... to divide Christians' image of Mary between "penitent whore" and "apostle to the apostles." The confusion of Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene being one and the same serves as the cornerstone of the conspiracy evidenced in The Da Vinci Code, which postulates the clandestine union of Jesus and Mary of Bethany. Toward the end of her examination, Bourgeault articulates her support of this conspiracy, ... is more worthy than we are?"25 In response, Levi reprimands Peter for becoming angered and says, "If the Savior considered her worthy, who are you to reject her? He knew her completely and...

• Word Count: 3461
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of Thomas There are many similarities and differences between the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mark. The Infancy Gospel depicts Jesus in his younger years, and is used to fill the void between his birth, and his travels to Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark is from when Jesus was much older, and tells the story of his journey to spread the word of God. One similarity between the two texts is the miracles ... no one so much as taste your fruit again!" (Mark, 11:14) and the cursed tree withered up and died. In the Infancy Gospel, when Jesus was walking through the village, a boy ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... opinions on Christianity. He talks about what he believes the true motivation behind the Christian belief is, and why people choose to believe in Christianity. I do not agree with what Nietzsche believes and interprets. I do not believe his thinking is true and accurate, and I have my own views against his. Nietzsche disagrees with what Thomas Aquinas says. Nietzsche is against everything that Aquinas ... searching for a meaning and we just want answers. Nietzsche disagrees with everything Thomas Aquinas says mostly when it in regards to religion and Aquainas' views on Christianity. Nie...

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... , that everyone was called to the Lord. Christianity broke the limits and bounds of race, gender, and social status. Author Wayne A. Meeks speaks about the powerful symbols for understanding evil. Christianity offered answers to open-ended questions of why? With the new Christian mind-set, one could go about his life feeling perfect, feeling that he was part of a bigger creation than what he knew. In ... this mind-set, people felt comfortable, more at ease with their surroundings and the behavior of others. Christianity gave ... a taste of the great mystery that countless felt in their ...

• Word Count: 460
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... that he was crucified on a short cross. He was criticized by the crowd, soldiers, and one of the thieves. Jesus spoke only seven short times while on the cross before he died at 3 pm that Friday. (Edwards, 1462) He had the power to take himself down from the cross but didn't. "Jesus (as at Matt. 27:39; Mark 15:29) is taken from Psalm 22:7, as are ... his side with a spear which produced the mixture of blood and water assuring his death. His body was taken down and then was placed in a tomb. In the Mark 15: 33-39 there is a lot that remains unsaid about the actual crucifixion, the pain, ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... that death is nothing more than a typical end to a fulfilled life is found in both the older and more recent texts of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, death is viewed as nearly an end to all existence. (Job 7:21 - Ps. 39:13) Which is revealed by such verses as, " After a happy old age, man, full of years, is gathered to his people."(Gen ... possibility of his taking revenge and upsetting the equilibrium between the living and the dead. When one died in the prime of his life or childless, it created a rational fear over premature death to the Bible's readers. The underlying meani...

• Word Count: 2030
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... executions for economic reasons. What would Jesus do? Apparently some Christians do not realize that Jesus and Jehova are one and the same. Jesus was not a prophet with new insights for living, He was God in the flesh "the same God who gave us the Ten Commandments, and who said, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in ... slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left- (Matthew 5:38-39). Those who oppose capital punishment contend that supporters of the death penalty fail to consider the complexities of our criminal justice system. They insist most A...

• Word Count: 1920
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• Grade Level: High School

... links them physically. Eventually ET gets sick and dies, but Elliot's love brings him back to life. The film is brought to a conclusion after a dramatic bicycle chase from the scientists who want to capture ET. After the escape, the spaceship returns for ET and they share a heart felt good bye. Although it doesn't seem like there are a lot of similarities between E.T. and the story of Christ, you would be ... Elliot first encounters ET, he wants to be his friend. Once the adults learn of his existence, they want to capture him for research. This shows us the contrast between the adult w...

• Word Count: 885
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a religious movie unlike any other. There is no hint of the English language, no clear moral to the story, and contains enough blood to paint a house red. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", is a direct adaptation of the passion story as it appears in the bible. The passion story is the capture, enslavement; torture, crucifixion, death, and rise of Jesus. The movie does not contain any back-story, so anyone without ... knowledge of Christian scripture might have trouble understanding some of the subject matter. However, it is not hard to ... ...

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... I Thomas Paine, Reasoning the Enlightenment In the first few lines of his argument against the church and state, Thomas Paine writes: "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, Roman church, Greek church, Turkish church, Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." Later, he writes; "The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, apostles and saints; and the Turks ... their Mahomet; as if the way to God ... ...

• Word Count: 1321
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... example of this is seen in the wrinkles of the clothes and faces. The sculptor sculpted the very natural form of feeding a child, which is known by almost everybody in the world. Also, I believe the bible and all the books the sculptor read about Christianity helped him form the images of Jesus and the Virgin in his mind. I was expecting this sculpture to be bigger than it is. A bigger sculpture however wouldn't be more impressive ... than this one because the details on this ... ...

• Word Count: 522
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... was a very powerful Biblical event, in which Jesus and his disciples gathered for one final dinner together. According to the Bible, important events took place during the Last Supper, including an announcement by Jesus that one of his disciples would betray him and the first communion. To artists in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was necessary to give proper deference to such notable ... most famous art works "The Last Supper" took 5 years to complete. It is a fresco artwork created in 1498 and has been subject to a lot of restoration. While the Last Supper is a typical sub...

• Word Count: 489
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , with whom God has provided for our care and to maintain order with his authority. According to Steve Horst in his paper delivered at the November Religion Colloquium at Indiana Wesleyan University, he discusses Thomas Aquinas in his 13th century, "just war theory ... ." This theory aligns itself with what God would expect of a responsible leadership or government. He writes that war must be defensive and only ... ethnic cleansing. It must be a last resort after all other efforts to resolve have been exhausted. Civilians must be cared for and safeguarded and the defeated are to be show...

• Word Count: 1449
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• Grade Level: High School

... and Greek). Considering this fact, the unity of this book is staggering! (McDowell 16) There are more than twenty four thousand manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today. That's more than any other document of antiquity in history. The only book that even comes close to approaching such numbers is the "Iliad" by Homer with only 643 manuscripts in existence. (McDowell 39) "The ... B.C., predicts Cyrus (by name) as the king who will say to Jerusalem that their city will be built and the foundation of the temple will be laid. At the time of this prophecy, Jerusale...

• Word Count: 911
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... be written, a view that goes back to the late second century A.D., and the esteem in which it was held by the church; no other was so frequently quoted in the literature of earliest Christianity. The Gospel According to Mathew presents the story of Jesus, the demands of Christian discipleship, and the breaking-in of the new and final age through the ministry but particularly through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Readers learn of actions ... is said in 5:48 " so be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." This commandment is primarily based on our heavenly Father and His...

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... Christ as merely a prophet, and therefore their view of The Last Supper and the crucifixion is a bitter and doleful event that needlessly ended the life of a great man. This is so wrong, in fact it can't be farther from the truth. The people of the church, however, look at the prophecy and look at the teachings of the Son of God, and rejoice in the forgiveness of sins bought with the Blood of Christ, even though ... it meant His great suffering and betrayal. To forget that He died for our shortcomings is the same as never having faith in Christ himself; the whole point is missed. Theref...

• Word Count: 260
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... better educate His followers of what it takes to eventually be a part of God's kingdom. Such information would be seemingly too broad to understand within the confines of a book, however Luke masterfully combines all of these facts into one story with numerous lessons, leaving it as a difficult task for ... a story with a moral, to emphasize a certain point pertaining to God. As His popularity among the common person started to grow, so did the council's hatred for Him as they felt threatened by Jesus" powers. Jesus knew His capture was in His future, so He had planned a final feast with...

• Word Count: 1086
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... has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men" (The Knowledge of the Holy, vii). The thoughts which enter one's mind when contemplating God will determine whether or not that person is a true believer in Christ, a doubting Thomas, or an atheist. When I think about God I think of ... a mysterious object which reigns on high and knows the future but does not dictate to us what to do ... , we are free to make our own choices. Some may think God and not be able to see themselves approac...

• Word Count: 710
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... over 200 years. It is not a new concept. The methods used by the Seminar are somewhat questionable. Hays stated that the four ways in which the methodology was a problem to be 1) the dating for the Gospel of Thomas and "Q". The dating and use are both highly suspect to Hays. 2) the use of the standard of dissimilarity for considering the creditability of the Jesus tradition. Hays believed the criterion of being either too Jewish or too ... Christian excluded the essence of the Christian Jesus. 3) the Seminar's Seminar claims Jesus could not ... ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... with God. It is a Christ centered outlook that is biblically based. You understand that the bible is the living word of God, and that Jesus died to save you. John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." You understand that according to the Bible you can only be a Christian by confessing that Jesus is ... person on this planet. Jesus himself has commanded this of us when he gave the Great Commission. However, non-biblically, we do not really have a purpose other than to survive and to make ourselves happy. Although we ...

• Word Count: 792
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• Grade Level: High School

... the Jewish religion. The Tanakh is said to be very similar to the Old Testament. In fact, according to Paul F. Fink, the Tanakh was simply rearranged to form the 39 books of the Old Testament [3]. The leader of the service is called the Rabbi. Rabbi's usually go through formal training in famous Hebrew texts and are taught in both the Talmud (contains teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects) and the ... Shulkhan Arukh, which is the Code of Jewish Law. Unlike Christianity, there ... ...

• Word Count: 2149
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our lord." That verse was found in Romans 8:38-39. I don ... 't think that human needs are going to change in the new millennium and neither are God's promises and teachings. Thirdly, the recorded experiences of Jesus are enough to make the most amazing book ever written. This is because ... ...

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... us enough to show us our error. The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity. There is one God who is manifested in three persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is eternal (Heb 9:14) The Holy Spirit is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10) The Holy Spirit is omniscient (1 Cor 2:10-11) The Holy Spirit is omnipotent (Luke 1:35) The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins ... , shows God's wrath to produce Godly fear, and shows us the way to God's salvation through Jesus Christ ... . And finally the Holy Spirit is the promise of Jesus Christ. (John 16:7; John 14:17; 1 Cor 2:12; 1...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to overcome. They are told to reach out, to pick up, to put down, to strive, to fight and to rejoice. They are told what to do, what not to do, what to believe and what to expect from Heaven, hell and the world. They are told who to trust, who not to trust, who to turn to, who to worship, who helps them ... it hath not works, is dead, being alone" "and by works was faith made perfect" "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." JAMES 2:14-26 GRACE is the path that leads to the door of salvation and ALL are welcome to travel it. (JOHN 3:16, ACTS 2:3...

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... that " I was left depressed, not only in response to the film's graphic portrayal of the death of Christ, but over two lost opportunities a real dialogue, and a chance to reflect not on the last twelve hours of death but on years before." (Martin). The National Review said that "any cinematic depiction of the Passion will fail to capture its full meaning." (National Review). Unfolding before our eyes we ... see a vivid illustration of the messiness involved when a Christian seeks to make an impact upon ... secular culture. No matter what anyone thinks of Mel Gibson or the movie, I belie...

• Word Count: 1098
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School