The Core Concepts Of God

As I was reading the chapter on forgiveness in Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by McMinn (2011), the personal life experience that jumped out to me was when I had to make the decision to truly forgive my ex-boyfriend and his parents for the emotional pain they caused me. After living in New Jersey for a month and spending time with my boyfriend and his family, working, and taking care of an elderly lady with dementia my world came crashing down on me. My ex-boyfriend’s parents discovered sin in his life and told me I could no longer pursue a relationship with him because of the sins he had committed. After finding out the sinful things my ex-boyfriend had done, I chose to forgive him. I also chose to give him a second chance at a relationship with me, but my effort to salvage our relationship was futile.

“Forgiveness, assert Fincham and his colleagues, can help restore more benevolent and cooperative goals to relationships” Everett L. Worthington, Jr.(2004). New Science of Forgiveness.

It is also vital to look at Wilson’s view on the practice of forgiveness and how if an individual decides to ignore it, it can place a road block in their process of change. She believes that God speaks about forgiveness for the following reasons:” (1) we are all sinners with whom to relate so we’ll need to become skillful forgivers (2) God makes forgiveness a centerpiece of our healing process because living in un-forgiveness is so much worse (Wilson, 2001).

Thematic Statement: Forgiving someone for their mistake can make yourself free of anger and bitterness.

Understanding the Concept of God As mere humans, we tend to forget things said as time goes by. Our own

In FYS we were taught many ways to live in the world through the stories we read, speeches we listen to, and the projects we did. In the book, Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, and Destiny of The Republic, by Candice Millard, I saw a few prominent themes of how one should live. In these three books I learned about the author 's voice through their writings. I saw how one should live their life. In these books the authors shared common themes through their writings. The authors showed how to live life with forgiveness and live life with faith. Krueger and Potok both showed me through their novels how to forgive someone and they did this by showing that there is a bigger picture in

Forgiveness is significant to a client because it helps to get relief psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually. "Before getting into forgiveness in counseling, there are concepts that are related to it and should be analyzed (McMinn, 1996)". Forgiveness is viewed in three perspectives which include opposition, technique, or an obligation. These perspectives included in counseling are a healthy method for forgiving.

The authors seek to elucidate to the masses the concepts of God’s hope, amazing love and the power that emanates from god 's sake to his children. Through the entire work the writers seek to demonstrate through years of experience how people can be in possession of their thought patterns, enhance their decision-making skills to promote the physical and relational self. The book brings out very hefty discussions on life and the various engagements that people make every day of their lives. The book contains concepts like relationships and their dynamics where the authors assert that relationships ought to include God in them because he exists in them (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015 p.112).

God is not only there-an actually existent being; he is personal and we can relate to him in a personal way” (Alin, 2015).

My personal general theology is based on the scripture John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” This has always impacted the way that I have talked about God to others. I’ve spoken about God in a manner of love because He loves us enough to give His only begotten son for our salvation. God loves us enough to make our process toward salvation easier by allowing our requirement to merely believe in Him. God loves us enough to allow our souls not to perish, if we believe in Him. God’s love is the foundation of my personal theology. In this project I will cover areas that relate to God’s love for us. The topics

This client was Christian and from my estimation now looking back was just beginning their walk with Christ and not on the same maturity level that I was at that time in my walk with Christ. At that time I knew how forgiveness first and foremost is obedience to God, and secondly how it can set you free from so many emotional problems, McMinn said, “Forgiveness, in its theological and spiritual context, is profound, life-giving, and transforming. When we remove the religious context and think of forgiveness only as a clinical technique, we risk losing the essence of forgiveness.” (2011, p. 254) After reading this chapter it made me re-live an area in which I was not fully equipped to help client maneuver their way through. This particular chapter has allowed me to see how vital forgiveness is in a therapeutic session, and how it must be used carefully. It is made me aware of how important my Christianity is to forgiveness, but also to assess the level my client is currently on before beginning a session on forgiveness. Reflection

Of particular interest to me was the complicated nature of categorizing and defining self-forgiveness. What seemed to be a simple concept is, in fact, layered with multiple levels of complex considerations that must be addressed in order to properly define and diagram self-forgiveness.

Honestly, I’m not sure where to begin. But, I’ll try ~ First, I think it’s important to note that mankind has been under the condemnation of God when man first sinned – I think it’s more important for sinners to acknowledge that WE are all guilty of sin. If a sinner can’t acknowledge the hopelessness of his/her guilt before the lord... the idea of forgiveness becomes a foreign concept and one will never understand that the wages of sin is death.

Christian theologians have tried to figure out the best way to interpret why people sin and how they should repent ever since the bible was written. Some theologians explain sin as a sickness, in which people are driven to do wrong by an unknown internal urge. Theologians also use the sin as a crime method to explain sin as defilement against God and Humanity (Taylor 54-57). In addition to the sin as a sickness or crime theories, some religious scholars say each theory should be used but both are never used in the same church (Taylor, 57-59). Although I agree that churches should include both sin as a crime and sickness, I don’t think both methods for explaining sin are used equally in churches. In fact, I think the sin as a crime theory is used more often than sin as a sickness. Accordingly, sin as a sickness ought to be emphasized as much as sin as a crime is, because the sinner will know they are not completely at fault. As a result of knowing the degree of their fault, the sinner will learn their true responsibility for their actions.

The catholic four common core questions, what is our relationship to God, How does one live a life of meaning and purpose, what is our relationship with the natural world and how can we form a more just society for the common good can be answered differently. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition answered these questions in a broad distinctive way. This essay will examine the question, what is our relationship with God, from the view point of three writers, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Pope Paul. What is our relationship with God was a better one answered by these writers. Most Christians refer a relationship with God to praying and communicating with him. As an explanation, many well-meaning Christians will explain that you can develop a personal relationship with God by “seeing Jesus. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition such as Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain, etc. have a broader explanation of our relationship with God. They say a relationship with God is being fully human, living a meaningful life and having a relationship with the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.