Judeo-Christian topics

discipled to grow in their relationship with Christ. Of course, the goal is maturity in Christ and this spiritual growth only happens over a period of time. We will look at the details of how disciples are made in the context of the local church and a Christian community. With this examination, we will discuss the role and…

living in the culture without becoming a part of it. Many church members go to church on Sunday but do not carry any of the teaching into daily life during the week. That is a topic I have heard preached in different churches, and made fun of in fiction such as Terry Prachett’s Bad Omens. The other side is often a neglected topic. During the classroom time we had a debate about would it be better the church be supported or prosecuted. From the side that argued for prosecuted, I heard how…

necessary skills to be a professional no matter what subject we may be talking about. Discipleship is no different. There are general stages of progression that we all must follow. Ultimately, the Bible provides the resources one needs to develop a Christian lifestyle. Therefore, any stages or path identified must reflect the principles given in the Word of God. We all start off in life dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). The Lord robed himself in flesh and paid the ultimate price so…

For my final topic, I decided to utilize the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. This doctrine is central to our Christian faith and shapes how we view our salvation in Christ. It is key that we have a good understanding of it because it can have an impact on how we view ourselves and how we view God. What is justification and how are we justified? Pastor R.C. Sproul speaks of this in a sermon on Martin Luther. He points out that our English word for justification comes from the Latin…

In the book, Damned Women: Witches and Sinners in Puritan New England, Elizabeth Reis examines the relationship among women, evil, and Puritanism in the seventeenth century New England. Reis not only explains why women were more likely viewed as witches or followers of the Devil but she also explains how men would sin in Puritan New England. In her book, she discusses why even puritans themselves, came to think that they forged a pact with the devil. Elizabeth begins stating that she believed…

Introduction The most effective approach to counseling anyone, whether that is in a business office or a counselling room, is to reach the entire person holistically. The person’s mind, body and spirit are all interconnected and a problem cannot be resolved until it is approached through all parts. Often, counselors want to “fix” the problem that a person is dealing with, like depression, by giving them medicine and “curing” the actions of being depressed without rooting out the source of the…

“The Almost Christian” – This is one of Wesley’s sermons from 1741 in which he illustrates what nominal or “almost” Christians look like as compared to the real, “altogether” Christians. Firstly, he identifies common traits of the “almost” Christians by saying that they have heathen honesty, sincerity, and that they are very much so focused on possessing the “form of godliness” or rather the outward appearance of a Christian. These people may approach the faith and perform the mechanics of it…

The original argument for infant baptism, and perhaps the one with the most backing is that of original sin. It came about with Augustine, whose whole basis for the practice is built from original sin (Sullivan 3). He stressed that all people are born into the world inheriting the sin of Adam (3). To be baptized is to be cleanse of the original sin that comes with life on earth (3). “Original sin is way of saying we’re born into that web of society that is marked by sin… baptism removes original…

Chapter six of Practicing Christian Doctrine, by Beth Felker Jones, chiefly discusses Christology and the various heresies that have surrounded it over the years. Christology, which is the study of Christ, helps one to learn more about Jesus and his identity and how to live a good Christian life by forming a relationship with the Lord. In order for Christology to work, the person of Jesus must be known and a major idea discussed in this novel is homoousios, Jesus is full and truly God. Two other…

Furthermore, they are guarded from having to engage with the culture around them, secluded to their own ways of living. The church can often do this. When driven by fear, the body of Christ easily becomes constrained to Christianity within four walls. Christians are directly commissioned to break past the walls of the…