Pharisees

I wanted to recap on the gifts of imperfection because they taught me many lessons while reading this book. Brown has given me a new perspective or lens to look through as it relates to courage, compassion, and connection. Personally, I tend to be a person who seeks to please and receive approval from others in order to feel good enough at time. Therefore, I really don’t allow myself to be vulnerable in certain circumstances because I don’t know how others will react to it. This has caused me to…

Benchmark - Ethical Dilemmas Everyone at a point in their life has had to make a decision of whether to choose one alternative over the other, while neither of them would provide amiable results. This is basically the definition of what an ethical dilemma means; ‘‘a process by which individuals use their moral base to determine whether a certain issue is right or wrong’’ (Carlson et al. 2009, p. 536; see also Tenbrunsel and Smith-Crowe 2008). The way people react when being put in a similar…

Option #1 Stereotypes and Film Can you recall a scene from a movie you have seen? I would venture to say you can since movies are a form of art which can touch us deeply. As a type of art, movies add to our culture since movies are, in many ways, a reflection of who we are as a society. Movies are a reflection of our culture since they reveal the culture’s values, beliefs and social makeup. This truth has positive as well as negative aspects. Stereotypes are commonly used in movies which…

written narrative on the life of Jesus to ever exist. Marks story contains about eighty-eight verses that emphasize the passion or suffering and death of Jesus (JGA, 59). Mark discuses impending death: after Jesus healed a man’s withered hand, “The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death” (Mark 3:6). This characterizes one of the Passion narratives. In Mark the author never clearly identifies himself his writing emphasizes that he has…

For hundreds of years, humans have been faced with obstacles, in which our society has been able to learn and grow mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Fulfillment does not fall into the hands of its contender unless it is rightfully earned by breaking through barriers. As initially stated by the inventor of the first light bulb, Thomas A. Edison, “I have not failed. I have just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” These words strongly emphasize the concept of perseverance…

An Analysis of Three Upside-Down features by Jesus Christ Jesus reveals the kingdom of God in a new direction that appears upside-down in the lessons of love, social interactions, and social ladder from chapters nine, ten, and eleven in The Upside-Down Kingdom, by Donald Kraybill. The idea of the upside-down kingdom derived from a student of Kraybill, who reacted enthusiastically to Jesus’ teachings as, “Everything here is so upside down!” (Kraybill, 2011, p. 9). This statement stimulated…

Jesus and Divorce There are many problems in this world that need to be addressed. These include things and injustices such as ISIS, the Syrian refugee crisis, the debate on same sex marriage, gun laws, Russia, terrorism, and many more. There is one difficult topic that is not talked about nearly as much as these other more headline news pieces. This subject matter is divorce. Divorce is a problem in this world and has been for quite a while, even among Christians. Christians today view divorce…

Do you rely on your own personal experience to decide if something is good or wrong, or do you rely on the Bible to decide what is right or wrong? The definition of Morality explains, “Beliefs about what right behavior is and what wrong behavior is. The degree to which something is right and good: the moral goodness or badness of something” (Dictionary.com). Morality in the time of the Puritans has changed rapidly today from what it once was. How does this change affect us as Christians and what…

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay the tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and you have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (KJ21, Matthew 23:23) In his speech, “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July,” Frederick Douglass reminds his audience that there is much work to be done in abolishing the slave trade and much of that work revolves around treating all people with the…

Proof for the historicity of the Bible & Proof for the historical Resurrection of Jesus In all my proofs, I quote Scripture to justify my views. I believe that Scripture is living, true and is above the law. I know that the Scripture is right and true because first, why would God give His people who he loves a book that is full of lies? Second, the amount of original manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek alone is over 5,800. With that many original manuscripts, it is obvious that the Bible…