Living a life like Christ As Christians, we try to think that since we are saved we are living a life like Christ but, we are missing the key points of living. In the book, “The Spirit of the Disciplines” author, Dallas Willard emphasizes the spiritual disciplines of our lives and to live like Jesus did. He mentions how the people of the world are missing the disciplines that are set for them in their lives. In Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image.” We are the people of the Lord and must do works to please our God it is a way to show our gratitude for all he has done for us. We are placed on this earth to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Based off religion, we are negatively defined as sinners and broken people while science …show more content…
The first man created on earth was Adam and since he sinned, it was passed down to his descendants. Psalms 51:5 states, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” It is natural to sin because we are sinners by nature. If we are willing to participate in sin all of our lives and choose not to give it up, we will push ourselves further away from God. Since we are born is sin we ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” to avoid taking action of sin. Willard claims that “it is not sufficient to see us boldly and confidently through a crisis, and can find ourselves driven to despair over powerless tension it will put us through (Willard 9). Our actions are what makes us further or closer to the lord and many of us choose “to withhold our bodies from religion and that can exclude religion from our lives” (Willard 31). God is a forgiving God when we ask for forgiveness of things that we do wrong in sin. People want to transform their life over to God, will be considered to be a different kind of person in which 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Old things that have passed away and, behold all things have become new” (Willard 20). God loves us no matter what we do but it is best to give ourselves to
Human identity can be summed up by looking at it from two perspectives. Who we are in our natural state and who we are in Christ. Mankind in his natural state is driven by his sin nature. Romans 1-8 perfectly lays out who and what we are in our natural state. It also lays out who and what we are in Christ. “For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.” (Romans 3:9 NIV) In Romans 1:29-31, Paul gives a long list of wicked behaviors that are still prevalent in today’s society, which lets me know that we, in our natural state, are the same as we always have been. There are no exceptions to the rule, besides that of Christ. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (3:23) Paul emphasizes in Romans 1-3 how people have tried to free themselves from their sin nature by depending on the Law to no avail. The Law could not bring about justification (Acts 13:39), produce righteousness (Galatians 2:21), produce life (Galatians 3:21), bring about perfection (Hebrews 7:19) or free the conscience from a knowledge of sin (Hebrews 10:1-4). (Johnson, 1896) The fact is that God’s standards are perfect and we alone can never live up to them by any religious act or moral behavior. The good news is that God knew all of this. He knew that by our strength alone, we could not overcome our own sin nature. He sent us a perfect sacrifice to permanently fulfill the Law. That sacrifice was his only Son, Jesus Christ. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25) Through faith in Jesus Christ, the grace of God has been given to us. Now, rather than being bound we are made free. Instead of unrighteousness abounding in ou...
We were designed for one purpose, to honor and love our creator (Matthew 6:24). When we look at ourselves, and others we find that we each have individual humanistic characteristics. Each with different thoughts of how we perceive God and what we think he wants from us. By using our talents and gifts wisely and just we are giving praise back to our creator (1 Timothy 6:17).
We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility.
...ip with God we are still built with infirmities that are temptations for sin, and with that we are no longer perfect.
Starting back at the very beginning of this process is the most dangerous aspect of this entire process we follow to gain a worldview. In today’s society there is a variety of versions of “God.” Depending on which God you believe in, your community and culture could be very far fetched from what the truth is. The overlying theme behind every formation that coincides with any worldview can be asked in one question. What is the purpose of my life? As Christians, we should be involved in society’s version of “popular culture.” We are called in the Bible to be the salt of the world, as the salt we shouldn’t be merely consuming the culture in which we live in, we should be part of it, adding everything we can.
“First, there is the call to be a Christian. Second, for each individual there is a specific call—a defining purpose or mission, a reason for being. Every individual is called of God to respond through service in the world. Third, there is the call that we face each day in response to the multiple demands on our lives—our immediate duties and responsibilities” (Smith, ...
God and the Bible’s teachings are used as a framework to find meaning in life and purpose of human presence. Purpose resides in every human’s potential to strive for peace, seek equality, nurture relationships and the environment to achieve harmony with the earth (Valk, 2012). “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior and my hope is in you all day long” (Ps 25:5). The Holy Spirit, known as God’s active force and His power in action (Lk 1:35), is used as a guide by Christians to ascertain and determine what is right. “We choose to act based on good thinking, scripture and prayer, and the Holy Spirit helps us discern the right alternatives” (Shelly & Miller, 2006, p. 89). In seeing others as the image of God, choosing what is right from wrong is influenced by beliefs cultural background and respect for one another. In this religious culture, the tendency to do wrong is seen as sinfulness. However, it is the admission of sin that leads Christians to Jesus Christ to find and experience God’s forgiveness (Shelly & Miller, 2006). The recognition of sin and eventual redemption strengthens the relationship with God which directs a life of service to humanity (Shelly & Miller,
I have a very pessimistic outlook on human nature. I genuinely believe in the statement made by St. Augustine, in his writing of the “City of God”, that the “man is marked by the original sin” and has “fallen after disobeying God”. All this, of course is in reference to the sin
The five of the teachings of Jesus are the following: Be Merciful (Luke 6:36, Matthew 5:7, Forgiveness (Luke6: 37), Seek Goodness (Luke 6:45), Respect Others (Luke 14:11), and Be Kind (Luke 6:31).
On the other hand, Christians have responsibilities. Being filled with the Spirit, believers can walk in humility, contentment, purity, faith, love, as well as being a light to a world that is blind (Alderman 94). Jesus commands believers to “make disciples of all nations immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh [Holy Spirit]” (Matthew 28:19 TLV). Christians have to live in the Spirit to achieve this. “For the flesh sets its desire against the Ruach [Spirit], but the Ruach [Spirit] sets its desire against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17 TLV).
The doctrine of original sin can be defined as the belief that “all of humanity is born with a built-in urge to do bad things… stemming from Adam and Eve's disobedience to God” (BBC). The traditional story as imprinted in the Christian Bible claims that original sin emerged in retaliation to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit despite God’s clear commands, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (New International Version, Genesis 2:4-3:24) This friendship, or covenant, with God was then broken, marking a separation. From a theological standpoint, we are the children of our parents – Adam and Eve – who inherit this submission to sin. Nonetheless, regardless of theological background, original sin is merely a sense of weakness humanity has imbedded to yield to sinful or evil acts. Moreover, this embedded drive in humans to commit evil doings is additionally used to rationalize “the need for police, the collapse of great civilizations, suicide, war, suffering and so on” (CNA).
Because of sin, humans are separated from God. In chapter three, Paul professes that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (v 23) Mankind’s relationship with God had been broken since sin entered the world through Adam, (v 5:18) rendering any relationship between God and humanity impossible. (Rose Publishing, 2012) Paul continues in chapter three to explain how people can restore a right relationship with God: “They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (v 24) Through this justification, believers are given a new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus, (Porter, 2004) and are no longer slaves to sin but should desire to be slaves of righteousness. (vv 6:15-23) Paul also explains that sin affects people’s relationships with each other, mentioning that the unrighteous were prone to gossip, slander, quarrels, and even murder because of their sinful nature. (vv 1:28-32) Since Christians are free from sin’s control, however, Paul admonishes believers to offer themselves as “weapons for righteousness” (v
“The image of God in which humans were created is obscured and distorted by sin.” If this is true we then we are slaves to sin. In the Old Testament God delivered the Israelites from physical slavery in Egypt by Moses. In the New Testament God has made it possible for our deliverance from sin through Jesus, the second person of the trinity. Jesus is described as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. ( John 1:29 NIV) Hence, the freedom found in Christianity marks the start of a new freedom from sin’s bondage and for fellowship “with God and others. “God, led by his/her concern for our good and his/her desire for a relationship of mutual love and trust
Teaching is a difficult profession, it entails patience, discipline, wisdom, intelligence, kindness and understanding, but teaching Christianly demands so much more. There are many expectations and needs that teachers have to meet; they have to meet the needs of their students, the student’s family, co-workers and the needs of individuals in their own personal lives. Teaching Christianly requires your whole being, there is no segregation; a Christian teacher cannot be a Christian teacher just at school. They are a Christian teacher wherever they go, weather they are at home, in the mall or in a restaurant, they carry around this identity with them wherever they go. In Education 101 we learned and discussed many of the standards for teaching effectively and most importantly we got a better understanding as to what it really means to be a Christian teacher.
When considering morality, worthy to note first is that similar to Christian ethics, morality also embodies a specifically Christian distinction. Studying a master theologian such as St. Thomas Aquinas and gathering modern perspectives from James Keenan, S. J. and David Cloutier serve to build a foundation of the high goal of Christian morality. Morality is a primary goal of the faith community, because it is the vehicle for reaching human fulfillment and happiness. Therefore, great value can be placed on foundations of Christian morality such as the breakdown of law from Aquinas, the cultivation of virtues, the role of conscience in achieving morality, and the subject of sin described by Keenan.