...The purpose of this paper is to explore Barth’s understanding of God’s being in act in order to posit its contribution to our Trinitarian understanding of the atonement. This paper is composed of two sections: the analysis of Barth’s understanding of God’s being in act and the contribution of Barth’s theology to our Trinitarian understanding of the atonement. In the first section, I present a brief historical background of Barth’s theology in order to engage his theology more in depth. I then analyze Barth’s understanding of God’s being in act. On the basis of this analysis, I argue how Barth’s theology helps us build a solid Trinitarian understanding of the atonement in three different aspects: ontologically, theologically and dialectically....
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...Reflection Paper Shannon B. Payton Liberty University Introduction This paper is about reflecting on what was covered in Theology 104. There are many Christians who understand that God loves us and wants the best for His children. There are many subjects, videos, and extracted material that has been read or discussed over the span of four weeks which has given me a better understanding of the Bible and Christianity. My reflection for this paper I have chosen two topics that I have chosen to address for this paper. First, topic I have chosen will be Grace and secondly I will be focusing on Love. Grace Theological definition of “grace” as many scholar s of the bible will define this word as the unmerited favor of God toward man. Grace can also be defined as like forgiveness, repentance, regeneration and salvation to mean something as broad as describing the whole of God’s activity towards man or as narrow as describing one segment of activity (Baker’s Evangelical Bible Dictionary). Often times many would attribute grace toward s how women carry themselves and even in the bible grace can be defined through many scripture as action of one who are in high position. Biblical Foundation The first time Grace has been in mentioned was in Genesis chapter 8 because of Noah obedience to God and God was tired or as the bible scholar would state grieved by man’s wickedness and caused God to erase mankind. In all this, Noah found favor with God. Here the word favor and grace...
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...thought provoking. I have decided to go with the following three because they each sparked my interest either during the Class or during my walk with the Lord. The first one that I am going to address is “What can your local church do to better communicate God’s love to your community”? The second topic that I am going to address is “If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life”? And last but not least I am going to address the topic that asks us “Does the Bible have authority”? II. I am first going to address the topic “What can your (my) local Church do to better communicate God’s love to your (my) community”? This is a simple question for me to answer. First I think that my Church should have a food pantry. This food pantry should be available to anyone and everybody….not just members of the congregation. If we just made the food items available to Church members, I don’t think that would be demonstrating Christ’s love to the community. Jesus Christ mingled with all types of people and he healed all types. They didn’t belong to any particular ethnic group or congregation and they didn’t have to fill out a survey to see if they qualified. Another way that I think a Church should do to demonstrate God’s love to the community is to show tolerance for the other Churches within the community. A Church that I used to attend, the Pastor often put down the Church down the road. Not because of their religious affiliation but just because he personally did not care...
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...Reflection Paper The three topics that I would like to write about is Did Jesus claim to be God? , If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life? and What can your local church do to better communicate God’s love to your community. I feel that these three topics are very important to me because since Jesus did claim to be God, why did he claim it because since God is the almighty, there must be something special about him because no one would really claim it unless they can prove it. Jesus did claim to be God and he did it in ways that really amazed people including myself when I was first reading the bible and knowing more about it. The other topic I am writing about is if a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life. It feels real interesting because if you do believe in God, you must follow all he said like in the Ten Commandments which he laid out. It’s a true test to see if you are a Christian and are you willing to do anything if the Lord told you so, it really tests a person’s faith. The final topic I am writing about is what can your local church do to better communicate God’s love to your community. It is also very interesting because in every area there is a local church and they would love for everyone to believe in God and follow him because he did die for our sins. So it’s very good to spread the word out to your community and show that he is God and how he loves each and every one...
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...THEOLOGY OF WORSHIP ___________________ A Paper Presented to Dr. Timothy J. Ralston Dallas Theological Seminary ___________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course PM302 – Pastoral Theology and Leadership II ___________________ By Kevin Goldsmith May 30, 2011 Box #640 THEOLOGY OF WORHSIP Introduction Worship has been around since the creation to recognize the Creator, and is extremely important to the church. “Worship is the single activity that both unifies and transcends time.”1 However, the method in which the believer has worshipped God has changed and looks different. So one must ask the question, what is the proper way to worship God? Or what are the nonnegotiable parts that must be included to worship? In this paper we will develop a philosophy to determine what worship is, what should be included in worship today, and how important theology is to the leader of the worship experience. Defining Worship There are three terms in the bible that help us to understand worship. The first word is hwjtvh, which literally means to bow down. This word “emphasizes the way an Israelite thought of approaching the to the holy presence of God.”2 The second Old Testament word we must look at is dAbDo meaning to serve. “The highest designation of the Hebrew in his engagement with the worship of God is just this word servant.”3 In the New Testament the word most often used for worship is proskune÷w. This word carries the same meaning as to bow Timothy J...
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...Reflection Paper Bachelor of Science in Psychology (crisis Counseling) THEOLOGY 104 I thought I knew a lot about being a Christian that lives for Christ but this class has proven me wrong. Theology 104 has given me a greater understanding of what it means to be a true Christian and most importantly studying God’s word. I will be addressing two topics that I feel are essential to Christian living, and they are love and worship. Christianity is built on love and we are called to give God all that we are. Love Theological Definition: The bible indicates that love is from God. It actually stated that “God is Love” (1John 4:8); therefore his nature is love, and everything he does flows from his love. God’s love is considered to be agape love and its origin is Greek; Agape is said to be selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, and “the highest of the four types of love in the bible” (Zavada). Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus Christ has for his Father and for humankinds; Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this but he that lay his life down for his friend,” (John 15:13). Love is caring in action Biblical Foundation: Love is caring in action, and what we do; it is not base on our feelings. The book of first John says “beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (4:7, 8). From the bible, we know that God’s nature is love; therefore...
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...private schools, and other social gatherings have showed false teaching in the Christian world. The past, present, and future outcome on the Body of Christ is powerful, meaning that what we do as Christians will make a huge impact on the world. Unfortunately, many believers have believed false teaching as truth and have “placed error on a level equal to Scripture” (False Teaching in the Church, 1). For example, Psalms 119:160 states that God’s word all added up together equal truth. “The Church”, also known as the Body of Christ, has accepted false teaching even though they have been warned of these teachings. However, the false teaching can be stopped as long as one understands what needs to be done. The teachers of “The Church” need to go back to the basic core values of Christianity. Although, many people do not know what it means to be a teacher or who “The Church” is. Firstly, to help “The Church” we have to understand a teacher’s job. Theologically a teacher has a: “…special ability God gives to some to explain the truths of the Word of God clearly and to apply them effectively so that those taught understand and learn. To instruct others in the Bible in a logical and systematic way so as to communicate pertinent information for true understanding and growth” (Teaching/Teacher). However, we are also warned by Peter that there are and always will be false teachers and prophets among us (2 Peter 2:1). Colin Smith in his article “7 Traits of False Teachers” explains...
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...the end times two of them pop out at me. The rapture and how future events can be looked forward to by Christians. What is the rapture all about anyway? Will when you get right down to it means to be caught up. How as a Christian does that help us understand what rapture even means? For a true meaning of the word rapture we have to dig a little deeper in God’s word to find out the answer. As we take time to learn about the rapture we then will have a much better understanding. Being caught up or being taken up to heaven is what we can define the word rapture as. If the rapture would happen today then Jesus has retuned and we as Christians are being raised up in spirit to the heavens. That is exciting to even think about the opportunity to be whisked away right where we stand. It reads in 1st Thessalonians 4:14 that since we believed that Christ was raise from the dead then when Christ comes back he will raise us up. One of the things that we have to do is be ready for that day because it could happen without a moment’s notice. God did not give us the time or the date because if we knew then we would use that information for our own selfish reasons instead of God’s reasons. Just exploring a little bit about what the rapture means we can start to see how important it is to be ready at all times. To be ready in our life is exactly what God had intended us to do all along. He gives us hope of what we as Christians can be ready for in our life. Death will not hold us down,...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE OF GOD A RESEARCH PAPER TO BE SUBMITTED TO PROFESSOR HEATH RICKMOND IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THEO 350 – FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGICAL ISSUES LIBERTY UNIVERSITY ONLINE BY MIKE WINNINGHAM LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA October 15, 2012 Introduction In the discussion of the providence of God there appears to be two primary schools of thought. First there is the school of thought that God created all things, and He is in control of the big picture but He gives humans the ability to make their own choices. Secondly, there is the school of thought that God created all things, set it into motion, and now continues to preserve His creation and govern His creation. God is fully involved in each and every detail of our lives. Both of these approaches to the providence of God have legitimate reasoning and a thought process that makes each creditable, but only one has the complete support of scripture. The Calvinist approach would be the view that God is intimately involved in all decisions in our life, and the Arminian view would be that God’s control is limited because He grants freedom of choice1. This paper will explore both schools of thought and then come to a conclusion of which school of thought is the most accurate and best supported by scripture. Calvinist View of Providence ------------------------------------------------- The Calvinist viewpoint holds that God is in control of every aspect of mankind’s life through...
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...Reflection Paper 2 Assignment I. Introduction In today’s predominately secular culture, the doctrine of creation and the doctrine of the immaterial “heart” of man are topics too commonly misrepresented and are profoundly misunderstood amongst many Christians today. The doctrine of creation and the doctrine of the immaterial nature of man are fundamental cornerstones within the Christian worldview that promulgate a rational coherent, consistent doctrine that when properly taught can equip Christians today with important theological knowledge that facilitates their pursuit of effective ministry. Divided into two separate topics, I will subsequently expound upon the Christian doctrine of creation and the doctrine on the immaterial nature of man, outlining the theological definition, biblical foundation, and practical application for each. II. Doctrine of Creation a. Theological Definition The doctrine of creation propagates that an eternal, infinite and immaterial Triune God created ex nihilo, or out of nothing, the universe and everything within it. God created the “heavens, the earth, the fish, the various kinds of species of animals, and man as the crown of His creation” (Townes, Origin). This doctrine asserts that there was no preexistent material existed before creation, emphasizing God’s existence alone before creation, and affirming His infinitude, eternality, self-existence, self-sufficiency, omnipotence, and omniscience. This doctrine is derived from God’s general...
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...Monotheistic Religions Paper HUM/130 Dr. Donald Howard David Carradine June 10, 2012 Describe how Judaism understands God. “The term "God" which is used in reference to the Creator is considered sacred, thus according to Orthodox Jews at least, all care and respect should be undertaken towards any paper or scroll which has the term printed upon it. In obedience to Gods Commandment the Jewish faith does not allow any image or icon of God. Consequently the only way that is left to "see" God is through verbal imagery. The issue of conflict between God's Commandment and the use of images within the Torah, which is regarded as God's word, can be explained satisfactorily by Jewish teaching in my opinion. Also it is acceptable within reason to use imagery regarding God, so long as proper decorum, respect, reverence and strict guidelines and understanding are followed by believers. It must be understood however that although the Jewish understanding of God may permit the use of imagery, God must never be represented by any direct image. The roots of this belief, predominant in Jewish beliefs, stems from the book of Exodus, "You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth”. You shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Exodus 20: 3-5). This is an absolute vital Commandment in God's eyes. His law is not to be taken lightly for fear of the consequences; later in Exodus we are sufficiently...
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...Worldview Paper Daniel Martinez Liberty University Worldview Paper Part I. What is a Worldview? A worldview can encompass our most basic or complex beliefs that based on our experiences in life are consistently going through the ebb and flow of change throughout our existence. “A worldview is our underlying philosophy of life.” (Weider & Gutierrez, 2014, p. 57). It is how we look at life, our own values and those of our society, and, based on that, how we live it. The Christian worldview holds hope and love as its truest tenets. We further explore the Christian worldview below. Part II. The Question of Origin In the question of origin, we can ascertain how life began and mankind came into existence by examining the word of...
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...The Hook: Thank each person for coming to the Bible study, then hand out a paper plate with pencils and crayons. The next step is to have each student placed the paper plate on their head and have them write the word Romans without them looking. Then have them color and signed their names without looking, and after they finish doing this, have them take the plate from their heads and look at what they wrote and color. Tell them, this is what happens when we allow God to take charge of our lives. His Spirit enters and changes and rearranges their thought process and the way they use to do things. They will have no desire to go places they use to go, and sometimes they will lose some friends. Paul wrote this letter about A.D. 57 while he was in Corinth preparing to visit Rome. This letter emphasizes the foundation of the Christian faith. It gives clear everyday instruction for Christian beliefs and how they should behave in accordance with their faith. However, the mega theme specifies sin and rejecting to obey God’s will. More so, in order for us to receive salvation, we must be willing to obey...
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...Reflection Paper for Introduction to Christian Thought Theology 104 Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx L33333333 March 5, 2012 Liberty University I. Introduction To say, “I am a Christian” has so many meanings in this day and age. To most people it means that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for their sins. To a true Christian it means the aforesaid statement as well as the desire to know God through a personal relationship. The most crucial part of being a Christian is to nurture and cultivate that special bond with God and use one’s personal testimony to further the acceptance of Christ by as many people as possible. In order to communicate effectively, one must know that Jesus is God and be able to convey how He is working their lives. One can use his/her God-given skillsets in many different facets to promote His purpose through the church and the community. Upon one’s earthly demise, the ultimate goal is to hear, “Well done, my faithful and loyal servant” (Matthew 23:23). II. Did Jesus claim to be God? Jesus claims to be God numerous times within the Bible. Jesus referred to Himself as “I AM” in multiple verses in scripture as well as key quotes, such as, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). For people to understand that Jesus is God, one has to recognize why God would come to this earth in human form. In the Old...
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...Reflection Paper 21APR11 THEO104 Phillip A Johnson #L23636707 The Authority of the Bible The purpose of this paper is to share some thoughts of what we learned over this semester. Many thoughts will come from what I have written during the class and from the Core of Christianity, Elmer Towns. The topics I chosen to discuss is Does the Bible have authority, Did Jesus claim to be God and How can we be confident that Jesus is returning. Let us first look at the word authority. Authority means “the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine.” ("authority.") This authority can come from a teacher, pastor, principle or anyone else that has the ability to control or command someone or something. The Biblical definition, states that authority is “the legal and/or moral right to exercise power, or power that is rightly possessed. We recognize the Bible is the most significant book in the history of civilization. In the context of Jewish history, the Bible’s impact on politics, history, and religion is without comparison. Along with establishing the covenant-based legitimacy of the Jewish people and their history, the Bible’s political impact is exemplified through prophetic politics, the power of kings, and the effects of political authority. Biblical archeology has discovered biblical structures which supports the historical validity of the Bible. The Bible’s effect on history,...
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