There are several assumptions with which I will begin prior to discussing my confession. The first assumption is that Jesus, who was crucified, is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead. A second assumption is that apart from the first assumption, any and all other aspects of my confession could be flawed or wrong. My beliefs about the nature of Scripture, God, Creation, Humanity and Sin, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Holy Spirit, and the Church, though related to the centrality of the gospel, the gospel in itself is not contingent upon many these things. Therefore, though my confession in relation to the aforementioned beliefs could change over time and with experience, the central belief of the gospel of Jesus Christ, however, will never change. In relation to the centrality of the gospel, I also believe that the God who raised Jesus from the dead is the creator of all things, and is inherently good, that God is opposed to evil in the world. I believe that God will eventually bring a final judgment and healing to all things, which will restore the universe and the evil within it. While I believe all of these things, provided by the evidence of scripture, I do not believe I will ever know all things of God and theology in this life and possibly should not be concerned with the knowledge of all things of God and those things related to God. The writers of the biblical text were not concerned with knowing all things of God, but instead, having relationship with God and trusting in that relationship. It is with these assumptions that I begin my confession. This confession seeks to: (1) Convey a theology of Scripture, God, Creation, Humanity and Sin, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Holy Spirit, the Church and Ministry; and (2)...
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...s the fellowship of the body of Jesus Christ. It exists wherever two or three are together in the name of Jesus Christ to worship and serve. The church is holy in that the church is set apart to God by the Holy Spirit. The church serves as the dwelling place of God on earth and has a unique purpose to glorify God among all people. It is also a community of discipleship and repentance. The church is universal because as Roger E. Olson states, “it exists across barriers of language, ethnicity, culture and nationality.” (Olson, 304) The universal church extends from Pentecost, until the return of Christ and throughout eternity. The church is apostolic in that it is a continuation of the faith of the apostles of Jesus Christ who received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Wherever the apostles proclaim the gospel, the church is present. (Olson, 305)
James Hogg was born in 1770 in Scotland. His family was a devoted to both farming and religion. His father was an Elder at the church, so he always grew up in a religious background. In 1824 Hogg wrote the critically acclaimed and controversial novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. The novel provided satire on the Calvinist Doctrine of predestination. Predestination is the belief that God has since the start of time, pre ordained the saved. Basically, it is pre-decided who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. These chosen few who have already been chosen for Heaven can live their lives however they please, regardless of the moral implications because they have already been saved. Robert Wringham is the focus
Depending on what study is read, the incidence of false confession is less than 35 per year, up to 600 per year. That is a significant variance in range, but no matter how it is evaluated or what numbers are calculated, the fact remains that false confessions are a reality. Why would an innocent person confess to a crime that she did not commit? Are personal factors, such as age, education, and mental state, the primary reason for a suspect to confess? Are law enforcement officers and their interrogation techniques to blame for eliciting false confessions? Regardless of the stimuli that lead to false confessions, society and the justice system need to find a solution to prevent the subsequent aftermath.
The world-renowned novel, The Kite Runner was written by Afghanistan born American novelist Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini was born into a Shia Muslim family in Kabul that later in life decided to move to Paris. Hosseini was unable to return to Kabul due to the Taliban take over, this cause the Hosseini family to seek political asylum in America. The actions that Hosseini witnessed of his beloved home country influenced his novel with the themes of guilt and redemption. “The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In The Kite Runner the theme of guilt and redemption is shown through the character development of the protagonist Amir. Hosseini used Amir’s guilt of his past to grow the impression that with regret lies a hope for redemption.
Typically, a church is to be a very safe and sacred place where no-one would
The way Tajomaru confessed his crime was definitely full of arrogance. “Sure, I killed the man…, now that you’ve got me, I’m not going to hide anything. I’m no coward.” It was a self-sacrifice type of confession. He was trying to persuade the readers to believe that he did it with utmost certainty. “… I always knew my head would end up hanging…, so let me have the ultimate punishment,” he said. He knew that by confessing, he would end up dead. Still, he confessed, which would also make the readers believe that he was telling the truth since he was willing to die. But, despite of that, the readers can’t still be sure whether he really was the murderer. It’s because Tajomaru had something to gain from this confession. He was a bandit. Telling
“The atonement made our salvation possible” (Erickson 1998:799). I think this line cements the centrality of the atonement to the Gospel, we could even say from the above statement...
Comedy is one of the most important elements of the human experience. It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without humoristic elements. This is something that Frank O' Connor takes advantage of and manifests in his short story "First Confession". He accomplishes this by employing numerous literary devices, especially irony. The juxtaposition of contradictory elements also leads to comedy, which this author uses masterfully; this includes the paradoxes of the Catholic religion, which the author contemplates in the story. Finally, the characters themselves are cartoonish, which also leads to the humor in the story. O' Connor's story "First Confession" employs irony, contradiction and characterization in order to inject comedy into his story.
Without accepting confessions as legitimate form of evidence to be used in the court of law, the justice system would be in complete disarray what with most suspects making confessions to the police, also having a high likelihood of going on to be convicted. Confessional evidence is of great importance seeing as it is one of the exceptions to the hearsay rule. Although it is of high regard in evidential law, it would be naïve to say that the law on confessions is down to perfection, especially with such high-profile cases such as the Guildford four or Birmingham six which brought to the surface the potential possibility of fabrication by police and perversion of the use of confessional evidence to bring about a certain result in a case. While known as the most powerful form of evidence to be adduced, it is also known as the “best and worst form of evidence” to deal with. Whether the implementations of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act has succeeded to remedy the dilemmas in respect to confession is up for discussion.
In the eyes of the people the church is one place you are spared from judgment and critique. It is the one place you should feel safe, to express your thoughts and opinions, pray to the higher power in which you believe and your faith resides and be free of society qualms, demands, and realism. In a part
The church or Ecclesia, as it is called in the original Greek language, regardless of size, are the called out ones who assemble to represent the Body and life of Jesus Christ. They engage in meetings of praise, worship, and listening to the Word of God, which is taken from their manual called the Holy Bible, or the Scriptures; those bringing the message are considered to be the mouthpieces for God, and are typically called preachers (KJV, Eph 5.23-32). According to the Bible, the church, which includes the preachers, is to strive to exemplify the type of life that Jesu...
The doctrine of the church is ecclesiology, which comes from the greek word church - human beings who are like Christ. This doctrine is a doctrine for the universal church. We sometimes enter a singular way of talking about our culture when the bible speaks in plurality. Ecclesiology gives us the basis of our belief and marks of the church which gives us clarity of what it means to be “one holy catholic and apostolic.” The church bears four marks: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four marks are the truth about the church. We must act in Unity because the church is one, 1 Corinthians 12:12 say “Just as the body is one and as many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” The Holiness is a inheritance given to us by Christ. However we can not achieve that alone. As we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He actualizes that for us. Catholicity is the universality and wholeness the church, making room for people to enter the body of Christ. Lastly is apostolicity which is about the authority and truth, and the authority of the apostles is in their eyewitness testimony of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16). The church teaches about the apostles truth that is true to the gospel of Jesus
The ideal of unity seems to be of great importance in the religious world, but rarely is it ever achieved among professed Christians. However, it is vitally important to comprehend unity in its Biblical light. Jesus prayed in John 17:21, “That they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” By definition, unity is the state of being one. In order to have a unified church every member must be one one with the Father and the Son. Subsequently, to achieve such an oneness, each member must be perfectly holy, because God is holy. Unfortunately, this is where a clear contrast is made between the saints and mere religious professors.
Augustine titled his deeply philosophical and theological autobiography Confessions to implicate two aspects of the form the work would take. To confess, in Augustine's time, meant both to give an account of one's faults to God and to praise God (to speak one's love for God). These two aims come together in the Confessions in an elegant but complex sense: Augustine narrates his ascent from sinfulness to faithfulness not simply for the practical edification of his readers, but also because he believes that narrative to be itself a story of God's greatness and of the fundamental love all things have for Him. Thus, in the Confessions form equals content to a large degree—the natural form for Augustine's story of redemption to take would be a direct address to God, since it is God who must be thanked for such redemption. (That said, a direct address to God was a highly original form for Augustine to have used at the time).
You shared your concern and the decision you have arrived at about the sacrament of penance. After reflecting for one year, you realized that the sacrament of penance is not necessary because you can confess to God directly; after all, God is mercy and you cannot keep confessing to a mere human being who is also a sinner. You feel that God forgives you during mass, for the Eucharist has many areas for me to demand forgiveness from God. Above all, the sacrament makes no sense to me. If I have left out any important point that you shared with me, please write back or call me.
What is the church? This can be a very deep question, or a rather simple one depending on one’s context, theology, and general understanding of Scripture and faith. From my personal experience, most members of the congregations I grew up in if asked this question would point to the church building or sanctuary. This is not that surprising in my opinion when we consider the gorgeous monuments we have built as houses for God. As a child, I would have answered the exact same way as most people in a congregation, and it was not until later in my adulthood that I came to understand “the church” not as a physical building, but as much more. A very common response to this question has been that the church is “the people of God” or even “God’s chosen people.” I, however, prefer the definition of the church as “the community of Christian faith,” a much more inclusive definition than the previous mentioned definitions.