Throughout this Theology II class, I found myself thinking and learning more about my religion than I have ever before. Since I had twelve years of Catholic school I thought I knew mostly everything there was about religion, yet, this class challenged my understanding of things I thought I had a grasp of. Things such as contingent and necessary beings, revelation, the Church on homosexuals, Jesus’ life, the sacraments, spirituality, what a Jesuit is, who Ignatius is, what Laudato Si is, and what morality is; these are just are just to name a few that have transformed my idea of theology in this new age. Theology mediates between religion and a cultural matrix. Therefore, for something to exist it would have to preexist itself (Malloy, Lecture). So, therefore, for God to exist then he must have preexisted. Well, it is a little more complicated than that. A contingent being cannot exist. Whereas, a necessary being cannot not exist. God is a necessary being he as to have existed or the Catholic world would be based off nothing. How do we exist then? We partake in existence, which is why we are here. Revelation is when God reveals God’s self. If God is love, love by its very nature desires relation with that which love creates (Malloy, Lecture). God cannot force his love on to anyone. The revelation of God is Jesus, Jesus reveals God to us through his teachings. Moses, Muhammed, and even Buddha reveal God’s revelations. Yet, in the Christian tradition, God is mostly revealed
Eric Thomas once said, “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” Many college athletes work extremely hard and get nothing in return except fame. In America today, the three most favored division one sports are men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and football. Many are opposed to paying college athletes because a great majority of the players that make up these three sports are African American. To be exact, around fifty six percent of African Americans make up the college football teams and sixty one percent make up college basketball teams.
Theology 104 has changed my personal view of theology. Right away after week one when I open my Bible and start to read there was more clarification in the way I understood the scripture that was being read. There was a more comfortable and confident feeling in the way I regard God and redemption. In turn, I feel more knowledge of what I have learned and able to share the word of God more effectively. Finding factual proof to substantiate my theory of Christianity and the existence of God has become less challenging from the knowledge I have obtained from this division. Passing on my view of Christianity and God has been less challenging for me.
In this paper, I am going to share my ideas of theology. I believe that one of the biggest mistakes I made in the past was that I was afraid of being rejected, so I wrote a theology paper and tried to give the previous COM what I thought they wanted to hear instead of what was truly inside of me. Fortunately for me, even though I was not given a green light in order to see the Eccleastical Council, I was licensed to preach and this gave me time
Holmes rightly mentions that, often in the past, anti-intellectualism or “cultural escapism” has erupted within the Church; however, the beauty of a Christian college is that it recognizes (and emphasizes) that all truth is God’s truth, and that “in God’s creation every area of life and learning is related to the wisdom and power of God” (Holmes, 1987). Another benefit of the integration of faith and learning is that, when the ultimate goal is to give glory to God, all aspects of examining and exploring His world become exciting and satisfying. Students are in an atmosphere where even the faculty delights in pursuing an education; learning is, according to Holmes, “an act of love, of worship, of stewardship, [and] a wholehearted response to God” (Holmes, 1987). The integration of faith and learning is vital, unique, and exceptionally executed by Christian colleges.
In reflecting on this situation, the passages of on the characteristics of those who are shepherds and those who are not come to mind. In the Gospel of John, Jesus communicates the demands of being a shepherd of church.
This two-fold process first begins with an encounter with God. When he or she personally receives the experience of God as salvation, then the person is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is an addition to already being filled with the Holy Spirit. If a person never receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit during their faith, he or she still receives salvation. A person who receives Christ has the Holy Spirit, but not everyone who has received the Holy Spirit can speak in tongues. Tongues can be traced as the evidence of the Holy Spirit coming in a way that is different than just having the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was present after Christ was resurrected. The reason being is because before Pentecost the disciples were preforming healings, exorcisms, and proclaiming the good news. Jesus needed the Holy Spirit in order to perform those miracles. Which leads me to strongly believe the disciples had the Holy Spirit after Jesus left the earth.
Many weeks have passed since I last wrote about my theological perspective at length. I began the class with lots of questions, and I do not believe I can say for sure that they have been answered, but I can say that I am now at peace with the idea that some of my questions may not be able to be answered in this life. It amazes me that I have been able to grow so much in such a short period of time. The growing pains were great, but the reward was greater. I feel that I am in a much better place in my life now. In the past few months, I have tried to reclaim some of the closeness to God that I feel I have been missing. It has not been easy for me to give up control of my life. I have strong tendencies to be in control of what goes on, so that I have some inclination of how to prepare to react. As a result of learning to let go, I feel much less fearful of the future or my place in it. Not only has this class helped me come to terms with the idea that I should not have total control over my life, but it has also reminded me of things I had forgotten about. It truly left me pleasantly surprised with the content of the class.
The most prevalent problem in this case is whether Zespri is doing what is necessary to maintain its leadership position to increase New Zealand kiwifruit exports to $3 billion by 2025. In order to accomplish this, an additional problem they need to address is that they have to triple their global sourcing needs to satisfy demand when New Zealand fruit is out of the market. Zespri also needs to expand to more producers to develop vast amounts of kiwifruit during the off-season so that they are able to obtain their $3 billion dollar export goal.
Over the past eight weeks my view of theology hasn’t changed much. When I hear the word theology, Immediately I think of God, religious faith, and different belief systems that are developed within one’s self. As I strategically consider what does it really mean to me, after this course, I have been exposed to a more in-depth insight to what Christ purpose was and how significant the books in the bible are today. Now, I know why theology is defined as the study of religious faith, practice and experiences. After completing this last assignment, I will continue to have faith in Christianity, live by the principles in my belief system, and relationship with God will be more intimate
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.
Studies of Jesus primarily focus on the duality of Jesus and how he is able to be both human and divine at once. This subject was disputed at the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451 between the
Christianity is a very developed religion and it resides mainly in the Western Culture. Followers up to 2 billion with a continuous rise as the world population grows. “Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Protestant Churches are the largest groups” (Stefon et al) known to Christianity. The life of Jesus and his teachings is the base of this religion. Jesus taught the way of God, whom is the creator of all and the father of Jesus. He taught the people that living their lives in a certain manner, would end with eternal life after you have died. Jesus and his guidance was becoming notorious; however, The Roman Government and Jewish leaders showed vast disapproval. Thus, leading to the crucifixion of Jesus where he was executed upon the cross. Christians believe that 3 days after Jesus died he rose from the dead; therefore, giving the chance to his believers to live eternal life after death. “Christianity is more than just a religious belief. It also has generated a culture, a set of ideas and ways if life, practices, and artifacts that have been handed down from generation to generation since Jesus became the object of faith” (Stefon et al). Christianity is appealing to me for the fact of knowing one man sacrificed himself for the good and eternal life of all the people is one hell of a sacrifice and I admire that. I admire most that you will always be given the chance to have you sins forgiven.
Christian Tradition course exposed me to the Christian Tradition based on Biblical and church history. The course taught me the differences and similarities of Christian Tradition from other major world religions. I learned about the significance of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity based on the teachings of the Bible. The course also briefly covered 2,000 years of church history but with emphasis on the impact of the Council of Nicea, Council of Chalcedon, and John and Charles Wesley on Christianity. The professor emphasized the importance of the reformation that sparked a revolution in the church.
What religion am I? In my life, I have been told many things about my religion. My mother is a Roman Catholic, while my father is Jewish. I have learned about both religions, and I have tried to practice both as best I could, but I am now faced with the decision; which one am I?
To understand where I am now in relation to Catholic theology I feel that it is appropriate to look back on the thoughts and ideas that I had when I first started this THEO 1001 class. Honestly coming into college I have thought about my faith very little and studied the bible and what it means even less. In my mind I have always thought that theology was primarily a group of people just sitting around reading the bible repeatedly and then coming up with ways on how to interpret certain beliefs and messages in it and what they mean to us as Christians. Now I understand that theology has many more aspects to it than just the one example I gave earlier. The fact that this class was just about Catholic theology doesn’t really have a meaning to me because I haven’t studied other religions or denominations theology. Diving deeper into what I thought about how Catholic theology impacted my life will be a very shallow dive, given that I am neither Catholic or a theologian I honestly thought that this class was going to be a history of how Catholics are the greatest Christians and their way of looking at the bible. Thankfully I was very wrong about both those things and have learned about some very interesting topics throughout the class, one being the fascinating section we did about anthropology and what role it plays into theology.