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Importance of God in our life
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Lewis and Herberg both make excellent points in their essays. Both authors search for a deeper understanding of God and/or God's role in the human life. The authors also both try to convince their readers of their argument, and believe that, in general, people have the wrong understanding of their topic of discussion. Lewis explains how he has been warned not to discuss the topic of theology, as "the ordinary reader does not want Theology" (Lewis 363). He then goes on to explain how theology is helpful to learning about God, and Christians should look to "have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available" (Lewis (363). Herberg claims that the whole of American culture is wrong, explaining that the average American is religious
Alan Keyes and Alan Dershowitz 's debate at Franklin & Marshall College about, "Does Organized Religion Have the Answers to 21st Century Problems?", both have very differing viewpoints about the question. Alan Keyes talked about and argued that organized religion played a great role in the 21st century due to that religion and specifically Christianity brought on a set of morals that will be needed to shape the world into a better place for the upcoming times. Although, Alan Dershowitz argued that we do not need religion to help with future problems due to people without religion are just as more and if not more moral than those
“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it” (Lewis, “Mere Christianity”). C.S. Lewis, a renowned broadcaster, essayist, lecturer, novelist, theologian, and Christian apologist, used his writing to create a significant effect on the Christian movement. During his lifetime, Lewis went through an amazing transformation from an avid Atheist to a strong Christian, and dedicated his career to sharing the truths of Christianity in his writing. Lewis utilized Christian apologetics to explain and defend his views of Christianity, and made the idea of Christianity more accessible to
There have been many theological texts and authors that have influenced me in regards to my faith. The text that has been the most influential to my understanding of my calling would have to be What Is God by John F. Haught. I usually refer back to this text whenever I need a reminder of why I am trying to become a pastor. This text was assigned to me in my Basic Issues of Faith and Life class at Bethel College. Within this book, Haught tackles the basic question of “What is God?” Now when writing this, it was easy to see that most of it was directed at atheists. Most of Haught’s books are a battle between theists and atheists. Even though I was a Christian
In Stephen Prothero’s, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and Doesn’t (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2007), 297 we discover the average American’s lack of religious knowledge. Prothero discusses religious illiteracy in three ways. How it exists, came to be, and just how to possibly solve this problem. Today religious illiteracy is at least as pervasive as cultural illiteracy, and certainly more dangerous. Religious illiteracy is more dangerous because religion is the most volatile constituent of culture, because religion has been, in addition to one of the greatest forces for good in world history, one of the greatest forces for evil. Religion has always been a major factor in US politics and international affairs.
.... In my opinion it is clear that we do not understand God, but despite that fact, it has not prevented us from trying on his crown through our own magical, mystical and political ways. When these questions are answered in full, in a equnamious and engaged in the nature of a commonality, our need for theology and philosophy will disappear as we will no longer need man to define the undefinable, or to shed the light of God on our minds, as the answers will be clear to all, and our human spirits will commune. Can we say now in retrospect that through singing the praises of 'God' on the battlefields, in the majestic cities built by mankind, or by those who have claimed enlightenment – that any of this bumbling in the night has brought us closer to God? Have we detected the root of our origins through our bids at piety, or have gotten too close and our wings melted away?
One argues that today we have a crisis of belief, not a crisis of faith. To explain this crisis, I will briefly examine the relationship between faith and belief, explain why cultural shift is important to note when trying to understand religious issues, go into detail on the three hallmarks of each of the two cultures by showing how they compare to each other, show how Tillich’s notion of correlation deals with this idea of culture and a crisis of belief, and explain how Marsh’s notion of a “theology of negotiation” (33) fits with Lonergan’s definition and allows him to argue that film can help us raise theological questions.
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. New York: Twelve, 2007. Print.
Theology is an intentionally reflective endeavor. Every day we reflect upon the real, vital, and true experience of the benevolent God that exists. We as humans tend to be social beings, and being so we communicate our beliefs with one another in order to validate ourselves. Furthermore atheism has many forms, three of the most popular atheistic beliefs include: scientific atheism, humanistic atheism and the most popular one being protest atheism. Scientific atheism is the idea that science is the answer for everything and god is not existent. The humanistic approach states that society is self-sufficient; therefore God is not needed for survival. Therefore how could he exist? The position that I will argue in this paper is the pessimistic idea of protest atheism.
James Marshall, I appreciate your openness and the personal touch you gave to your post, mentioning your past as an atheist and some of your struggles. In regard to what you mentioned about education in general, I think you are right when you note some of the major changes and shifts in the American educational system. You mentioned the fact that early on Americans had a very high view of scripture and faith. It is clear, moreover, that each family was deeply involved with the education of their children and this education was primarily based upon the Bible. Anthony & Benson (2003) make the following statement:
* Anderson, Ronald D. “Religion and Spirituality in the Public School Curriculum.” New York. Peter Lang Publishing. 2004.
We as believers try to make an attempt to summarize that theology is the attempt to articulate what faith is in a responsible manner.
2) Gollwitzer, Helmut. The Existence of God: As Confessed By Faith. Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1965
6. Bohdan R. Bociurkiw and John W. Strong, Religion and Atheism in the U.S.S.R. and