A beautiful story of love and redemption scored through the passion of a savior, Christianity persists to succeed in influencing lives for the better. One’s rise to Christianity commences with one sensing that life is filled with emptiness, and what does exist, tends to be broken. Hence, one desires a better world characterized by happiness and joy rather than pain and suffering. One looks to worldly things to appease this desire for good, yet indulging in the world only brings deeper suffering. It becomes quite clear that one is in need of something or somebody loftier than the world. As Christians believe, Jesus continues to be the only one who can remedy this sense of emptiness and brokenness, as his message of love and acceptance succeeds
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An ever present word in the Holy Bible, shalom is a very mysterious word with a powerful meaning. Commonly defined as an everlasting peace in the world, this word is forgotten in a place filled with war, hunger, and disease. Moreover, this word is arguably an antonym to “normalcy” in today’s language; however, this word encompasses an even broader, enigmatic meaning. Cornelius Plantinga offers an insightful definition in his book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. He concisely asserts that “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom” (Plantinga 2) Thus, shalom is not only a general term for peace but, as Plantinga writes, a congruous interconnectedness amongst God, humankind, and creation that God intended to …show more content…
Living in a “cesspool” brimmed to the top with sin consequently seeps into the character of humankind. This power of sin provokes humankind to act contrary to God’s intended behavior for His people. Found in Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s desires and actions exemplify certain truths about sin’s power. While writing his note concerning his transformation to Mr. Hyde, Dr Jekyll observes, “I have been made to learn that the doom and burden of our life is bound forever on man’s shoulders; and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure” (Stevenson 75). As noticed by Dr. Jekyll, it is quite difficult to cast off sin, as its power is greater than human’s will. He makes the claim that the harder humankind tries to ease sin’s power, the stronger sin strikes back in
An ever present word in the Holy Bible, shalom is a very mysterious word with a powerful meaning. Commonly defined as an everlasting peace in the world, this word is forgotten in a place filled with war, hunger, and disease. Moreover, this word is arguably an antonym to “normalcy” in today’s language; however, this word encompasses an even broader, enigmatic meaning. Cornelius Plantinga offers an insightful definition in his book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. He concisely asserts that “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom” (Plantinga 2) Thus, shalom is not only a general term for peace but, as Plantinga writes, a congruous interconnectedness amongst God, humankind, and creation that God intended to …show more content…
Living in a “cesspool” brimmed to the top with sin consequently seeps into the character of humankind. This power of sin provokes humankind to act contrary to God’s intended behavior for His people. Found in Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s desires and actions exemplify certain truths about sin’s power. While writing his note concerning his transformation to Mr. Hyde, Dr Jekyll observes, “I have been made to learn that the doom and burden of our life is bound forever on man’s shoulders; and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure” (Stevenson 75). As noticed by Dr. Jekyll, it is quite difficult to cast off sin, as its power is greater than human’s will. He makes the claim that the harder humankind tries to ease sin’s power, the stronger sin strikes back in