Both Entwistle and Moroney (2011), recognize
Both Entwistle and Moroney (2011), recognize
Their evil deeds serve as a purpose. Just as bad things occurring serves as a purpose, certainly good deeds serve as morality. Although there are people in the world who are still hateful…
Christian belief and practice in the poems by Ron Rash and Robert Morgan cause tension among human beings due to the human experience differing from how belief makes it out to seem. Belief causes the world to seem more perfect than what is understood through human experience and leads one to believe nothing bad can happen to a good person, although experience dictates that it happens daily. Tension can arise in many ways such as from experience dictating that earth’s vices are alluring and addictive, while belief interprets it as foul and rotten. Belief can also cause the world to seem much easier and just than what an individual may learn through human experience. One may too find tension in the ethereal and unseen aspects of belief that doesn’t…
C. S. Lewis, in his classic work “Mere Christianity,” describes a basic Christian worldview. A significant theme of the book is on what the issues of morality means for the human race, as well as what morality means in relation to God and to one another. Where does morality come from and how does one become moral? Morality originates with God, Lewis argues, nor can man be truly moral apart from the transforming work of Jesus Christ.…
In East of Eden, John Steinbeck communicates the reliance of the human soul on free will to establish itself, which proves to be true to an extent, but, considering a Christian worldview, other variables such as God’s image, original sin, and forgiveness influence the human soul’s construction. Steinbeck attempts the challenging task of exploring the enigmatic basis of humanity, ultimately reasoning the human soul requires free will in order to exist. While I argue that Steinbeck does not succeed in presenting the complete image of the human soul, he captures essential components of it through valid arguments concerning “original sin” in relation to free will. It is evident that Cathy’s bestial identity potentially resides within Cal.…
Philip Zimbardo’s TEDTalk “The Psychology of Evil” discusses the line that separates good from evil, and how any human, placed under the right circumstances, can be swayed to either side of that line. Zimbardo begins his talk by discussing the century old question “What makes people go wrong?”. While some people may argue that humans are born either intrinsically good or evil, Zimbardo refutes this claim stating how, as a young boy growing up in the Bronx, he personally witnessed many of his friends cross the line from good to evil. Zimbardo calls this phenomenon the “Lucifer Effect” after the biblical story of the fallen angel Lucifer, once God’s favorite angel who falls from grace to eventually become Satan, epitome of all evil. Zimbardo’s…
As noted in the Bible, Christian Theist are made in the image of God. Meaning we are intelligent, we value morals, we believe in right and wrong, good and bad, we are just, we have feelings and emotions, we are holy, we are righteous, etc. With the understanding we as Christians are made in his image, in hopes to build a relationship with him, gives us a sense of self-worth. Although we are predestined to sin; to be created after a supreme being that is both omnipotent and omniscient, strengthens our belief that we are “very good”. Another important fact notes we are made of both body and soul.…
Why is it that sin “appears” to win over righteousness? Per Geertz Thick Description, we conceptualize new ideas and concepts until they become a part of a group of thoughts that shapes our cognition about the world around us. He also states, “A few zealots persist in the old key-to-the-universe view of it; but less driven thinkers settle down after a while to the problems the idea has really generated” (Geertz, 1973). These ideas are how the development of a new plan starts and the possible end of that idea. This thought is why it appears that sin wins over righteousness to where it works and where it does not operate we only do not use it.…
A Review of The Righteous Mind The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt strives to offer evidence for why people take different viewpoints on politics and religion. In a more broad sense, he looks at morality itself. By closely examining human behavior, Haidt provides the reader with self-gathered evidence to defend his reasoning behind the formation of morality.…
His self-deprecating analysis is both inspiring and discouraging: he identifies hypocrisy (the mortal hamartia) within himself but also recognizes the ease with which free will allows us to accept it and deny our core values. Lane describes this internal conflict as “a taste of the reality of what might be meant by Hell” (Wallace 3). Previously unbeknown to him, Hell did not reside under his feet but in the darkest corners of his mind. “Good People” acts as a guided exploration of Lane’s subconscious, featuring the consistent internal boxing match between the easy way (human temptation) and the virtuous way (religious…
Mankind 's Nature Many ponder on the idea whether mankind 's human nature is inherently good or evil. With philosophers and theorist having had devised theories to prove their thoughts and opinions over this matter, human nature in regards to being innately good or evil, is still up for debate. Two famous Chinese philosophers from 300 B.C.E., Meng Tzu and Hsun Tzu, proposed two distinct ideas pertaining to mankind 's human nature. Meng Tzu, in his excerpt "Man 's Nature is Good," drawn from chapter twenty-one from his work Meniscuis, argued that people are innately born as genuinely, good people who are capable of no harm.…
Although they are not often discussed, the four Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, are the most practiced virtues of all seven. This is because they are recognized by all people, including non-christians. They, in some way or another, shape and define the ways that our lives are played out, whether it is our choices, or the way that we view something. The first virtue, Prudence, is a big influence on the way that we act. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity quotes that prudence should be like having the “a child’s heart, but a grown ups head,” meaning that with practiced prudence, we could become selfless, curious, and kind as a child, but we would still compose the ideas and intelligence thought up by adults.…
When it comes down to thinking about the world today, sin is most prevalent. One of these sins might even feel like it is “encoded in our genes” as Antonio Cabarales said. Are feelings of wanting what someone else has and doing anything to obtain or ruin it positive or negative? There are both sides to the feeling of envy, but in society today it is most pronounced in a negative light. It can go from being a force that drives us as humans to reach success, to complete unhappiness while constantly dwelling on the feeling.…
Humans as a species are ridiculously complex. Our capacity for emotion is what sets us apart from all of the other species on the planet. While other organisms do feel emotion, we stand alone in the way we express ourselves. Alongside that is our unique sense of “good” and “evil”. Humans have a concept of what is right and what is wrong, and this is often called our conscience.…
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, civilization is “the condition that exists when people have developed effective ways of organizing a society and care about art, science, etc”. Despite the positive cognition that comes with civilization, Sigmund Freud, a neurologist and initiator of the concept of psychoanalysis, acquainted civilization as being something inadequate. According to Freud, civilization enables the human race to feel genuine happiness by outlawing actions that come instinctively by our individual psyche. Sigmund Freud believes that the human race was born inherently savage. He believes that each individual has inborn instincts that make you barbaric.…
The War between Science and Religion “Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus of Thor – but they have few followers now.” Sir Arthur C. Clarke In the beginning there was nothing: just darkness. Then out of nothing appeared everything.…