The Formation Of The Biblical Canon Essays -

The Formation Of The Biblical Canon The Canon of Biblical Writings For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were no t. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, ?Isn't Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God's Word and ?Isn't the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon's accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging implications of the process. Old Testament In regards to evidence for the divine authority of the Old Testament, Jesus' words, parables, and actions in the New Testament force one to the conclusion that He viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as being ?of God.? He quotes or alludes to over one hundred and fifty Old Testament passages in the Synoptic Gospels alone. According to another count, Jesus and the New Testament authors quote various parts of the Old Testament Scriptures over two hundred and ninety five times, while never quoting an apocryphal or outside source one time. These quotations of Old Testament sources imply their belief in the divine inspiration of the Hebrew Scriptures. Many times Jesus would precede a statement with the phrase ?So it is written,? or ?Scripture says.? The authority of the Hebrew Scriptures was not ever called into question by Christ or His early followers, it was the belief in the normative status of the law, pertaining to all people for righteousness before God, that was not adhered to. That Jesus held to the Hebrew Scriptures as being authoritative is obvious. What is not obvious is exactly what collection of Hebrew writings was viewed as inspired by God in Jesus' day. Was Jesus' ?Old Testament? different from the one we have in our possession in the twentieth century? Justin Martyr, Origen, Melito of Sardis, Athenasius, Tertullian, Jerome, and Augustine all had different views on what documents were truly inspired by God and should be included in the canonization process, but they still agreed on the most important books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Much of the debate focuses on the books of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Joseph Bonsirven presents a different view in his book Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus Christ, ?As to the canon of Hebrew Scripture, it was firmly fixed by the time of Christ and included all the books of the Hebrew Bible. Although apocryphal books were read and used for edification, they were not considered a part of the collection of books written by prophets and thus of special divine authority.? In the end, there is reason to believe that the church came to recognize the ?right? books. Still, little is known about how and when the Old Testament canon was precisely formed. Did the people of Israel ever canonize their own writings or did the early Church of the first century have to canonize a set of writings for them? It is certain that this formation of Scriptures had

Teenage Pregnancies essays

Teenage Pregnancies essays Should the age of consent be lowered from 16 for heterosexual couples and to 18 for homosexual couples? But why does such a law exist. Hopefully, the following examines the commonly voiced arguments for and against the age of consent. Whatever the law passed in any country, there will always be supporters and opposers of it. Opposition can be for a number of reasons ranging from a sense of lost liberty to outright anarchy. The subject of sex however, is one that affects different individuals differently and amongst the popular arguments for under age sex are: that some young people might be mature and mentally as well as physically ready for a sexual experience a lot earlier than the prescribed age of 16; it may be the platform they need to progress from childhood to adulthood; it is a potentially enjoyable experience that they are being denied; it enables people to express themselves and their feelings early in life and not feel ashamed or inhibited about sex or sensitivity as they get older; it is a wonderful, mutually pleasurable pastime that in the main, does not cost money to perform; keeps you out of trouble and off the streets; it takes away the feeling of guilt and the need to sneak around behind your par ents back; there is less peer pressure on you to do it whilst at school; you can, through experimenting, decide on your sexuality and an early age;.... and no doubt the pro-arguments go on. In contrast, there are many compelling arguments to not only keep the age of consent where it is, but possibly to have it raised. Many of these have sadly been based upon unfortunate consequences of under age sex, but nevertheless serve to reinforce these arguments amongst which are: teenage pregnancies requiring many girls to drop out of school, give up their education and rob themselves of their youthful and social years; on the back of this, an early loss of innocence which man...

Is family therapy (a.k.a. Maudsley method) more effective treatment Research Paper

Is family therapy (a.k.a. Maudsley method) more effective treatment than individual therapy for anorexia nervosa - Research Paper Example is has been followed by researches and counter researches that are meant to disapprove either of the procedures and come up with the best therapy that suites everyone. Comparisons have been made to each of the therapies s as to identify loopholes that may be used to criticize either of the procedures. The controversies rose from prescriptions from doctors. Some doctors recommended that patients suffering from anorexia nervosa stood a better chance of quick recovery through family therapy. On the other hand, other doctors recommended that such patients were better off if they adopted individual therapy as a mode of healing their complication. As a result, there was conflict of interest. Many have since come up with varied finding most of which are supported by valid reasons. However much this matter still remains unresolved, quiet a number of people have believed on various findings and have since settled permanently on them. This course will help in identifying the best treatment amongst the two by giving relevant support points and evidences affiliated to researches conducted by different organizations and individuals. According my opinion that is justified by a number of researches which will be highlighted in this course, family therapy is far much better as compared to individual therapy because of very many viable reasons. This conclusion comes after numerous researches and comparisons that have managed to prove, beyond any reasonable doubts, that family therapy is a better procedure as compared to the latter. As already highlighted in the introduction, family therapy is far much better than individual psychotherapy. Family therapy involves the parents of the ailing teenage by making sure that the patient takes the correct type and amount of food. Parents are also advised by doctors to ensure that their ailing children do just enough body exercise. The disease of anorexia nervosa makes its patients believe that they are fat and hence the urge to cut weight