Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions: 
         

                    Initial Question:

The Bible is easily the greatest work of literature the world has ever known and Saint Augustine, one of the most influential Church fathers.

Augustine, through his example, calls us to confess our sins and receive Christ as our Lord.  His explicit descriptions of his transgressions, in fact, seem to give the most dastardly among us hope.  We can be totally swallowed up by secularism or the total rejection of God, yet somehow find footing on the right path if only we acknowledge our sins and submit.

Why is Christianity so hard to swallow for many individuals?  Has secularism grown so much as to completely eclipse Christianity?  Is Augustine giving sound advice?  Why or why not?



                                  My Answer:

Even though Christianity is one of the most influential religions, many individuals find it hard to swallow due to the critics that have challenged Christian teachings, beliefs, and practices, making the parallels evident. The intellectual arguments against Christianity have revealed many parallels in the Christian doctrine made it difficult for many people to believe and accept the teachings of Christianity (Puchner, Martin, et al, 2012). In addition to that, many people perceive the Christian doctrine as a myth, illusionary or rather hallucination due to the events in the Bible seem unreal and are beyond human understanding (Yamauchi 1). For instance, the resurrection of Jesus is a superficial event that is difficult to swallow. A reexamination into the evidence of the resurrection of Christ shows that Jesus was killed as a human, his bodily ascent to heaven was also human yet he resurrected as divine (Ford 3). Over the years, secularism has grown so much to a point of completely eclipsing Christianity. Christianity generates culture and sets the ways of life that many Christians should conform to, this is rather difficult for many Christians. For example, it sets guidelines on how individuals should dress on sexuality and drunkenness among others.

        Secularism, on the other hand, grants individuals the free will to exercise their liberties without feeling tied to religion, and this has made it gain popularity than Christianity. Secularism rejects the Christian belief system that is more complex (Fowles 471). Fowles further notes that secularism provides liberation from the restrictive Christian framework. St. Augustine gives sound advice while recognizing the human race has fallen short of God’s glory due to secularization. The supernatural being monitors every human deed punishing our transgressions (Yilmaz and Hasan 79). Augustine is aware of God’s wrath. Humans have prioritized secularism and deviate from the teachings of God. When the Israelites walked away from the commandments of God, He became angry with them and chose to reject all of Israel’s descendants, sending them afflictions and setting them in plunders’ hands (2 Kings 17: 18-20). Augustine is, therefore, calling the human race to come back to God and repent their transgressions to avoid an overflow of God’s wrath. Just like the Israelites, God will reject us the way we have rejected him. He is a jealous God and does not want subdivided attention. Augustine emphasizes that we repent for God to deliver us from His vengeance. 

                                                                                            
                                                                                              
                                Reference(s):

Ford, James L. "Buddhism, Christianity, and The Matrix: the dialectic of myth-making In the    contemporary cinema." Journal of Religion & Film 4.2 (2016): 1.

Fowles, Severin M. "An archaeology of doings." Secularism and the study of Pueblo religion, Sant Fe  (2013).

Yamauchi, Edwin M. "Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History." (2016).

Yilmaz, Onurcan, and Hasan G. Bahçekapili. "Supernatural and secular monitors promote human cooperation only if they remind of punishment." Evolution and Human Behavior 37.1 (2016):79-84  

Puchner, Martin, et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed., A, B & C, W.W. Norton 2012. Print





                            Follow-Up Question:

Hi, Daniel.

Your understanding of the events of Easter sound very Gnostic.

What does it say about human nature that so many people default to the easier path of secularism?  What Jesus paying us a compliment when He called us sheep?