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the relationship between ethics and religious faith
the relationship between ethics and religious faith
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Why do we believe what we believe? This question is rarely asked of anyone directly. We live in a culture where the “why” is superseded by the “what”. “What do you believe?” has always been a popular topic for discussion. However, when a believer is no longer faced with the ‘what’ and instead challenged by a ‘why,’ lines begin to blur and minds start to blank. What can we possibly offer in response and from where can we derive our answers? Isaiah 6 gives us the solution: we must gaze into the face of God. This journey of seeking His face exposes us, exposes our culture, and turns us into world changers. This quest is only for those brave enough to explore the wondrous depths and layers of the Most High. It is the search for truth-- the most life-changing discovery an individual will ever uncover.
Tour One: Veritology
Doctor Del Tackett challenges your way of thinking with a question: “Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?” What is truth? This question is of the utmost importance for our existing culture. “Truth” is the determining factor of a person’s actions and reactions. For example, faith requires action. When a child jumps off the high diving board for the first time, he has faith that his daddy will catch him. He acted on the belief that he could trust his parent- on what he believed to be true. As Christians, we must ask ourselves that question daily. “Are my actions reflecting my belief in the truth?”
Tour Two: Philosophy and Ethics
In 1981, Carl Sagan was chosen as humanist of the year. The work that won him the award is widely popular “Cosmos” series. Through his documentary, he quotes “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.” This thinking has overtaken the American identity. Without ...
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... become ‘god.’ It will be seen as provider, deliverer, safe-keeper, and judge. This possession of power strips the rights of citizens. We must reclaim the individuality the spheres once contained.
Tour Ten: The American Experiment
Nobody likes to discover that they have been lied to, and yet that is precisely what history has done. It has been rewritten and created new philosophies for us to believe. As Americans, we tend to have one of two views concerning our Founders. We either believe they were wholly pagans or entirely saints- no in between. I challenge that theory with one of my own: if our Founding Fathers were all pagans, why would the character and the decrees of God have been placed so heavily into our Constitution? In contrast, if they were saints, what good would their version of government do when they themselves had no realistic grasp on human nature?
The Question of God is divided into two parts. The first part, titled: “What Should We Believe” seeks to answer the first half of the questio...
In each of these instances those supporting government involvement in, and endorsement of religion have justified their assumptions by referencing the words and beliefs of the founding fathers, most notably Thomas Jefferson. They point out that he, like most of the other founders, was a religious man, and that his writings exposed a conviction America was essentially a Christian nation. After all, wasn’t it Jefferson who spoke of inalienable rights bestowed upon man by God in the Declaration of Independence? A more detailed examination of his beliefs, though, reveals exactly the opposite was the case, as Jefferson was actually a champion of s...
Many people struggle to properly defend their faith when confronted about it and even waver in their faith when presented with doubts against their faith that sound convincing. This is because many do not move beyond a basic understanding of their faith and fail to learn the fundamentals of Christian faith. The book Truth Matters: Confident Faith in a Confusing World by Andreas Köstenberger and the film God’s Not Dead (Harold Cronk, 2014) present both similar and different viewpoints on defending one’s faith adequately. Arguments addressed by both the book and the film include the credibility of people, a concept of morals, and the existence of evil.
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.” Library of Congress. Accessed May 14, 2014. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html.
Brooke Allen laments that the most important document in the American history does not mention a deity, which is quite appalling. According to Brooke, if God is considered the foundation of the American nation, then you would not know this fact by reading the U.S. constitution. According to the author, God only gets two brief mentions in the constitution. In the first instance, he gets a brief nod in the reference to the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” in the declaration of independence. The other mention of his name is in the famous line that says that men are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
Overall, when looking at the American Revolution and the actors who played a role in its creation, it is plain to see that religion had an impact and influential stance in the founding of the nation. The heart of dissent was entrenched in the colonies before there was a revolution and the practices of religious tolerance, freedom, democracy, and liberty were found in several organizations and churches. It would only be time until the members of the several churches and organizations would bleed over their spiritual justifications into the realm of politics and nation building. The United States owes a lot of praise to the pilgrims and religious founders of this nation, for without their ideals and changes, this country might not be in existence today.
This paper will dispute that scientific beliefs are not the right way to accept a belief and it will question if we should let one accept their rights to their own beliefs. In Williams James article Will to Believe, we accept his perspective on how we set and fix our beliefs. This paper will first outline his overview on the argument that someone does not choose their belief but rather one just has them. Following, it will outline my perspective on how we set our beliefs and agreement with purse. Then it will explain how other methodologies such as science cannot conclude to one’s true beliefs. Science has been seen as a way to perceive life and taken to consideration as the truth. This paper should conclude that humans define ourselves by
Conversely, after researching it, I came to the conclusion that Jefferson was a deist. This conclusion is essentially drawn from and supported by the personal letters that were written by Jefferson himself and sent to his close friends. In this paper I will analyze Thomas Jefferson’s religious beliefs, as well as compare those beliefs to those held by Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin is also a political and historical figure of our nation. Out of all the founding fathers, Franklin is the only one that has signed all three of the major documents that freed the colonies from British rule and established the United States as an independent nation: the Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Paris, and the United States Constitution. In comparison with Jefferson, Franklin’s beliefs also often get examined. Additionally, I will study the Declaration of Independence for imitated religious beliefs, and examine the different definitions, perspectives on, and creeds of the Christian and deist
Searching for the ultimate truth of oneself is difficult. In the film I Heart Huckabees, existentialism plays a major role in searching for the ultimate truth of oneself. Existentialism is a philosophical point of view that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent (Cherry). It also emphasizes the importance of free will, freedom of choice, the unique experiences of each individual, and the responsibilities of one's choices and what one make of oneself (Rooney). During the movie, the existential detective, Barnard Jaffe explains to Albert Markovski that dismantle is "to help shut down your everyday perceptions and give up your usual identity that you think separates you from everything. This room, this street, this town, this country, this economy, this history, this planet. Your body, Your senses, your job. Everything that you identify With." The characters from I Heart Huckabees attempt to dismantle themselves by understanding and realizing their problems to get to their essential identities. People have different ways of understanding their essential identities in the movie; Albert Markovski understands the interconnection between himself and the world, Brad Stand realizes his insecurity, and Dawn Campbell understands that appearance is not everything.
Today, faith is the cornerstone of all major religious knowledge claims because there is no definitive way of...
Religion, which is meant to enhance the faith of it followers, has done the opposite. The practices of religion have become overwhelmingly factual that the faith component of religion has vanished. In order to be a genuine beliver one must comprise an authentic faith. Both religious leaders and followers must realize that their religion is not factual, but sustained through faith. The key to the gates of heaven is faith, not facts.
...oney as god. Power has become a god. The politician has become the most important person in the world. We have denied God, but how can we deny our emptiness? We have rejected God, and we had to stuff something in the empty space, so we stuff it with political power, with money, with reason, with race, with dialectics.
Truth can be defined as conformity to reality or actuality and in order for something to be “true” it must be public, eternal, and independent. If the “truth” does not follow these guidelines then it cannot be “true.” Obviously in contrary anything that goes against the boundaries of “truth” is inevitably false. True and false, in many cases does not seem to be a simple black and white situation, there could sometimes be no grounds to decide what is true and what is false. All truths are a matter of opinion. Truth is relative to culture, historical era, language, and society. All the truths that we know are subjective truths (i.e. mind-dependent truths) and there is nothing more to truth than what we are willing to assert as true (Hammerton, Matthew). A thing to me can be true while for the other person it may not be true. So it depends from person to person and here the role of perception comes into play. As truth is a vital part of our knowledge, the distinctions between what is true and what is false, shape and form the way we think and should therefore be considered of utmost importance. We often face this situation in real life through our learning curves and our pursuit of knowledge to distinguish between what is true and what is false. The idea of there being an absolute truth or also known as universal truth has been debated for centuries. It depends on many factors such as reason, perception and emotion.
What exactly is truth? What is true? These questions are two completely different questions. In order to answer what is true, you must first determine what truth actually is. If we look in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, we see the definition that says “The things that are true”. This is not what we are looking for in a definition of this word, but really there is no defining line between what is true, and what is not.
Nothing has been capable of fulfilling a man’s heart completely, only God has infinitely. Believing in God encompasses courage and steadfast faith from human beings. Nothing happens to be extremely magical than hoping for the unseen in God. Thinking the best of God forms the truest foundation of devotion. Believing in God has an impact of glorifying him as a supreme ruler and creator of the entire universe. God is powerful and full of wisdom. Believing in him gives an opportunity to Christians to be Christ-like. Christ manifested unimaginable wisdom and ideal attributes that no human being has been capable of fulfilling. Believing in God enriches our souls with wisdom, power ad knowledge to tackle numerous issues in life. The belief in God encourages the implementation of a spiritual dimension in tackling the issues existent in life. Embracing the spiritual dimension in tackling situations ascertains the prevalence of peace, love, unity, humility, and benevolence (Lakhani