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The relation between God and man
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The Evolution of the Relationship of Man and God(s)
The relationship between god(s) and human beings is very ambiguous, and thus can become very complicated. Through analyzing early world literature, such as, the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, and the Qur’an, this paper will work to frame the evolution of the relationship between god(s) and human beings. All of these scriptures have eternal moral principles recurrent to god(s) relationship to mankind. The narrators write from an omniscient perspective, writing even god’s inner thoughts.
In 1500 B.C.E., Israel was caught in between the Egyptians and Mesopotamians struggle for power over Palestine. During 900-100 B.C.E Israel’s great poets, priests, and prophets wrote the Hebrew Scriptures, a collection of religion, literature, and history (Book1 page 131). Sometime between 1500-1300 B.C.E. the Hebrew people were exiled from Israel, and while travelling southward, were enslaved by the Egyptians (Book 1 page 134). The scriptures tell the stories of the creation of the world, the creation of man and woman, the flood, and first murder, the exodus, to name a few. Originally the scriptures were written in Hebrew and later translated
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The absence of a description of the crowd makes it inclusive to all. Now any man can relate to the text. These new principles outlined by Jesus are the foundation of Christian worship today and expresses a new covenant between god and all of mankind. Here Jesus is speaking to the people; god is no longer directly talking to mankind. This indicates another shift in the relationship between man and god. God now decides who he feels is worthy of receiving his knowledge, only a prophet. Jesus, portrayed as a prophet, is enlightening the people to god’s commands. Here he gives his own words merit and power by enforcing god’s original Ten Commandments (Matthew
People who practice the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam collectively comprise over one half of the world’s population, and while disparities between these three religions are widely spread and politicized, the similarities between their religious texts outweigh their differences. A crucial similarity between these three religions is their view on Abraham as their spiritual patriarch (lecture). The Koran makes use of both the Tanakh and the New Testament, and while minor differences exist between these texts, the perspectives they share are far more significant. The Koran retains many of the core ideas found in the Tanakh and the New Testament, specifically in regards to the perception of Abraham, the status of God, and the role of women. Any religious text can be interpreted in any number of ways, and while it is easy to pull apart texts of different faiths and dissect the differences, finding common ground and similarities is arguably more important.
In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.
Throughout many of Paul’s letters there are many debates pertaining to the authorship, destination, date, and the purpose. In the book of Ephesians many scholars debate on the authorship and if Paul actually wrote the letter, or if it was a scribe. Although there are some debates on whether Paul actually wrote it or not, he does refer to himself twice in the letter. In 1:1 and in 3:1 Paul states himself, 1:3 states, “For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (NIV) In verse 1:3 Paul states that he is a prisoner, therefore it is debated that he did not specifically write this because he was imprisoned in Rome at this time. According to Wallace “This, of course, is not to say that the letter must be by Paul, but it is to argue that without such internal testimony, no such claim could be made” (Wallace). Many scholars also debate on the vocabulary usage and the structure of the letter. Some believe that the structure is similar, but the vocabulary seems to be different than his New Testament epistles. Hoehner claims that,” Though the book has a close affinity with Colossians, critics claim that Ephesians is uncharacteristic of Paul” (Hoehner 613). The destination of Ephesians is somewhat debated, but many do believe that the letter was sent to the church of Ephesus. “Some to claim that Ephesus is a better starting point, others suggest Caesarea.” (Wallace) Although this is an argument that has many valid points, it is obvious that Paul was imprisoned in Rome while he wrote Ephesians. It is said by Hoehner that “Ephesians was probably delivered by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21-22), who also took Paul’s letter to Colossians (Col. 4:7-9)” (Hoehner 613). As for the date goes m...
There are several Egyptian documents that not only mention the Israelites in their texts, but also tie the Bible to historical facts. Egyptian documents such as the Tell el-Amarna letters, a large “stele” of the Menephtah, and the Elephantine papyri not only tell the history of Egypt, they also coincide with biblical scripture. The documents confirm not only dates, certain numbers, and rituals, such as circumcision, but places and event, e.g. The Exodus, of biblical stories.
...n. For years they had been subject to the wrath of the Egyptians. Now that the Hebrew people were no longer secondary in society, they produced writing in which they were the focus of attention instead of some other being or beings.
The “Confessions” by Saint Augustine and “Hayy ibn Yaqzan” by Ibn Tufayl are two significant works in religious and philosophical literature. Protagonists of these stories are similar in the way that they both found God, but each in different way. Augustine leads an unexamined life full of sins, while Hayy reflects on the aspects of life and the divine things. Despite the different religious belongings of two protagonists, Christian God and Islamic Necessary Being have much in common: they both have a neo-platonic conceptions, and they both have their Laws, for violation of which they can punish. The neo-platonic conceptions of God and Necessary Being are in their unity, absence of multiplicity, in their positions, and their power.
The divine command theory is an ethical theory relating to God and how his commandments should guide the morality of humankind. Objections to this theory include objections to the nature or existence of God or to the nature of his character or commands. For the purposes of this paper, I will present the divine command theory, introduce a serious objection evident in Genesis 22, propose and explain an alternative to the divine command theory that is the divine will theory, explain why this theory avoids the objection, and critique and respond from the perspective of a divine will theorist.
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
The book of Hebrews is a unique portion of the Bible because it is written as though it were a letter, directed at people the writer may have known. However, the book targets a seemingly broad audience of those without faith and also those that could be described as believers that have experienced persecution. A salient message within Hebrews is that people must persevere when they feel persecuted because Jesus Christ is their salvation, regardless of anything else that is happening in the people’s lives. An emphasis on the greatness of Jesus and his role as a mediator between God and those on Earth is dominant throughout the chapters and verses.
While the Hebrews and Egyptians creation theories bear resemblances and differences, the study and comparison of both the Egyptian myths and the biblical account allow us to comprehend the religious views of ancient civilizations in a better light. One may come to the conclusion that the Hebrews were influenced by the cultures of Egyptians by creating similarities in their own beliefs, or by drawing a line of defense of what is in their terms true, by separating from the mass ideals of the Egyptians and establishing distinct
Many people state that they do not believe in any kind of god, that the world simply came into existence. However, this belief cannot hold true. Simply by examining nature and all of its intricate details, people stand unable to deny the presence of a Creator. Deep down, people cannot help but to feel that something greater than themselves exists. A Supreme Being- a god, but what kind of god exists? A god similar to Ares, the war-god of the Greeks? One who lusts for blood and destruction? Or a placid god, one parallel to Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace? Fabricated by mankind, these so called “gods” all bear flaws. The Bible, the Word of the Lord, remains the only book on earth that gives an account of the true God and His attributes. Through examination of the Word, readers will come to the realization that a just God exists, that He sends trials to his followers to develop their faith, and that He remains sovereign.
Answering these questions is the purpose of this essay. I begin by arguing that the Bible cannot be adequately understood independent of its historical context. I concede later that historical context alone however is insufficient, for the Bible is a living-breathing document as relevant to us today as it was the day it was scribed. I conclude we need both testimonies of God at work to fully appreciate how the Bible speaks to us.
According to Christianity, the attributes of God can be organized into two categories: Physical and ethical or moral. Some terms address God’s transcendence of physical ideology, others address God’s Devine intellect and will. There are a multitude of terms from which to choose when labeling the attributes of God. Therefore, this paper will only deal with the fundamental terms that are put forth by the sacred scriptures. God is, according to the Old and New Testaments: Omnipotent, eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, and infinite in intellect and will