A person may perceive a certain image of what God is, like a trinket or something they have seen that reminds them of God. Then they start to pray to that every time instead of praying to God. This is a point he is trying to make by saying that it is still a major sin but that sometimes we don’t notice the smaller things as being bad. This book teaches a lot about the nature of God. Screwtape has a hard time believing that God actually cares for His people, unlike, “Their Father Below”.
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.
In particular, when speaking of Spies, the lines are not as clear as they do not accept the tenets of Christianity but see activities such as prayer or forgiveness as useful to the secular world. Because of this area of debate, the idea of absolutes is not possible. Without absolutes, how can we actually give someone guidance on how and where to go in their lives? Without a spiritual path that is laid out and definite, where does someone with a troubled soul go? I am grateful for the door that the book opens by illustrating how the two worlds of psychology and Christianity can be married yet as in any marriage, there is always areas that are not
So he finally “saves” himself by pretending to see Jesus. One has to wonder what would of happened if Langston didn’t step forward? I guess it’s hard to say. Maybe, it is kind of obvious that he was afraid to be rejected, so he fell into the trap of trying to please his aunt and the members of the congregation. This leads us to the fact as people, we tend to believe strongly in an
Hale is also at the Proctor household because Elizabeth’s name was mentioned in the court and Hale decided he would notify them and take precautions. Hale asks John to say his commandments to prove that he is a Christian man who loves god but when John says his commandments he forgets one. His wife Elizabeth reminds him it is the commandment of adultery. Even though John forgets this commandment and he is guilty of adultery with Abigail Williams,
Although Hawthorne is again somewhat ambiguous, the text suggests that Mr. Hooper’s veil is meant to symbolize the inherent sin that lies inside him (as well as the congregation). For example, Mr. Hooper attempts to explain to his wife the reasoning behind his consistent wearing of the veil. He attests, “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough…and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?” (Hawthorne 28). This hidden sin or mysterious origin of why Mr. Hooper is wearing the veil is what he hopes the congregation will eventually come to mimic and recognize in themselves. But instead of adopting this concept, the congregation sees the veil as a mental and physical barrier separating them from the minister.
A lot of Christians fear of looking at themselves on the inside because they are afraid they will become very self-absorbed. The Bible states “We all fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The biggest issue with a fallen human being is denial. Christians are often advised on only focusing on Christ rather than evaluating themselves. Things that should guide people towards repentance could potentially keep their focus looking inside themselves.
Christianity teaches that people should not work on the day of Sabbath as God himself didn’t and that it should be the day of rest. However, Jesus didn’t follow these rules and decided to do the most loving thing and heal a sick person on this day even though he wasn’t supposed to. Some could argue that situation ethics and its ideas about love fit into Christian theology perfectly because even Jesus broke rules to do the most loving thing possible. Johns part of the gospels state that “God is love” and from this we can interpret that Christians must live their lives by trying to be Omnibenevolent and doing the most loving thing in all situations no matter how extreme. Fletcher incorporated the quote from the gospels into his ethical theory and devised six propositions and four principles.
After the first time I put myself in her shoes per say, and realized that the author was just trying to emphasize the repetitive lives that the characters now live. It also shows how severe the handicaps are and how she is almost completely unaware of what’s actually happening in her life other than her present few moments. When Hazel mentions that she would play chimes on Sundays in honor of religion, still slightly confuses me. Is the author trying to show that the characters still have faith? Is the passage just simply trying to show how Hazel is trying to keep herself consciously thinking about something for a decent amount of time, but then her thoughts are quickly changed?
Now I will explain situation ethics, the idea developed by priest Joseph Fletcher in the 1960’s. Situation ethics is deciding the best thing to do in a situation when we feel there are no particular moral guidelines to follow. Some people would describe situation ethics as a modern day dilemma, and that maybe it makes you more confused about a situation if you already had your mind partially made up- as it often comes to two conclusions that you have to decide which one is best; it does however help you make an informed decision. Some would argue that situation ethics is immoral because it gives everyone the chance to prove everything in a positive light, which surely is not beneficial for our society. Through practicing situation ethics, you show pragmatism, the Christian goal is love, and you must try and achieve love no matter what.