Theology between the Version of the Testaments - Coursework Example

? Christianity Religion and Theology user [Pick the Describe the teachings of Paul. How do they differ from those of Jesus in the Gospels? There is a great difference of cardinal approaches in theology between the version of testaments, teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Saint Paul. The teachings of Jesus were directly related with the books of the Christianity that are regarded as the authoritative and theological resources in the studies whereas the teachings of Paul were the results of efforts in order to align the theological beliefs and practices with the ongoing social evolution. For example Jesus said that the behavioral component to his requirements for "salvation” is necessary and along with that, a person must ensure to perform good deeds in the physical nature and without this the salvation is difficult whereas Paul said that the internal nature and feelings of a human beings are necessary and there is not an elevated need of deeds and actions at the apparent level. Similarly there are numerous contradictions between the teachings of Jesus and Saint Paul for example Jesus said in the gospel of Luke that God is only of the living beings and there is no relation of the dead people with God whereas the statement of Saint Paul contradicts it and says that God is of both living beings and the dead (Jones, 2006). Explain the schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Roman Catholic churches are regarded as the oldest institution of Christianity in the western world and the time period of the establishment of the Roman Catholic churches is around 2000 years. Roman Catholics believe that The Pope is the authority in Christianity because the pope is the direct descendent of Saint Peter which was nominated by Jesus himself before he went away from this world. Orthodox churches do not consider Pope as the authority and claim that he has amended the real teachings of the Jesus and the textual references of Bible. A roman catholic preach is not allowed to marry whereas a priest from the Orthodox Church is allowed to marry. Similarly, the orthodox churches believe that as soon as the baptism takes place, any person becomes eligible for the holy communication between him and God whereas the Roman Catholic Church does not give the permission for the holy communication except priests. In the orthodox churches, all the saints including the mother of Jesus are considered to be equal and there is not classification done between any of the saints both of present times and past whereas in the Roman Catholic churches, Mary is valued as the highest in the saints and they chant "hail Mary" prayer every day in the church almost for forty to forty five times (Wordwiz, 2011). What issues did each of the Protestant Reformers (Luther, Calvin, the English Reformers) have with the Roman Catholic Church? Be specific. The main difference of opinion started when Martin Luther, who was a monk, professor and priest at the University of Wittenberg started to question the process of forgiveness in Christianity and said that how is it possible that a person can be forgiven and atoned for one’s own actions. The Roman Catholics church argued that a person can only be forgiven even in his post baptism life if he repents and then confesses all his sins in front of a priest. Martin Luther said that the forgiveness is not because of the apparent confessions of a person rather it is part of the grace of God on man. The eternal salvation can never be achieved if the person really does not feel ashamed of all the action of sins he did and the feeling of shame is also given because of the grace of God. The characters, priests and symbolic remarks cannot be used in the long run in order to ensure forgiveness. There was another protestant reformer named John Calvin who said that the destiny of human beings have already decided who will be given forgiveness and who will not be gifted grace of God so there is no point in doing the confessions and rituals in the churches. A person can evaluate the course of his life by the level of his life, his attention in the sacraments and .other major signs. This was clearly challenging the pre defined themes and theological aspects of Christianity. There is a wide variation in Christianity as it is currently practiced. Identify and explain at least three points of difference among Christian groups. There are numerous groups and volatile nature of following of theological principals in Christianity. The Christadelphians are considered as non-Trinitarian, millennial group amongst the Christians who follow the general norms and code of conducts of Christianity. This group does not have any priest, monk and central leadership rather they follow the pre defined texts of Christianity. Their main difference is in the beliefs of trinity as they say that there is no such thing as three Gods and God is only one which is The Father. There is another group known as the Salvation Army who are Protestant denomination and their numbers are growing every day. They say that much efforts should be put on human services and only the confessions from sins is not the real option for the eternal salvation. The third point which is the main reason for the divisions is the authority of Pope and priests (Bbc, 2010). Pick one description from the section of subdivisions from your virtual tour. Describe how it developed and why it still exists. The Church of Scotland is the major subdivision among different groups of Christianity. The Church of Scotland is mainly related to the Protestant Christians. It was established as a result of some major internal conflicts in between the churches and priests. In 1732, some people said that the patrons and priests are being appointed only by the choice and consents of some individuals rather the standards practice of church was to appoint any priest by the unanimous decisions of congregations. This led to an internal conflict and a group of people were broken away from the main hierarchy and Original Secession Church. The people who went away from the main group formed the Church of Scotland and made their own beliefs and practices and claimed to be aligned with the theological texts of Christianity. In the present time, Today's Free Church of Scotland is a continuation of Church of Scotland and it was formed as a result of more divisions inside the group and denomination after a major union in 1900, taking a more conservative position (Bbc, 2010). References Bbc.co.uk (2010) BBC - Religion: Christianity. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/ [Accessed: 17 Feb 2013]. Jones, E. (2006) Paul Contradicts Jesus. [online] Available at: http://www.voiceofjesus.org/paulvsjesus.html [Accessed: 17 Feb 2013]. Wordwiz72.com (2011) Paul vs. Jesus -- disagreement and contradictions between the Christian founders. [online] Available at: http://www.wordwiz72.com/paul.html [Accessed: 17 Feb 2013]. Read More