Bible Study Project: Application Template
Passage: Acts 9:36-43
A. What points of application can be made using the “Four Questions for Application?” State and explain 1 point of application for each of these four questions. Your explanation for each of these points should be 1 paragraph (150-300 words) in length.
1. The question of duty
Regarding the question of duty, Peter as a disciple of Jesus Christ, had a duty to pray for Tabitha when her life ended. It is vital to acknowledge that Tabitha was also one of the disciples. Notably, owing to the fact that Peter had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, his prayers were always heard by God. It is due to the personal relationship with Jesus and God that his prayer was heard, and Tabitha came back to life (Cartwright & Hulshof, 2016). At the Church I go to pray when a member of the church gets sick; the pastor announces it during a service and asks the church members to pray for the sick individual.
Remarkably, Christians have a responsibility to take care of each other and love one another, for it is the greatest commandment of God. Christians should always help others in their time of need, especially when sick. As Christians, we should acknowledge that prayer is powerful because Peter was able to bring back Tabitha to life. Notably, Christians need to form personal relationships with God and Jesus Christ to increase the chances of their prayers being heard. The only way Christians can help people in need is to help them by praying for their quick recovery because God has healing powers over all sicknesses.
2. The question of character as answered by assignment help service site.
A critical examination of the disciple, Tabitha, indicates that she is an exemplary example of good character. According to Acts 9:36, Tabitha was a woman full of good works and exhibited great deeds. It is vital to acknowledge that God often works through the Holy Spirit, which is why the Holy Spirit works through human beings, especially those who believe in God as the superior being (Cartwright & Hulshof, 2016, retrieved from https://assignmenthelpsite.com/category/social-sciences/). Notably, when human beings allow the Holy Spirit to have control over their lives, it is often evident in their actions. Remarkably, most people want to be like God because He made us in His own image and we are supposed to glorify His name for the good things He has done in our lives. It is vital to acknowledge that human beings can accept the Holy Spirit to guide their lives into righteousness through prayer.
Just like the Holy Spirit led Tabitha, Christians can accept the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them in their daily lives. Remarkably, Christians should acknowledge that God has only good intentions, and He cannot lead them in the wrong direction. The best way for Christians to be of good character is by trusting God and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them.
3. The question of goals
Based on the story about Tabitha, it is evident that the disciples were goal-oriented. When Tabitha died, the disciples made an effort to look for Peter to help in bringing Tabitha back to life. It is vital to acknowledge that the disciples were determined to see Tabitha rise from the dead, and this is the reason they called on Peter to help (Cartwright & Hulshof, 2016). Remarkably, the disciples had the information that Peter was not far away from Joppa, where Tabitha had died, and thus they traveled to where he was to seek his assistance. For my future career, I want to be the reason why people feel cared for and loved because I will be actively involved in helping them when they are suffering from their problems, such as addiction. I believe it is my passion is a source of motivation that has helped me to keep going to school. I have learned never to give up if the situation becomes difficult.
Just like the disciples had a goal to save the life of Tabitha, human beings should have a purpose in life. The disciples did all they could do in their power to help save Tabitha, who had just died. Human beings, and especially Christians, should learn to trust God to help them get through difficult situations.
4. The question of discernment
Peter, the disciple who brought Tabitha back to life, was well aware that the only thing he could do was get on his knees and pray to God, who is the provider of life. The act of Peter getting on his knees and praying to God is well stated in Acts 9:40 (Cartwright & Hulshof, 2016). It is vital to acknowledge that in difficult situations, there is a dire need to seek God’s help because He has all the solutions to our problems. There was this day that I had gone to town to make purchase some products for use in the house. I was getting into the supermarket a guy bumped into me and asked me for food. The unfortunate thing is that the guy was living on the streets, and he could not even afford to find something to eat. I sympathized with his situation and gave him all the cash I had on me. The guy got overwhelmed and greatly appreciated my kindness. As an individual who values assisting other people, I felt the need to help the needy guy. Just like Peter helped bring back Tabitha to life, it was imperative to help the stranger.
Reference
Cartwright, J., & Hulshof, C. (2016) Everyday Bible Study: Growing in the Christian Faith (2nd Ed.) Nashville, TN: B & H Academic: https://assignmenthelpsite.com/assignment-help-services/
GOD IN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM 2
Concept of God in Christianity and Islam
Student’s Name
Institution’s Affiliation
Concept of God in Christianity and Islam
Introduction
God is commonly seen as the highest deity, maker, and primary object of trust in monotheistic religions. Each of the three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam have varying practices and consideration about God. Nonetheless, Christianity and Islam are the primary religions of discussion in this paper. Based on the size of the dominance of the Abrahamic religion, Judaism is the largest, followed by Christianity and the Islam falls on the third position with the least dominance. The teachings of Jesus, a Jewish descendant, and a son of a virgin mother, Mary, are the foundation of Christian beliefs. Islamic religion, on either hand, finds its roots in the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad. He was the final apostle sent in by God, and the core mission of spreading the Islamic word and validating Jesus’ monotheism principles. As a result, there are certain similarities and distinctions between the concepts of God, and the accompanying belief systems and spiritual activities between these Christianity and Islamic faiths in terms of their fundamental beliefs. The reference for writing this thesis is outlined at exegetical research paper help service
Basic Tenets of Christianity
“God the Father”, “God the Son,” and “God the Holy Spirit” are really not independent individuals; rather, God’s identity is made up of the interaction among the three forms. Christians believes that the conviction in Deity’s Trinity is the way to Heaven’s everlasting life. Christians, more than any other faith, places a high value on their principles and more focused on maintaining righteousness. The source of the word “orthodox” is “right belief,” which refers to religious activities that are thought to adhere to the guidelines and conventions established by the larger Christian community. To call oneself a Christian, one should believe in and follow the Christian ideas and principles (Latief, 2011). To embrace the Holy Spirit’s involvement as well as the Father’s graces, one must embrace the precise lifestyle provided by Jesus Christ.
Basic Tenets of Islam
The fundamental pillars of Islamic religion regard God as a unique character and sovereignty, His creation of the earth and humankind, and mankind’s destiny after life. As the Islamic religion, God is considered as just one, with qualities such as being almighty, omniscient, and ethereal. Through His kindness, compassion, and might, the one God regarded as Allah rules over the entire cosmos. Allah is the one and only maker of the nice and lovely cosmos. Humanity is Allah’s most magnificent creations, with everlasting spirits capable of living perpetually with Heavenly father. According to the religion, Muslims should adopt the particular viewpoint in Allah, the Almighty Creator, as the only Deity, in order to achieve eternity in heaven (Esposito & Burgat, 2013). Muslims are also expected to exercise their faith by meeting the responsibilities referred to as the “five pillars” of Islamic religion. Regular prayer, recitation of the creed, almsgiving, pilgrimage to Mecca, and fasting throughout Ramadan are the five principles.
Muslims are required to recite Salat, which is the daily prayer as a way of worshipping God, five times daily, at dawn, lunchtime, midafternoon, twilight, and nighttime. This Islamic core belief, or Shahadah, is primarily comprised of a short statement: “there is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger (prophet of Allah), (La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah).” At least once in their lives, every Muslims are obligated to repeat the confession in its entirety, carefully and with enthusiasm, although most of the Muslims in the contemporary society do it many times per day. Providing to the needy is what almsgiving/charity, majorly referred to as zakat includes. Besides, the Muslims are expected to give 1/40 of their earnings to help the poor. Fasting (sawn) is the practice of refraining from meals, sexual activity, medication, nicotine, and alcohol from dawn to dusk throughout the holy month of Ramadan. Among the adult, normal Muslims are required or mandated to do the “Hajj” (pilgrimage) to Mecca (Esposito & Burgat, 2013). Every Muslim is expected to do the ritual at least once in their lives.
Similarities and Differences in the Concept of God between Christians and Muslims
Both Christianity and Islam are laid on the foundation of a single God, the Almighty and almighty creator of the world and humankind. Muslims and Christians also believe in the afterlife life or rather eternity, which is attained by clinging to the Christian belief of single God and following each faith’s prescribed principles. Even though the two religions share numerous ideas, principles and other aspects there are notable variances in their ideologies. God exists in three people according to Christianity (Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit). Muslims, on either hand considers God as just a single person, Allah. This creates a difference between the two religion’s consideration on the existence of God. Muslims consider Jesus Christ as a spiritual leader, the divine prophet while Christians adore him as God, where He falls under the “God the Son” in the Holy Trinity. This suggests despite both religions sharing Jesus as the divine being, their titles or roles varies such that the Islamic religion considers Him as a spiritual leader whereas the Christianity considers him as God. Christianity believe is founded on Jesus, who is believes to have rose from the dead and went to Heaven to join God, whereas Islamic religion is centered solely in Christ’ ascension though not in his crucifixion, death and resurrection. Therefore, both Muslims and Christians regards Jesus as a prophet. Despite the various difficulties surrounding Jesus’ identification by Christians who believes that he was a messenger of God, and hence he is God.
Besides, Christians maintains that all humans have acquired their parents; Adam and Eve’s sinful nature, whereas Muslims maintains their believes in Adam and Eve’s guilt but the variation from the Christians beliefs is that Muslims do not consider that all humans have inherited sin from Adam and Eve (Esposito & Burgat, 2013). As a result, in Christianity religion, the condemnation of everyone because of single person’s transgression is applicable, unlike the Islamic religion where sin is considered as a personal deed and hence the beholder takes the full responsibility. Another similarity arising between the Muslims and Christians is on the denominational divisions within the faiths. On the Christianity, God is the same for all the denominations, “the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Restorationism” whereas the Islamic religions also has the “Sunni” and “Shi’a” as the main two denominations. Despite the denominational differences among believers within these faiths, believers from both sides think that God would keep working with all of the varied denominations provided that they remain committed to the core foundations and remain obedient on the commandment that God gave them to govern their faith.
Considering the scriptural differences and similarities between the two religions, The Gospels, Torah, and Psalms are accepted as holy texts by Muslims, while the remainder of the Christian and Hebrew writings are disregarded. This suggests that despite the Muslims using Quran as their holy book and Bible for Christianity, there are some similarities in the readings, and so are the differences. Christianity, on the other hand, recognizes a wider biblical repertoire compared to Muslims, which includes prophetic and historical works, as well as wisdom and aesthetic writings (Esposito & Burgat, 2013). Furthermore, Christians maintains their believe that God intervened particularly in the form of Jesus Christ, according to Latief (2011). Jesus Christ is seen as Divine genuine likeness, as well as the savior and messenger who embodies and portrays God’s real picture to humanity. As a result, Christ is worshipped as both God and humanity in Christianity. Considering the creations, Christians believes that God made human beings in His likeness, and this translates to the reason why Jesus is considered as God-man (Genesis 1:27). Believers of Islamic religion, on the other hand, consider that humanity was not made in Divine fearfully and wonderfully, or rather in image and likeness of God (QS. 42:11). Conversely, according to Islam, they believe that Allah breathed new life into mankind after creating him from the “dust” of the ground (QS. 23:12; QS. 32: 9; 15:29). Through this, it can be suggested that Muslims have no idea of the real image of Allah, the God, or do not have an idea of his likeness like the Christians do.
Conclusion
Throughout this paper, the two Abrahamic religions, Islam and Christianity’s concept of God was evident to be possessing some differences and similarities based on the tenets of each religion. The faith in a single Supreme Deity is the common ground across Christianity and Islam. The distinctions in the understanding of God among these faiths, nevertheless, occur in the framework of the Trinity of persons: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through this, believers of Christianity trust in God’s presence as a trinity, which is considered as three persons in one in this Trinity (Mark 12:28). Nonetheless, Muslims in their Islamic doctrines believe in the oneness of God, which is inscribed in the Holy Quran (QS. 112: 1-4). Consequently, despite their differing viewpoints, both faiths are founded on monotheism faith which recognize and regard God as a single individual who is in charge of the entire universe, and above all the creator of the universe and all the things in it. However, some other differences occur between these religions which includes the roles and title given to Jesus, where the Islam considers Jesus as the spiritual leader, with divine power of guiding them throughout their religious lives while Christians considers Jesus Christ as God, and falls under the Holy Trinity as “God the Son,” unlike the Islam where Allah was the only single-person God. As can be seen from the above ideas, God, is considered as the highest actuality, and is the maker of the universe and everything as per the Islam and Christianity. He is considered as the creator as well as the nurturer and destroyer of all things. God is completely reliant on the rest of the globe. He is all-knowing and all-powerful.
References
Abulafia, A. (2019). British Library. Retrieved 2 May 2022, from https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions#:~:text=When%20people%20refer%20to%20the,on%20the%20main%20three%20aforementioned.
Craig, W. L., & Ally, S. (2002). The concept of God in Islam and Christianity. Debated by William Lane Craig and Shabir Ally at McMaster University.
Esposito, J. L., & Burgat, F. (Eds.). (2013). Modernizing Islam: religion in the public sphere in the Middle East and Europe. Rutgers University Press.Retrieved from https://assignmenthelpsite.com/exegetical-research-paper-help-service/
Hall, A. (2012). Why Christianity: Fundamental Principles and Beliefs. Charisma Media.
Humphreys, R. S. (2020). Islamic history. In Islamic History. Princeton University Press.
Larson, W. (2008). Jesus in Islam and Christianity: Discussing the Similarities and the Differences. Missiology, 36(3), 327-341.
Latief, J. A. (2011). The Concept of God in Christianity: an Islamic Perspective. Al-Ulum, 11(1), 1-16.
Miner, M., Ghobary, B., Dowson, M., & Proctor, M. T. (2014). Spiritual attachment in Islam and Christianity: Similarities and differences. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17(1), 79-93.
Renard, J. (2011). Islam and Christianity. In Islam and Christianity. University of California Press.
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