Foundation of Christian Thought Applied Essay

If I were to sum up what I collect learned from this course it would be focused on Faith and a new infrastanding of the Bible. Faith is not tho part of religion and every aspect of our everyday lives, and is fascinatingly carried through the Bible from the opening to the end. It began with the Creation, and continue through discoer the F entirely, Redemption, and Consummation of deliveryman. It is the alkali of the Christian perspective and what leads matinee idols heap to buyback and costly works. Our modern universe of discourse is so corrosive to trust that deliverer Christ asked, When the Son of Man comes, will He re each(prenominal)y find credence on the earth? (Luke 188).He is thither to adjudge his community the gift of cartel and to help them to grow in support faith that will last forever. In the beginning divinity fudge created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 11) In Genesis 1 we ar presented with the beginning of a comprehend drama that stub solit ary(prenominal) be examined and understood from the standpoint of faith. How presbyopic did it bring? How did it happen, exactly? No hotshot nominate answer these questions definitively. In fact, these mysteries ar not the focus of the creation base. The purpose, instead, is for moral and spiritual revelation. matinee idol was very pleased with his creation. Six times throughout the process of creating, immortal stops, observes his handiwork and says, It was very good. This is a smashing example of organism a part of theologys creation. Even when I scent pathetic of his pleasure, I energize to remember that matinee idol made me and is pleased with me. In verse 26, theology says, Let us make man in our image, in our exchange adequate to(p)ness On the s only the sameth day, matinee idol easeed. I practic in ally wondered if graven image needed to put in a day of rest for us to follow. I could not imagine God, who can do everything, beingness tired, but patent ly he considered it important.Rest is often an unfamiliar innovation in straightaways busy, fast-paced world. It come alongs to have last socially unaccept qualified to take an entire day to rest, yet God knew that there would need to be a time of reenergizing. I thought a good example of this could be when Jesus, spent time alone aside from the crowds. This shows that as human beings we need to rest and renew our bodies, souls, and spirits. The Creation story understandably shows that God unfeignedly enjoyed himself as he created his master theme. As notable previously, he stopped six times to enjoy his accomplishments.If God can stop to enjoy his handiwork, why is it so hard in todays ordination to stop and truly take time to feel good slightly(predicate) our achievements? Whether it is a job, hobby, or minis bear witness service, if the work is plea transgressiong to God hence it should in addition bring pleasure to the person. When God created man and woman, rapture and Eve, he gave them many an(prenominal) beautiful plants and trees to enjoy for food. But He also gave them one tree from which they were not to eat. This was the Tree of the K presentlyledge of sober and Evil. Gods command to them was that if they ate from that tree they would die.In The Fall of cristal and Eve The Bible says that the Devil entered into a serpent and tempted Eve (Genesis 31). He got Eve to doubt Gods Word. Satan told her that God knew that Eve would become enlightened and possess the same chouseledge as God had if she ate from the fruit of the tree. This is much alike Satans temptation within society today. There is constant temptation lurking oer multitudes whispering that there is no need for God. This is proven by all the violence, lying, murder, war, hatred, and disobedience of the 10 Commandments. The fruit was beautiful and Satan was cunning.Eve condemnable to the temptation and took the fruit from the forbidden tree. Finding it red-hot she took it to go game. As before long as ex tasted the forbidden fruit, their lives, and that of all future humanity, changed. They immediately knew they had through equipment casualty. They disobeyed God and would be punished. I can completely relate to this spot of conscience. It is amazing when I do something wrong, and know that it is wrong, how it sits in the pit of my support and eats away at me until I make it set. I recollect that that is how it is for people with conscience.That is the souls way of notifying an individual that what they atomic number 18 about to do, argon doing, or have done is not right in the eyes of God. When God came to visit Adam and Eve in Eden, they attempt to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. Their nakedness was something they had never even discover before. When they heard God coming they tried to hide from Him. Of course God is all knowing. He was not looking for them because He didnt know where they were, but because he indispensablenessed to give Adam and Eve a chance to return to Him and acknowledge their iniquity.God utter with Adam, Eve and the serpent. apiece one had a specific punishment from God. Adam was told that his work would be hard and become toilsome (Genesis 317-19). The woman would bear children with great pain (Genesis 316). The serpent was given the punishment of crawling on the ground and that he would be cursed to a greater extent than any other creature (Genesis 314). God told Adam and Eve in the beginning that they would die on the day they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One death was immediate this was that they were spiritually separated from God.However, their physical bodies continued to live, but they would not live forever as God apparently intend. They would become old, sick and die. All three (Adam, Eve and the serpent) were put out of the guard and the curse came not only on them but on the on the whole world. They no longer had a personal mastication with God . This is where faith really has to come into play for me. It is hard to take this all in with no proof, and yet part of me says is that not what faith is, giving ones total self to God in body, mind, and spirit. I have to be able to trust in Him wholly.This is where I need to truly work on letting go and letting God. afterward the Fall there was Redemption. Redemption is being set free from slavery to ones own hellful nature, slavery to the pressures of the culture which is under the spirit of this present evil age, and slavery to principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in the high places. When Cain became angry that the offering he had brought to the Lord did not have the same response as the offering of his brother Abel, God spoke directly to him warning him (Gen 46-7) that sin is crouching at the introduction its appetency is for you, but you must master it What I feel this is saying is that sin is al around like a wild animal, waiting at the door of Cains bread and butter, and that it needs to be tamed and mastered. In comparison to society for all generation, this is something that is yet to be mastered. The same is true today as it was all those years ago when an individual finds themself in a spotlight where they get angry because one person has more than(prenominal) than they do, the normal reply is to plot to put down the other.On some occasions this even leads to murder. There is a freedom of choice in every sin committed. Even though human beings have the resources to take authority over sin we often get waiting of to submit our will to it and become its slave. If you deed over yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to duty (read-only memory 616). As Christians, we have a belief system and a life that is based upon even some laws and regulations that are Biblical.Even people who have never read the Bible and do no t thusly know what God has said have a morality that they like to think that they live up to, but often fall short. I feel that capital of Minnesota says it best in Romans 323 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that in Rom 39 we are all under the power of sin. As a human being, our greatest problem is not that we are living in captivity but that we will not accept that we are in captivity. Human beings need to face up to the reality of their predicament and not to rely upon any false hopes or ideals.Some people rely on doing good in hopes that somehow their good works may outweigh the evil they do, but all such arguments are wishinging(p) in a recognition of individual human responsibility, and lacking in a dependence upon the work of Christ. The dilemma, then, is not expert that we pendent to the bondage of sin, but that it is necessary to acknowledge it before Christ who is able to minister redemption. Jesus died on the marking for us. The penalty of sin, under the Law, is some(prenominal) spiritual and physical death. Jesus took that death upon Himself, paying the price for our freedom.Jesus gave His life. Mark 1045 says the Son of man came to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus had nothing else to give us but Himself. He is both our ransom and our Redeemer and, more than this, redemption is only tack in concert in Him even though we may try and find it elsewhere and in different people who now exist or who have existed throughout history (Rom 323-24, Acts 412). Because Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the Law by taking the penalty upon Himself, we can be free to look forward to the day of our death because our sin has been dealt with.Although Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for his people, it is still an ongoing caper trying to figure out why individuals still behave as they do. The early chapters of Genesis helps to apologise why individuals behave as they do, and to ascertain how we should act so as to please God. The subject of capital of Minnesotas teaching in Ephesians 521-33 is that of submission in the context of jointure. Pauls instructions here create a head-on collision with the beliefs and practices of our culture.Pauls instructions are written off as the ranting of an antediluvian patriarch male chauvinist. It is one thing for the unbelieving world to reject Pauls instructions it is quite another for Christians to do so. Many Christians refuse to take Pauls haggling soberly even some of those who profess to take the Scriptures at face value, try to tip toe past certain passages in order to repeal the stigma of professing and practicing its teaching. Some individuals claim that they have not interpreted Pauls words seriously out of ignorance.Unknowingly, they weigh Pauls teaching to be a mere reflection of his culture, and not a timeless teaching, independent of the culture of that day, and of our own. I remember most Christians fail to understand the responsibilit ies of Christian husbands and wives in the light of the biblical foothold which underlies and necessitates them. For example, The Lords Supper is one of the ii ordinances our Lord has given to His perform in this age. As Christians we are to regularly remember the Lords death at comm amount of money and the New volition church attached itself to a regular observance of it.What if someone were to suggest that this was merely an past celebration, applicable and meaningful only to the saints of days gone by, instead of preserving this ancient ceremony, they tell us, let us do something more meaningful, more enjoyable, and more relevant to our culture. What if they suggest having an ice cream and pie supper? Would our unsaved friends be more likely to attend? Would people find it more beneficial? As Christians we must be able to stand up for our faith and explain that we cannot set aside that which our Lord has instituted and which His church has continued to practice, from New T estament days onward.We should also point out that the bread and the wine-coloured of communion are symbols, symbols of our Lords sacrificial death for sinners. If we were to change these symbols radically, we could not do so without modifying the symbolism. Chocolate syrup might taste delicious on vanilla ice cream, but it would hardly replace the wine as the symbol for Christs shed blood. Like communion, spousal relationship is a divine institution. Christian conjugal union has certain commitments, obligations and duties which are symbolic. The roles which God has given to a Christian husband and his wife are intended to symbolize and represent a greater, more first harmonic reality.While marriage is temporal, the reality which is symbolizes is eternal and thus we cannot understand the importance of the duties of the husband or the wife without grasping the reality which Christian marriage is to symbolically communicate. This fundamental reality which underlies and explains th e attitudes and conduct of a man and his wife in marriage is the relationship of Jesus Christ to His church. This relationship was not understood clearly in Old Testament times even Paul found it to be a mystery.The symbolism of marriage can only be understood in the light of the substance on which a Christian marriage is based the mystery of Christs relationship to His church. disclose of all the messages in the Bible, the view of consummation and marriage is what I effort with the most. In Genesis chapter 2, God created Adam. Adam was given the task of assignment all of the animals God had made. As they passed by two by two it became apparent that every male animal had its female counterpart. Adam was eye-catching as the only creature without a corresponding mate.I believe that by this means God created a yearning in Adam for a mate of his own. God provided her, but she was not like any other creature, in that she was not made from the dust of the earth she was created instead from Adams bod and bones. God created the woman as Adams partner, fashioning her to correspond to him in every way. God then brought the woman to Adam, and presented her to him as his wife. Adam joyfully responded, This is now bone of my bones, and cast of my flesh She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man (Genesis 223).As creations first husband and wife, Adam and Eve symbolized by the marriage the unity of Christ and His church which would be achieved at the cross of Calvary, centuries later. While reading Ephesians, Paul says Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. As I read on Paul explains in verse 23 how our Lord is the Head of His church, He is the Savior of the body.I understood this to mean that, the headship of C hrist is bare in the salvation which He accomplished at Calvary. (Ephesians 521-33) In the early chapters of Ephesians, Paul spoke much more about our salvation in Christ, but he laid the foundation for Christ as the head of His church as its Consummation by teaching that all of history is being divinely directed toward the goal of summing up all things in Christ (Ephesians 110). In Genesis 224 Moses instructs us that when a man and a woman come together in marriage, the man is to leave his mother and father and to unite his wife, to become one flesh.While there may be practical benefits to a man leaving his parents and bonding to his wife, Moses does not bother to mention them. His words indicate that there is one fundamental reason. The Bible says that the fundamental and primitive union evident in the marriage of Adam and Eve is to be reflected in every subsequent marriage, to symbolize the union of Christ and His church. Because God created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from Adams flesh and bone they began as one flesh through the creation of Eve.This union was also to become evident in their sexual union and in the bearing of children, but the first marriage on earth began with only one relationship, a man and his wife. This husband-wife relationship, Moses indicated, is the primary one, and the parent-child relationship is secondary. When President Obama announced he now supports same-sex marriage, he cited his Christian faith. The thing at fundament that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but its also the Golden Rule, you know treat others the way you would want to be treated, he said in his interview with ABC News.I think when Christians at large talk about gay marriage, they are missing the point. The point is not that gay people want to take away other peoples right to get married. The whole struggle is really centered around the desire to be allowed in, to be able to participate in this ritualistic di splay of how much do it the human heart can hold. It is about the basic right to choose who you want to spend forever with, and to have that celebrated by family and friends. immunity of religion is a great thing, but since when did our ability to choose how or what we worship translate into our ability to dictate to others that they must conform to our chosen lifestyle, and that they must obey the rules of our personal faith? I find it rather alarming just how many laws are drifting to the top of legislation, laws that advise the outright imposition of one section of one religions believers on the entirety of the population. What is even more alarming to me is how many Christians seem completely okay with this blatant show of force. It is true that we are allowed to believe whatever we want to believe in.It is also true that we are able to express those beliefs freely. Just as the human heart has the capacity to hold so much spang, it seems to have the ability to brim full of j ust as much hate. When we disregard the claims of others to rights do we fully enjoy ourselves, solely because we adopt a normative sexual preference? That is when we find that we are no better than all the people we have learned about in history classes in school who denied the rights they enjoyed to those who were not in the mass with them. It is not about whether or not it is right or wrong to be gay.What matters is when Christians begin to be okay with forcing someone else to follow the scripture, when it may not be something they are ready for or interested in. If Christians want to claim the freedom to speak our religion, and to choose our opinions, we cannot do so part denying others that same right. Christians come out in droves to protest whenever they feel their right to be a Christian is being threatened. I believe that if the Christian community were at large to have one of their basic courteous rights legislated against, voted against by non-Christians, there would b e a wave of outrage like this country has never seen.With a marriage license comes so many other benefits such as taxes, home ownership, joint bank accounts, amends policies, the decision to take a partner off life support, and being allowed in their hospital room after surgery. These are the kind of things that piece of paper can grant, and they are the kinds of things we take for granted. I believe that everyone deserves to be with someone who will cherish them as much as God cherishes us. God made man and woman in his image. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves, and sometimes in the words of John Lennon, perchance All you need is Love.