Name: Edy Mangin
Seminar Note 1: Introduction to Christian Doctrines
THE DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURE
The Christian faith is grounded upon the understanding that there is a God, and God has revealed Himself to man in the Scriptures. We need to search the meaningful authority to prove and to acknowledge the divine authority. But human beings with their darkened minds and limited powers cannot infiltrate the knowledge of God. We have to humbly ourselves and let the Scriptures express themselves since God Almighty has revealed Himself in the Scriptures.
The prophets themselves declared that they are not the instigator of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is the divine source of the truth they accept. It is written all over the Bible the prophets’ acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit agency. Human agents are acquainted as well as the Holy Spirit operation is asserted. God knows when is the time human needs to be given instruction and can receive and understand the message. That is when the Holy Spirit reveals the message.
Revelation, Inspiration and Illumination
Before we are going to talk deeply about how God communicates to human being, we need to distinguish some terms that relating with the works of the prophets
Revelation refers primarily to God’s disclosure of truth trough words, acts, or any other means, but most fully in the person of Jesus Christ. It refers to the content of truth-the subject matter that is communicated to the prophet. “It is the content of the message communicated by God to His prophet in the process of inspiration.” (Roger Coon, Inspiration/Revelation: What It is and How it Works, Part I, 18)
Inspiration is the way God communicates His truth to human being. It is “a process by which God enables a man or wo...
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... In order to understand the Bible we must read it as the Psalmist says “O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psa. 119:97). However there some suggestions to cope with the study of the Bible in effective manner. The Bible was written a long time ago before us. That is why we need to deal with some back grounds, context, and theology differs with our time. Some hermeneutics principles can help us how to work in the better frame of interpret the Bible, such as the literary context, historical context and how to compare Scripture.
As we search the word of God with passion and earnestly, the Holy Spirit will illuminate us, so we can grasp his will in our life “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13).
Among Jewish peasantry at the time of Jesus were two distinct types of prophets: the action prophets, who "led sizable movements of peasants from the villages of Judea in anticipation of God's new, eschatological act of liberation," and the oracular prophets, who delivered oracles of either judgment or deliverance (185). The former, as illustrated by the case of Theudas, appea...
Revelation is the process by which God makes himself known to us. Being that humans are finite and God is infinite, God must take the step to make himself known if humans are to truly understand God in all His majesty (Vandenburg, 2010). There are two ways God makes himself known to us, general revelation and special revelation. Theologians have generally thought, through our contact with nature, we are given the ability to know and interact with God. Nature, as created by God, is an element of general revelation.
In chapter two Johnson deals with the fulfillment of the Torah and how Luke uses prophecy as a literature shape. Chapter three however is what really sets the reader up for the “meat” of the book. In chapter three he talks about the characteristics of a prophet. The first key characteristic for a prophet he says is being led by the spirit of God. In order to support this claim he gives many examples of prophets such as Moses, Ezekiel, and Elijah who all had the Holy Spirit to empower them as they did Gods work. The second element to a prophet is speaking Gods word to humans. Not only do prophets do the work of God but they will also speak for him. I find Johnsons main example Moses to be the most helpful when looking at this step of the prophet. This is because countless times God spoke to Moses and then Moses would tell the Israelites. This key characteristic goes well with the third characteristic that the prophet embodies God’s word. Countless times we see Moses doing this throughout the Old Testament. An example of this is in Exodus 20:1 when God tells Moses the ten commandments that he passes on to his people by carving them into stone. The fourth characteristic of the prophet is working to make humanity into God’s vision for it. Moses again shows this characteristic by appointing elders to help watch over the Israelites in Exodus 18. The final distinguishing trait for
Inspiration can be defined as God’s ongoing and dynamic revelation of truths to humans in order for us to know how to live and deal with spiritual and ethical encounters, by instilling wisdom and understanding of his word. Since humans wrote the Bible there is room for idiosyncrasies, intelligence, historic context, social context, and geographical context to influence scripture. However, God’s revelation of himself and his character prevails through the Bible. There is a dimension of God that can only be reached through personal encounters of His truths, through prayerful reflection of the Bible.
A most interesting film detailing the history and role of the prophet in the Jewish tradition. The first question we must explore is what a prophet is. A prophet by definition is a person who speaks by divine inspiration. Others will say that a prophet is one whose eye is open. A person who can see things that others cannot. In order to understand the prophets and their appearance in history we must first understand the politics of the times.
Therefore, through this, Christian adherents are able to express their faith. Hence, as a Christian adherent, it is essential that they follow the words of the Lord and express their faith in the correct manner.
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
As defined by Migliore, Revelation means an “unveiling,” uncovering,” or “disclosure” of something previously hidden. Today, Community of Christ affirms the Living God is ever self-revealing to the world through the testimony of Israel and Jesus Christ. Revelation provides important decisions about who God is and how we are to understand the world and ourselves. In seeking to understand, as a member of Community of Christ, we must explore the historical and contextual response of the leaderships to revelation within the setting of the Restoration and the Reorganization era.
According to Merriam-Webster, authority is defined as “a power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.” In the New Testament, the Greek word exousia sometimes translated as power means to exercise a power held by right. This ‘right’ has its foundation in God himself for “there is nothing outside him on which his authority is founded.” 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (ESV). Therefore, Scripture has authority based on God’s chosen approach to reveal himself to man and interrelates with inspiration.
According to the American Heritage dictionary, revelation is “an act of revealing” or “a dramatic disclosure “(American Heritage dictionary). The current definition given does not provide any real information, if the word reveal is not
The Torah tells the Jewish people the law, which contains 613 commandments (not all still apply today), the freeing of the people from Egypt as well as creation. According to an article on Kings Watch, a prophet is someone who is a spokesperson of G-d, someone who brings G-d’s word, way etc. to the world (role of a prophet 1). A prophet may have several roles such as prayer, worship, receiving the word or the L-rd(Lord) suffering, and about 21 other roles. Not all prophets will have all of the same roles they may differ from person to person, but all would most likely share one or two roles such as worship, and prayer. Prophets may minister and there are different levels on which they minster such as to a group of people, to a church or to a nation. According to Jewish history.org there are many kings of Israel starting with King David and ending with kind Zedekiah (Jewish history 1). Some of the kings did more important and more significant things than other such as King
The following essay will evaluate the importance of the journey that takes place from Systematic to Practical theology; this view will be explored through Ronelle Sonnenberg’s research done regarding ‘being together’ in a youth setting. This essay will first build on the basis of Practical Theology; furthermore addressing the importance of the community aspect within a youth setting; this will lead to the process that takes place between a Systematic stance, leading to a Practical theological stance.
“Revelation” is from the Greek word apokalupsis which means, “A disclosure, an unveiling.” The book of Revelation is an unveiling of the Character and program of God.
Muhammad was given `the literal, uncreated words of God' in which he had to spread them to the people of Mecca.
This is not to say that the leaders of the Church cannot make new revelations or that the laws of the church cannot be clarified or modified for use in today’s society. New revelations can be made known by God whenever then need arises. These revelations are not new ideas or truths from God; they are me...