...Theology of Sexuality Liberty University Abstract It sells in advertising, it one of the major draws in movies and TV dramas, it is characterized in almost every sense of living in today’s society; the it that is mostly third party spoken of is sex and sexuality. In the Christian faith, the issue of sex and sexuality is normally an abrupt address with little understanding but with many standards of do’s and don’ts. The Bible is not really discreet in the explanation of sex and sexuality as the spokespeople that speak on this subject. Sex is a topic that really matters in this society. It defines the young generation in their dress, it drives the middle age in their outlook, and it now has the elderly generation seeking medical advances to keep it going longer. How can there be an avoidance of such a topic. This paper seeks to explore the theology of sexuality by using support by biblical and theological hermeneutics, as well as ethical or normative stances on the major role that sex and sexuality play in both the person as an individual and in the institution of marriage. Keywords: sex, sexuality, theology, Bible Theology of Sexuality One of the most private and intimate encounters in our society is sex and the display of its affection and passion. When sex or sexuality is spoken of it is normally done within the confines of the two people that are planning to engage or a group of people who have assembled with knowledge of the content of the subject that will...
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...created her to come alongside man and be united as one. L.I. Granberg and J.R. Root said, “God instituted marriage so that men and women might complete one another and share in His creative work through the procreation of children.”2 When does the man and woman become married according to the Bible? The Bible does not really say when a couple is married, but there are some viewpoints. These viewpoints are intercourse and having a wedding ceremony. The Bible does say that a couple is married once the couple has sexual intercourse. God considers any man and woman having sex to be married.3 By this, they are considered one. People who believe this viewpoint use 1 Corinthians 6:16, which says, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’” You may say, “what about people who are unmarried and are having sex? When this happens it is called fornication. Fornication is a form of sexual immorality and God does not approve of this. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, states, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;” We are told that we must flee from sin in order to maintain pure in the eye’s of God, as read in 1 Corinthians 6:18.4 The next point is when God see’s a couple being married in some kind of ceremony. Some people believe that a couple is married when a ceremony happens.5 By this, they are making a...
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...Introduction According to Enns (2008), liberation theology attempts to infer the holy writ through the plight of the poor. This movement originated from South America in the early 1950s when Marxism was the most popular theory among the poor. It was a response to the ill-treatment and poverty facing the ordinary people. It dealt with the issue of distribution of wealth among people in order to upgrade the economic status in life. This movement had strong Romanian Catholic roots bolstered in Colombia in 1968 at a conference where, the bishops proposed a merger between the Karl Marx teachings with those of Jesus Christ. Liberation theology support was immense but various critiques across the religious framework (Novak, 1991). This movement arose in catholic and protestant churches and it has three main expressions as discussed herein. Black Liberation Theology Black liberation theology strongly focuses on the African American community. This theory got formulated in 1969 by the Nation Committee of Black Church men as a civil rights movement. The key goal is to make Christianity real for the black people. The offshoot of this movement was in South America during the liberation of African American people from all kinds of injustices and bondage especially in the social, political and economical focus. Coined by James Cone in 1970, the movement focused on promoting communism and Marxism by incorporating religious interpretation. This theory focused on issues relating to deliverance...
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...REVIEW FOR THEOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY: HOW THE GLOBAL CHURCH IS INFLUENCING THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS THEOLOGY Name: Course: Professor’s Name: Date: Timothy C. Tennent, an American theologian, is Professor of World Missions and Indian Studies and the current president of Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Tennent and wife, Julie Myers, reside in Ipswich, Massachusetts, with their two children, Jonathan, and Bethany. Tennent (born on September 24, 1959) did his college education B.A. from Oral Roberts University, quickly followed by a Masters’ degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He later did a Doctorate of Philosophy degree from the University of Edinburgh's in Scotland, where his dissertation was on Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, an Indian theologian. His teaching career started at Toccoa Falls College. At Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Massachusetts, he served as professor of world missions and Indian studies. He was elected to his current office as president of Asbury Seminary in 2009. He still a visiting professor at the Luther New Jr. Theological College of Dehradun, India. He authored "Building Christianity on Indian Foundations" together with "Christianity at the Religious Roundtable". He has also published items in the series “Encountering Mission” and “Invitation to Theological Studies.” In November 2009, Tennent had signed an ecumenical statement differing categorically with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage...
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...Homosexuality - Theological Intro By Thomas Coy September 2008 Introduction to the theological aspects of homosexuality and the gay rights movement As a student of the medical debate over homosexuality, the gay rights movement, and the Bible, I believe I have an insightful perspective on the debates over homosexuality. In the last half of the twentieth century a divisive theological debate over homosexual behavior developed when gay activists created their own revisionist interpretation of the Bible to support their claim that homosexual behavior is neither immoral nor sinful. This revisionist theology has been labeled “gay theology.” Many Christians are not aware that in 1968 a gay activist started a Christian denomination called the Metropolitan Community Church based on gay theology. In this introduction I will point out some obvious errors in gay revisionist arguments and outline a much wider scope of biblical principles that are related to how the church deals with homosexuals and the gay political movement. Scripture and gay revisionism Gay activists contend there are only seven scriptures that address homosexuality in the Bible and therefore homosexual behavior is insignificant in scripture. Gay activists also contend that theologians have misinterpreted the seven scriptures. The seven main scriptures are the Genesis account of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), the Mosaic Law in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the letter by Jude verse 7, and the Apostle Paul’s letters...
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... The author stated that all truth is God’s and everything that he made was good. Psychology is the study of human behavior and theology is the study of religion; both perspectives are disciplines that are learned. Integration will allow a better understanding of human behavior which neither perspective can do along. Since the Christian faith could not support man along, the mentally challenged suffered. Critics stated that the Christian faith did not keep Bible law concerning love and acceptance of homosexuality; the faith didn’t have the science or intellect to cure sickness, distorted perceptions and mental defects. Sin brought the fall of man and brokenness; yet, science through testings, assumptions, methods, experiments and discoveries were needed to fully care for humans; a holistic approach was needed to cure man. The Church was challenged to provide supreme knowledge to care for souls which lead to many new worldviews which were made up of disciplines that governed people’s lives. These worldviews have Enemies and Allies which were obstacles to integration. The Church accepted psychological perspectives to help the mentally ill; they vacillated in their belief and had attitudes towards the scriptures; this is why the work to restore man could not be done alone through the Church. Moreover, in order for psychology and theology to be combined, there must be experts to form combined disciplines. The question is, where do we find such capable and...
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...evil body. The basis in Platonic dualism found both Stoic and Gnostic philosophies; both played a significant role in the foundation of Christianity and deciding for a place for sexuality in it. Stoicism movement believed that emotions, impassioned sexual attachments, passionate love of anything, arose from different false judgments; a person who attained moral intellectual and moral perfection would not experience such emotions. Stoics believed that pleasures by sex were dangerous, impossible to control, and harmful to men’s health. Also, sex was something that soul is struggling to discard when it is willing to rise to heaven. Gnosis is the Greek word that means “knowledge.” Gnosticism is based on mythology, either than theology or philosophy, believing that “the soul is trapped in the corrupt prison of the body.” (Power Point) Gnostics theology holds that sexual pleasure was evil and, therefore, pleasure and enjoyment of sex deserves punishment. Gnostics influenced Christianity because it had a belief that “when sex produced children, they had to suffer as well, and that chastity was the only remedy for this problem.” (Chalker, p. 4) The purpose of Gnosticism is “to create a harmonious blend of pagan and Christian values.” (Francoeur, p.167) Pagan values were more focus on self-pleasure, the pleasure of the body and the Christian values are focused on the salvation of the soul. Both of these movements reinterpreted the concept of Platonic dualism in relation to sexuality because...
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...REFLECTION PAPER IN THEOLOGY 12: MAN AND MORALITY SUBMITTED BY: CALIMAG, MARRIELL B. AAT-2A SUBMITTED TO: SIR ANTHONY MERENCIANO Moral theology is a term used by the Roman Catholic Church to describe the study of God from a perspective of how man must live in order to attain the presence or favour of God. While dogmatic theology deals with the teaching or official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, moral theology deals with the goal of life and how it is achieved. So, the goal or purpose of moral theology is, simply stated, to determine how man should live. Moral theology examines such things as freedom, conscience, love, responsibility, and law. Moral theology seeks to set forth general principles to help individuals make the right decisions and deal with the details of everyday living in a way that is in accordance with the Church’s dogmatic theology. Moral theology is essentially the Roman Catholic equivalent to what Protestants usually refer to as Christian Ethics. Moral theology deals with the broad questions in life and attempts to define what it means to live as a Roman Catholic Christian. Moral theology addresses the different methods of moral discernment, the definitions of right and wrong, good and evil, sin and virtue, etc. Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are "good" (or right) and those that are "bad" (or wrong). It is based on human existence that refers to human experience. Human existence...
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...TYNDALE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY marriage: a case for biblical monogamy maxwell nana addi research methods November 25, 2014 Introduction The earliest relationships among humans were certainly those between men and women, who came together and produced children. In the earliest days, such a relationship began to be called “marriage.” In the Judeo-Christian tradition, based on the book of Genesis, marriage began in the garden of Eden when God made one woman, Eve, out of one man, Adam. Marriage has been explained differently by various cultures throughout history as to whether or not it should be monogamous or polygamous. Scholars explain this in different ways. W. Schmidt’s theory asserts that marriage began as monogamy and decayed into polygamy later on. The opposite thesis of this theory is that of J.J. Bachofen. Bachofen argued that marriage began as a random selection of a partner subsequently leading to polygamy and group marriages. From group marriages, marriage moved to monogamy. These two views show the two different poles of understanding about the origin of marriage: as either monogamous or polygamous. On the other hand, Köstenberger and Jones argue that placing too much premium on the freedom of man has led to a decay in the understanding of marriage. They state that “many hail the decline of the biblical-traditional model of marriage and the family and its replacement by new competing moralities as major progress.” This paper will focus on monogamy as the...
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...Short Essay #1 Short Essay on Hamartiology Harmartiology is the study of sin. Many people have confusion on the reason why it existent’s when God created the world. Recently, a neighbor questions the very thing. He’s having trouble with his faith and doesn’t understand why natural catastrophes, disease’s and other things that plagued humans. Before this question can be answered it’s important to know the truth of evil in a Biblical view. The problem with evil is the perception of what it is. In today’s society evil acts are not considered evil; most are justified for the purpose. Evil is an act of that is not “not in the keeping with the nature or will of God.”[1] If a person decides to commit adultery repeatedly, the excuse could be because he/she does not feel loved; therefore the act is justified and excusable. Conversely, that is not the case. The act is a sin, period. Humans are called to live according to Gods laws and when people commit sin it’s important to repent and turn from sin, which is seen in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”. In today’s society people do not look at sin as evil acts that hurt people, when people are hurt then the question becomes “If there was a God, why is their pain; a good God wouldn’t hurt the ones He loves.” There are two types of evil, moral...
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...A SONIC INTERVENTION - EXERGESIS Islam’s ‘theology of rape’ The sound file aims intervene the discourse of Islamic religion through accounting for the recent but continuing exploitation of Islamic women, in particular, the religious minority group of Yaziti. Foucoult argues that discourse is ‘often rooted in organisaions which both control and are structured by distinct disciplinary knowledge’ (Frow, 2004) regulating the conduct of others (Hall 1997). Such as groups and members of ISIS, representing the Islamic state of Iraq which are regulated by it’s religious discourse. The discourse itself, formulated and produced objects within subjects of our knowledge (Barker. C and Galaniski, D 2001), such as texts like the Qu’ran, a central religious text of Islam, providing strict principles and ethics, encoding a way of behavior that is practiced globally. Acts such as prayer can be understood as a certain tradition or behavior that is governed by religious belief. Throughout the soundscape, I have shown how customs, like this are often exploited through acts of sex and sexual slavery towards the women of Iraq. Evidently, social order is constituted by discourses of power (Barker, C. & Galasinski, D. 2001), thus I chose to highlight the power of the ISIS and regulation of it’s religious discourse through audio reports of women suffering from rape to connote the authority of the ISIS. Hall argues that nothing has any meaning outside it’s discourse’ (Hall.S 1997, pg 45), evidently...
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...The Theology of Sexuality Ashlee Mason Liberty University Abstract Sex and Marriage There are many excerpts from the Bible that speak on what sex is supposed to entail. Sex is God’s gift to men and women who come together in the commitment of marriage. * Hebrews 13:4, NIV. "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure." * I Corinthians 7:3,4, NIV says, "The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife." * I Corinthians 7:5, TLB. "So do not refuse these rights to each other. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from the rights of marriage for a limited time, so that they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterwards, they should come together again so that Satan won't be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control." In the aforementioned passages it is implied that the union of marriage should be honored by all and not just the two that are married. It is also implied that once man and woman are married their body then becomes something that is shared so to deny one’s spouse of their marital duties on a consistent basis that is not agreed upon by both husband and wife leaves them susceptible to temptations outside of their marriage. Forbidden Sex When interpreting...
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...Theology of Missions Letina Gouge GLST 500 September 12, 2015 Table of Contents Old Testament Relations to Missions……………………………………………………………..3 God’s Relationship to Missions…………………………………………………………………...5 Mission Relation to Other Aspects of Theology………………………………………………….6 Mission Theology…………………………………………………………………………………6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………...7 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………8 Old Testament Relations to Missions In the Old Testament we read about Jonah and he has a whole book about him and titled by his name. Jonah was a minister. This book is about a mission partaken by Jonah. Jonah’s mission was to bring God’s warning of impending judgement to the pagan world, but he refused to go to Nineveh and brings the pagan sailors on the ship he is sailing on with him into jeopardy. The sailors on the ship Jonah was traveling on came from various regions and worshipped pagan gods. The captain and his crew decided to cast lots to find the person who was causing all the trouble and Jonah was exposed by God. Ironically, Jonah is willing to jump into the sea to save the pagan sailors yet has trouble with God wanting to save the people in Nineveh. The sailors realize that the God of Israel is in control at that moment. God caused the storm and He calmed the storm. Again, irony here is that Jonah is showing no fear to God and yet the pagan sailors are in fear of God. Jonah did...
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...Perhaps, some might bemoan the advent of a secular Ireland. Evaluate this statement. The process of ‘secularization’ can be described as the process of organizing society around non-religious values or principles. In otherwards, the state would no longer offer preferential treatment to religion from the equal rule of law. This would rather give the space for individuals of all creeds to grow their beliefs based on their own values and not the values imposed on them by the state. Secularization aims to allow each indivudal to pursue their own beliefs on religion. The value of secularism is best described by Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern!” In recent years, many have questioned whether Ireland has become a secularised society. The findings of recent surveys suggest that the Irish continue to be religious but that they lack confidence in church leadership. Indeed, “Russians have more confidence in their religious leaders than the Irish”. This is said to be mainly due to the “well publicised cases of sexual and physical abuse by clergy and religious”. The lack of confidence in Churhces and religious organisations can be seen in Figure 6 in which...
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...heterosexual marriage until same-sex marriage is recognized as a legal right. These actions and attitudes have contributed to a growing public debate on whether or not lesbians and gays should have the legal right to marry. Although people are generally divided on the issue of lesbian and gay marriage, the arguments supporting their viewpoint vary. There are a few aspects to be looked at. Sociology It depends on how the society accepts it, because it’s based on the culture and the human individual’s viewpoint. Each society has its own set of values and norms. From a sociological view, homosexual behavior poses a risk, if it’s officially recognized in same-sex marriage (SSM), because of the negative impact it will have on society. Theology Same sex marriage is very unacceptable because it is not in the teachings of their respective religions. For example in the viewpoint of a Christian, there is no such thing as same sex marriage because it’s very disgraceful to God, because God only created man and woman. And based on many religions, they believe that the sole reason of marriage is to mate and reproduce. Psychology The impact of stigma. Laws that exclude lesbian, gay and bisexual people from marriage causes stress, and that stress negatively impacts physical and mental health. How children fare. Research shows that children raised by lesbian and gay parents develop in the same positive ways that children raised by heterosexual parents do, and that same-sex couples...
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