Kingdom of God
Christianity, Judaism and the Kingdom of God
Christianity is a force of both unparalleled influence and of continuing humility on the global scale, being both the salvation of the indigent and the foundational force under great and established power structures. It is this duality that perhaps best helps to initiate a discussion on the concept of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, the Kingdom of God is both everything and all around us. All things which we experience and engage may be seen to those of us who walk in the light of God as emanating from the will and grace of the heavens. This means that the Kingdom of God extends from heaven to earth, convicted each of us to act on earth as we would in heaven. The concept is an important one as it is generally used to justify a wide range of Christian ethics and practices.…...
Kingdom of God
Today, the kingdom of God is thought by many people as a heavenly place or afterlife. Many people are not able to give an explanation of the kingdom of God or the reason why Jesus came on Earth. Most people relate to terms such as strong tower which we guess is a strong tower but if we want to say that the relationship we have with God makes us safe we would have to rephrase this. A better understanding of the concept of the kingdom of God and messiah can only be understood through an individual's personal experiences as well as dong a lot of research. There are two contemporary metaphors that can be used to describe the kingdom of God. I was inspired by the camel passing through the eye of a needle and the parable of the mustard seed (Griffin, 2005).
In contemporary living one can say…...
mlaReferences
Griffin, W.(2005).The Kingdom of God is like The metaphors of the kingdom. Retrieved January 24,2013 from http://www.sbl.org/wbs/kingdom/Week8/kgw8.shtml
Magruder, W.(2012). The Kingdom of God Needs Better Marketing.Retrieved January 24,2013 from http://missionalwisdom.com/new-day/blog/the-kingdom-of-god-needs-better-marketing/
The Kingdom of God annotated bibliography And Essay
Part I: Introduction with Thesis Statement
The Kingdom of God is a much different kingdom than the earthly kingdom the Pharisees were expecting. What characterizes the kingdom of God? Isaiah 11:1-9 describes a restoration of innocence, in which there is no more disharmonic world but rather a world in which everyone and everything is at peace. Romans 14:16-19 relates to this passage, as it also tells Christians that the Kingdom of God is focused on peace and serving God in the Holy Spirit. Psalm 72:5-14 describes a kingdom that is without end, that covers the whole world, and that is served by all men. These two passages from the Old Testament were selected because they touch both on the spirit of the kingdom—it is oriented towards restoring peace and innocence and love—and on the earthly aspect of the kingdom: it is not just for…...
mlaResources
Abernethy, Andrew. The Book of Isaiah and God’s Kingdom: A ThematiTheological Approac. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016.Dempster, Stephen. Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove,IL: IVP Academic, 2003.Goldsworthy, Graeme. The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel and Kingdom, Gospel and Wisdom, The Gospel in Revelatio. Exeter, UK: Paternoster, 2011.Hahn, Scott. “Kingdom and Church in Luke-Acts: From Davidic Christology to Kingdom Ecclesiology.” In Reading Luke: Inter-pretation, Reflections, Formatio, edited by Bartholomew, Joel Green, and Anthony Thiselton, 294–326. Scripture and Hermeneutics 6. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.———.The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire: A Theological Comentary on 1–2 Chronicles. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012.Jipp, Joshua W. Christ Is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.Kupp, David. Matthew’s Emmanuel: Divine Presence and God’s People in the First Gospel. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 146 For Further ReadingLadd, George Eldeon. Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd mans, 1959.McCartney, Dan. “Ecce Homo: The Coming of the Kingdom as theRestoration of Human Vicegerency.” Westminster TheologicalJournal 56.1 (1994): 1–21.
Kingdom Activity
Jesus Kingdom Activity
Throughout Christ's ministry on Earth He was engaged in promoting the kingdom from which He came. Many passages can be used to demonstrate this, but there are those which seem to tell the story better than other. Often, these will be marked by Christ himself as having something to do with His home in heaven. At other times, these activities demonstrated a principle that he had taught to the multitudes and wished to enforce with a personal action. In all of His ministry he taught the people first to fill their human needs, then to fulfill their obligations to the kingdom, and finally He demonstrated the character of the kingdom.
The greatest need of any human is that of salvation, but people did not follow Jesus just because they knew He spoke the truth. Many did, but most also wanted to be a part of the great movement…...
mlaReferences
Maranville, C. (2012). The kingdom of God: The heart of Christ's message. The Good News: A Magazine of Understanding. Retrieved from http://www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/kingdom-god-heart-christs-message/
Stanley, C. (2011). Why do people follow Jesus? Christian Post. Retrieved from http://www.christianpost.com/news/why-do-people-follow-jesus-65960/
At first, the passage in Romans seems unequivocal -- a rebellion against established authority seems to be the same as a rebellion against God. But a closer and more considered examination of the situation suggests that this is not the case. First, Romans was written with a very specific government in mind -- the Roman government, as a matter of fact. It considers authority as the earthly servant of God. At the same time, this passage suggests that free will exists, in that men have the ability to rebel against God and authority. Therefore, individual authorities could rebel against God and use their authority in ways that were not in his service. This would make the authority no longer the arbiter of sin, and rebellion would be almost morally necessitated.
For many who rebelled during this nation's revolution, and even those who came to the continent in the preceding century…...
mlaWork Cited
Augustine of Hippo, Saint. City of God. Accessed 26 April 2009. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120104.htm
Romans. New International Bible. Accessed 27 April 2009. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2013
The Cosmological Argument: This argument begins with the tenet that for the Universe to exist something outside the universe must have created it. Also refereed to as the First Cause or the Uncaused Cause theory, here God exists as the prime mover that brought the universe into existence. The universe is a series of events, which began with God who must exist apart from the universe, outside of time and space as well. (Martin) the detractors of this theory say that if everything has a creator than God must also have a creator and that perhaps an infinite series of creators and universes exist as well. Also if God is an uncaused cause than why could not the universe be one as well.
The Moral Argument: This is perhaps one of the most interesting arguments for the existence of God. Basically it states that since man perceives a moral law, a…...
mlaWorks Cited
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene UK; Oxford University Press, 1989
Lamprecht, Sterling P. Our Philosophical Traditions: A Brief History of Philosophy in Western Civilization. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1955.
Martin, C.F.J. Thomas Aquinas: God and Explanations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
McIntyre, John. St. Anselm and His Critics: A Re-Interpretation of the Cur Deus Homo. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1954.
212).
The second point of criticism Hoekema levels at dispensationalists is that "the kingdom which Christ offered to the Jews of his day did not involve his ascending an earthly throne," as most dispensationalists assert (Hoekema, p. 213). If in fact Christ had made an offer to rule the Jews from a throne on Earth, certainly, Hoekema goes on, "his enemies would have brought up this offer in the trial before Pilate, and made an accusation out of it" (p. 213). Pilate specifically asked Jesus' accusers, "hat evil has he done? I have found in him no crime deserving death" (Luke 23:2) (Hoekema, p. 213). No such charge was ever made against Jesus during that trial, though if it had been made it would have been used as evidence of the charge that "Jesus had claimed to be a king over the Jews in an earthly sense, thus threatening Caesar's…...
mlaWorks Cited
Boyer, Paul S. "John Darby Meets Saddam Hussein: Foreign Policy and Bible
Prophecy." Chronicle of Higher Education 49.23 (2003): 12-14.
Hoekema, Anthony a. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids MI: Wm B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 1994.
108) should not be the main focus of our lives. If we allow them to have so much importance, they will choke out spiritual growth and progress so that we cannot fully appreciate what God has for us in the Kingdom. Likewise, we are not supposed to worry about money and whether or not God will supply us with the things we need. Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." In other words when we focus on living the life God wants us to live and treat others as He wants us to treat them -- with honesty, fairness, justice, love, forgiveness, etc. -- God supplies our needs. Jesus tells us to concentrate on the Kingdom.
That doesn't mean we should be lazy, but we are not supposed to concentrate on accumulating a lot of personal wealth either. If…...
mlaReferences
Kraybill, D.B. (1990). The upside-down kingdom. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.
history medical studies have concluded that prayer helps to heal the sick. Many political meetings begin with a prayer and American currency has the words "In God We Trust" imprinted on its face. Around the world God is a powerful deity and one that has historically led entire societies to make decisions based on God's word. While God has been the single deity that leads and guides societies in their decisions both on an individual and collective basis there are many different concepts of what God is and entails. Two large worldwide faiths have many similarities and differences in God and its meaning. The faith of Christianity as well as the faith of Judaism both believe in a single God. The faiths are based in the word of that God and their followers respect and revere the God of their faith. While both faiths believe in a single God…...
mlaREFERENCES
J.S. Spong, "A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born," HarperSanFrancisco, (2001), Pages 37 & 38.
MOSHIACHhttp://members.aol.com/lazera/moshiach.htm
THE JEWISH CONCEPT OF THE MESSIAH
Book Review: Concept of God as shepherd is Jewish paradigm
Biblical principles that are related to our intellectual and spiritual education. They have a basis in the Bible (both the New and the Old Testament) and can be applied to our lives in many ways. Often times, as is shown in this paper, our own experiences bear out what these principles teach us. In this paper, a discussion of 10 Biblical principles and their relation to Scripture is provided. How these principles have applied to the writer's own life is also described. Following these discussions are plans for how the ideas developed may be practically applied in life so as to give glory to God and better our own lives.
The education of young students takes place not just on an intellectual level but also on a spiritual level. It is part of what character education consists of -- the formation of the mind and soul in terms of the…...
mlaReferences
Gutek, G. L. (2011). Historical and philosophical foundations of education: A
biographical introduction (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Lickona, T. (1993). The return of character education. Educational Leadership, 51(3):
6-11.
God
What is the image of God? This is an important theological question. Depending upon what a person believes the image of God to be, and man's relation to that image, the whole rest of that person's theological belief system will be affected and slanted by it. The Bible gives some good guidelines as to what the image of God is, and what man's relation to that image is. Noted theologian Henry Theissen discusses it in his lecture series, as well. This paper discusses the idea of the image of God and man's relation to that image using contemporary theological research.
The Bible tells us that man was created in the image of God. This seems pretty straightforward. On first reading, one might reasonably assume that man was created to look like God. This would mean that God looks like us. This is a very comforting thought for most people, as…...
mlaReferences
Dolphin, Lambert. "Made in the Image of God." LDolphin.Org. 2001. http://www.ldolphin.org/Image.html>.
Humanity as the Image of God." Shef.Ac.UK. n.d. http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-C/biblst/DJACcurrres/Postmodern2/Humanity.html
The Image of God in Man." Let Us Reason Ministries. n.d. http://www.letusreason.org/Wf14.htm >.
Man, Created in the Image of God: How Man is Unique Among All Other Creatures on Earth." God and Science.Org. 2003. http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/imageofgod.html
Kingdom of Matthias
n the early nineteenth-century America went through a phase of religious revival with many people turning to the religious beliefs in Christendom following the religious instability that took place in the seventeenth-century in England for the reformation of Christians and the community. The most notable event amongst all the momentous events was called the Second Great Awakening, which lasted one year and began in 1830. This year holds a lot of history for a country like America because it was the same year that Americans reached the highest level of consumption of alcoholic drinks, with an average of four gallons per person. This was not only the highest for all the years of American history but also one of the highest in the world. t was in the year that came to be known as 'the spirit-soaked year' when the evangelical preacher Charles Grandison Finney came to…...
mlaIn this in-depth research, Paul Johnson takes the opportunity to explain and use a small and unknown event to depict an interesting event from an interesting perspective on the city of New York. There are several incidents used to signify the issues of sexual corruption to radical doctrinal innovations. The Burned-Over district in the city of New York, served as the platform for the many religious movements such as Mormonism, Adventism, Christian Scientists, however there are numerous smaller religions and even noteworthy political movements such as Antimasonry that did not leave their mark on American soil to exist till today.
This book is also based on the story of one of those movements. The story begins by introducing Matthias to Kirtland as he goes to visit the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith. Although, his visit took place close to the end of the book, or better put close to the end of Matthias's activity of fooling his followers, his ideas were obviously cheated from many of the ideas of Joseph Smith. Even the practice of the washing of feet common to both the followers of Joseph Smith and Ellen White was also used by Matthias for his followers. He believed that the truth of the Gospel had come to the earth following the demise of Christ for another Mormon belief. Another feature common to Smith was the possession of a sword which he claimed was ancient similar to Smith's sword of Laban, as well as naming the Priesthood after the order of Melchezidek. His mentor Mordecai Noah, taught him that the Indians belonged to a branch of the Israelites, as found in the Book of Mormon. These ideas were known before 1830 when Matthias began his practice in the name of religion.
The book doesn't only contain horrid tales about his activities but also contains humorous parts of this periods history is the moments that connect to Matthias' enemies trying to shave off his beard. Johnson did a marvelous job at condensing the most relevant information in this short book. The Kingdom of Matthias is a humorous book and serves as an interesting read for those interested in this period of American religious history.
Kingdom of Matthias. There are three references used for this paper.
From the Quakers to the Great Awakening to Nat Turner, we have examined numerous variations of where a belief in the 'inner light' or the 'priesthood of all believers' could lead. It is important to examine the cult of Matthias to understand why he was popular, the factors which could have led to his revelations, the social and religious climates and the needs of his followers. It is also important to explore whether the cult was due to the transhistorical appeal or if it offers deeper lessons about early American religious experiences.
Matthias
Robert Matthews was "a carpenter from upstate New York who, after a lifetime of finding God everywhere and economic success nowhere, rode his half-starved horse into Manhattan in 1832, proclaiming his own divinity. He presented himself as not a Christian at all, but as Matthias, the culmination of…...
mlaWorks Cited
Brown, Lee Rust. "The Kingdom of Matthias." The New Republic. (1994): 17 October.
Johnson, Michael P. "The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-Century
America" The Nation. (1994): 14 November.
(The Matthias Delusion. (Accessed 27 November, 2004).
DNA instructs the cell. DNA is a three-billion-lettered program telling the cell to act in a certain way" [what authorized and created that system, if not God?] and e) "e know God exists because he pursues us… constantly initiating / seeking for us to come to him… [and] keep the question of His existence constantly before us" (Morse, 2010, p. 2).
Meanwhile Oxford professor Anthony Flew argues against those who say that because of the big bang God is proven to exist. Did God cause the big bang, or was it just "popped" into existence, Flew asks. And why only two possibilities? Only a physicist can explain that, Flew asserts. Okay then, Flew explains that if God is truly "omnipotent and omniscient" and wants people to "behave in a certain way, why couldn't he accomplish this? If you were omnipotent wouldn't you expect results and expect people to do exactly…...
mlaWorks Cited
Craig, William Lane, Flew, Anthony, and Wallace, Stan W. Does God Exist?: The Craig-Flew
Debate. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, LTd, 2003.
Morse, Donald R. "Does God Exist?" The Journal of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies.
(2010): 1-2.
Kingdom of Heaven
The great irony of Ridley Scott's 2005 film "Kingdom of Heaven" is that its central argument is calculated to seem inoffensive to contemporary audiences, but does so by being historically inaccurate. I take the central message of the film to be what Liam Neeson says approximately 22 into the film, as the ailing Crusader Godfrey of Ibelin (a somewhat fictionalized depiction of Godfrey of Bouillon) tells his son why he will be journeying from rural France to the Holy Land. The son, played by Orlando Bloom, asks his Crusader dad what the Crusader King of Jerusalem could possibly ask him to accomplish. Neeson, as the ailing Crusader, responds with the speech that gives the film its title:
"A better world than has ever been seen. A kingdom of conscience, a kingdom of heaven. There is peace between Christian and Muslim, we live together. Or, between Saladin and the King,…...
1. The biblical teaching that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus challenges traditional gender roles by promoting equality among all individuals, regardless of their gender (Galatians 328).
2. The story of Deborah in the book of Judges challenges traditional gender roles by showcasing a woman in a position of leadership, as she served as a prophetess and judge in ancient Israel, leading the people to victory against their enemies (Judges 4-5).
3. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament emphasize the value of every individual,....
1. The significance of Jesus' teachings and parables in the New Testament
2. The role of the apostles in spreading the message of Christianity in the New Testament
3. The themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption in the New Testament
4. The impact of Paul's letters on shaping early Christian beliefs in the New Testament
5. The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament in terms of fulfillment and continuation of prophecy
6. The importance of the resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament and its implications for Christian faith
7. The cultural and historical context of the New Testament and its influence on....
Gospel of Matthew: A Tapestry of Teachings and Actions
Among the New Testament gospels, Matthew's account stands out as a comprehensive portrayal of Jesus' teachings and actions. While the other gospels share common themes and narratives, Matthew presents a unique perspective that emphasizes Jesus' role as the rightful heir to the throne of Israel and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
Genealogy and Birth Narratives
Matthew begins with a detailed genealogy that traces Jesus' lineage back to Abraham, the father of the nation Israel. This underscores Jesus' claim to be the promised Messiah from the House of David. The birth narratives in Matthew....
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