...Water Baptism “Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith.” - J.A. Motyer Introduction Why is This Topic Important? The subject of water baptism is important for several reasons. First of all, it is a commandment of Jesus Christ and an important part of His great commission. Christ said, “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). It is obvious that if we do not properly understand or practice baptism, we are in danger of neglecting a very important desire of our Lord and Savior. Understanding the Bible’s teaching concerning water baptism is also important because we have an obligation to ensure that new converts to Christ understand the biblical view of baptism and its significance to their relationship with Christ. It would be very unfortunate for any believer to experience water baptism without really understanding its meaning. Finally, it is important to discuss this issue because there are a number of disagreements within Christianity related to baptism. Some of these are relatively minor, but others are extremely important and are worth some discussion. Section A will first discuss some introductory matters regarding the meaning of the word “baptism” and the different kinds of baptism in the New Testament (NT). Section B will cover specifically what the Bible teaches...
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... “How did Jesus face and understand death when it closed in on him? Did he interpret his death in advance as the climax of his mission? Or did he experience panic and even succumb to the fear that ‘all might come to nothing’? We can glean some answers by taking matters in stages,” (147). I think this is the thesis because this chapter states how Jesus appear to have understood his death by exploring different “stages”. In each section, O’ Collins compares the differences in each Gospel and states his own points about each “state” in Jesus’ death. Methodology: Source: Mark, Luke, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Acts, the beatitude and the Lord’s Prayer, Paul, Exodus, Psalms, Wisdom, Maccabees, S. McKnight, R. Bauckham, Martin Hengel and M. Bockmuehl. Audience: In this chapter, O’Collins does not state what the audience is. It seems that the audience should be all religious followers. Argument and Summary of Main Points: What Jesus Said of Himself In this section, O’ Collins states that the Parable of the Vineyard and the Tenants (Mark 12”1-12) is the only parable in which Jesus spoke clearly about his own mission. In the parable, the vineyard owner is God, and the tenant farmers are the leaders of Israel, and the servants who try to collect the owner’s share in the produce are the prophets. However, the farmers mistreat these agents of the owner, and even kill some of them. Finally, the owner (God) sends his son who is Jesus, but farmers also kill Jesus (148). After...
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...THE DESTINY OF THE UNEVANGELIZED DEBATE PRESENTED TO PROFESSOR OGEDI OMENYINMA FOR THEO 350 – DO4 BY REV. JOSEPH T. WHITAKER, III LU23755920 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY LYNCHBURG VIRGINIA JULY 31, 2014 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 NO OTHER NAME (THE RESTRICTIVE VIEW)---------------------------------------------------- GOD DOES ALL HE CAN DO (THE UNIVERSAL OPPORTUNITY VIEW)------------------- HOPE BEYOND THE GRAVE (THE POSTMORTEM EVANGELISM VIEW)---------------- HE HAS NOT LEFT HIMSELF WITHOUT A WITNESS (THE INCLUSIVE VIEW)--------- CONCLUSION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIBLIOGRAPHY------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 Introduction The terrible reality of hell and the possibility that human beings can find themselves in that horrific location is a very serious and sobering consideration. An examination of some of the opinions/views will be made in this paper, with special attention given to the authoritative Word of God, as Scripture...
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...garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Lu:1:77: To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Ac:4:12: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Ac:28:28: Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. Ro:13:11: And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 2Co:6:2: (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Did you ever ask “When is really the right time to serve the Lord or to get saved?” Some may have and some doesn’t care. Some took it for granted intentionally and some were just not informed. We as the servants of God have the duty or responsibility to spread the Gospel. But first, what is SALVATION really means? In theology, SALVATION is the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil. Moreover, it is a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness. What are the steps to attain SALVATION? Romans 10:17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. First is Hearing. As of now, you’re on the first step since you’re listening to the Word of God. Second...
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...God was first used in the story of the descendants. Saul was referred as a Messiah by Samuel in Samuel 1but he failed to please God and David was the one who was Messiah and even God favored him. In the New Testament: all the gospels like in Mark1:1, Mathew, 1:1, Jesus, were referred as Son of God and even Messiah. Peter also addresses to the crowd after Jesus’ death that Jesus, the crucified person was the King- the Messiah, who protected the people of Israel which was the Christianity message indeed. The son of god means in Hebrew bible that someone who is the King, basically the king of Israel and who is faithful to God. In the New Testament, Jesus was referred as Son of God as he used to do miracles by curing the sick and possessed. Jesus was the king of Jews. He proved this by sacrificing his life and forgiving all the sins of the people. Messiah mean anointed one, in Hebrew bible, Messiahs were priests and the kings like David was referred as Messiah and even son of God and even Cyrus was referred too. But Jesus was being called as Messiah in the gospels. After Jesus’ death, his death was referred as” death of anointed”. 2. We discussed how each of the gospels finds some salutary meaning in Jesus’ death by crucifixion. Briefly, what does Mark’s gospel...
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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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...Baptism in the Lord's Way Baptism by immersion in water by one having authority is the first saving ordinance of the gospel and is necessary for an individual to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to receive eternal salvation. All who seek eternal life must follow the example of the Savior by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Savior revealed the true method of baptism to the Prophet Joseph Smith, making clear that the ordinance must be performed by one having priesthood authority and that it must be done by immersion: “The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. ”Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water“ (D&C 20:73–74). The Savior taught us that all men and women must be born again. Nicodemus, one of the rulers among the Jews, came surreptitiously to the Savior by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 5 Nicodemus was bewildered and...
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...of New Testament at Brite Divinity School. In this article, his target audience is the Christian community and his goal is to discuss Matthew’s Christology as theocentric, presenting God’s manifested presence in the life of Jesus. Boring goes on to show how Matthew’s Christology is expressed in a narrative of three stories. He says that this can be appreciated and appropriated better in the context of narratives in which contemporary interpreters are embedded.1 He does not subscribe to a particular story, but believes that the ecclesiology, eschatology, and ethics of Jesus are intertwined. They cannot be separated or summarized. For that reason, we are introduced to and come to know Jesus as Emmanuel, God-with-us. Brief Summary Boring begins this article by talking about Jesus and how he was sent by God as the promised Messiah. He mentions how Matthew uses three stories that bridges the gap between interpreters’ understanding of Matthew’s Christology, Matthew’s understanding of Jesus, and the story that Matthew actually composed. Before Matthew’s narrative, Mark was a strong expositor and communicator of the Christian faith. Mark focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus. In addition, Matthew paid close attention to the saving work of Christ on earth. Like Matthew, Mark also focused on...
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...Madison Thomas REL 212 March 16, 2016 Second Reflection Paper “Christmas Song” and the Life of Jesus “Christmas Song” is a song written by the Dave Matthews Band. It is a song that discusses a few significant parts of Jesus’ life. The song begins by talking about Mary and Joseph. It discusses how they were dating and were soon to be married, and then Mary finds out that she is pregnant and has a baby boy. After that, the song discusses how not much is known about the boy’s childhood, but was never home. Next the song discusses Jesus’ crucifixion, and how he cried to the Lord. Lastly, it discusses how Jesus rose from the dead and we celebrate him. The song simplifies Jesus’ life, and shows the main parts of his life. It seems that in the song, Dave Matthews wrote this song as if Jesus was a normal human. It shows Jesus’ thoughts and concerns about how well he has done with the people he has ministered to. In the song, the audience knows that the story is about Jesus, the Son of God, but he is almost humanized more than usual. He is only discussed as being born, crucified, and celebrated. This song is somewhat religious, but I think it is mainly just telling the story from Dave Matthews’ point of view. The song shows that once Jesus came, love was all around us. There are many parts that I found very interesting. The most interesting part is the lyrics, “The people he knew were less than golden-hearted-gamblers and robbers, drinkers and jokers. All soul searchers like...
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...Jesus and Mohammed Cassie Osborn 5/24/2014 HUM/130 Alice Aud Jesus and Mohammed Jesus and Mohammed both represent major figures in the Christianity and Muslim religions respectively. These two religions are completely different but each figure is of equal importance to their respective religions from the way each of their followers pray down to the holidays each celebrate. Jesus is of the Christian religion and Mohammed is of the Islam religion. These two figure are easily the two biggest, most recognized names in religion today due to the billions of combined believers in each faith. It is considered across most Christianity sects that Jesus was born on December 25th in the city of Bethlehem. Christians believe this so heavily it has been induced into their doctrine, but there is some dispute between other religious groups. There are scholars that believe he was born in spring or fall, or even that he was born in Nazareth and not Bethlehem. That being said, December 25th is the date that Christians hold to be his birthday and the day itself has become very important to his believers. The Virgin Mary was Jesus’s mother and she was married to a carpenter named Joseph. It is widely believed that because Mary was a virgin, she was impregnated with Jesus through the Holy Spirit or God, making him God’s only son. At this time, Jewish individuals had been awaiting the Messiah, which the old prophecies had promised them was coming. This Messiah would be in some form...
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...salvation. The meaning of phrases such as “sound like a violent wind” and “tongues of fire” will be explained. Expositional work will be written based on each passage in Acts 2 regarding the descent of the Holy Spirit in order to help further resolve contextual issues found in this chapter. The day of Pentecost described in Acts has changed how Christians are able to relate to God and interact with Him through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit Before we can delve into the meat of Acts 2, we must look at the first chapter of Acts where Jesus told his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:4-5 says, “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Jesus’ command the disciples obeying it sets the stage...
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...profession of faith in and on the Lord Jesus Christ but has made mistakes along the way of growing into discipleship or may have been led astray by false doctrine or mis-representation of the Word of God. Most of the times when we here someone say they want to be sure they are saved it is after they have decided to have a relationship with the Lord but state they don’t “feel anything” or those who may have experienced a tragic life change or may be sick unto death. Either way a good time to have an assurance of one’s faith is when and while there is still breath in the body. Some of the major questions are “Am I really a child of God? How do I know my sins are truly forgiven? When I die, am I going to heaven?” While working at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association many calls would come in from those who had just been diagnosed with life threating diseases, those who converted from Catholism and from widows who knew their spouses were saved and have gone on to be with the Lord, but wanted to be sure that they too would make it to heaven and not only see Jesus but see their loved one again. Some had no idea where they stood with God. We would gently ask the callers if they would like to know how they could be absolutely certain that they were indeed going to heaven. We would explain that Jesus Christ had died for their sins and paid all of our debt and the Word of God promises us if we would believe by faith receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior; we...
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...the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; 29 yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these. 30 Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith? 31 So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?" 32 It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. 33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' 33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' These lines signify that we should welcome god in our heart. We should look forward to his goodness in his kingdom. Everything happens...
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...Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Salvation Salvation has been the most common term used in our churches today. But, what is salvation? Since I was a child, my parents always taught me that without salvation I was going to hell. Being so young and innocent, I would look at my parents and ask them, what I need to do to be saved. Their answer was simple. Fear God and stay away from sin; I guess that was my parent’s definition of salvation. Just like my parents, everyone has their own definition of salvation, depending on the religion you were brought up with and your faith. As I grew older, I came to realize that salvation not only involved fearing the maker but also salvation refers to being granted eternal life when the Day of Judgment comes. We all know temptation is real and the devil is not sleeping. I came to understand that salvation was everything to do with being spared from eternal penalty of sin. But that begs a different question; do all human beings deserve being spared the eternal fire? From the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, we learn that only the righteous shall be saved and inherit the kingdom of God. During judgment day, while others will be rejoicing together with Christ in paradise others will be burning in eternal fire. Even the Bible states that salvation is only for those who will repent and turn to God. The prophet Ezekiel said “the soul who sins shall dies” (Ezekiel 18.4 NKJ). We can also see the same in the writing of the apostle Paul who...
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...class I definitely feel more enlightened to what it takes to be a Christian. The day to day lives that we all live nowadays tend to consume us so much that I think we forget why we are what we are. And I think this class has helped to reaffirm why I am a Christian. Everyone knows that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, but no one actually talks about why this is important; to them or to Christianity. To me this is kind of like a director foreshadowing in a movie. GOD was able to see that having Jesus born of a virgin would only enhance the believability of his deity by having this occur. Human skepticism is way too advanced and this just seems to be the obvious reason for setting this up this way. Just think had Jesus been born of a normal woman, in a normal setting, normal family, everyone would just assume he was normal. There would be no added credence to his power, knowledge, and compassion. It has in many ways added incentive for people to believe in him. So GOD was able to see into the future that we as a race would question, protest, and even take contrarian points of view in a unified opposition had this not occurred. It was his way of foreshadowing the rest of the story by having Jesus born of a virgin to help enhance our belief in him. This was only step one in what I call a two step process focused on making believers of us all. GOD decided to stick with the director theme here and create one more unexplainable moment that; what was that next true seminal moment that...
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