Analogies are not confined to language either, pictures could be used. However I am looking into the use of religious language; in the forms of symbol and analogy. Many philosophers have analysed the use of religious language such as A.J Ayer, Wittgenstein, Karl Popper, Tillich and Aquinas. Their main concern was whether or not certain uses of language are meaningful when referring to God. 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.
5 How to Worship? 6 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 9 INTRODUCTION People view worship in many different ways. It is not to say that one person’s philosophy of worship is better than another person’s philosophy, if the end result is the same. Worship starts within one’s spirit and heart, then is expressed outwardly to God above. One of God’s greatest desires is to have relationship with His creation, man.
Can the conception of God simply be universally acknowledged and accepted by everyone, everywhere? If there is conception of God, then the idea of God should exist. The initial presentation states, “you who grant understanding to faith, grant that, insofar as you know it is useful for me, I may understand that you exist as we believe you exist, and that you are what we believe you to be.”(Encountering the Real Faith and Philosophical Enquiry; “Anselms Ontological Argument” – St. Anselm, pg. 139). It is always difficult to understand and comprehend for anything to exist realistically.
(Heb. 6:1 faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. I would answer the Axiological question by saying, “God is the creator of the for universe.” Not only does he creates everything, he is everything. So that means because God is of value, we are of value too.We have to always keep God center. (Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other Gods me.)
2 EXPERIENTIAL APOLOGETICS One form of apologetics is called “Experiential Apologetics”. This method of apologetics asks “Have we experienced God?” We know God exists because we have been able to 3experience His being around us. This is very much the same as fideism, which is reliance on faith rather than reason in the pursuit for religious truth (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Experiential apologists could use their personal testimony, which is a vital
Calvin’s idea of predestination suggests that some people are God’s ‘elect’ and that, after death, these ‘elect’ will join God in heaven. Believers in predestination claim that our actions, whether ‘elect’ or ‘damned’, are predestined or decided by God; meaning that we have very little, if any at all, free will in our decision making or actions. This theory of predestination often leads people to believe in a God ‘who favours some but not all of his creation’, which would be intrinsically linked to miracles in the sense that, regardless of what we do, God has already decided whether he will interact with the world or perform a miracle. Miracles, in this sense, are seen not as unsystematic breaches of natural law but rather as the eternal intention of God for the world. For this reason, people who agree with Calvin in believing in predestination often find it difficult to understand why miracles aren’t common occurrences.
Descartes' argument in the Meditations is circular. Discuss. In trying to prove the existence of God, Descartes will, of course, have to rely on what he can clearly and distinctly perceive, because this is the only way he can know anything. However, Descartes also needs to prove that God exists for us to know what we clearly and distinctly perceive. This leads to the famous objection that he uses the existence of God to establish his doctrine of clear and distinct ideas, and that he uses his doctrine of clear and distinct ideas to establish the existence of God: his argument is circular.
Professor Barbara C. Sproul REL 205 Section 001 5 February 2013 Being or Not-Being Paul Tillich’s “Religion as a Dimension in Man’s Spiritual Life” is his argument against two groups of people, the Literal Theologians and Social Scientist. The Literal Theologians believe that Religion is given by God and he does exist as a being. While the Social Scientist argues that Religion is a man made and God is a being who does not exist. Tillich in the middle of this has a side that he supports and that side is neither. Paul Tillich argues against the literal theologians and the social scientists as well.
"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.
Essay on Topic: Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration There is an increasing debate as to the reliability and authority of the Bible. This debate is crucial for those of us that trust in the Bible regarding our salvation. To say the Bible is authoritative implies that it has a right and power to communicate its message for the purpose of directing us in every facet of temporal and eternal life. This “authority” must come from a source that holds a position powerful enough to provide such an endorsement. The Bible has such a source of authority, God.