Essays on Religion

... been chosen to carry the message of the Gospel to the world. One wonders why a better system could not have been devised. Then one realizes that any system that has people in it is going to be imperfect. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in the Gulag Archipelago that it was in prison where he learned that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, not through classes, not through political parties, either, but right through every human heart and through all human hearts. When we give ourselves serious evaluation, we find things hiding in our hearts that, if we could choose, we would remove. Our hearts have been described as "a zoo of lust, ...

... of the Uniting General Synod, became the United Churches of Christ. Today the CoC has over two thousand registered churches in the world. By 1979, the roots of the CoC were firmly in place. It was then that Chuck Lucas, a pastor at the Gainesville Church of Christ (mainline), met a young college student, Kip McKean, and began discipling him. Kip was a bright student and showed great potential for leadership in the church. However, something in the discipling process went wrong. Kip was expelled from the Gainesville church later that year for reasons dealing with departure from the CoC doctrine, manipulative attitude, unclear motivation, and controlling ...

... teachers would discuss the significance of existence and the nature of man and held programs to reconstruct one's spiritual self. (Pardue, page 228) Background Near the town of Kapilavastivu, today known as Nepal, lived King Suddhodhana and Queen Maya of the indigenous tribe known as the Shakyas. (Encyclopedia Americana, page 687) Queen Maya soon became pregnant and had a dream shortly before she gave birth. In this dream a beautiful, white elephant with six tusks entered her room and touched her side. This dream was soon interpreted by the wisest Brahmin, or Priest of Brahmanism, that she was to give birth to a son that would, if he were to remain in the cast ...

... made. This would constitute that an atonement in these uses would cause the person who prepares the atonement to work at making an atonement. We find that in the New Testament we don't have to work to receive a pardon from our sins. The whole bible leads up to the cross and everything after the cross points back to the cross. Christ was the ultimate and final atonement for us. In the Old Testament their atonement to God was to always be unblemished for the sake of perfection (Morris, 147). They believed that the perfect atonement would set them free from all their sins and thus make them clean in God's eyes. The Hebrew word for atone is. It is used frequentl ...

... history of this religion/philosophy the numbers of believers grew into the millions. The main leaders of Taoism, as mentioned, were Lao-tzu and Zhuangzi. Lao-tzu Lived from 570 BC - 490 BC in the province of Henan and was a court librarian. In his book the Tao-te-ching, the most translated work of Chinese literature, he discusses his philosophy that teaches the "Tao" or the way. The way is realized through recognition and the complete expectance of nothingness. Zhuangzi was also a Chinese philosopher and a student of Lao-tzu. He worked as a minor official in Meng or present day Henan. His self-entitled book is a compilation of his work, that of his followers, other ...

... that people might come back to the church only because they fear that the year 2000 will bring about the ending of the world. There was a time when Christians naturally turned to God when they had problems. Today that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Traditions have drastically changed. It almost seems as if religion is a dying tradition all together. “The signs of death are seen in the declining membership of the mainline Protestant traditions and in both the declining attendance and declining authority now seen in the Catholic and Orthodox churches” (Rollins). People are just not going to church anymore. There are probably various reasons for ...

... apocalyptic tradition of the early Church, and in particular, inspired the theology of martyrdom and separation from pagan society, which dominated so much of the Church's thought in the first three centuries A.D. Qumran, the home of the Essenes, was a settlement in Palestine on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The Essenes lived in caves within the cliffs bordering the sea. "After….Qumran was carefully excavated, archaeologists were able to identify some rooms that had been used for study and worship, others apparently used for communal meals, a spacious chamber with inkpots (perhaps the scriptorium where scrolls were copied), and pools for bathing. The b ...

... 1 Our society has decided that the habits referred to by Aristotle, do not matter, when involving religion. Statistics tend to show a different result than what our present society feels. This paper is dealing with several different valid sources, which mesh together to make a collective statement. This statement is that the lack of religious support is one of the main reasons why society and its morals are decreasing. World Vision of Canada has published as of November 1993 statistics dealing with the attendance of church and youth, which states; Canada's church attendance, in all denominations has decreased by twenty-five percent in adults and fif ...

... that is well known among Catholics and many Non-Catholics. There are a wide variety of positions in the Catholic church. You have the Pope and the Bishop and the Priest and many more. Many positions can be taken by parishners. You need only be a faithful Catholic in the church. For example, and alter boy or server can be a young person in the church. THeir job is to assist the priest throughout mass. The hold the prayer book and help prepare the table with the uecherist. You have eucheristic ministers whom help with the distribution of communion. The usually stand on each side of the Priest and hold the glasses of wine. You also have care takers of the church an ...

... him; male and female, He created them. Genesis 1:27 Anyone who has seen a lamb knows that it is a weak creature; unable to protect it's self from the strength of an evil predator. If we are the Lamb, then we must rely on the protection of our Shepherd, God. Why would Blake call us a Lamb then? Aren't we stronger than any other animal upon this earth? I think that God would tell us "No," for it is He who gives us life strength, as Blake says in the next few linesà Gave thee life & bid thee feed, By the stream & o're the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright, What strength could man have without the gifts of God: life, food, clothing ...