...Reflection Jeremy Simms Theology 104 Doctor Jones June 30, 2012 Reflection: I. Introduction: Throughout this course of study I have been challenged, and my awareness as a Christian has been heightened. There have been several questions raised that deserve not only an answer, but diligence in the research and understanding necessary to answer with confidence, vigor and enthusiasm. The first question that will be answered is simple in thought, but more complex in true understanding. Does the Bible have authority? Next, we will discuss the importance of personal testimonies in sharing the gospel. Finally, we will look at life as a Christian. If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life? Throughout the following pages these questions will be explored and answered fully, truly and completely. II. Section One: Does the Bible have authority? Many people read the Bible with cynicism in their hearts and attempt to be overly critical as a result. This is true for both Christians and non-believers alike. In some ways it seems easier to look for a mistake or try to disprove scripture instead of having true faith. This poses the question. Does the Bible have authority? If so, where does its authority come from and how do we know? There are many arguments that show the Bible’s authority and confirm the scripture is the word of God. The most powerful to me personally is the convicting, convincing...
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... The focus of this paper is on a part of a religion that generally does not have a visible tie to a specific religion, not until it is investigated further, The Gospels. My Prior understanding a Gospel Church is one where there is a lot of standing and singing about God – this is a misunderstanding. The church itself is focused on the four Gospels and what the real meaning is. The word “Gospel” for Christians refers to the “good news” that is a result of Jesus Christ’s death and its meaning (Keathly, 2004). Another misconception of a Gospel Church is the Bishop has his own agenda and does not focus on the Gospels themselves. Also, I have always felt that the church has become a place to be seen, not just for the sighting itself but also be dressed up in the best clothes possible. Another misconception of the Gospels and Christianity is they have nothing do with Jewish faith and they are completely different. Misconceptions are easy to confirm or debunk with research and a non-partial attitude towards what is being investigated. With so many religions in the world how can anyone be sure which religion is best for them? Religion is a result of nurture and not nature, humans in general were not born to follow a specific religion it is a path that is made or forced upon them. The best way to understand other religions is to research and study the standard practices of that religion and if possible, use immersion and experience it in person. Research Overview Over 2000...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY EXEGETICAL PAPER: EPHESIANS 6:10-20 A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. CHARLES E. POWELL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE HERMENEUTICS NBST652 – D07 LUO (SUMMER, 2013) BY VERONICA MEAD LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA AUGUST 11, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS BIBLE PASSAGE……………………………………………………………………………….3 THESIS…………………………………………………………………………………………..3 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………….3 HISTORICAL-CULTURAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT……………………………………5 CONTENT ………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Be Strong in the Lord……………………………………………………………………...6 Put on the Full Armor of God……………………………………………………………..6 Our Struggle is not against Flesh and Blood……………………………………………...7 The Armor of God—Protection against the Evil Day…………………………………….7 Stand Firm…………………………………………………………………………………8 Feet Fitted with Readiness That Comes from the Gospel of Peace……………………….8 Take up the Shield of Faith………………………………………………………………..9 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit………………………………..10 Pray in the Spirit on all Occasions with all Kinds of Prayers……………………………10 Paul Requests Prayer from the Saints……………………………………………………11 For which I am an Ambassador in Chains……………………………………………….11 APPLICATION……………………………………………………………………………….…12 Stand Strong in the Lord in the Power of His might……………………………………..12 Put on the Whole Armor of God…………………………………………………………12 Prayer…………………………………………………………………………………….13 ...
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...CHHI 301, Research Paper 1 The New Testament Canon I have asked myself many times the question of where the bible came from. Was it divine prophesies, or was it simply a mish mash of letters, writings, and books all crammed together into one volume. How and when it was decided which books and letters was would be included, and who decided that? In this paper we will discuss how the New Testament was put together and the origins of the New Testament Canon. The New Testament is a very young document that dates from around 1,900 to 2000 years old. This may seem like a long time ago, but compared to the age of the Old Testament, and other recorded ancient writing it is really pretty recent. It is commonly accepted by most rational thinking people that the Bible as we currently have it today, didn’t just appear one day, but was put together by many different writers, and by many different scholars. So this begs the real question how did the current New Testament come to being and who besides God was behind the publication of the New Testament Canon. I will try in this research paper to paint a picture of how the New Testament Canon came to be, who was involved and what the process was that was used to select the books that were ultimately used. Most scholars agree that the early writers were not aware, or even intended to have books or letters published in the New Testament, they were simply writing to a specific audience. As an example when Paul wrote...
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...Have you ever wondered why Christians call each other brothers and sisters? This is due to the fact that we are supposed to be a family. Think of the members in your family. If there was information that was important for the members of the family to know, it would spread until everyone knew regardless of if they accepted the information or not. This should be done to also in God’s family even with members that do not know the gospel. They way to open the communications with people that do not know the gospel is with love. Like a family member that needs something you give help with your love and let the course to knowledge flow from there. Using the information found on the Joshua Project there is 41.9 percent of people unreached by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Joshua Project shows that there are 41.3 percent of people in the world that do not know the Gospel. This paper will focus on Neho people found in the Cote d’Ivoire which is also called the Ivory Coast. The Neho people are not Christians and as of date even though there are many Christians are in the south of Cote d’Ivoire. While bringing medical, agriculture, and other supplies are needed, nothing connects people better than family. This paper will give a brief background of the Neho people which will include their history, language, culture, economy, religion, and family structure. This paper will also go into the history and current status of mission work among them. At the end this paper will propose a strategy using...
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...Rosemarie Stanislaus Term Paper August 1, 2014 The Quest for the Historical Jesus INTRODUCTION Over the centuries scholars from around the world have written a lot about religion, its meaning, relevance and contribution to humanity. There have been many speculations upon the nature and historical background of Jesus Christ. Many scholars have tried to dig into the few clues as to His identity and come up with a human side to which we can all relate. The study of Christianity and how it relates to Jesus Christ is very important to the whole world. Concerning the issue of Christianity, for example, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus Christ was an actual historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do not. While the historicity of Jesus is the most debated subject in the field of religion today, the most enduring and profound controversy in this subject is whether or not Jesus Christ really existed. This paper will discuss who Jesus is, the controversy and biblical sources based on the views of scholars surrounding the historicity of Jesus. Finally, this paper will give Biblical evidence that Jesus existed. WHO IS JESUS? It is generally accepted that Jesus was truly a man who walked the earth 2000 years ago. Almost every religion teaches that Jesus was a prophet, excellent teacher or a Godly man. The...
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...THE BOOK REVIEW : The Art of Personal Evangelism A Paper Submitted to Dr. Blake Newsom of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course Supervised Ministry I: EVAN 5230 Division of Pastoral Ministries Jieun Yun B.S., Korea Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004 March 5, 2014 The Art of Personal Evangelism: Sharing Jesus in a changing culture By Will McRaney, Jr. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Academic, 2003, 268 pp., $19.99 paper. This book “The Art of Personal Evangelism is not to hard to read all of the task of the person who winning to believe in Jesus Christ. McRaney well said about task of evangelism as a practitioner for both the Christian and the Church for the importance of personal evangelism. Also, He wants to approached the point of the scarcity of quality evangelism from North American churches, and address the foundational elements of personal evangelism, outline theories of communication, and overview techniques. About the Arthur of this book “The Art of Personal Evangelism”, the Arthur is Will McRaney. Will McRaney having served a variety position of evangelism. He earned his Ph.D. in Evangelism from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1992. And He has served as assistant professor of evangelism at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He also works for the Ministry Enhancement Group as co-founder for training and consulting group in the areas...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP PROJECT ABSTRACT A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. JIM O’NEILL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF GLOBAL STUDIES SURVEY GLST 500-D07 BY RYAN FREUDENTHAL LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA DECEMBER 14, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 3 BACKGROUND 5 PEOPLE 10 LANGUAGE 16 RELIGION 17 MISSION WORK SURVEY 24 PROPOSED STRATEGY 27 PERSPECTIVE ONE 38 PERSPECTIVE TWO 33 PERSPECTIVE THREE 12 BIBLIOGRAPGY 13 ABSTRACT Missions are found throughout the entire Bible, as well as being commanded of Christ’s followers by Christ Himself. The Great Commission serves as the primary call and purpose of Christians all around the world. The person that heads this call and purpose and follows the example of Christ is one that may experience many things. This person may experience sacrifice, discomfort, doubt, and maybe even persecution or death. On the other hand, this person will definitely experience purpose, rewarding relationships, God’s power, God’s blessing, and the knowledge that they are right where God wants them to be. This person or person(s) will be spreading the gospel of Christ to areas and people where the gospel has never been heard before, and there is no greater service that one can provide. One of these areas is located in North Africa, in the country of Algeria. Algeria has a population...
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...“The Relationship Between John and The Synoptic Gospels: The Person of Christ in Synoptic Theology.” Journal of Evangelical Society Jets 41:2 (June 1998): 201-203. Survey of Theology Marvin T. Roberts May 17, 2015 Contents Page Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Brief Summary…………………………………………………………………………………….1 Critical Interaction………………………… ………………………………..……………...…1-2 Conclusion…………...……………………………………………….…………………………2-3 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction The paper of James D. Dvorak deals with the debates of the comparison between John and the synoptic gospels. Its provides information of the relationship of John to the synoptic gospels that has been a recurring problem, not only for two centuries of modern critical scholarship, but for Christian theology and exegesis over a much longer period. Brief Summary In the paper of James Dvorak he uses three (3) theories to discuss the relationship of John to synoptic gospels. Literary Dependence that is discussed to make claims that John was literarily dependent upon one or more of the synoptic. Literary Independence contends that John was not dependent on the Synoptics but that the similarities between the two are due to use of a common tradition. And there is Mediating View in which some scholars believe that there is a possibility fourth gospel can be adequately explained without primary...
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...I. Introduction ` Religion is one of the most influential topics in today’s society. When focusing on three different types of topics that necessary to me and my life, I decided to choose the three that The topics I chose to write on are: Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin, 0 Why are personal testimonies important in sharing the gospel, and If a person is a Christian, or does it matter how they live their lives? Yes, in order for Jesus to die for our sins He had to go through the birth canal so that He could be of temptation and human flesh and overcome it without sin. I think that personal testimonies are important in sharing the gospel because who better to show or tell you what God can do, than someone who has experienced it themselves. Yes they are. When a person is a Christian, they have to have a normal attitude about themselves, that they are loving and caring people who are God loving. I. Section One Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin? Yes, in order for Jesus to die for our sins, He had to go through the birth canal so that He could be of temptation and human flesh and overcome it without sin. From the day He was born until the day He died, Jesus was without sin to be a perfect sacrifice. Since, we are born into the world as sinners, a miraculous entrance into the world was required, and that’s why the virgin birth occurred. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to...
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...The primary mission of the Christian Church is to preach the gospel to all nations, it is to win souls for Christ. The fact that there are approximately one billion at least nominal Christians in the world indicates that Christ’s Great Commission has been at least partially carried out. This monograph will research how and by whom was the Great Commission enacted in the “early days” of the Christian church, during its first four centuries (100-500 A.D.) This research paper will not contribute creatively to the study of theology or methods of evangelism, but it will rather compile from a representative bibliography facts concerning evangelism in the early Church. Granted, research on this topic has been undertaken before by individuals with far greater academic credentials than the writer of these lines. But this monograph will attempt to condense the vast amount of material written on this topic into a monograph on evangelism in the early Church which is long enough to adequately cover the subject but still short enough to be interesting. This essay will approach the topic by asking the basic questions, why?, what?, who?, to whom?, and how?( William C. Weinrich, “Evangelism in the Early Church,” in Concordia Theological Quarterly, vol. XLV, (January-April 1981), pp. 61-74.) When possible, primary sources from the early Church fathers will be quoted in translation. The ultimate objective will be to bring to light the evangelism methods used by Christians of the early Church which...
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...Anna Calabrese Ch107 December 3, 2011 The Gnostic Movement(s) and the role of Women There is current pop cultural obsession with Gnosticism. A glimpse at the documentary section of Netflix will prove this to be true. Gnosticism is often presented as a mystical and poetic alternative to the patriarchal hierarchy of the Christian Church. It is also often presented as a safer and more holistic religious home for women, free of many of the misogynistic barriers of the larger institution of the church. But how much of this is true? What is Gnosticism anyway and what does it really have to say about women? This paper will explore these questions by giving an overview of what Gnosticism really is, beyond a new shelf in the Christian self-help section at Barnes and Noble. I will explore this through two Gnostic theologians, Valentinus and Ptolemy. From there, the second section will deal with women and Gnostic thought, giving focus to the role of Mary Magdalene in the Pistis Sophia, The Gospel of Mary, and The Gospel of Phillip. In order to being this exploration of Gnosticism, it is more accurate to begin by discussing Gnosticisms, acknowledging primarily that Gnosticism was more than just one movement but a series of movements that shared a common belief in salvation through knowledge.[1] These movements, or this style of “speculative religious metaphysics”[2], pre-exist Christianity and came to have largest impact on Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. According...
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...The Formation of the Canon, 5-6 page paper. Thus far we have come to a closing about the date and source of the individual books of the New Testament, but another questions remains unanswered. We can ask ourselves, how did the New Testament itself come into being? Who collected the writings and on what ideology? What conditions led to the creations of a canon, of trustworthy books? Throughout history Christian’s belief is that the Holy Spirit, who controlled the writing of the individual books, also controlled their selection and compilation, thus continuing to fulfill our Lord’s promise that He would guide his disciples into all reality. This however, is something that is to be discerned by spiritual insight, and not by historical research. The object is to find out what historical research reveals about the origin of the New Testament canon. We have people tell us that we receive the twenty seven books of the New Testament on the mandate of the Church; but even if we do, we have to look at how the Church came to recognize these twenty-seven books as worthy of being placed on a level of encouragement and authority with the Old Testament. It took over a century of the proliferation of numerous writings before anyone was even concerned. They started to pick and choose and it was largely a cumulative, individual and accidental event, guided by chance and prejudice more than objective and scholarly research, until priests and academics began declaring what was authoritative...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY RESEARCH PAPER Early Church Missions A PAPER IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE COURSE HISTORY OF THE CHIRSTIAN CHURCH I CHH 520 BY RHEINLAND PFALZ, GERMANY ii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION................................................................................... 3 THE INITIAL SPREAD..........................................................................4 EVERY MEMBER WAS A SOULWINNER.........................................5 CONNECTING THE DOTS OF MISSION TO TODAYS CHURCH...7 METHOD OF MISSIONS.......................................................................9 THE ZEAL OF MODERN DAY MISSONS.........................................10 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................12 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................13 INTRODUCTION When one reads the biblical account of the early church one will find a group of believers being introduce to the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus during his ministry had been making mention of the coming of the Holy Spirit and his subsequent death. Although Jesus' disciples did not initially and fully understand the conditions and necessity of his death, he told them "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY THE GIFT OF TONGUES DISPLAYED IN THE BOOK OF ACTS A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO PROFESSOR DOUGLAS PETERSON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR BIBL364 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY ONLINE BY SEAN HIGGINS LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA DECEMBER 5, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 2 PENTECOST 2 THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS 5 TONGUES AT EPHESIAN BAPTISM 7 CONCLUSION 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 10 Introduction The gift of Tongues has been becoming more and more popular over the past 10 years. Christians appear to have differing views on the matter. Some think it is a sign of the HOLY SPIRIT, other think it is a manifestation of demonic forces. There are Bible verses to support both of these opinions, so the issues can become rather confusing. This paper is meant to show exactly everything that the Book of Acts mentions on the subject of tongues. This paper doesn’t refer to any other parts in the Bible regarding tongues. There are three different incidences in the Book of Acts that refers to speaking in tongues. First in Acts 2:4, 6-11 at the day of Pentecost, then in Acts 10:46 at the conversion of Cornelius, and finally in Acts 19:6 at the baptism of the 12 men in Ephesus. I am going to look solely at these events in order to study exactly what the Book of Acts says about tongues. Pentecost The experience of the Spirit on Pentecost is a fulfillment of the prophecy of John the Baptist concerning the one who would...
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