Prayer is communication with God, so as Christians it is important that it is more than just formal, memorised prayers but you must speak to God, telling the Lord in our own words what we think and feel. Prayer is an essential part of Christians lives and has been since its earliest days. It is the crucial component of the Christian faith as it is the tradition of communication with God. The role of personal prayer rituals plays a very significant role in the tradition since Christian’s model their lives on the example of Jesus. Personal prayer is the prayer of an individual.
Christianity has organised its principal beliefs into a structured systematic theology in which it draws its sacred writings and traditions from. These principal beliefs include the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, the death and resurrection, the Trinity, revelation and salvation. Through the ethical and moral teachings of Christianity and characteristics of religions which consist of sacred texts and writings, rituals and ceremonies, beliefs and believers and ethics; these beliefs can be expressed and connected with the life of adherent’s. The divinity and humanity beliefs identify that Jesus Christ was both fully divine and human, and that he is the second being of the trinity. This intended that he was the divine Son of God and recognised as being ‘one with the Father’.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Hammett goes on to detail how through these ordinances believers are united to Christ (263). He discusses the proper administration of these ordinances and explains how we should properly view these in our worship. This chapter focuses heavily on the theological, biblical, and practical issues surrounding each of the ordinances and our view on
While analyzing the documentary, The Holy Ghost People several faith and ritual observations practiced by this congregation as well as the social group itself are examined through various conjectures of religion theorized by influential and scientific minds such as Frazer, Muller Freud and Durkheim. The documentary was filmed during a service of a Pentecostal community in Scrabble, West Virginia. The foundation of this community’s Pentecostal practice is based on the Holiness Church, exclusively focusing on the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit. The significance of the Pentecostalism sect is that it a renewal and revival movement within Christianity that highlights a direct personal experience with God received through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Apart from other sects of Christian faith, seen within the baptism with the Holy Spirit that enables them to live an empowered life.
The search for a higher meaning or a power beyond our own appears to be a shared ambition the world over. While not every position of belief is considered a religion, most belief systems are. In order to separate the difference we need to identify what elements are required to make a belief system a religion by definition. The following eight elements are found to be present in any religious system: “Belief system, community, central myths, ritual, ethics, characteristic emotional experience, material expression, sacredness”. (Molloy, 2010) Religious differences are as widely varied as the number of religions worldwide.
The local church is responsible for evangelizing within the community and reaching out to those who don’t know Christ. The church must go out and share the Gospel and the love of Christ. This can be done through outreaches and functions planned to draw the unsaved to the church. As the church we are
Title Vii allows churches and religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of religion. Most Christian schools teach from a Christian worldview in all subjects. In order to accomplish this I believe the instructors should be grounded in Christian values, and live a lifestyle rooted in Christ’s instruction. The opportunity to educate our future generation along with sound biblical doctrine should not be taken lightly. This should be done by individuals that experience the love of Christ in their lives on a daily basis.
Beginning in chapter 12 Paul discussed how Christians are to live. In Romans 12:1 Paul urges the Christians: “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Paul continuously reminds the people to live above reproach and renew their minds so that they do not become part of the world. In the entire book of Romans Paul discusses the topic of how we as Christians should live, but Moo makes a great point in our book of how chapter 12 is a more in depth teaching on this matter. Moo states that "All theology is practical, and all practice, if it is truly Christian, is theological. Paul's gospel is deeply theological, but it is also eminently practical.
A Study of Godly Ethics The Principles of a Biblical Worldview The Bible establishes the guidelines of God's ethical boundaries for all Christ followers. On some issues, God's Word speaks explicitly; however, there is less clarity in other matters and more need for discernment. As Christians learn, accept, and live the reality of Christ, they move towards a life of godliness.1 Through this process, Christians can begin to discern more clearly and live out a biblical worldview.2 Christ followers should be characterized by truth.3 If they are to be characterize by truth, what truth is must be interpreted. In John 17:17, Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.” God has expressed Himself through Scripture; His Word is true, reliable, eternal, and the sacred authority.4 The Bible is the very word of God and should be the starting point for all thinking.5 Jesus also said that He is the truth.6 Jesus exemplifies wisdom and knowledge.7 God loves His creation enough to tell them how to live and promises to give understanding to those who seek Him.8 The root of man's dilemma often comes from not seeking God or misinterpreting the nature of God's truth.9 “The reason so few people act like Christians is that they do not think like Christians.”10 How then does one begin to think like a Christian? Christianity should be seen as the outline for godly decision making and a strategy for daily living.11 The Word of God has the final jurisdiction and is pertinent for the choices that Christians must make, many of which have moral consequences.
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) As a church we recognize that we serve the Triune God, and we stress the importance of developing our relationship with God and with Jesus, yet it seems to me that there is a lack of talk about our relationship with the Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? I believe many of us regard the Spirit as something of an essence or wind-like force that surrounds us and leads us to be like God.