best option would be the option that does not rule out an option unless logical necessity urges otherwise. We must remain consistent in our analysis of the hermeneutical spiral if we wish to continue through it in an appropriate, reasonable way. This sort of idea holds true for any hermeneutical process, but it is especially significant in the method that Wesley offers because of its reliance on correct understanding for scriptural, and then experiential, interpretation. Improper interpretation can lead to drastically false beliefs if carried on for too long.

The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline states, “Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason”. This statement outlines the concept of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Interestingly, John Wesley never actually used the term “quadrilateral” and the American Methodist scholar, Albert C. Outler, who later stated that he regretted doing so as it has been misconstrued, named it.

The church I decided to study was St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, Texas. I selected this church because my best friend attends this church and I sought to go out of my norm and learn more about my friend’s religious background. I normally attend the non-denominational church of Trinity Fellowship. I am considered to be a Conservative and my friend is a Liberal. Many Presbyterian churches in Amarillo are liberal, but the majority of Presbyterian churches are known to be conservative because of their beliefs. I assumed it would be interesting to visit this church due to the fact it would help me to keep an open mind of how people worship and have different beliefs than I do.

For the interethnic church experience, I went to St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. I attended with three of my friends Ashley, Cassandra, and Jennifer. My friends came along in order to gain the experience from the church with me. We all had different experiences, but we all felt glad that we went together and to the church.

Prior to John’s assurance of faith, Bohler spoke harsh to Wesley telling him his last of faith was truly no faith. Bohler encouraged Wesley to do a great deal of critical thinking. Wesley “took careful notes on the Moravian organization,” However, over time he began to question some of their practices. John knotted that he found errors in several of their practices. These faults included, “the neglect of fasting, the magnification of their church and their leader, a tendency toward levity, a spirit of secrecy, the use of cunning, guile, or dissimulation” thus, resulting in John feeing they were “falling short of the apostolic Christianity he had been exposed to.” This lead to Wesley to once again think critically about this theology and belief

This was a fun assignment and I learned about the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Although, I am not a Calvinist, the CRC’s position on the authority of the Bible appears to believe the same as me, that the Scriptures are sufficient and no other source is needed. However, there is mention of “Freedom of interpretation” that confuses me a bit. For this assignment I have broken down the CRC position sentences to dissect each major claim.

Spener, like Luther, saw a need to reform what was there in the way of religious faiths. And like Luther, his intentions were not to remake the faith but to simply bring it back to where it belonged. Unlike the reformation of Luther, which failed to reform the Catholic Church and ended up splitting into the Protestant Church, Spener spent his time within the Protestant Church to reform the way people lived and thought. Arguably, the Pia Desidria that Spener wrote turned out to be the greatest paper to further the Christian faith since the Bible itself.

The period in which the power of the Church history was a key phase in the history of the Christian Church in the world. There was many reasons why this powerful and rich organization had a huge influence on all aspects of European life

Sources for Christian belief are those things that deliver information about God and act as vehicles for what God reveals. Norms are standards by which any information is tested to be accurate and true. Charles Wesley describes these sources and norms for Christian belief as Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience.1 Although he was not the first, what he articulated came to be known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. To sum this up, Christians believe in many things for a wide variety of reasons and the importance of sources and norms are vehicles to a Christian’s way of thinking in what to belief in and for what reason. Basically making sense to a Christian’s thought and views. Like a four-legged stool with each source and norm, uphold the

John Binns' An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches intends to give the reader an overview of Orthodox churches, and not merely those but those which accepted the Council of Chalcedon. Binns' starts his overview of Orthodoxy's diversity by examining the various bishops found along Straight Street in Damascus, they all are representing different traditions. Through this lens Binns' begins to set the stage for Orthodox history and practice. He begins to differentiate Eastern and Western theology, thus a needed analysis begins to take shape of the Eastern church. Binns' takes on the task of fixing the lack of general information of Eastern Theology effectively by means of examining the past through a survey of Orthodoxy in the east.

There are several problems in the church that I can see right now. The biggest problem I see is that most Christians have made being a Christian a religious act. You have to do this and you can’t do that and if you don’t you will go to hell. We have made being a Christian long and labor some. Few church members understand the concept of grace. They have forgotten that Jesus just wants be our friend. That being a Christian is not following a bunch of rules but having a relationship with Jesus.

In his hardback titled The Church: Contours of Christian Theology, Edmund P. Clowney writes a systematic presentation about concerning the doctrine of the church. In chapter eight of his book, he describes the Marks of the Church. Clowney writes about the marks of a true church of Christ, which include the true preaching of the Word of God; the proper observation of the sacraments; and the faithful exercise of church discipline.