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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 We live in a culture where the “why” is superseded by the “what”.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?
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.
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...
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...
The foundation of a Christian worldview is the belief in a personal God, creator and ruler of the universe. The Christian worldview views the world through God’s word, providing the framework for humanity to live by giving meaning and purpose to life. It defines who Jesus is, human nature, and how salvation is achieved. In essence it is the basis of which Christians behave, interact, interpret life and comprehend reality. A Christian worldview imparts confidence, answers to life’s problems, and hope for the future. In this paper I will discuss the essentials of a Christian worldview and an analysis of the influences, benefits, and difficulties sustaining the Christian faith.
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.” Library of Congress. Accessed May 14, 2014. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington became the United Stated of America first president. When he took the oath he asked that the Bible be opened to Deuteronomy 28 and after the oath he added, “So help me God.” (1)This is only one example in my opinion of how I believe our nation was founded on Christian principles. The nation’s capital is filled with religious monuments and religious imagery yet, we as a nation look to these structures as a political homage.
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.
... accused Jefferson of being an atheist. This helps show that although all signers of the constitution felt that religious freedom was essential to the rights of the individual some disagreed on what role if any the church should play in government. Even one-time political allies Jefferson and Adams sharply disagreed on this notion and this fueled their rivalry that continued through both of their presidencies and the landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury vs. Madison (Alexander, 2004).
Many people claim that the founding fathers were atheists, those who don’t believe in the existence of God. They claim that the founders were Deist as well, people who believe in a Creator who doesn’t intertwine with humanity’s daily affairs. However, when one looks at the first prayer given by Reverend Jacob Duché during the Continental Congress of 1774, it offers a very different school of thought. The assembly of Congressmen was composed of men from all over the colonies and it was a mix of various denominations. It was evident that the political proceeding had religious roots when Duché’s insp...
The Constitution reflects our founder’s views of a secular government, protecting the freedom of any belief or unbelief. Some will argue religion, specifically Christianity, played a large role in the creation of this great nation’s government, the United States Constitution; however the facts reveal otherwise. The historian, Robert Middlekauff, observed, "the idea that the Constitution expressed a moral view seems absurd. There were no genuine evangelicals in the Convention, and there were no heated
There are several aspects to consider when exploring the Christian worldview. There are many facets or denominations and they each have their own distinct beliefs and practices, but they all share the same fundamental beliefs. In this Paper we will explore the character of God, His creation, humanity and its nature, Jesus’ significance to the world, and the restoration of humanity, as well as my beliefs and the way that I interact with Christianity and my personal worldview.
The men who founded America were men with deep religious beliefs and a firm faith in God. They based their actions and decisions on what the Bible teaches, and used God’s laws to write the laws of our nations. Benjamin Franklin once said “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped…as to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see.” (Franklin, Founding Faith Archive). His statement was not only indicative of his beliefs, but of the beliefs of the rest of the founding fathers. They believed that a successful country was built upon principles laid out in the Bible by God, and that ultimately, the “ideal society” could be formed if everyone adhered to the guidelines established throughout the word of God. While these men were not deities that served as any sort of moral standard, they did serve as Godly influences. Their belief that the guidelines for a successful country were written in the Bible ultimately led to these men laying the foundation for one of the most dominant societies this world has ever seen.
...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.
While faith alone cannot be said to necessitate truth, it is by no means useless as a basis for knowledge in the areas of knowledge of religion and the natural sciences. Faith allows a knower to make the decision of what is knowledge and what is not, even when the knowledge claim cannot be justified by evidence or empirical reasoning. Yet simultaneously, this quality of faith renders it useless in finding absolute truth. In the natural sciences, faith can be seen as both a necessity, as it is essential for the building of knowledge, and yet also it must be challenged, as the advancement of science is through the disproving of current theories.
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.