Author: WyattPitts

Compare Paul’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9:1-23 with Justin’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Chapter XLIII: RESPONSIBILITY ASSERTED. Romans 9:1-23 says “

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory.”

Romans 9:1-23 explains that God is all powerful. He made everything and everyone. Justin says that God created man and is worthy of all praise. They both believed God deserves all praise, but were some what different in their beliefs.

What was the Great Schism? What factors brought it on? According to the New World Encyclopedia “The Great Schism, also called the East-West Schism, divided Christendom into Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) branches, which then became the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, respectively. Usually dated to 1054, the Schism was the result of an extended period of tension and sometimes estrangement between then Latin and Greek Churches. The break became permanent after the sack of Byzantium Constantinople by Western Christians in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.”

What are the sacraments? According to Wikipedia, “There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition”.

What is an indulgence? According to Wikipedia, “In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is ‘a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins.” 

Compare the ethical behavior of Zeus with the ethical teaching of Jesus. According to Wikipedia “Zeus (Ζεύς) is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman Equivalent Jupiter. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkunas, Perun, Indra, Dyaus, and Zoiz” So basically Zeus is the most powerful god of the Greeks. He is very powerful and ruthless. He was not someone that you would want to be around. To the Greeks it was make the gods happy or else they would bring you bad sanctions, but if you didn’t make Zeus happy your pretty much dead. 

While Jesus teaches us that we are all loved and have a chance to make it to Heaven. We need to admit that we are sinners, believe that Jesus died for us, then confess Him as Lord. After we believe in him we need to Stop doing all the bad stuff we wee doing then do what God wants us to do.

Romans 3:23 ” For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this While we were still sinners Christ died for us”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Acts 5:8 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I know that the better choice of these two is Jesus.

 

What were the problems besetting the Church in the tenth and eleventh centuries? What was “moderate reform”? In the tenth and eleventh centuries the church had started to develop some problems. One of these problems is called deteriorate which according to the dictionary means “become progressively worse.” So basically the church started to worsen because people in the Western Empire couldn’t do what they needed to because the Empire was to big. The church was caught in a feudal system, so the church officials started acting like vandals and this disrupted the church. The moderate reform was a time where Pope Leo IX wrote a Collection of 74 Titles. 

Describe the events that took place during the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV. What was at stake? When Pope Gregory VII was elected he said thing about Henry IV that he didn’t like. Gregory said that Henry was only supposed to to specific things and not elect clergymen. If he didn’t do this then the Pope said that he was a tyrant. This started an argument against these two and it ended with Henry exiling Gregory and because of it Gregory died. 

What was Christendom? Christendom is something that refers to Christians and everything about them. So basically it refers to me too because I am a Christian. 

How were adoption and inheritance related in Paul’s thought? All throughout Paul’s life he wrote many of the books from  the New Testament. Some of these are Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon. These books (also called letters) of the Bible were written to other churches and people. He even wrote some of them while he was in prison for preaching. Some books were written to teach others like 1-2 Timothy. 

So how were adoption and inheritance related in Paul’s thought? Paul tells us that when we become Christians God adopts us. And so we inherit the kingdom of God. No one is an heir to Gods kingdom. Because Adam sinned we are all now born sinners. In the book of Roman’s there are many well known verses which people call the Romans Road. Some of the well-known verses are Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Then Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” John 3:16 is maybe the most well-known verse from the Bible. It says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Paul wanted everyone to be save that he was willing to risk his life for people to be saved. Paul also wanted people to know that anyone can be saved. Some people think that God won’t accept them because they sinned too much or did to big of a sin, but for God there is no such thing as too big of a sin or too much sin. He will accept anyone. 

 

Describe feudalism and manorialism. According to the dictionary feudalism is “the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.” Basically this means that people could live on some ones land and work for him to provide him with supply’s. In return the people got military protection because this was the time of Barbarian and Viking invasion. 

According to Britannica “manorialism, also called manorial system, seignorialism, or seignorial system, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.” This is basically how ownership worked at this time. 

Why were the Sadducees and the apostles unable to find a way to reconcile their rival opinions? According to Wikipedia “The Sadducees were a socio-religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes.”

Throughout the book of Acts the Sadducees and the apostles were having a conflict against each other. The book of Acts can be located in the New Testament of the Bible. The Sadducees were practicing the mosaic law and the apostles were preaching the new law of Christianity. The Sadducees were really mad at the apostles because they saw them as a threat and because of their teachings. The were willing to do anything to stop the apostles from preaching their belief, even kill them. They captured, imprisoned, and killed the apostles so they would stop, but they didn’t. Some of them were even happy they were being arrested because that meant that people knew who they were, because they would die for their faith, and they would go to be with the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 16:13 Paul tells the other apostles to “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Another verse that tells us to stand firm is 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

The Sadducees were angry at Paul for sending these letters to others so they did everything they could to scare the apostles and to stop them from preaching, but they wouldn’t. The apostles knew that what they were preaching was right so they did anything that they could to let others know. The Sadducees would not give up their Mosaic law for Christianity. They wouldn’t accept it so they killed the one’s who preached it. This proves how much the apostles loved God, that they were willing to die for Him.  

What kind of person emerges from the Procopius portrayal of Justinian? According to Wikipedia “Procopius was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian’s wars, Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century, writing the History of the Wars, the Buildings, and the Secret History.”

Procopius begins by describing Justinian’s physical characteristics which aren’t bad, then he describes his personality’s which is bad. When Justinian became Emperor he changed pretty much everything. He basically ruined everything, but has one goal to unify Africa, Italy, Spain, Gaul and Britain with orthodox Christianity.

 

According to Mark’s gospel, what was the main issue dividing Jesus from the leaders of Israel? This past week I have been learning about the book of Mark. Mark is located in the New Testament in the Bible. It is the second and shortest of the four Gospel. In Greek the work Gospel means “good news”. Mark covers from Jesus’s birth to His ascension.  

One of the main issues dividing Jesus from the leaders of Israel is that Jesus was claiming to be the son of God. Whenever Jesus said this they called it blasphemy and became angry. An example of this is Mark 14: 61-64 “Once again the high priest interrogated him: ‘Are you the messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? ‘ Then Jesus answered: ‘I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

One other issue was Jesus’s miracles. Jesus did many miracles including walking on water, casting out demons, healing blind men, lepers, mute people, and feeding hundreds of people from very little food. Basically He could do anything because He was God. One of these miracles is casting out a deaf and dumb spirit in Mark 9: 14-29.

14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

Mark is a great book and I encourage you to read it.

The process by which Christianity was spread in England. According to BBC, “We tend to associate the arrival of Christianity in Britain with the mission of Augustine in 597 AD. … It began when Roman artisans and traders arriving in Britain spread the story of Jesus along with stories of their Pagan deities.”

Who was the Venerable Bede, and why was he significant? According to The British Library, “Bede was one of the greatest scholars of the Anglo-Saxon period. He produced a large number of works on subjects as varied as science, music, poetry and biblical commentary, but he is most famous for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, one of our best-written sources for early English history”. He was significant because he was a great writer and teacher. He was considered to be the greatest scholar of his time by multiple historians.