Some have criticized James in that they thought he was teaching that salvation was by works alone, but in reality he is complementing Paul’s teaching of salvation by faith. The two go hand in hand. Salvation by faith results in holy living (Harper, 1967). The book is included to help believers put their faith into action. It is not enough to talk the talk but to also live it (James 2:14, New Living Translation).
But it seems as though Russell feels he can rule that Christianity is not only one of its kind and that it is not true. We will see that his epistemological basics as well as his good credentials are narrow and we are doubtful of both his arrogant rationalism and his spiritual ability to defeat the Biblical and historical testimony to Jesus Christ. In addition, we will see that most of his believed logical refutations of arguments for God do not work (Britannica). Bertrand Russell thought that religious belief came from culture and fantasy. He thought that people believe in God because they have been taught as a baby to believe.
That's why I preach my way through entire books of the Bible, dealing carefully with each verse and phrase--even though that occasionally means spending time in passages that don't readily lend themselves to anecdotal or motivational messages. I am grateful to the Lord for the way He has used this exposi- tory approach in our church and in the lives of our radio listeners. But now and then someone tells me frankly that my preaching needs to be less doctrinal and more practical. Practical application is vital. I don't want to minimize its importance.
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES & KEY CONCEPTS Aaron T. Beck developed his approach known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as a result of his work and observations with depressed clients. C.B.T. is based on fundamental assumptions that our thoughts can and do determine how we feel and behave in relation to events in our everyday lives and our environment. Beck contends that psychological problems or dysfunctional behaviour can occur as a result of faulty or distorted thinking and through engaging and employing C.B.T. techniques we can change or modify the way we think, to cause us to feel and act better even if our external situations and events do not change.
Revelation as Dialectical Presence V. Revelation as New Awareness. Dulles explains and categorizes each one in his book. In his attempt to categorize and systematize, he does make some over generalizations that can be helpful and some that can be harmful in seeing truth and accuracy. While some models are well represented and explained, others are not as clearly explained. We will take a specific and focused look on his understanding of Revelation as Doctrine and skim over some of the strengths of the other models.
Philosophers, whether they are atheists, or believers have always been eager to discuss the existence of God. Some philosophers, such as St Anselm, and Rene Descartes, that formulated the ontological arguments attempt to prove of God’s existence, believe that we have proven that God exist through our senses, logic, and experiences. “Ontological” literally means talking about being and so in this case, that being is the existence or being of God. Ontological arguments are all have ways to prove the existence of God. This argument is very important for religious believers, but has come under criticism from those who do not believe, who say that it is flawed.
Some philosophers such as Aquinas believe that it is possible to talk meaningfully, truthfully and factually about God whereas others like Ayer believe this to be impossible. Philosophers have suggested that there are four ways that religious language might make truth claims about the reality of God and whether it can succeed in doing this – Via Negativa, Analogy, and Myth. The ‘via negativa’ or negative way is an attempt to prevent people from misrepresenting God. It claims that the only way we can talk about God is by saying what God is not. God is so beyond our ability to understand that the only way of seeing the reality of God is to continue saying what God is not, God is more than anything we can say of him.
It cites many peer-reviewed experiments, in which people are subjected to certain mental tests and questions. The book concludes that overall, faith can positively influence one’s subconscious mental activities if they truly believe that God can help them. One of the problems with the book is a lack of acknowledgement that strong, passionate belief can cause harmful actions. The Crusades and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were both initiated by people who interpreted their faith as a means to take harmful action against a group of people who do not share their faith. It’s important to address this danger, and although faith can certainly create the benefits described in How God Changes Your Brain, it’s irresponsible to ignore that faith, being a psychological tool, can be used for both positive and negative means.
Please remember, “Respect is not imposed, but earned.” I once experienced this: while I was having my report about something he assigned me to discuss, what he did was chat with my colleagues. I was thinking, “Hey! How are you going to give me those grades if all you do is blab?” I consider his actions as a rude one, thinking he is our mentor. He wants us to do our report even if he is not around. How is he going to give us those grades we need to earn if he was unable to hear, and listen to what the reports of my colleagues were about?
Moreover, Whitney challenges us to consider that godliness is the objective of the disciplines. Therefore, we are to approach them with gladness and not toil. The disciplines discussed in Whitney’s book are: Bible intake (one and two), prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. Many other disciplines have been debated by other authors, but