Jerusalem is arguably Christianity's most important city, during the time of the New Testament all the way up to today. Though control of the city has changed hands many times, its main role has been as the capital of Israel and the site of the Jewish temple, and indeed, Jerusalem plays an important role in the Old Testament history of Israel's founding and growth (Armstrong, 2005, p
By examining the importance of Jerusalem to Jesus' life as well as the state of the city today, one is able to better understand how the historical and social issues Jesus dealt with during his life and travels reverberate well into the twenty-first century. The Gospels differ slightly on how many times Jesus actually visited Jerusalem, with Matthew, Mark, and Luke all agreeing that he visited the city at least once, for Passover, after which he was crucified outside the city gates, while John includes three visits to Jerusalem during Jesus' ministry (Harris, 1998, p
194). However, it serves a crucial role in the New Testament as well, where it is mentioned over one-hundred forty times, not only in the context of the literal city visited by Jesus and his disciples, but also in the form of New Jerusalem, the new city created by God in Revelations (Morton, 2002, p
Thus, when he visits as a child, he educates the teachers and elders in an attempt to guide them. When he returns as an adult, however, the city, and particularly the Temple, has only degraded further, to the point that the Temple itself is filled with merchants and moneylenders who Jesus forcefully casts out (Paton, 1908, p
Finally, Matthew and Luke record that during his time fasting in the desert, the devil appears to Jesus and tempts him. For the second of these temptations, the devil somehow takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple, and tells him to jump off, safe in the knowledge that angels will save him (Walker, 1996, p
"Luther believed that each individual has the right to reach God through Scripture with responsibility to God alone. It is not necessary for a priest to mediate" (Fairchild 2013)
While Western philosophy "endeavoured in a scientific, free and unprejudiced spirit to answer the problem in a rational way" the aborigines emphasized a more spiritual understanding of existence (Stanner 1968: 34). The very cosmos itself is seen as alive (Rose 1987: 260)
500 words per question (total of 1500 words) Examine the ways in which Aboriginal religion has influenced the beliefs and practices of indigenous people beyond traditional movements. Aboriginal religion and culture conceives of time and space in a fundamentally different manner than traditional Western culture (Stanner 1968: 33)
Patrick Henry, for instance, writing about the founding of the new nation wrote: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here" (Henry, 2010)
Through his book, Radical, he offers a series of challenges and critiques of the modern Christian Church. Through personal stories of his travels and experiences with Churches everywhere, he is "convinced that we as Christ's followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical, but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe" (Platt, p
For a start, it is worth noting that the most prominent living scholar of Milton's work, the Duke University scholar Stanley Fish, has argued that the purpose of all of Milton's writing is explicitly educational. Fish writes, in his legendary study of Milton Surprised by Sin, that "Milton's purpose is to educate the reader to an awareness of his position and responsibilities as a fallen man, and to a sense of the distance which separates him from the innocence once his" (Fish 1971, 1)
In particular, the founder of Rhode Island -- and the establisher of the first Baptist Church in America -- Roger Williams was a close personal friend of Milton, and would tutor Milton in the Dutch language while Milton tutored him in Biblical Hebrew. Indeed, Williams's biographer Edwin Gaustad notes that Williams's "friend, the poet John Milton, published a treatise calling for freedom of the press at the same time that Williams published his treatise calling for freedom of religion" (Gaustad 2005, 59)
For a good example, we can examine Jefferson's "Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge," which institutes by legislation an educational system in Jefferson's home state of Virginia. In this document, Jefferson offers some rationale for the purpose of education at the outset: [E]xperience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes (Jefferson 1778) The basic principle here is one of maintaining a self-perpetuating status for the tolerant form of government which Jefferson endorses
Indeed, in Milton's 1644 treatise Of Education, he more or less explicitly links his educational philosophy to the notion of original sin, when he writes The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection. (Milton 1644, Of Education) Milton uses the word "end" here in the sense of "goal" or "purpose" -- the true purpose of education is to attempt to overcome the fallenness of humankind as a result of original sin, and to attempt to become closer to God through learning
Indeed, in Milton's 1644 treatise Of Education, he more or less explicitly links his educational philosophy to the notion of original sin, when he writes The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection. (Milton 1644, Of Education) Milton uses the word "end" here in the sense of "goal" or "purpose" -- the true purpose of education is to attempt to overcome the fallenness of humankind as a result of original sin, and to attempt to become closer to God through learning
Evangelism Walking in the Word Evangelism is vital when it comes to walking in the Word. Every Christian has a duty to evangelize, but there are many different ways in which this can be done (Earley & Wheeler, 2010)
Fortunately, there are a number of ways a follower of Christ can evangelize without the need for door knocking and other behaviors that might not be taken too kindly by people who do not want to be bothered by others at inconvenient times. That is not to say there is no place for knocking on doors in an effort to spread the word, but only that it might not be the most effective option (Fay, 1999)
Some denominations still go around, knocking on people's doors and trying to talk to whoever answers about Jesus. Most are met with resistance, and some with rudeness and even threatening behavior (McRaney, 2003; Whaley & Wheeler, 2011)
According to the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, it is a polytheistic religion because the followers do not have a belief in Supreme Creator or a Godly figure. This aspect makes differentiate Buddhism to Christians, who have firm belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and hence the values and fundamental characteristics of Christians evolve around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p
Besides, religion has always been integral in the human society. In fact, it is inseparable from one another in a way that it strongly unites and connects the nation and the group of individuals under one roof (Hastings, p