Christian hedonism

The order that Francis founded started with a simple idea of living a very poor life, preaching the teaching of Jesus and submission to the church or assistance to anyone in need. A main part of Francis’s vision involved helping those in need without receiving anything in return. But in spite of the success of the order he started, Francis decided to resign his position as the head of the order. His resignation emerges from his understanding that his movement has changed too much. Lepers play a…

The Trinity is an icon created by a Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the 15th century. The Trinity icon is also known as The Hospitality of Abraham. It is Rublev's most famous work, and the most famous of all Russian icons, regard as one of the highest achievements of Russian art. The prototype for this icon was the mysterious appearance of the Holy Trinity in the form of three travelers to Abraham and Sarah under the oak of Mamre. The Church has many different depictions of the Holy…

an interesting topic that seems to be an endless discussion for pastors, professors, and theologians. It is essentially a spiritual glue that holds us as Christians together in order to seek after God. My personal understanding of the Gospel was bland before taking GLST 220 and I am grateful to have a better understanding of it now. As Christians, we should always be seeking how to fully understand the Gospel and what it means to serve the Kingdom of God. My understanding of the Gospel was not…

Elijah was known for being a prophet. “His example of trusting in God’s word is the best one we can find in the Old Testament prophets.” Elijah confronted Ahab two times, once when devaluing God granting inheritance of the land and the second is the murder of Naboth. Elijah confronted Baal and his rule, because people believed that Baal could control the rains. “ Yet the rains were a gift of Yahweh, not Baal; Yahweh decided when it would rain. Baal’s followers thought him dead when drought…

Indulgences were grants given by the pope to forgive sins. They could forgive sins you have comminted or sins of your living or dead realtives. People back then really believed it; they thought they could but their way into salvation. As Luther puts it, Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, death and hell./And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace. He cites…

Steinbeck reminds us that while life can force people to abandon religion even in dire straits, people will cling to their core values. Throughout the novel, characters learn that the loss of religion does not equate to the loss of spirituality. The retention of such spirituality brings forth ideas of self, which helps us maintain our values. Jim Casy, a very spiritual preacher, makes his opinion on the matter clear by exclaiming that "'there ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just…

“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” -Vince Lombardi. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham introduces two societies, Waknuk and Sealand. Waknuk is an intolerant society in a developmental hiatus, and Sealand is a technologically and socially sophisticated community. Waknuk is ignorant of individual’s abilities, causing division among it’s people. However, Sealand embraces these extraordinary traits and…

Martin Luther King, Jr gave a heart touching speech on August 28, 1963, “I Have a Dream.” King’s motivation of the speech was to let the world know that we are all human and that the prison of segregation will be ripped away. Soon everyone will be able to look at one another and think, “They’re human, I am human, and we are all human.” King uses ethos, logos, and pathos to give feeling, and logic to the minds of the world. To begin, King uses logos as a way to bring across the idea that…

Scriputura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia. Learning to know God is a very important aspect of the Christian faith and can be accomplished through Sola Scriptura, or by way of scripture alone. As the Word of God, the Bible acts as a medium that connects its reader directly to Him. For the individual, scripture teaches us everything that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. For the church, scripture acts as an authority,…

As a recently confirmed Catholic, I feel closer to God than ever. However, Confirmation wasn't what I thought it would be. I had known what was going to happen: we would be presented to the bishop, listen to the homily, renew our baptismal promises, the bishop would lay his hands upon us, and we would be anointed with Chrism. However, I couldn't have predicted the feeling of the Chrism on my forehead or the inexplicable joy that I felt afterwards. I couldn't have possibly known the understanding…