The Devotee 's Place And Freedom

The subject of the book, author’s purpose and intended audience: The history of Christian thought in the modern era was a quest of today’s Christian. Faith in a multi-denominational society decreases a sense of belonging. Since the Enlightenment some

Putting pen to paper, Paul pleas with the Corinthians to better themselves through Christ Jesus. While in discourse with the Corinthians, the polemic language of Paul becomes, at times, difficult to digest. While pursuing a better relationship with the believers in Corinth, the apostle often used terms such as ‘we,’ ‘our,’ and ‘us.’ These pronouns can be understood in multiple ways; however, the manner in which they are comprehended sheds light on Paul’s agenda. In the analysis of 2 Corinthians 4: 8-18, the pronouns are best understood as being inclusive in terms of Paul, his followers, and the believers in Corinth.

I was born to a Christian mother I had 7 brothers and sisters we wasn’t perfect but we all loved the Lord. I went to church every time the door was open I loved Sunday school and loved to sing the good ole songs that Baptist Churches sing. I am now 52 and my mind has never changed I love the Lord with all my heart and soul he has helped me so much I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.

When America adopted the term Freedom, as far back as the country’s founding. To how we as a nation obtained freedom and the patriots who had to fight several wars in order to continue to possess it. As citizens and members of a society, we are extremely fortunate to have several different types of freedoms. Although this is a good thing in some cases, there comes to a point where too much freedom can be dangerous because there would essentially be no protection for the people. To prevent this from happening, we give up particular freedoms and swap it for safety. The freedoms that are most important to me are religion, economic, education, and gun control. With that being said, there should be the same “restriction” on each of the freedoms, no acts of violence will be condoned.

Paul expresses an equality of human beings as those he equally owes a duty and a debt to preach the gospel. As mentioned before, some cultures of mankind arose from the refusal to glorify and acknowledge God with purity and righteousness. As a result, they developed cultures of darkness, shamefulness, and foolishness. Furthermore, such cultures of humanity caused their people to lose moral attributes and to grow wicked, selfish, and cruel (Romans 1).

Philippians 2:5-7 ~ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.

For Paul’s audience the apostles, the prophets, the evangelist, the pastors and teachers governed the structure of the church. These individuals equipped the Saints for works of service and the edification of the church. His audience would have understood the metaphor that Paul was implementing throughout the passage. They understood that the body of Christ meant the church; and that infancy was equated to their spiritual status.

Paul was disquieted about their lack of expectancy as it pertained to the gospel and the hope that was. Imaginably they were bemused by the situation that life present. Maybe their toil with hope was because of their misconception that God was not rich or charitable towards them, they had trouble believing God to be so rich to them. Because of their vulnerabilities, that really were issues of faith, they robbed themselves of experiencing the fullness of God's power. The power to:

Paul writes to the Ephesians: I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.

When Robert Matthews, self proclaimed Matthias, Prophet of the God of the Jews, came forth as a zealot promising prosperity and salvation in a time of great social turmoil and upheaval, people latched on to his assurances that they would be leaving behind economic oppression and impoverishment. During this time period between 1820 and 1840, people were so caught up in the urgency of religious zeal that they were desperate for a way to get out. Some historians believe Matthias and his influential, albeit debatably derailed, followers like Elijah Pierson seemed like prime examples of their time. Rather, their newfound religious faction undeniably regressed back to extreme old world practices, like those that occurred during the American Revolution, after Matthias fails to make it in the new world urban economy. Matthias’s search for religious freedom was wrapped up in patriarchal roles and avoidance of modern innovations in living and ideas, pointing his regressions back to the practices of the colonial period.

The book of Romans 1-8 was written by Paul the apostle to the Jews and Gentiles. It talks about the Christian life. I will be discussing what it teaches about the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and culture as taught by Paul. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, it shows that we should not just strive to be a good person, but to always give in to God’s will for us in our lives.

Therefore it is incumbent upon the preacher to preach the “whole counsel of God, in season and out of season” (Acts 20:26-27; 2 Tim. 4:2-3); and it is equally important for those in the congregation to share these truths with all whom they should meet and do know. Ignoring the hard passages of Scripture will not make them go away or be annulled; and the soul of a man living in sin will never find peace because of those truths. Men ignore them at their peril and mock them in the ignorance of their soon demise (spiritual). There have been indicators of the previous over the last century, therefore the research to follow highlights the difference between sinners in the hands of God as delivered by Edwards and Billy Graham, and how the preacher today might present what has been in Scripture since the times of

Maintaining silent vow for entire 24 hours is challenging for new practitioners but it is a very meaningful experiment. At the staring point of this silent vow, I felt anxious and fear of falling behind my busy schedule. The experiment was hard because practitioners have to keep concentrating their mind on doing nothing and being alone sometimes makes people feel lonely. However, it is a meaningful experience and I did enjoy this experiment since it allows me to leave away from the reality and think about my living philosophy. Creating a silent environment facilitates me approach to an inner freedom, which I could directly observe myself, analyze myself and educate myself. This spiritual freedom looks like a mirror, which reflects what my daily

This argument does not, however, decisively remove the possible use of ‘conversion’ for Paul, as Stendahl’s view that conversion must mean abandonment of a previous religious system is certainly not a necessary condition. In addition to this, to remove the language of ‘conversion’ from Paul’s experience is to remove its decisiveness; its absolute alteration of Paul’s thinking and being that can be seen in Gal 1:12-14. In these passages we see Paul speak of the risen Christ, who gave him his teaching and drew him away from his life in the Law, and as a Pharisee, in which he excelled (Gal 1:14) and which had led him to persecute the Church (Gal 1:13). When this Christocentric language is placed against his former understanding, which had caused him to persecute the Church, one cannot simply speak of a ‘call’, but rather must move to language of radical turning, of ‘conversion’. As this shows, while Stendahl’s argument that Paul should not be considered a ‘convert’ is not strong enough to warrant abandonment of the term, his exposition of Paul as ‘called’ should not be ignored, as, from a missional point of view, he certainly was. This leads us to the conception of Paul’s experience as encapsulating both ‘call’ and a ‘conversion’ dynamic, more fully expressing the reports he and others gave of this time.

Reading Lohfink was an experience in climbing an inviting ladder of which some of the rungs were missing when you got there. His description of how the community of believers lived their faith and the impact they had is truly inspiring. It leaves me to reflect on the life of our own community: Have we indeed left everything to follow Jesus? Are we living toward each other with the kind of love that is uncommon in the world? Are we a people of peace, light to the world, flavorful salt in how we live? Reading the accounts of how the early church lived among the pagans and loved sacrificially, there is a call for me as a leader to teach, practice and exemplify that kind of love among our people, along with making opportunities for us to practice it together. On the other hand, Lohfink’s polarizing reaction to “individualism” failed to recognize that a contrast-community consists of individuals who have been transformed by the cross of Jesus and the power of His Spirit. Lohfink argues that no missionary effort is needed because the church as contrast-society will gather people to itself by attraction. He quotes Bronx, saying: “…if it is possible at all to speak of the ancient church's missionary theory the most that can be said is this. The twelve apostles preached the