The True Believer

to John. Jesus tells believers He is the vine, and they are the branches, abiding in Him will allow them to bear fruit, however without Jesus, believers are nothing. (John 15:1-5) “Vines were often used to express fruitfulness, dependence, vital union, pruning” and for a culture here people were familiar with agriculture, this metaphor would have made perfect sense. (Hutchinson, John C. 64) What Jesus likely desired from His disciples was a recognition that they were not capable of producing…

belief, but one of the hard questions about the end times; that no one knows, is whether or not Christians will go or endure through the Tribulation. The New Testament speaks of the tribulation and the debate hinges on whether the church or true believers will or will not go through it. There are many different viewpoints that many people have sought after and we have been debating over different perspectives for many years of which will be discussed later on in the paper. A very important…

action, as presented in the foot washing narrative, whilst drawing out ethical implications for the believer. Finally, this paper will conclude with a summary of the findings from scholarly sources and the text of John’s Gospel. Johannine Ethics In ethical terms, John’s gospel has perplexed many scholars, causing some to declare it, “ethically deficient.” Houlden, suggests that in John’s Gospel the believer has no proclivity…

The Kalam Argument Introduction: In the Kalam Argument, there are some theories that can be used by Christian apologetics to challenge the theories and beliefs of non-believers. The strong points of the Kalam Argument can make good arguments that can be challenging to non-believers. Although there are some good points in the Kalam Argument, there are also a few weaknesses concerning creation and evolutional changes. In the viewpoints contained in the Kalam Argument, even the weak points can…

will not enter into contracts with non-believers. In the Book 2 Corinthians, Verse 6:14, it states “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2015). If Marshall does not become a believer, I will need to discontinue my business relationship because we are forbidden to “yoke” ourselves by a contract with non-believers. His wife Gloria is a believer, but I am unsure as to where…

Being a Christian doesn't mean you'll have less problems, less worries and less responsibilities. When you begin to understand that being a Christian is a big responsibility to handle, you'll end up accepting the fact that Jesus had died for your sins that's why you'd be willing to live just for Him, alone. Some people would ask Christians these questions: "If your God really loves you, then why would He allow you to experience these kind of sufferings?", "If you're a Christian then why do you…

one’s health, or something for those in a seemingly unreachable spiritual state. However, the reality is neither of these. To quote John Wesley, “Some have exalted fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it.” A true Biblical view of fasting lies somewhere in the middle of Wesley’s two points. There is no denying the power in fasting. There are many examples throughout scripture where fasting was a direct precedent to miracles. However,…

Historical Context The First Epistle of John, similar to the Epistle to the Hebrews, mentions neither its author nor its specific recipients. Both of these epistles also do not employ formal greetings and blessings that are commonly found in other epistles. Another uncommon structure is also shown by the absence of a formal closing section such as found in the epistle of James. However these do not of course render the epistle to be considered as merely an open writing addressed to anyone who…

are contradictory. This historian is reluctant to give the full details of the revelations that were given to Muhammad. Instead, he is concerned about the themes, symbols and the lessons that he believes are important to the people. He is a fervent believer of prophet-hood but gives only what he deems important to the Muslims . There are various sets of themes and symbols in his historical which he uses to pass the message to the people. Being a theologian, Al-Tabari tries his best to make the…

Pascal's wager argument uses religious belief as a possible solution to an individual's personal benefits. Pascal argues more specifically how the advantage of believing in God greatly outweighs the effectiveness of not believing in God. Therefore, giving each individual good reasoning to believe in God. There are two explanations of reasoning for belief, or reasoning in order to execute some type of action. The first kind is prudential reason, this reasoning is used to persuade that you are…