As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I spend between 10 and 50 hours a month helping people in the community understand the Bible. Usually, between four and seven of us work together at a time. After spending three or more hours with my friends, I usually have learned more about them. It also is meaningful. It is amazing to see someone’s eyes light up after seeing a scripture in the Bible that answers a question they always have had or some practical advice for a problem they are facing. However, this…
Overview of orientation, disorientation and re-orientation There are rhythms and season of our life in this world. Our life is about movement between orientation, disorientation, and re-orientation. Recognizing there are different places we may be in it will help us to fit into this contemporary world. Later in the session, we will have a group discussion looking into different chapters in Ecclesiastes on orientation, disorientation, and re-orientation. Orientation: There are human life…
started in the back of the church with a childlike mind, in others words I humble myself before God. I had to relearn every step. The only concept I repeated in my head over and over was Jesus loves me. I knew I was no better than the characters in the Bible so I must confess Paul made it plain and clear for me and I can identify with him when he spoke in (Roman 7:18-20). 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh (my human nature, my…
God created all things in his image (Genesis 1:27). This is a Christian worldview. Christians believe that their God created them and all things. They believe that Christians are on this earth to do good work for their heavenly father. Secular Humanism believe many different things as to why we are on this earth but as a whole they do not believe in a God. Christians believe that this life on earth is only a mere second compared to the wonderful life after death. They believe this life is the…
efforts of helping other people, and trying to change society (What Is an Evangelical?). Biblicism is the belief that the bible should be held to high standards and obeyed as the main authority (What Is an Evangelical?). Finally, Crucicentrism is belief in the importance of the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross for the…
When thinking about the nature of the Bible in terms of authoritative, inerrant, or divinely inspired, I personally find the Bible to be authoritative. At the beginning of this course I thought that the Bible had to be inerrant in order to be true. If the Bible were to be considered inerrant it would mean that the bible is without error in every aspect. This cannot be true though because some of the scientific and historical claims within in the Bible have been proven to be inaccurate. Therefore…
Lament / complaining prayer is to bring our sorrow to God. As Bill says, “the lament prayer serves to articulate the problem that has arisen for the prayer. Characteristic in this articulation are hard and accusing questions (e.g., “Why?”) mediating complaints that something terribly wrong has occurred in the life of the suppliant.” Laments are common in the Old Testament but they are not common in the modern day church of the West. The modern day church forgets the necessity of lament over…
by Edward Said and how this can be used as a solution to begin bridging this gap. She then presents an example of this through a contrapuntal study on the theme of suffering in Job, comparing a psychoanalytical reading to the answers given in a HIV bible study in South Africa. The way in which Nelson utilises the contrapuntal method is one of the main sources of inspiration for this dissertation, and therefore will be largely referred to…
Introduction: 1. “If God is so loving, why do bad things happen to good people?” A. Have you ever heard someone say this? B. It is commonly thought that God causes humans to suffer. C. The Bible, however, gives us reasons to believe otherwise. 2. Nestled within the book of Ruth is the story of Naomi, a story which illustrates what really causes suffering. A. After leaving Judah for Moab, Naomi’s husband and two sons died there. B. When Naomi returned to Judah 10 years later, she felt that…
Zachary Reese Prof. Patrick Emmett RS 110 2/10/16 Forms of the Covenant Judaism is a religion with rich history and strong Jewish cultural followings. Many of which are recorded in the Hebrew bible. In Michael Molloy’s book, Experiencing the World’s Religions, he defines covenant as “a contract,” but more specifically as a contract “between the Hebrews and their God, Yahwheh” (340). The beliefs in Judaism hold firmly on one God, and they circle the covenant made between God and the Jewish…