The Screwtape Letters is a book that uses Christian morals and values and takes the opposite side of them to try and condemn a young man to an afterlife in Hell. In the second chapter of the book the “patient” becomes saved and turns to God. He is not really sure what being saved is yet though. One thing that Screwtape tells Wormwood to use against the patient is the church. He would look at all the funny looking people in church and concentrate on them instead of what he was supposed to hear.
One negative aspect to his essay would have to be his bias toward conservatives and the rich. He deliberately labels out the rich in many of his examples by pointing out how they claim to be Christian but do not wish to help aid the poor. As for conservatives, he not only points out George W. Bush but refers at times to religion as “conservative religion.” This clearly shows his bias toward them and could be a way for him to associate them with the American Christianity problem. I believe McKibben has a great point on this issue. As American Christians, we always believe that if we do good deeds or help ourselves we go to heaven.
It is also because the words express the deeply held views of a wide swath of conservative Christianity. Buchanan’s speech epitomizes the Religious Right’s general view of the “culture war”—as a “religious war”3 that manifests itself on many “cultural” fronts, most urgently abortion, homosexuality (especially, now, marriage equality), education privatization, and curriculum content of the public schools. So the culture war is not simply conflict over abortion or gay marriage. It is a one sided war of aggression against the civil rights advances of women and minorities and the rights of individual conscience that we generally discuss under the rubric of religious pluralism and of separation of church and state. For these political aggressors, war is not merely a metaphor or the equivalent of a sports analogy.
He did not tell the people about his sin like Hester Prynne's was told. This sin made it unable for him to preach and bring a good change into people's lives because he was impure. People looked at him with great trust and saw him as a man of god but he betrayed that trust by giving into his feeling of lust for a short period of time. He is a impure minister of hidden dark secret which is against the rules of god, religion, society, and being a man of faith. The Scarlett Letter delivers a messege into our lives and teaches us an important rule in life.
However it does not end there, in Act 4 a further change occurs in the behaviour of Reverend John Hale. Hale begins to visit those who will not confess and persuades them to lie to save themselves. He turns completely against the Puritan rules and persuades people to do something that they know, to be good Christians, they must not do. When he tells Elizabeth to persuade Proctor to lie he puts forward his main argument: “God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.” This point in “The Crucible” shows how just how Hale has changed from the cold strict scholar, to the worried man looking only for what he believes to be right. Eventually Elizabeth persuades Proctor to confess and Hale encourages Danforth to speed up the process of the confession: “(quickly to Danforth) Let him sign it,let him sign it” showing that Hale wants to get it over with to prevent Proctor from getting too annoyed.
“There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!” (pg 30) Parris tried to defend himself with such passionate and heartfelt comments but Proctor would have none of it. To him Parris was not in his society. Also, his relationship with Abigail Williams was a strained one, plagued with affair, scandal, and betrayal. He did love her, but soon after seeing what she truly was he resented his connection to her and, like what his old true nature told him, he confessed, causing a resent to appear within the town that never gave him his old trust
Why is Reverend Parris so distraught? Describe his character. Find evidence to suggest that Rev Parris feels persecuted. Reverend Parris fears the worst for his reputation, if rumors/beliefs were to be going around than Rev Parris would almost defiantly be fired. Rev Parris is not so much worried for the children as he is for himself.
For Edwards this included his view on religion. He believed that “There is nothing between you and Hell but the air; it is only the power and the mere pleasure of God that holds you up.” (41) He wanted to convince to repent, to be reborn in Christ. Last but not least, he wanted to save sinners from a decent into Hell’s fury. The moral of his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was therefore that if sin is committed, a persons tie with God is broken and they will fall into the hands of Hell. Edward’s diction and tone gives his listeners and readers an eerie feeling, a fear for sin, and an awakening for the wrath of God about to come.
With this going on, it is no wonder why others believe that Evangelicals are motivated by hate. It has struck fear into many. There are groups that even feel that they are being persecuted by Evangelicals. Philip Yancey finally realizes at the end of the article where Evangelicals have gone wrong. “A person must court a virgin differently than a divorcee (Yancey, 2005).” Yancey realizes that the first words a non-believer should hear should not be of death but of love.
The Christian worldview understands that everything is the Lords and we are to treat it as such. Sometimes it is the lack of understanding regarding the ways of God and the principles of His word that can keep leaders from treating their employees with respect and with moral love. Nash (1992) stated, “Christianity simply will not make sense to people who fail to understand and appreciate the Christian doctrine of sin” (p. 48). It is easy to look at our ways as right when if they were put against the word of God we would see how wrong they really