Original position

Temptation is defined as the urge to do something especially wrong or unwise. Augustine uses Confessions to show modern day temptation with stealing. In Book Two, The Pear Tree, Augustine speaks of his struggles with stealing. Temptation draws him to stealing fruit for many reasons. These reasons include, breaking laws, to feel sinful, and simply because he knew he did not need the fruit and it was not supposed to be taken. Forbidden things make temptation grow stronger. Augustine mentions…

Robert Browning, an English poet, once proclaimed, “Ignorance is not innocence but sin.” Evidently, not all sins are intentional, but the consequence of excessively sinning leads to a step away from religion. For mankind to achieve eternal salvation, one must seek knowledge in the form of goodness, thereby preventing sin. Once informed, mankind possesses the ability to choose a moral trajectory. As a symbol of Christianity, this choice stands as free will, the gift of grace one receives through…

Sin is an unnatural trait humans inherited from the Original Sin. Sin is the reason how our world functions where suffering, hatred, vain, sexual thoughts, and death has birth in the hearts of humanity. God despises sin, and sin cannot be measured. Each human shares a humanistic characteristic of sin with his friend or relative. As a result, bad things happen to us, no matter how good or bad we are. Moreover, sin reminds that we are fallen, but God guides us through our tedious journeys to find…

In this passage it becomes quite clear that Eve is consumed by the myth of Narcissus (Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with the reflection or image that they portray to others. Wikipedia) Her initial reflection consumes her and is the basis for her story. She describes her reaction at seeing herself to Adam within the listening frame of Satan. This is a dialogue between a married couple that Milton sets to a framed role of Eve within the union. Eve is discussing with…

The Nature of Humankind What is the nature of humankind? The famous American philosopher, Henry Miller, once stated “Man has demonstrated he is master of everything – except his own nature.” The nature of humankind is certainly a concept that is very controversial and even difficult to fully understand. Most believe that the nature of humans is sinful, that we are naturally sinners. This concept derives from various texts, many which are found within the bible. They all give different…

Man’s fall from grace into a world of sin is something that is often explored and analyzed for judgements and observations to be made; however, not every detail gains notice. The basis is always covered, Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil disguised as a serpent to trick them into eating the apple from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and as result a state of innocence fell into a state of corruption met with a life sentence full of sin. This act of disobedience would…

The Antichrist will persecute the saints. Disagreement exists whether these saints include believers in Christ that enter the tribulation period, or whether these saints are “new” believers that come to faith during the tribulation. It all depends on one’s interpretation on the timing of the rapture — God’s removal of believers from the earth by a super-natural snatching away. Various theological interpretations regarding the rapture’s particular timing in regards to The Tribulation is beyond…

Even more than Tess, Angel Clare’s view of religion is heavily influenced by his upbringing and his attempt to break away from it. Angel’s father is a parson, and both of his brothers studied at Cambridge to become ordained. Just as Tess resents her family’s more ancient traditions, Angel tells his father he does not want to study to become ordained because the church, “refuses to liberate her mind from an untenable redemptive theolatry” (Hardy 91). Despite Angel’s desire to be different from…

Bittersweet Temptation Since the beginning of time—specifically when Adam and Eve were first created, Christians have always struggled with the seductiveness of temptation. For instance, in the first recorded case of sin, Eve, the first human woman, falls victim to temptation by eating “pleasant fruit” that God had explicitly told her not eat (7). After this incident, humans have a severed, disconnected relationship with God. As a result, a myriad of sins were recorded within the text of the…

The fall of man is a very confusing concept to me. I never understood how Adam and Eve could have sinned like they did after being so close to God, after walking and talking with Him directly. I always told myself “If I had been Adam or Eve, there is no way I would have disobeyed God after being so closely united to Him”. But then I think “So why do I keep sinning after every time I receive the Eucharist? Adam and Eve are created in the garden of Eden and everything is in accord with…