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More handpicked essays just for you.
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The Three Facets of the Christian Walk
As I begin this essay, I pray that I might be able to "rightly divide the word of truth", so that I need not be ashamed (2 Tim 2:15). This being my goal, I hope that you the reader might learn something from this essay. Remember though, to be as the Christians in Thessalonica, and examine all teachings based on their faithfulness to the scriptures (Acts 17:11).
As Christians, we are to go through life in a certain way. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus tells us that the proper path in life is narrow.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
What then is this path? Well, as Christians, we know that the path to Eternal Life is through Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 14:6 that,
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So we know that, as Christians, we have already turned to face the right direction. As all Christians certainly know, though, the story does not end with the Sinner's Prayer. After that day of salvation, we must go to sleep, and then rise again the next morning, again having to face a fallen world. In order to be the "Salt of the World", as we are told we are in Matthew 5:13, we must know how to walk. Certainly one that follows all of the dictates of the scriptures is doing right (all of the dictates, NOT just the rules of action). It is my belief that the Christian walk can be broken down into three inter-related Facets.
The first of these facets is Worship. The word "worship" appears in the King James Version of the Bible 108 times. Under the classification of worship, one could include such things as praise, prayer, and thanksgiving. Worship, though, is more than these things. One can worship in all things, because to worship is to give glory to God (1 Peter 4:11). One can give glory to God by having a heart attitude of thanksgiving and praise when walking through a grocery store, through the woods, or down a street.
...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.
It came to you as you were engaged in a search of your own, upon a path of your own; it came to you through thinking, through meditation, through knowledge, through enlightenment. Not through doctrine did it come to you. And this is my thought, O Sublime One: No one will ever attain redemption through doctrine! Never, O Venerable One, will you be able to convey in words and show and ...
2. A statement regarding the author: George Feifer is a native of Roxbury, Connecticut. He has written for a wide array of publications. He is a “well-known” and veteran author with many successful books. Some of the books which he has written were “Our Motherland”, “Justice in Moscow”, “Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa”, “Moscow Farewell”, “Message from Moscow”, and last but not least, “The Girl from Petrovka” which eventually became a Hollywood film. He's written for the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, and the Saturday Evening Post.
To begin with, one of the most important components in Poe’s writings were his characters. The appearance, demeanor, and emotions that are used to describe them come out as unusual and grotesque. In this short story, the most prominent of these characters is protagonist, Roderick Usher. Once young and handsome, Usher’s features were terribly altered, he now
In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe’s use of dark, descriptive words allow him to establish an eerie mood. Poe’s unique style of writing along with his foreshadowing vocabulary is significant in creating a suspenseful gothic story. At the beginning of the short story, Poe describes the House of Usher to be “dull”, “oppressive”, and “dreary” (1265). His choice of words strongly emphasizes a mood of darkness and suspense as he builds on the horrific aspects of this daunting tale. At first glimpse, the house itself is surrounded by the feeling of “insufferable gloom”, (1265) “[t]here was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought [...]” (1265). The atmosphere that Poe describes in the statement above establishes a spine-chilling mood. Poe uses words such as “insufferable gloom”
Christianity has its challenges. It places demands on us that set us apart from the rest of our world. The bible calls us a peculiar people, who navigate the challenge of living IN the world, without being OF the world. When we say ‘no’ to temptations that are enjoyed by the masses, we are labeled as self-righteous snobs, religious weirdoes, or worse. But we persevere, and we press toward that invisible line the Apostle Paul drew in the sands of time…for the high calling in Christ Jesus.
“And sorry I could not travel both” (2), the speaker is coming to a decision. In everyone’s life, they must make a decision to follow God or not to follow God. In this poem, the speaker has to make this choice. He tries to look down both roads as far as he can to see the choices that might result from taking either path. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way” (14), he knows that this decision is not temporary. He knows that once he chooses a path, he “doubted if I should ever come back” (15[VR1] ).
Edgar Allen Poe, a famous novelist from the 18th century, is known for being a treasure trove for allusions, illusions, clues, and all sorts of literary fun. Born in 1809, this Bostonian never had it easy. Marriage to a 13 year old cousin, family problems, and deaths surrounded him. Over time, such tremendous struggle began to reflect in his writing, creating the dark and moody tone we now see today. One such piece, The Fall of the House of Usher, tells the tale of a man who goes to visit a dying friend on his last days. Roderick Usher is the name of this dying man, although he doesn’t seem dead in the beginning. However, the deathly state should be of no importance to the reader; death is the very essence of Poe’s writing. Rather, the reader’s attention should be deviated toward the unusual twin of the story,
In the beginning of Dante’s Inferno, Dante engages the reader in a personal way by including them in his story. He allows the reader to relate and emphasizes that they will or most likely have gone through an experience of losing their path in life. Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself/ In dark woods, the right road lost (Dante, 1408). The Inferno is often described as the quintessence of the medieval worldview, a codification of the values of the high Middle Ages in art, science, theology and philosophy (Wilke, Hurt). He was a pious man whose own experiences in a corrupt society shaped his writing style and the symbolism he included in his stories. There are graphic details of each circle of hell by describing the appropriate judgement of each sin. In essence, the condemned are those who ignored with God’s laws and eluded His spirit. He describes the different realms of Hell and always descripts the emotions he is feeling in order for the reader to understand the severity of what he has witnessed. The comedy is supposed to symbolize the world we reside in; and Dante’s journey into the afterlife evaluates the human struggles when confronted with sin whether they conquer or succumb to it. Dante’s imagery is seen how he exemplifies God’s divine retribution and his own intentions of judgement of sinners by creating the circles of hell into a downward spiral. As the spiral descends the worse the sins, the more dreadful the punishment. Dante presents appropriate schematic judgement in the nine circles of hell because it was important to symbolize the judgement his society would endure due to their low levels of morale.
Good Deeds then gets called upon. They say that even though they want to go on the journey, they are unable to at the moment. They advise Everyman to speak to Knowledge. Knowledge is the one that brings Everyman on the journey to cleanse himself. They first go to Confession, which gives him a penance.
Among the followers of Christianity, questions arise in order to find the righteous path to Heaven’s gate. On the contrary, there are those who seek answers for what is forsaken. Dante Alighieri fully expresses himself on this dilemma in his written work, The Divine Comedy. The first part of the epic poem is Inferno; Dante defines and constructs Hell, based on the morals and judgments set by common beliefs during his time. Dante also uses Aristotle’s philosophical work to shape the structure of Hell. Undergoing a journey through Hell as himself, Dante places famous literary icons to assist in questioning the acts of justice. Dante builds and contrast between the sinners who are innocent, and those who deliberately perform evil deeds. Virgil, a fellow poet and pagan, exemplifies wisdom and clarity that which Dante must learn through his endeavor. Virgil’s guidance will provide contrast and the necessary guidance to reach Paradise. The change of character Dante experience, is dreadful; pity and remorse must be exempted to honor retribution for the sinners’ defiance against God. All the answers regarding Hell, lies upon meeting the primal sinner, Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. Dante’s journey unfolds a critical analysis in which portrays the human struggle in every individual. There are several implications of the four functions of myth that can be derived from Dante’s Inferno. Dante divides Hell into three dispositions: incontinence, malice and brutality. (Alighieri, Dante, and Longfellow 6.79-82)
Dante uses this poem to communicate the way in which he views human evil and how he classifies and judges each kind of evil. To achieve this classification and judgment, Dante uses strict doctrinal Christian values. In other words, the worst sins do not necessarily violate human happiness or harmony on Earth, but instead disrupt God’s will in Heaven. For example, Dante considers violence to be a lesser sin than fraud. This is because fraud more greatly opposes God’s will; God wa...
...e no matter which one we take. Those roads we do not take end up being the ones we wonder about if we chose the right one or not.
validate this thought, it is upon "...a road less travelled" in the lines of "The Mending Wall"