In regards to the play, "The Christians," by Lucas Hnath, the controversy the Christians vs. Christians, quarrel about the existence of hell. Ultimately, the idea that hell does not exist in the presence of Christianity seems absurd, since Christians deem the origin of evil behavior to be stored there. In another literary work "the philosophy of pitchforks," it also reassesses the image of hell. Pastor Paul did have a good point when he stated that the Bible "does not say hell" (Hnath 37). The poem also correlates with the mystery behind the truth about hell.…
Christian imagery and allegory are remarkably prevalent in many soviet films. This is reflective of the Russian Orthodox Church’s ineradicable position in Russian culture as well as the applicability – the universal nature - of the biblical story. Paradoxically, this phenomenon directly contradicts the idealized atheism of the soviet state. In this paper I will explore the different ways four of the thirteen films we have watched this semester incorporate Christianity.…
In the book The Brother Karamazov, two of the major themes that are discussed in the chapter of Rebellion are the contrasting relationships between naturalism and Christianity in relation to suffering. To better understand the relationship between both of these differing beliefs, it is best understood from the main character’s perspective, who is Ivan. He does not endorse either naturalism or Christianity because he believes that neither of them are the solution to stop the suffering in the society. Also, he believes that they are both equally and morally unjust and lack accountability among its offenders and followers.…
Within this previous month a Indiana state police trooper was fired, and is facing multiple lawsuits for preaching to motorist during traffic stops. Trooper Brian Hamilton was warned several times before to “Stop proselytizing to people during traffic stops”, but continued to pursue what he believed was “his calling of God”. Regardless of what Hamilton believed, his case spurred several lawsuits over the separation of church and state. According to Indy Star “Senior Trooper Brian Hamilton was a 14-year veteran of the agency.…
Although I mentioned before this part of Schelling’s account of the theogonical process, this time I opted to quote from a passage where this unity is explicitly described as free and spiritual. This is fundamental for my purpose, as for the meaning that spirituality has in this context. As seen in the first chapter, Schelling understands spirituality as the ability to become something else without losing oneself. This means, that at the end of our road to reconciliation with God, the spiritual unity of the three potencies shall equates to the fact that all of their expressions shall be in communion with one another. Nonetheless, that will happen without any of these expressions losing their distinctiveness because of this final condition…
Christianity. It is a single word with great and powerful meaning, but one that is defined differently by people of many different denominational backgrounds. According to Dictionary.com, christianity is “The religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, sent by God. They believe that Jesus, by dying and rising from the dead, made up for the sin of Adam and thus redeemed the world, allowing all who believe in him to enter heaven.…
Psychology allows people to analyze different parts of cognitive thinking and human behavior. While these process are important to understand humans, they also aid in helping Christians understand how God created us. There are many psychological processes that help deepen understanding of God, but a specific aspect of psychology that can be analyzed is emotional regulation. Scientifically, emotions are positive or negative experiences that are associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity (316). One can look back on their own life and think of times where they were very happy and times where they were very sad.…
In part 1, chapter 2, Marmeladov talks about his miserable life to Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov soon finds out Marmeladov and his family are having a hard time because Marmeladov spends all their money buying alcohols. Marmeladov sees himself as a great sinner knowing that he is not a good husband nor a good father. He thinks he should be “crucified on a cross” (23) because he believes God will forgive his sins if he suffers like Jesus. Russian Orthodoxy appears in this situation by mentioning the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.…
Solzhenitsyn’s Men Have Forgotten God, reflects upon the spiritual life of Soviet Russia in 1970. At the time of his speech, Soviet Russia was taking away parents from the children so the children could not adopt the faith of their parents. At the same time, they were also taking away priest, nuns, and monks were rounded up and killed either by shooting or by freezing to death. With all this religious persecution and time of mass chaos, the church was weak if existent at all. Note that the already religious personnel were not weak but the church was weakened by the massacres.…
In this poem, Dostoyevsky uses the thought provoking conversation between two very religious brothers to discuss God, the meaning of life and the role of God in life. He calls into question whether God is truly benevolent or a god of “Mockery” who enjoys watching mankind suffer and struggle. In this passage, Ivan is telling the story of the encounter between “the grand inquisitor” and Jesus Christ. Ivan had previously discussed how the inquisitor had questioned Jesus and his true intentions as God and in the passage above Ivan questions his brother about the possible truth behind the Inquisitor’s questions. He essentially described that through much thought, meditation, and ridding himself of worldly objects, the inquisitor came to the conclusion…
They spread their faith by traveling to non-Christians’ lands. In the 800s, they traveled to Southeastern Europe (in area of Slavs) where they converted them into Christians. Missionaries fulfilled their role of converting Eastern Europeans in their faith and what they still practice until nowadays. Cyril and Methodius were famous missionaries and are better known as ‘The apostles of the Slavs’. Although they were wealth, they become priests and worked among the Slavs.…
The writings of Leo Tolstoy were quite the reflection of his life. Early in his childhood, Tolstoy became acquainted with death as both of his parents passed away. Thankfully, the orphaned Tolstoy was left a large sum of money and was able to further his education and seek meaningful work for his life, starting with the pursuit of an education in law. After many unfulfilling jobs, Tolstoy struggled with finding a purpose for his existence and began to put his faith into religious outlets. Ivan Ilych, the main character of his story The Death of Ivan Ilych, shows a struggle very similar to this.…
I see the world as a Russian Christian. I gained almost all this worldview from my family and my personal experience. Ever since I was a little boy my parents took me to church and taught me all about Christianity. Also, I was raised Russian and because of that see the world differently that an American. My personal experiences showed the truth to a lot of things.…
In Exile” is a short story written by Anton Chekhov and is based on his real life experiences. This is one of the few stories that arose directly from Chekhov 's extended trip to Sakhalin Island in 1890 (Coulehan). He carefully recorded the misery of the inhabitants of the five-hundred-mile long island by speaking up to 160 people each day (Gale). Chekhov tells a story of several men that are in exile and the exchange that takes place between two of the men. A third-person narrator tells us, “Old Semyon, whose nickname was preacher, and a young tartar, whose name no one knew, were sitting by a campfire on the bank of the river” (Chekhov 111).…
When on the subject of Beowulf, however, there was not the pressing issue of Protes-tantism at the time of writing. Still, it was important to emphasise the important Christian val-ues and teach them in a way so that they would be followed. First, though, it is obvious to point out the presentational difference between Beowulf and Everyman. While Everyman is a play that was most likely played by merchants, Beowulf is a written text that few would be able to read due to illiteracy. However, since it is an epic poem it is supposed to be read aloud and can have been expected to have been so.…