The Originals

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 Thin-skinned Tyrant Hits Back—Really Hard The Antichrist is obsessed with persecuting the saints. There is some disagreement over whether or not these saints include believers in Christ that enter into the tribulation period or whether these saints are “new” believers in Christ that come to faith during the tribulation. It all depends on one’s interpretation on the timing of what’s called the rapture; an event where God removes believers from the earth by a super-natural snatching away of…

“Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a short story about a dystopian universe in which everyone is equal through various handicaps. Vonnegut purposely makes this society equal on levels of intelligence, strength, and beauty. Other equality concerns, such as race, are avoided whether intentional or accidental. Vonnegut, throughout his story uses an array of imagery, details, and a particular type of syntax/language. He uses this not only when portraying his characters through their thoughts,…

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne displays how one sin can ruin the lives of many. His purpose is to show how holding in a sin and not being truthful can haunt you and lead to your end. Hawthorne uses several rhetorical device to convey this message, including: antithesis, anaphora, and metaphor. Throughout the text, antithesis is commonly used, especially comparing life and death. For example, Dimmesdale states “Many, many poor soul hath given its confidence to me, not only…

Rawls’ theory of justice: unachievable or ideal to pursue? Justice as fairness is a type of distributive justice, arrived at via designing perfect procedural justice, irrespective of the specific outcome. Using comparison as methodology, John Rawls sets out to dismiss other possible types of political and economic arrangements as unethical. His proposed thought experiment encourages the reader to disrespect all natural and societal endowments and see oneself as an output of an undeserved…

Michelangelo’s The Fall and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden illustrates the biblical story of the Temptation and Fall of Adam and Eve found in the Book of Genesis. The Tree of Life stands in the center of the painting, dividing it into two contrasting scenes; the left representing the Temptation of Adam and Eve, and the right depicting their expulsion from Eden (Fig. 1). The passage begins with God warning Adam and Eve that they will die if they eat the fruit from the tree, as indulging in the…

Hamilton, in responding Enns’ claim that Pauline Adamic understanding is foreign to the Old Testament, points out that Enns does not take account of the narrative nature of Genesis account in Torah. He argues that the narrative in Genesis shows the consequence of Adam’s sin in a narrative style, and the story of Cain and Abel and the flood should be understood as “the outworking of Adam’s sin” to show the readers that Adam’s sin brought the irreversible consequence of sin into the world. Enns’…

Genesis is established as being the beginning of everything and being all good but there is also the portrayal and interpretation of evil in the creation. In the genesis of evil, Dr. Altizer explains that the origin of evil is “unknown and as orthodox as the origin of god” (Altizer 80). The journal explains how Genesis contains several indirect interpretations of the portrayal of evil in genesis. One of the first interpretations of evil is seen when Adam and Eve sinned in Eden and turned away…

The important role that healthy interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships play is depicted in the model of the Trinity. According to Darrell Johnson’s Experiencing the Trinity, “we are created and redeemed to enter into the love each person of the Trinity has for the other” (64). This statement encompasses both intrapersonal and interpersonal interactions. The Trinity is one; thus the love that each person in the Trinity has towards another person in the Trinity is the love that the Trinity…

We have studied many different topics, however the two topics that resonated with me were the “Gospel and the Sin Nature.” I was raised with Christian values and coming into this course, I felt I had a good grasp of what these topics meant, but I was mistaken. The topic I chose is about two men and the consequences they suffered as a result of their actions. “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were…