My Journey After Death, by Alice Adamek OR The Wrong Jesus: Fact, Belief, Legend, Truth... Making Sense of What You've Heard, By Gregory Monette: Whom would you rather believe? Having just done a research on the origins of witchcraft and the consequences of dabbling in it, I was naturally interested in the cover of My Journey after Death, by Alice Adamek. It had the characteristic Triangle and Eye of the Illuminati, an outlawed, secret society founded in 1776, with tentacles into the Occult in modern times. What could she have encountered on the ‘other side’ if she were associated with this group, I wondered. I was surprised, nay startled, to note references to Jesus. This was even more intriguing…but not for long. To make a lie …show more content…
Craig A. Evens, Payzant Distinguished professor of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College, explains in the Foreword, “We have indeed become a society of ‘do your own thing’, a society that prizes pleasure and immediate gratification above all else. In keeping with this new spirit, we want to personalize our understanding of God, to shape Him according to our whims and personal preferences. This means we are open to new views of Jesus, whether there is compelling, credible evidence or not. It is not surprising that outlandish views of Jesus appear every year. Numbers of people seem eager to learn about a Jesus no one has ever heard of …show more content…
One of them, Quadratus (AD 70 – 130) wrote, “But the works of our savior were always present, for they were true; those who were healed and those who were raised from the dead were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were constantly present, and not only while the Saviour was living, but even after He had gone they were alive for a long time, so that some of them survived to our own
Jacob, Margaret C. The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts & Fictions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
The church has a problem. The eternally relevant message with which she has been entrusted no longer readily finds a willing ear. According to Henderson, the solution lies in first understanding how our world thinks and then, beginning where people are at, bring them to see "the functional relevance for their lives of the actual relevance of our message". In high school speech classes, we were taught to "know your audience." As a careless high schooler, I didn't really care what she meant, but it eventually made sense (once I actually decided to think about it). You wouldn't use sock puppets to explain math to accountants; you wouldn't use in-depth power-point presentations to explain math to first graders. With this in mind, why do many Americans still try to talk about Jesus using the methods used thirty years ago? Why do we use Christian "jargon" to explain Christianity to those outside the faith? Henderson contends that modern American Christians must change their approach to sharing the faith in order to fit modern America. The pattern of Henderson's book is straightforward: he examines a particular aspect/mindset/value of modern Americans; he then gives ideas about how a Christian might share Words of Eternal Life with such an American. Henderson's writing is both straightforward and enjoyable. He gets right to the heart of the American mindset, then illustrates it with descriptions from scenes from popular movies, personal anecdotes, jokes, etc. In all, Henderson does the modern Christian a great service in writing "Culture Shift." Jesus told Christians to tell others about him ("Go, therefore, and baptize all nations...") and Henderson can help us along the way through this book
In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).
Sabina Magliocco, in her book Witching Culture, takes her readers into the culture of the Neo-Pagan cults in America and focus upon what it reveals about identity and belief in 21st century America. Through her careful employment of ethnographic techniques, Magliocco allows both the Neo-Pagan cult to be represented accurately, and likewise, scientifically. I argue that Magliocco's ethnographic approach is the correct way to go about this type of research involving religions.
"The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies." Secret Teachings of All Ages: , Part Three. N.p., 30 June 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
What if I told you that you’d be able to relive the fondest moments of your life as many times as you want in a dream world reality, would you believe me? This may seem far-fetched for some people, but if you take the time to read "The Soul Survives and Functions After Death” by H.H. Price, you’ll start to question your own beliefs about your soul and where it goes once death strikes. Price questions the nature of souls once the inevitable happens and states that the soul goes to another world, a Next World. The idea of the dream world I previously mentioned will make you question your very own beliefs about where your soul will go once life’s inevitable happens to you. So, is Price’s afterlife theory of the Next World really something to
The Latin Cross displayed in nearly most if not all Protestant Churches throughout the world tells the story that Jesus is no longer on the cross but has risen. Jesus conquering death is the proclamation of our faith. The death and resurrection tells only some of the story. In the book Resurrection: The power of God for Christians and Jews, gives any reader the deeper meaning of what the kingdom of God means to us today, what it meant to Christians in antiquity and what it meant to the Jews primarily during the Second Temple period. Many of the things I was taught or learned throughout my Christian life have been challenged, as I will sprinkle some of them in this book review. As challenging as it was, this also provided me answers to questions
Jesus, a name known by billions throughout the world. To each, this name means something different; savior, friend, philosopher, prophet, teacher, fraud, fake, liar. Some even believe that He is just an imaginary character from the minds of those who wrote about Him. The Westminster Dictionary of Theology describes apologetics as, "Defense, by argument, of Christian belief against external criticism or against other worldly views" (Apologetics 31-32). Though there are still many mysteries that surround the ongoing debate about Christianity, evidence can now prove some of what Christians took by faith before. Now, more than ever, there is information to prove the existence of this man that walked the earth more than two thousand years ago. Little remains of His life and works except for that which is contained within the pages of the Holy Bible. Throughout the past century alone, there have been numerous discoveries, both scientific and archeological; to further prove the existence of a man called Jesus and reinforce the Bible as a legitimate historical document. The validity of Christianity and Jesus Christ himself has been the center of religious controversy for centuries. Though His identity has not and probably never will be proven, He did exist. This paper will use apologetics to prove this so. Sufficient evidence proves the existence of Jesus and forms a firm basis for Christianity.
Life and death are dualities. These two immaterial forces culminate into a beautiful and tenuous composition creating an awareness of abject mortality that indirectly contributes to the breadth and depth of human existence. This existence or being is marked by an incessant love of life, influenced by the pervasive knowledge of eventual death. The characters in Mrs. Dalloway endeavor to grasp the meaning of both life and death through the act of resistance and/or acceptance of the impermanence of human existence as it relates to them personally and to those around them. Nietzsche’s interpretation of the themes of life
When other popular teachers died, their movement died with them. However, after the death of Jesus, his movement continued to build strength and grew rapidly. James, Peter, John and Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews were convinced of Jesus’ resurrection, they believed this with such conviction that they did not even try to defend or prove this. They stated it as fact. “In each narrative, names are given of those to whom the resin Christ presented himself (Barnett 130)”. This can be verified and proven true, based on eyewitnesses. After the death of Christ, the lives of the writers of the New Testament were radically changed. They traveled where they had not gone to reach out to people outside their comfort zone. They died in their challenge
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
The Illuminati is not a conspiracy theory; it is a real thing that is happening today. With all the facts and information about the illuminati, it cannot still be considered a conspiracy theory. The illuminati symbol can be seen all over the place in all parts of the world, including famous entertainers that have Illuminati symbols tattooed on their bodies. With all the turmoil on this planet, it will soon collapse. When it does, who is going to take over? The illuminati will take over. The illuminati has been an organization for a long period of time and they are just hiding out and waiting for their opportunity to take over. A secret society is what they are right now, and there are many questions that can be asked about them. What exactly is the Illuminati? Who is involved in the illuminati and who is taking charge? There are various rumors that the Devil has influence and power in the illuminati, but is this really true? These are all questions that can catch one’s attention. The illuminati is a broad subject in which there are many theories about it. Those questions will be answered in the remainder of this paper.
In his book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, Christopher J. H. Wright sets out to introduce the importance of understanding Jesus and how Jesus found his identity, the goal of his own mission, and interpreted the Old Testament. The author’s intent is to show Christians who Jesus really was, by shedding some light on the father from early Hebrew scripture. Wright argues that Jesus is the fulfillment through the Old Testament. And gave validity to the events leading to the New Testament. Chris Wright was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1947, the son of missionary parents, and nurtured as an Irish Presbyterian. After university in Cambridge, he started his career as a schoolteacher in Grosvenor High School, Belfast. Today he is the International Director of the Langham Partnership International. Dr. Wright is also the author of other books such as Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament (IVP Academic, 2007), Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament (IVP Academic, 2006).
III. Smithson, Jayne. “Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion.” Class lectures. Anthropology 120. Diablo Valley College, San Ramon 2004.