Identify and briefly explain some of the ways in which functionalists see religion meeting the needs of society and individuals (9 marks) Functionalists believe that religion has a definite purpose in society. First of all Malinowski says that religion can offer answers to things that are unexplainable or appear to break scientific laws. An example would be if somebody looked at a landscape and had an overwhelming feeling of beauty, they could only ask themselves why they thought it was beautiful. This is also known as a numinous experience. A Christian could just say you know this due to the way God made the earth and humans.
Our focus as believers, for ourselves, is to love and worship God, to uplift Him in everything we do, to glorify Him in our lives, to love those around us, to be a light in a dark world, and to share God’s love with everyone around us. It ultimately comes back to us serving God and pleasing Him (Crabb, 1977, p. 21). As Psalm 144:15 states, “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord”. Rather than seeking happiness, one should focus their efforts on seeking God. From there, true happiness will emerge.
However, in the New Testament God heals and individual who is blind and lets others die. A strength of Maurice Wiles argument is that it appeals to educated believers of God and scientific laws. This I because Wiles says that the concept of miracles can exist as it is "logically impossible" to prove miracle wrong scientifically. By saying this, Wiles is allowing religious people to also uphold their beliefs in scientific laws. A second strength of Maurice Wile's argument against miracles is that it allows a re-interpretation of miracle.
Swinburne would argue that St. Theresa’s character would not lie about a supposed religious experience due to her deep faith in God and morals suggesting that her visions must have been from an external agent. On the other hand, it could be heavily argued that scientific advances could prove otherwise and expose the visions of Christ as an act of the mind ‘playing tricks’. Science has shown that the temporal lobe when stimulated through seizures can produce an altered perception such as religious experiences of this variety. St. Theresa had these visions in the 1500’s when science was in its earliest stages and religion was an answer for everything; these factors appear to support Richard Swinburne’s defence of certain types of characters not lying in support of
To critically compare the use of symbol with the use of analogy is to assess the meaningfulness of Tillich’s and Aquinas’s methods of expressing understanding of God. “Why have humans used symbols in the past? For centuries, symbols enabled people to look through the ebb and flow of temporal life to glimpse being itself. This helped them to endure the terror of life and the horror of death.” (Paul Tillich) For Tillich; God is outside our realm, a symbol participates both in our realm and the realm of God, so can be used meaningfully to express elements of God. Tillich defined God as the ‘ground of being’ and ‘our ultimate concern’ because God is the basis of all that exists and also the meaning behind all that exists.
Theory Critique - Crabb and Hawkins Rose Monk COUN 507 Liberty University Dr. Hunter November 3, 2013 Concise Summary of Theories Larry Crabb’s model for Christian counselors is based on Christian values and includes secular principles that are consistent with Scripture. Plain and simple this theory works to create a receptive mind for the truth. Ultimately, the idea behind this model is to work on the thought process, and in altering the way the mind thinks, this will motivate correct actions to reach the client goal. By identifying the problems in feelings, behaviors and thinking, this model not only works to change the way clients think, yet their belief of needing anything other than God. Understanding the basics of
Sometimes the head wants what the heart knows it should not have or the heart wants what the head knows it cannot have and leave the hands confused and lost. Sometimes the heart wants something and it begins to make the hands take action but the head knows what is best and puts a stop to it. But sometimes they all come together and that is when we will feel that sudden moment of bliss. To be a true Christian, one must feel this bliss when it comes to Christ and feel like they have done right when asked. Christians must use their hearts to believe what they believe and their head to tell them how to express what they feel and believe.
The scribe has creatively utilised this metaphor as the name of the book to display that there is an amount of religion in the book. The individual features of this book were watching God significance that they were waiting for God to response their pleas. although, if the significance was taken literally, it could easily signify that the persons were just observing God. thus, it means that the literal meaning of the metaphor has been utilised to signify differently and display the distinct requests of the persons even though they appeared to have been heading for darker
We do the work which God has entrusted to us, and then trust in God to bring about the result. Therefore, a mustard seed and strong tower goes hand and hand, because when life brings trial and tribulation I can speak to it and if I get weak in the mist of it, I can trust that Jesus is with
(Exodus 32: 4) Also, in the book of Genisis, Adam hears the footsteps of God in the garden. (3:7) It’s human nature to attempt to make sense out of the unexplainable and to make God more like us. This is also the source of mistranslations in scripture. It’s out nature to gravitate to things that are more pleasing to us whether it’s good or bad. However, the athiest idea “if it makes you feel good, then its good” isn’t very good advice.