Act One Personal Response
Learning about the Bible in a set of Six Acts is not something that is new to me, but going into as much detail as the textbook does is something new to me. One quote from the first chapter is “God’s creation is, “good,” and this creaturely goodness merely highlights the Creator’s own incomparable goodness, wisdom, and justice.” I think that it can be extremely easy for us to look over the idea of God saying that all of creation is good. This ties in close with the focus that we are made in God’s image, and what this means. One of my favourite parts of what it means to be created in God’s image is that humans are God’s representatives. I think that this is such a powerful thought, that I represent God. I often forget
The first part that I would like to focus on is that Adam and Eve were living in harmony with God in the garden. I love this thought, the idea of Shalom with God. The progression of sin in Genesis 3 is another thing that I had never focused on, but it definitely caught my attention. When I first read that doubt was the first step to the progression of sin I found this shocking. How could somebody be living in harmony with God but then doubt it? But then I realized that this is something that I am guilty of and I often doubt God. Another part that stuck out to me was that consequences was a part of the progression of sin and how this resulted in the relationship between God and humanity to be corrupted and fractured. I think that it is so easy for us to be oblivious to the fact that our actions always result in consequences. Sometimes these consequences are positive but they can also be negative. In saying this, I think that we often forget that there can be positive consequences to our actions because there is a negative connotation to the word consequence. Denial being a part of the progression of sin is something that I find humorous. The fact that Adam and Eve thought they would be able to hide from God. But once again, this is something that I often do. I often get the idea in my head that God
After Jesus ascended into Heaven, their work was not complete. I imagine everyone anticipating Jesus’ return, thinking that it would happen any day, when realistically two thousand years later and we are still anticipating his return. I enjoyed reading about Paul and the initiative he took in teaching about the Kingdom of God. One thing that I really admire in Paul is that he would plant a church, and instead of moving on from there, he would still check in on them. There are many books in the Bible that are evidence that Paul ensured to stay in touch with the different people that he visited, and I really enjoy these books. A lot of the time Paul starts by encouraging them and telling them that people have reported good things back to him, and then he goes on to teach them and correct their ways. One reason that I love learning about Act Five is because it is where we are in history. I feel as though we rarely are taught about the current times, but Act Five combines the past with the present to show us what we are supposed to be doing today. The end of the chapter focuses on living in hope. I think that it can be so easy for us to give up hope and assume that Jesus is not going to return in our lives, but this is a dangerous slope. We always need to be prepared because the Bible clearly states
In his book, The Good Book, Peter J. Gomes attempts to convince his readers the proper way to read and interpret the Bible, takes an analytical standpoint on past (and current) controversial topics such as racism, women, Jews, and homosexuality. Along with these two things, he explains to his readers how the Bible interacts with several topics people typically have questions on in regards to how they relate to the Bible.. The main point of his novel, as I see it, is to inform the readers of two things. The first being that there is both a right and wrong way to read the Bible, while the second is that people in general want to read the Bible but are biblically illiterate and do not know how to approach it.
"I have a good eye, uncle; I can see a church by day-light." (Act ii. Sc. 1.)
There have been many passages in the bible that are appealing to different people. What one person may find inspiring, another may view it as just another message in the bible. One of the passages in the bible that I found inspiring was that of one of the prophets, Jeremiah. The one particular passage that I would like to focus on in this paper would be that of Jeremiah's views on the subject of sin. I found that his thought on this subject made me look at how people act in a different way than I had before.
There are “two introductory points” that Dr. Grudem wants us to consider. They are dealing with the “imitation of God”, and “moral wrongdoing or sin”. First, in Genesis 1:26-28 (New International Version), we read that “God created man in His image, and after His likeness. He created man in His image to display His glory through the enjoyment of Him. We are accountable to Him and we should r...
again, “Therefore, the God who made me must be good and all the good in me is
2 Corinthians 3:18 states, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God transforms Christians into His likeness. Genesis 1:27 reveals that, in the Garden, we were completely in His likeness: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” To the artist, in the image of God means something different than what is often taught in Sunday schools. According to Sayers, “Is it his immortal soul, his rationality, his self-consciousness, his free will, or what, that gives him a claim to this rather startling distinction? . . . Looking at man, he sees in him something essentially divine, but when we turn back to see what he says about the original upon which the ‘image’ of God was modeled, we find only the single assertion, ‘God created’. The characteristic common to God and man is that: the desire and the ability to make things” (Sayers 17). The artist, like God, creates something out of nothing. But, there is an important distinction between something beautiful and poetic and something shoddy and cheap.
Overall, The Book of Genesis shows that by having undying faith and sometimes suspending reason, relationships are built with God, and humans can reach a completeness they otherwise wouldn’t know. The Book of Genesis introduces a concept that has been the number one tradition in human life from the time of Adam and Eve. This is the concept of family with God as a premiere member of it. Only in this will faith bring you health, happiness, and fulfillment, despite being tested from time to time unwillingly like those we read about in The Book of Genesis.
God recognizes that human beings are not specifically good the moment He creates them; for unlike His other creations, He does not pronounce them as such. But also unlike His other creations, they are the only ones created like something else, like God, in His image. If they are truly to exist and be good, they must become separate from God, as the other creations are separate and categorized. It takes some human action to get them out of the Garden of Eden--specifically, the woman and the man eating the fruit. Unfortunately, they can't do everything on their own. They need some interference from God, namely the flood, to distance themselves further from Him and to separate them individually, from each other. Though the people in the Babel story do not exercise it very well, the ability to name, to define, to separate, and to classify seems like a prodigious power, and even a privilege.
of the Bible, Genesis, we are told we are 'made in the image of God'
As long ago as 350 BC, Aristotle famously wrote that a play must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, which is the beginning of the structure. Over time, dramas evolved, the Roman poet, Horace, advocated for five acts, and many centuries later, a German playwright, Gustav Freytag, developed the five-act structure which is commonly used today to analyze classical and Shakespearean dramas. The first act of these five-act structures consist of an exposition, which allows the reader to be introduced to the time, setting, and characters. The second act introduces the rising action. A rising action normally includes the protagonist of the story to face some sort of conflict or obstacle. The third act produces the climax, which is the turning point in the story. This act creates suspense and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The fourth act is the falling action, which wraps up any plot twists or unknown details of the story. The fifth act is the denouement or the resolution, which is the final outcome of the drama. In 1952, Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, a four-act play, to compare the witch hunts of the Salem Witch Trial to the hunts for communists in the 1900s. Although tragedies are normally constructed into five parts, Miller managed to fit the story into a
from that of the appearance of the ghost and the problems of Hamlet and his
The fall of mankind with Adam and Eve caused an imbalance in the relations between God and mankind. To achieve salvation, this inequity had ...
going to happen, it does not seem to ruin the rest of the play. Rather
...all the way through it and was able to connect so many things. Paul lays out the entire Gospel so well, and you can easily lead sometime Christ by using this book. I liked how Paul explained how everyone is a sinner because in the past I never really understand the break up between the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul was able to show that no matter who you are, you are still a sinner and in desperate need of Christ. Also, I understood chapter fourteen a lot better, and I realized that I if I’m causing my people around me to sin, I am also at fault. It is a lot to take on watching out for you, but we have to stop being so selfish and thing about how are actions can affect those around us. Reading through this book has given me a lot of new insight to think on, and I really enjoyed digging deeper into understanding this easier to hear, but harder to follow commands of God.
Humans were created in God’s image. Because God is perfect and without error (infallible), we are a reflection of that. However, when Adam and Eve sinned against god, that infallibility was tainted....