Søren Kierkegaard, a 19th century a philosopher, once said, “God…does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.” While Richard J. Mouw, in his book When the Kings Come Marching In, would agree that God redeems sinners he would also argue that God desires to redeem the entire cosmos. God desires to redeem both human souls and the cosmos because both have been infected and distorted by sin. After a careful reading of Mouw’s book, it is possible to piece together a summary of the main points of the book while formulating a response to Mouw’s explanations and his life application. When the Kings Come Marching…
Since the Fall, mankind has struggled with countless character problems, including the inability to handle anger. Everyday life presents us with difficult and frustrating situations. As free-willed individuals, we have the choice to either respond in a calm, collected manner, or to lash out impulsively. Although blind rage may seem preferable in the moment, it almost always yields negative results. After all, the ability to reason and reflect separates humanity from wild animals.…
The first goal is to provide guidance for Christians for how to deal with Old Testament ethics that seem extremely uncaring. The second goal is to provide some direct responses to a group of authors who consider themselves the New Atheists popular writers (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett) have written numerous popular books criticizing religion often with direct attacks against the Old Testament and some of the troublesome ethics found within. In the latter chapters, Copan addresses the issues people have with God’s jealousy, and God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son and many other difficult…
Fear specifically is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Throughout the history of man, fear has remarkably had a prominent effect on the actions of many: used by dictators as a tactic to control, used in politics and religion to manipulate people’s positions. Fear materializes to the world in many forms; basic fears akin to those of spiders or heights, to more complex fears that are deep-rooted, like the fear of rejection or disappointment. Fear is an extensive part of life that has held a grip on people for many centuries in the past, and will for the many centuries to go. Identical to politics, entertainment platforms have manipulated fear to captivate…
For centuries, countless men and women have turned to the Bible to encounter the Lord God, and to understand better the reality of life on earth and in heaven. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, people have searched for God's truth, counsel, and words of comfort and strength. Each of the biblical books contained in Sacred Scripture speak to us in various ways. In particular, the prophetic books in the Old Testament echo God's word in a uniquely powerful and vivid manner. Among them, the book of the prophet Isaiah holds a preeminent position in Sacred Scripture, and in the hearts of many biblical scholars and lovers of Scripture.…
Brief Paper Senior Seminar in Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Packer Eric G. Shuping March 23, 2015 Brief Paper The Hebrew Bible shows us the creation of Heaven and Earth created by God. Human nature proves to us the Hebrew Bible does not allow human beings to act independently or having the freedom to do so without answering to the Creator of heaven and earth.…
Biblical Story Assignment As Christian story comes to close, it is now time to look back and reflect on all I’ve learned, especially from Bernhard W. Anderson in his book The Unfolding Drama of the Bible. In this book, Anderson explains that the drama occurs in three main acts. Act 1 The Formation of God’s people, Act 2 The Re-formation of God’s people, and Act 3 The transformation of God’s people. For this paper, I have chosen to talk about Act 3 and highlight some key events that take place.…
The rebuilding of the Jews Second Temple inspired by God through Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah during the Persian period (as a consequence of the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonian empire), starting in 537 B.C. finishing with his destruction in A.D. 70; marked the beginning of Israel return after 70 years of exile to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, a few years before, the Israelites wandered through the wilderness for 40 years after being free from 400 years of slavery by God. He instructed Moises “the leader” to build a Tabernacle for Him to serve as a house of worship in order to dwell among them. The Tabernacle itself ends up being a clear prefigure of Jesus Christ and man 's contact with God. As a remembrance, Jesus said: “I am the…
The Hebrew Bible is the sacred book of the Hebrew people, and the book of Genesis is the original book of the Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible is the world’s oldest text that appears from the eleventh and twelfth centuries BCE. The book tells a story of God’s creation of the universe in seven days and the establishment of human civilization. In this short persuasive essay, I am going to discuss Genesis I, and want to talk about the Hebrew people and their significant belief in God and creation. The Hebrew society believes that their God is omnipotent, omniscient and loving.…
Rock and Roll Song Analysis The song You Don’t Own Me from 1963 by Lesley Gore is a song that conveys many things that were happening around the world at that time. For one thing, the feminist movement was taking place. This consisted of women fighting for equal job rights. Women wanted to have an equivalent chance at all jobs just as men had.…
Moran, William L. “The Ancient Near Eastern Background of The Love of God in Deuteronomy.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 1963, 77-87. In the article, “The Ancient Near Eastern Background of The Love of God in Deuteronomy,” William L. Moran argues that two so called ‘distinctive features’ of Deuteronomy, its foundational basis from the prophet Osee and its originality, are not true.…
the human form divine, /And Secrecy the human dress.” (Larrabee, 305-308) With these opposites characterizing God, “The Divine Image” portrays the loving God of the Christian New Testament shown in verses such as “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3.16) Whereas, the God of “experience” which could here be replaced with the word “sin” is of the Old Testament and can be found in verses such as “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,” (Exodus 34.14).…
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008. Print. Charlesworth, Matthew. " The Covenants in the Old Testament." Academia.edu.…
The content and interpretations of the Deuteronomic Code, on the other hand, stray much father away from uniformity than the Decalogue, arguably narrating a broader set of moral and legal obligations of the Israelites. Its reassertion of the Commandments further enforces the aforementioned covenant relationship between God and the Israelites, which introducing a concrete set of civil laws; of which, are a standard for governing society. The similarities are striking, and in many cases, intersecting in respect to content. Clear from the first passage introducing the Decalogue, it is asserted that God stands as the only power to lay and enforce law and judgment – at least within the bounds of His prescribed orders (Exodus 20:2-3). The justification…
Contained therein was authoritative history for understanding God’s injunction against a sanctuary at Bethel, but the history also undergirded Jubileen reliability. These four tablets weaved a single authoritative concept: writing implicitly or explicitly ordained by God and inscribed on tablets is the authority by which forefathers recorded the unchanging eternal truth, whether it was history and its division into Jubilees, or the Mosaic law and covenant governing God’s relationship with Israel. The weaved authorities of Jubilees, however, continues not in 1 Enoch (or other apocalyptic…