The Four Gospels

First of all I would like to say that this course was very interesting and thought provoking. To be able to choose just one specific area is going to be difficult but I would like to talk about the book of Mathew.

It’s interesting to first note that the gospels are not placed in order in the bible, but rather in the order of what makes sense. I was looking at the estimated dates of when the gospels were written and discovered that the gospel of Mark was actually written first, followed by Luke, then Mathew and finally John.

However, having said this, I find Luke to be the least in depth of all the gospels and Mathew to be the most detailed. I seemed to be constantly drawn toward the book of Mathew for the main reason that it’s the first book in the New Testament and has often been unofficially declared the “New Genesis”, meaning that it is the book that sets the foundation for the New Covenant.

Upon reading the book of Mathew we see that it starts with the outline of Jesus’ lineage demonstrating that His return was indeed foretold from the very beginning, in fact it was talked about in the book of Genesis. In fact it is quickly understood that Jesus is God incarnate and that He is coming to live as man so that He can fulfill the promises for the new kingdom, Jesus has to become a human and live among men not as a rich man but as a man of humility, He is born of a virgin whose husband is a carpenter. This picture of humility is illustrated many times throughout the bible as it is the spirit that is more important, the body is just a temporary shell and as we know, God does many great works through those who are looked down upon by the world. Jesus was no different, He was disrespected by many in His time but He demonstrated great faith and continued to share His teachings to all who would listen. Despite what people thought and said, Jesus was to become the new Adam except this time to live a life that was sinless, in a sense, cleaning up Adam’s mess!

The first part of Mathew talks about the birth of Christ and the visitation of the 3 Magi or Priests. We see right from the get go that Jesus was threatened with death by Herod so He had to be taken to Egypt until it was safe to return to Nazareth.

John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin paves the way for Jesus saying to the people that the Messiah is coming and when He does come, Jesus is baptized by John. We see that in order for the new covenant to succeed, Jesus has to experience all that man has had to experience, including being tempted for 40 days and nights by the devil. What this demonstrates is that Jesus not only became human but it shows that with the faith that Jesus had in His father, man can overcome anything, this is important because in order for Jesus to truly understand what man is, He has to become what man is, including the experiences of man.

After Jesus calls His first disciples, he travels throughout the land performing miracles, which included healing the sick and raising the dead. This is also the time when Jesus lays down the law, so to speak, starting with the beatitudes and reaffirming that the law will indeed be upheld until the end of time and if any of the laws or commandments are broken, they will be called least in the kingdom, but for those who practice and teach the laws, will be great.

Jesus, for those who may have had a memory lapse, provided some refresher courses around the commandments so that all knew what had to be done. Jesus also taught about other things that must happen, from practicing humility, feeding the hungry, loving your enemies, fasting and prayer, just to name a few.

The book of Mathew is a book of great wisdom and is an instruction manual for eternal life and riches. Jesus had never ending wisdom and that wisdom He taught through parables, in fact the book of Mathew is the first we see of the parables and we see 14 of them, the other gospels talk about the parables but in less detail. The idea behind the parables is that if you have the “eyes and ears” needed, meaning the true faith of God, you will understand Jesus’ parables. I have found this in my personal life as I have grown in my faith. When I first started out reading the New Testament, I didn’t really understand, I saw Jesus’ parables as really confusing stories, but now, I have re read them and they make a lot of sense, the depth of such wisdom in them is unparalleled anywhere else, in fact many times in Mathew we see the disciples asking Jesus what He meant by His many stories. This has always been a surprise to me, even after they saw Jesus perform such wondrous miracles, they still questioned their faith and they still questioned Him, can you imagine!

As part of Jesus’ ministry, we see Him cast out demons and thus we have the first exorcisms recorded, and with His great teachings, the disciples learned to do the same thing. This demonstrates and foreshadows on a smaller scale, the predicted defeat of Satan, the defeat that will signal the beginning of the new kingdom.

Mathew is also the book where we see the great sermon on the mount, when Jesus knows that His end is near and He has gathered all in the land to pass on the things that must be done in order for the new kingdom to be successful. The sermon on the mount is what Christians should be abiding by today…He basically has said that we are the body of Christ and that it is important for us to go forth as the arms of Christ and reach out to all that need to be saved, helped and healed. This sermon is probably one of the most important ones in the entire bible and I would say that this is the “backbone” of Christianity.

Jesus demonstrates a couple of times in this book, the awesome power of faith and prayer, specifically demonstrated with Him feeding the five thousand and the four thousand; during these times, Jesus goes off on His own and prays to God demonstrating to the people that God is indeed their provider, as a result all of the people were fed with food left over.

As we approach the end of Mathew, Jesus predicts His death, a death that has to happen in order to fulfill the new covenant. He gives 3 of His disciples a “sneak preview” of what is to come at the resurrection, but He is sure to tell them not to say anything until He has risen. Jesus foretells who is going to betray Him and later as we see, is subsequently arrested, all for things He didn’t do. When looking at this, Jesus is also teaching that just by being a Christian, we will be unjustly persecuted as He was but if you have faith and do not deny Christ, you will enjoy glorification in Christ’s name and have eternal life.

In the final chapters of Mathew we see the fruition of Jesus’ prediction and He is put to death on the cross and 3 days later He rose from the dead in His entire splendor, fulfilling the predictions from Christ Himself.

The book of Mathew is a fantastic book, a book filled with such great wisdom that despite the number of times you read it, there are many treasures to be unearthed. It is a book of hope, of awe, of wonder and excitement, it is a book of things to come, and it is “the new beginning”.

Rev. Jason Carey

*******************************

The Universal Life Church Seminary is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, and Paganism.  We have two courses in Metaphysics, as well as courses in Mystical Christianity, Buddhism and Comparative Religion. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

Christian Studies

Luke 7 

By Rev. Tabatha St. Louis

Jesus did many great works as he traveled. I was comforted by the attitude of the Roman captain because when he saw that Jesus was coming and he sent his servants to him to tell him that he was not worthy enough to have Jesus in his house. I could only imagine that it had to be a very humbling experience to have Jesus himself coming to your house. If, Jesus were to literally come over to someone’s house would you be ready for him to enter. I would think that it would take a lot of preparation to get ready to receive him because most of us would want our houses to be perfect. I know that I would want to make sure that I had the perfect meal prepared and of course everything in its place.

I have often used this analogy with my children stating that everyday is a day that we should be ready for Jesus to come into our house and it is not because we are so deserving but, because his grace and mercy is sufficient enough. I am often comforted just knowing that Jesus can heal any manner of disease; he can make the blind see, the lame walk only if we believe. Jesus is awesome because he looks at the heart of a person and not at the actions a person did in the past. If, people today really had the heart of Jesus this world would be so much different because there would be a lot more love shown towards others and people would be a lot more willing to help each other.

The woman in this chapter that had washed Jesus feet with her hair and anointed his feet with perfume really set a good example of how we are to serve others. We are to give of ourselves because that’s what Jesus did on a regular basis. The people that witnessed what she was doing thought it was wrong because she was not a clean woman but because Jesus looked at the heart of this woman her sins were forgiven. I am comforted even the more knowing that when you repent and show love to Jesus he will receive you and forgive your sins.

I enjoy reading about the many acts of kindness Jesus performed on everyone not just the rich but more importantly on the poor as well. We all must take on the attitude and disposition of helps praying for those in need and giving to those less fortunate.

Tabatha St. Louis

********************************************

To ordain yourself with the Universal Life Church, for free, for life, right now, click on the Free Online Ordination link.

Rev. Long created the ULC seminary site to help ministers learn and grow their ministries. The Seminary offers a huge catalog of materials for ministers of the Universal Life Church, as well as an online seminary program and a chaplaincy program.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Master of Religion Course

During this course, I have learned a great deal about the Christian religion. One of my favorite lessons was on Bible Study. There are numerous resources online including E-Sword, Christianity.com. and edible.com. It is very interesting to note the information in the Bible in contrast to organized, dogmatic religion. people have put their own rules and preferences into worship practice and then want to call it another denomination. The Bible is the Word of God and should be used as the final authority in all cases.

There is also no evidence in the Bible banning women from priesthood or ministry. Women have contributed to the spread of Christianity over the centuries. The only really necessary qualifications for ministry are good people skills, wanting to serve God and spread the gospel, a desire to serve others and to bring the word of God and the importance of church and relationship with God to others.

Sacraments differ in the various Christian churches based upon interpretation. In the Protestant church, sacraments are those that Jesus specifically called out in the Bible - Baptism, Eucharist and Confession. Other churches, such as the Catholic and Orthodox churches add marriage, ordination (holy orders), confirmation and anointing of the sick. Again, I believe that the best practice is to consult the Bible and make a decision after reflecting on it sufficiently.

There are many worship practices depending upon which denomination one belongs to. It is important to go to church regularly, pray and participate in the worship--not just go to enjoy the music. The Eucharist is the center of all Christian worship services and it should be received regularly by Christians along with going to confess sin to a minister or priest. The Bible does say to confess sins to each other and to forgive others if you want to be forgiven.

As members of the church, we need to reach out to others that have problems such as drug abuse, alcohol and are involved in prostitution. Jesus sought out people who had problems such as these so that he could bring forgiveness to them and heal their illnesses. We are called to walk in his footsteps and do the same. There are many ways to help people with these types of issues and it is important not to shun them, but bring God's love to them.

One of the most important subjects in this course was the subject of divorce. It is interesting to note that the divorce itself is not so much a sin as what leads up to divorce. Infidelity is a big cause and can involve both partners. What I found interesting is the more insidious causes of divorce that are hard to even identify until it is firmly established. These would be: sarcasm, impatience, lack of respect, financial mismanagement, alcohol, overall failure to love. These things can creep in during times of stress and can really take a toll on a relationship over time. This was a very important learning that I took away from this course.

The lessons on church history were very valuable. In many current publications it is still being debated whether Constantine was really Christian or if he converted on his deathbed. There have been many influences on the church over the centuries and many atrocities that one would not expect to see from an institution proclaiming itself as divine.

Lastly, we in the US are very fortunate to be able to freely practice our religious beliefs (Christian or other). There are many countries in the world where people are actually killed for their faith. This is really being put to the test. We need to support our government even if we do not support all decisions made by it. After all, we live in the best and most free country in the world. We should pray for our country and be willing to pay taxes honestly to support it.

Overall, I really liked the course content and thought it was very objectively presented. It held my interest all the way through and helped me to better understand all denominations and perspectives on Christianity. Thank you, Amy, for making these courses possible. I plan on taking all of the courses offered through the seminary. They are quite valuable.

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar