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The pilgrim's progress as a religious allegory
The pilgrim's progress
The pilgrim's progress
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As Christians, we must face many temptations and tribulations, that if done through Christ make us stronger in our faith. Although the world is a lot of the time against us, it is important that we prevail for the glory of God, just like Christian does in The Pilgrim’s Progress. One of the major themes in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress is how difficult of journey of being a Christian is. John Bunyan uses the trials of the Village of Morality, The Hill of Difficulty, and the trials at Doubting Castle that Christian experiences in order to get to the Celestial City to show how difficult having true faith in the Lord can be.
One of the major trials that Christian experiences is when he is in the Village of Morality when he is faced with the temptation to end his journey. When Christian is in the Village of Morality, he is introduced to Mr. Worldly Wiseman, a kind man who, being that he is a nonbeliever cannot fathom why Christian left his family and home to go on the journey that God has sent him on. Mr. Worldly Wiseman tells Christian that his journey for the Lord will end in nothing but death and he should just stay in the Village of Morality where he and his family
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The theme of this book shines through when Christian faces his trials at the Doubting Castle. Just like any believer, Christian has fallen short of the glory of God and betrayed the Lord’s will, causing him to suffer for his mistakes. While both Christian and Hopeful begin to doubt the Lord and fear for their lives in the Doubting Castle, the Lord is faithful as ever and provides the two Pilgrims with a way out of the torturous
Why I Left the Church” by Richard Garcia is a poem that explores the ongoing and conflicting relationship between a child’s fantasy and the Church. Although the majority of the text is told in present tense, readers are put through the lenses of a young boy who contemplates the legitimacy of the restricting and constricting nature of worship. It is a narrative that mixes a realist approach of storytelling with a fantasy twist that goes from literal metaphors to figurative metaphors in the description of why the narrator left the church. The poet presents the issue of childhood innocence and preset mindsets created by the Church using strong metaphors and imagery that appeal to all the senses.
The Fair represents the world, and their wares are the many worldly things like the following: food, money, and clothes. The wares of this world are not bad in and of itself, but it is bad when the wares distract people from following God with their whole heart. In the story, Christian, with the help and encouragement of his friend Faithful, resisted from succumbing to the pleasures of the world. In the same way, the Christian is not alone in the real world and has a church of believers that can help him along his
...e. Grace allows this change to happen, but one must be willing to face hardships and difficulties because the road to redemption is narrow and rocky.
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
The book Picking Cotton, the Bible, the film Conviction, and many gospel songs are given great ideas from people who overcame obstacles of faith. Obstacles can be anything that stands in our way of reaching our goals, having prosperity, or being what God want us to be. Great faith endures great tribulations, each day comes with it is quota of struggles and difficulties and every minute victory becomes seed to grow our faith. Whether we are physically contacted by sickness, death, divorce, or unemployment we require grace to endure. But during endeavoring times we learn who we authentically are and more importantly, we learn about God‘s faithfulness.
In life, empty, forsaken, lonely people in dire need of help put their faith toward God or a significant individual. A current example includes the 10 year old boy released by his kidnapper after singing a gospel song for hours. In Mark Twain’s The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Joan Arc, a teenage French military commander shows faith whenever she goes to battle or is about to face death. Eventually she gets captured and even though she will die she continues to keep her faith in God. By showing the effects of faith on Joan of Arc and her comrades, Mark Twain illustrates his belief that the value of an intense personal faith is important in everyone’s life.
In the Flannery O’Connor’s great book, “Wise blood”, Hazel motes, the main character of the literature, is a hero struggling against his prophetic vocation, yet turning out to be a Christian martyr at the end of his long and futile ordeals. The development of the literature centers around the protagonist’s struggle to run away from Jesus, who poses Jesus as “something awful,” and his final return to him. Hazel’s movement throughout the literature, therefore, may be seen as a journey: a modern man’s progress from rebellion against God, to penance, and to return to him through the painful recognition of his sinful and fallen nature. The shrill thesis of the literature is stressed by its circular journey pattern of escape from and return to God.
In the parable Doubt, the controversial topics presented by John Patrick Shanley sparked differing views that the reader was torn between..It introduced a storyline revolved around a nun accusing a pastor of partaking in inappropriate engagement amongst the alter boys. Si...
In Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard discusses the subject of faith. He offers a fascinating interpretation of this subject. He tries to answer an age-old question, what is faith. What makes his work stand out is the fact that he places his understanding in direct opposition to dominant philosophical believes of his day. But, he also places his discussion in the context of the Abraham and Isaac Bible story.
A Christian, when faced with the challenge of writing, finds himself in a dilemma: how is he to complete the task? Should he create an allegory? Should he try to teach a lesson reflecting God’s glory? Or should he follow secular trends and current desires in literature? To this, many Christians would say, “Certainly not!” Dorothy L. Sayers and Flannery O’Connor both aim to answer the first question of any Christian writer: How do I write a story with my beliefs?
As Goodman Brown sets off on his walk into the forest, he believes that there is more good within his community than evil, and that he himself is a good man. He believes that he will follow his wife to heaven. Yet as he talks with his fellow traveler his thoughts are soon swayed. Goodman Brown talks of his father and grandfather and how they never went into the woods on such an errand as himself, for they were honest men and good Christians. Yet his companion tells him of many a sin his relatives had committed and the walks he had taken with them, therefore proving to Goodman Brown that his father and grandfather before him were not perfectly innocent, good people. Goodman Brown says to his companion that the people of New England are a good people of prayer and abide no wickedness. Again, the traveler returns with comments of the church deacon drinking the communion wine and the town selectmen selling...
This parable is supposed to be a narrative for the reader to help interpret and understand the significance of faith, but as for all the parables it might be extremely heard for people today to understand the connection between the words and the actual meaning. Even with Jesus interpretation the parable might be misleading if you don’t know during what kind of circ...
In the 14th century, war, and violence were prevalent. The Canterbury Tales were written during the Hundred Years War, when the Catholic Church was dealing with the Western schism, and “Against the darkest period of his life…” (Bloom 14). The story is centered on a group of thirty pilgrims who are traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury (Bloom 14). The pilgrims are all focused on a theme which is backed by the story’s underlying tone of religion.
John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is an allegorical story about the Christian religion. It allegorizes the journey of a Christian into "the Celestial City, which represents heaven. Although Pilgrim's Progress may seem simple and straightforward, there are many deeper meanings throughout the whole story. Bunyan uses the names of his characters to signify whom the character represents in the story, for example, the character Hopeful represents hopefulness, Help represents people who are willing to help others in need of assistance, Faithful represents people who are faithful to whatever they are associated with, and the main character, Christian, represents all young Christians in the world. His journey to the Celestial City is a journey every Christian must face in their lifetime before allowed into heaven. Within his journey there are many obstacles such as temptations both tangible and intangible for instance, the merchandises sold at Vanity Fair and the shortcuts offered, illustrate temptations real Christians must face and overcome; finding an easy way into heaven, and being thrown off course by material things. The character Christian overcomes many obstacles before reaching his destination, the Celestial City. But during his journey he does not face all these obstacles alone. He meets a variety of people all through his journey to the Celestial City; some of these people mock his traveling to the Celestial City, some decide to follow him, and some help him along his way. Christian meets Faithful who decides to join him on his travels. Faithful is a character that faces many difficulties on his own journey to the Celestial City; his journey has many diff...
When I was a child I used to be frightened of entering such a place for it seemed so imposing and somewhat dangerous, especially when music was being played. One day, in order to keep a promise I had made, I saw myself forced to enter. It took me quite a while to get the courage to pass through the old oak door, but the moment I stepped in, I realized just how enchanting and breathtaking this building could be. Its fantastic architecture and exquisite frescoes reflect perfectly the unity between this earth and the unseen kingdom of angels in such a manner that one cannot say where one ends and the other begins. The way in which the church was built is also the vivid testimony of a medieval period. Although it is a place that can sometimes be cold and ask for respect it is where prayers are answered and magic is done. An overwhelming feeling of inner harmony takes over you once you enter and God seems much closer. Darkness and light are welded perfectly together creating Redemption’s house. The tower allows you to see the entire town from the smallest river to the biggest building site, offering you its mightiness.