... . Before beginning his ministry, Jesus faced three temptations: Satan asked him to turn a stone into bread, bow down to Satan in exchange for power over all nations, or jump from a great height and allow God to save him. Yancey sees in the temptations the human desire that God perform miracles to bring prosperity and peace to individuals and to the world ... faith). Yancey believes miracles show how God will one day restore the world to a natural, undamaged state. All four Gospels give detailed accounts of Jesus' death. Yancey quotes several modern authors on Jesus' entry into Jerusalem,...

• Word Count: 959
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Bible is composed of 66 books, written by countless authors, across several centuries, and in different countries. It remains a national best seller and has been published in several languages with numerous translations. Yet despite all of those statistics, most people ... Testament and without knowing the Old Testament we only know half the story, and therefore cannot fully understand the Bible. Without understanding the Old Testament we cannot truly appreciate how great salvation in Christ is. The people of the Old Testament dreamed of the day when a Messiah would come and save them so...

• Word Count: 944
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... in contact with God. This is reflected in the various religions that have grown here on American soil. To the American media, the story of the Heaven's Gate cult was great sport. Reporters and commentators dwelt obsessively on the exotic science fiction trappings of the cult and its now-infamous Web site. They noted in lurid, breathless detail the bizarre practices ... meditations called A gnostic Book of Hours. Among gnosticism's more celebrated adherents are novelist Lawrence Durrell and psychologist Carl Jung, whose loopy gnostic outlook has, inspired many a spiritual/psychological b...

• Word Count: 1846
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The two preeminent American authors of the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Douglass, each criticized Christianity as it was practiced in the United States. Emerson's controversial critique, delivered six years after he resigned ... , did not end up minimizing the importance of the church. Instead it became a significant document for the Unitarian Church and a piece of early transcendentalist writing that likely influenced the other great writers of this group such as Henry David Thoreau. Frederick Douglas published his book as a runaway slave, and as he toured the North giving...

• Word Count: 1276
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate