Category: Religion and Theology

In this assignment, you will have the opportunity to explain how to find your purpose by completing the “Finding Your Purpose” document.
Use topic Resources to support your claims. 
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Reminder: This is a templated document so the LopesWrite score will be higher due to the directions and questions.

please combine my original paper(annotated ) with the second that includes citations to be one formulated paer

Getting Started
Psalm 19:1
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
Psalm 111:10
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1
But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life…. 
Romans 1:18-23 – The Message
10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:10-12
15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
Resources
Bible
Pearcey, N. (2008). Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois. Read Chapter 4, “Surviving the Spiritual Wasteland.”
Three Tests for Determining Truth” by Brent Cunningham: https://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=584
Worldview Chart Comparing Core Ideas of Worldviews: https://www.summit.org/resources/worldview-chart/
Background Information
As people, we all start in the same boat. The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 3, that none of us are righteous, understand, or seek after God. To even begin to understand truth Paul reminds us that we need God’s revelation. Without God enlightening us through the work of His Holy Spirit as we hear and read His word, we would all be without understanding and remain in darkness and the futility of our own thinking. However, once we come to a knowledge of God and salvation by faith in Christ, we are called to continue to grow in our understanding, seeking to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and to have the mind of Christ. Indeed, part of the greatest commandment is to love God with “all of our mind…”
Loving God with our mind means learning to think like Him, have His perspective, and view the world as He made it to be. We need to be grounded in a Biblical worldview. Especially when it comes to ethical and moral decision-making, evaluating issues, ideas, and theories using Biblical principles is essential so that as Christians we can continue to be the salt and light God wants us to be in the world. When we choose to live by the truth and follow Christ, everything we do is an opportunity to model truth and grace that brings greater freedom to others and the world.
Consider the following tests for determining truth: Truth by its nature is…
Non-contradictory – it does not violate the laws of logic.
Absolute – doesn’t depend on time place or conditions.
Discovered – it exists independently of our minds, we do not create it. It is there, whether we know it or not.
Descriptive – it is the agreement of the mind with reality. The evidence matches reality. Stated claims correspond with actual events or evidence.
Unchanging – it exists above all things.
Exclusive – if something is true then it automatically excludes other things. It may coexist with other things but it does not contradict them.
Over the last several weeks, you have explored specific worldview ideas that clash with a Judeo-Christian framework and how they can affect ethical decision-making. In this week’s devotion, you will complete a reading, giving you tools to evaluate all theories, worldviews, religions, and ideologies so that you can compare them to a Biblical worldview. You can also use this process as you continue in your social work career to evaluate any new practice models, policies, and theories that you encounter. All truth is God’s truth no matter who discovers it, and if it is truth, it will be consistent with the word of God. Using the truth tests above and evaluating ideas through the filter provided in this assignment will help you make strong ethical practice decisions.
Instructions
Read Chapter 4: “Surviving the Spiritual Wasteland” in “Total Truth” by Nancy Pearcey. 
Read “Three Tests for Determining Truth” by Brent Cunningham. (https://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=584)
Review the Worldview Comparison Chart.
Navigate to the threaded discussion and respond to three of the following four discussion questions/prompts:
Describe the three sets of questions Pearcey describes to ask of a worldview, including Christianity. Identify them and explain in general how can you use them to assess the worldview of a theory, ideology, or religion.
Explain how a Christian worldview might impact one’s ideas about family or education as described by Pearcey. What thoughts do you have in response?
Summarize Pearcey’s evaluation of one of the following theories based on the components of a worldview (Marxism, Rouseau, Sanger, or Buddhism). Describe an insight you gained from assessing the theory through a worldview lens.
Finally, discuss how you can use a worldview approach to evaluate theories underlying practice or policy interventions as a social worker. Also, how can this approach help you to work with clients, families, or groups to evaluate their underlying religious or worldview assumptions and their ethical implications? Explain.
Your postings also should:
Be well developed by providing clear answers with evidence of critical thinking.
Add greater depth to the discussion by introducing new ideas.
Provide clarification to classmates’ questions and provide insight into the discussion.

Instructions: Choose two of the following prompts and write an essay on each of them.
Each essay should be a minimum of 750 words and a maximum of 1000 words. For all
questions, be sure to use specific examples from the textbook and course notes.
NOTE: You may not focus on the same religious tradition in both questions. In other words,
if you choose to compare Christianity and Islam in question 1, then you should not write
about either Christianity or Islam in your second response.
Questions
1. Many religions have sacred texts that eventually get organized into a canon. Why is the
process of canonization so important to understand? Choose any two of the religious
traditions that we looked at in the course and compare and contrast their canonization
processes.
2. Many New Religious Movements are derived from existing traditions. What themes
unite the new religious movements rooted in Eastern traditions? How do these
concerns compare with the central themes expressed in the new religious movements
based in the Abrahamic tradition?
3. Throughout the course, we’ve talked about the difficulties in establishing definitions
and categories. Explain some of these challenges when talking about “religion” broadly;
why is there no universally agreed-upon definition for religion and how can this be
mitigated? Then, think the terms “new religion,” “sect,” and “cult.” Why is it sometimes
difficult to distinguish between these three terms? Provide one example of each and
explain why you’ve classified it that way.
4. The different understandings of a possible life after death reflect the cultural values and
historical circumstances out of which they arose. Compare and contrast different
understandings of the afterlife in any two of religious traditions that we examined in
the course in the light of their respective cultural and historical circumstances.
5. Choose either Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or Indigenous Traditions and discuss the role
of women in this tradition. How has the role and place of women in your chosen
tradition/culture changed over time? What issues regarding gender and sexuality are
currently being considered within the community? Be sure to consider how gender
appears in the sacred texts/stories and whether/how women appear in leadership
roles.
6. All religious traditions change over time. Choose either Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or
Indigenous Traditions and compare the ancient practices to modern ones. How are the
ancient and modern practices related? What historical developments are important for
analyzing the transition between the ancient and modern periods in your chosen
tradition?

Many new religious movements are derived from existing traditions. What themes unite the new religious movements rooted in eastern traditions? how do these concerns compare with the central themes expressed in the new religious movements based on the Abrahamic tradition?

Discuss the premillennial view of the rise and fall of the four empires in Dan 2 (“Gentile History in a Nutshell”) and the rise of the final kingdom.  Discuss such matters as who they are (identify and support), famous persons (such as Alexander the Great), the rise and fall of each, the destruction of these empires as a whole by the fifth kingdom, and the relation of the the final kingdom to what is prophesied in Revelation.

Essay Questions [Answer any five of the following. They cannot be answered adequately in only a few sentences.]
11.​Discuss the similarities and differences between the two creation accounts ​in Genesis 1-2.
12.​Explain why the events associated with the Exodus and with Sinai might ​be said to be the two most formative events in Israel’s development as a ​people. Try to be specific.
13.​What is the nature of the relationship between prophet and king in the history of Israel’s monarchy?
14.​What is the synoptic problem and how does the Two-Source Hypothesis provide a possible answer to this problem?
15.​Respond at length to the following statement: “The Gospel writers’ main ​intent was not to communicate to their readers a set of historical facts but ​to lay out the meaning and significance of Jesus for creating and fostering ​faith in Jesus.”
16.​Explain the significance of St. Paul for the development and spread of ​early Christianity.
​
17.​Why did the Roman Empire persecute Christian? What kinds of ​objections did pagans raise against Christians?
18.​What were the major differences of opinion as to the identity of Jesus, ​both historically and theologically?

Describe How the sacramental view of salvation (saved through infant
baptism) which was taught in Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism,
was addressed by Wesley’s teaching and ministry? 

Week Seven Writing Assignment
Attached Files:
Score Card Rubric for Effectively Written College-level Essays.60 point scale.rev.doc (36.5 KB)
PROMPT:
Imagine that six months ago a family member was involved in an automobile accident and has been in a coma ever since. The physicians hold little hope for a recovery, stating that the patient is in “a persistent vegetative state.” They have suggested that the family authorize them to stop feeding through the stomach tube and “let nature run its course.” Confused, you turn to your closest friends—a Reform Jew, a Progressive Protestant, a Roman Catholic, a Sunni Muslim and an advocate of the “Death with Dignity” movement—for counsel as you struggle to make a decision. Which friend(s) do you find to be most helpful in reaching a decision? Why?

Explanation of Assignment:
Part 1:
Develop a broad, biblically based conceptualization of sanctification. Include
a workable definition of sanctification
clarification of roles (God, self, others)
the end goal(s)
how the transformation takes place (methods)
In this section, be sure to include
the role Truth (especially God’s word);
honesty about one’s inner life and motives;
the role of love (especially God’s love and the need for Christian community for growth) in the transformation process.
Note: Part 1 should be your longest section. The learning resources (i.e., reading, lectures, and the Bible) should be heavily used to substantiate your views. Be sure to cite your sources, using footnotes for references throughout the paper, and compile a full bibliography of sources.
Part 2:
Articulate how weakness and suffering contribute to the sanctification process. You will need to do more than cite verses on weakness and suffering; instead, you will need to explain how God uses suffering to promote His end goal(s) of the sanctification process. Please give a rationale for how suffering/weakness contributes to the definition and end goals that you previously stated in section 1. Your conclusions in this section need to be woven together with the conclusions you drew in section 1.
** I have also attached a Word document as an additional reference source**