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Hart The Doors Of The Sea Summary

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David Bentley Hart’s, “The Doors of the Sea”, attempts to unravel a perplexity that has theologians at odds. In this work, Hart explores the horrible tsunami that occurred in 2004, which unfortunately devastated part of South East Asia. The result of this horrific act against humanity raises a few questions concerning the belief of a loving and divine being. Hart attempts to explain how a Christian God, who is all powerful and righteous, could allow such an evil act to claim the lives of so many innocent people. Some insist that the cruelty of this act is a sign that there is no God; while, others maintain that this horrid display of power proves without a doubt there must be a higher being. Hart tries to dismiss both of the previous notions …show more content…

First, Hart says this about all of Gods creations, “an endless sea of glory, radiant with the beauty of God in every part, innocent of all violence” (Hart, 60). Clearly, Hart is reiterating a foundational belief of the Christian faith, that God is dominant and virtuous. Later on, Hart asserts another well-known belief of the Christian faith, “that the will of God cannot ultimately be defeated…” (Hart, 66). Again, Hart argues that God is an all-powerful being that controls the entirety of everything. The problem with this is that Hart begins to stare away from these irrefutable truths. He begins to contradict his first claims and thus, raises some unanswerable questions. Hart starts his argument in the second section by claiming, “Nevertheless, and disturbing as it may be, it is clearly the case that there is a kind of “provisional” cosmic dualism… a conflict between a sphere of created autonomy that strives against God on the on hand and the saving love of God in time on the other” (Hart, 62). If God is all controlling and all powerful, how can their possibly be any other “provisional” source that contradicts his

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In Jonathan Edwards' fiery sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," he describes the horrible fate of those who do not open their hearts to God. He accomplishes this by employing the persuasive techniques of fear and guilt and by creating frightening imagery. By repeatedly reminding his parishioners of God's anger and their transgressions, Edwards uses fear and guilt to accomplish his goal. Edwards states that the unconverted "are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God" to demonstrate the abhorrence God has for them. God's anger and the consequences of transgressions are used repeatedly to produce fear; Edwards actively induces fear by describing the dead unconverted as "those who are now in the flames of hell."

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But God loved his people so much that his Son, Jesus Christ came to earth to make them right with God by dying on the cross to wash away all of their sins, and through God’s grace, they received salvation and restored their heart relationship with God. In this paper, I will discuss within the context of the Christian worldview who God is, what

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Stump’s two constraints of suffering, argues Draper, could not be taken place automatically in human experience. There is a group of people who cannot be justified by the negative benefit of harm prevention since they are sufficiently far away from the process of sanctification, and from the treatment of permanent separation with God. There are also those who do not consent to suffer for the future benefit of deeper union with God . Moreover, it is quite difficult to know how God knows exactly the human reaction to situations of suffering before allowing

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Mackie starts off by claiming this reply limits God’s supposed abilities. If God is incapable of creating good without also creating evil, then how can God be omnipotent? Logically, he cannot. Mackie also states that the idea of evil being a counterpart to good creates relativism between the two and become forms of comparison. This ignites the idea that God believes not in goodness but in the better.

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A “simple creature of flesh and bone”(76-77) is not seen as being capable of understanding god’s will. Unlike god a person’s views may be warped by emotion; someone may “suffer hell in [their] soul and [their] flesh.”(77) After the death of Akida Drummer the prisoners forget to pray for him as a direct result of their own suffering. Unlike a god they have been rendered unable to fulfill their promise to their friend because of their own emotional trauma. Sorrow and other emotional responses are described as a force capable of destroying one’s ability to reason. Furthermore humankind is not seen as having adequate trust in god’s will.

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Gods’ Hand in Devastation In the sixteenth century, a highly infectious disease known as the Black Plague, began to spread across the shores of Europe. The term the Black Plague was quickly recognized and feared by all Europeans. In just a short amount of time the disease had spread throughout the entire continent of Europe, killing roughly fifty percent of Europeans. Those who survived the disease were left wondering “why did this happen?”.

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Theorists opposing this argument hold that morality is not dependent on the will of God. These theorists limit God’s omnipotence is stating clearly that he cannot make what is wrong, right. The theorists then suggest that God has to bend His will to conform to what is right. They hold that God wills what is morally right because it is right. In this argument, I take the stand that morality is what God wills it to

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The existence of God has been presented by a multitude of philosophers. However, this has led to profound criticism and arguments of God’s inexistence. The strongest argument in contradiction to God’s existence is the Problem of Evil, presented by J.L Mackie. In this paper, I aim to describe the problem of evil, analyse the objection of the Paradox of Omnipotence and provide rebuttals to this objection. Thus, highlighting my support for Mackie’s Problem of evil.

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(Muncaster – Religion Lecture, 2016). Meanwhile, Christianity states there is only one god oppose to other religions that state the opposite. Due to the various amounts of moral disagreements between religions, it makes it quite difficult to believe in universal truths as everyday we encounter contradictions that exist within religions in explaining the meaning of good and

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