Saturday, January 23, 2010

Vocab Pt. 2

Concept of God

Logos, Trinity, Redemption

Christians believe in logos, meaning that the universe is controlled by an intelligent higher power. They believe that there is only one God and that this God controls the universe. Although Christianity is a monotheistic religion, God is believed to be a holy trinity of three beings, the father, the son and the holy spirit. Christianity developed from Judaism and has many similarities with the Jewish concept of God, such as God’s merciful qualities, which are portrayed through the concept of redemption, or redeeming yourself in the eyes of God.

Goal For Humans

Salvation, Redemption, Ecumenism

In Christianity, the goal for humans is to enter into heaven after a person dies. A person can achieve this goal by having good moral conduct in his or her life. Through the study of eschatology, people can look towards the future and the final judgment of humans and the church and the role they play in the world. The concept of heaven can be applied to the concept of salvation, which is deliverance from suffering. Salvation can only come from God or Jesus and can be achieved by accepting God. Another way of reaching heaven is through redemption by worshipping God to be redeemed for a person’s sins or wrongdoings.

Sacred Texts

Parable, Gospel, Canon

A canon is a group of religious or biblical texts that are seen as authoritative texts or scripture that outline or teach different doctrines of a religion. For example, the Biblical Canon is the set of texts that constitute the Bible. The Bible is a combination of many religious texts including the gospels and parables. The Gospels are writings that describe the life of Jesus and they are comprised of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They describe the life of Jesus and his teachings but are written to different audiences during different time periods. A parable is a story that portrays a moral or religious lesson. Jesus used parables to teach people and used them as analogies for the religious and moral lessons that he taught.

Religious Experience

Miracle, Sacrament, Church, Agape

A large part of the religious experience for a Christian is the community of Christians all over the world who belong to the church. The church provides a community far all Christians to connect with each other, although the church can mean the worldwide group of followers, it can also mean a group of followers on a smaller scale in just one community as well. One of the major parts of being in this community is agape, an attitude of love that Christians have towards each other and the rest of humanity. Another large part of the Christian religious experience is performing sacraments and other rituals to show their faith to God and communicate with God. Another way for Christians to experience God is through miracles, which are considered to be acts of God that cannot be explained.

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