Philo And Demea Dialogue

How do human beings talk about God in the face of poverty and suffering? This is the question the Book of Job raises for us. A moral and honorable man lives a prosperous, happy and fruitful life. As a wager between God and Satan on the issue of disinterested religion, they test to see if his faith and religion are actually disinterested. This leads to another question of whether human beings are capable of asserting their faith and talking about God in the face of suffering in a disinterested way. In his book “On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent” Gustavo Gutierrez makes the point that human beings, especially the poor, are capable of a disinterested faith and knowledge of God in the face of suffering. His application of liberation theology, way of talking about God, and interest in the poor allow Gutierrez to assert that human beings are capable of a disinterested religion in the face of poverty and suffering.

Preacher Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God,” frightens the audience with vivid depictions of Hell and God’s wrath. Through the use of polysyndeton, asyndeton, and constant repetition, Edwards persuades the sinners in his congregation to turn towards God.

He argues towards the sinners to express the way he feels about them and what he'll do to

When analyzing the document, the use of allusion becomes a key aspect throughout the many rhetorical strategies. First, considering that the charges against Joan are that of heretic, references to the Bible by The Inquisitor cause the “Holy Court” to experience a moral reflection. The Inquisitor does this by stating, “You are all, I hope merciful men: how else could you have devoted your lives to the service of our gentle Savior?” In the previous quote, the speaker takes on a tone of a sycophant in order to instill how important the court members are, how “merciful.” Also, the quote contains an allusion to the Bible, to God, evoking the feeling to the audience of the momentous importance, not only of the court members occupations, but of the decision which they will soon be forced to make concerning a “gentle and pious girl.” This is said in hopes for the men judging her to reconsider their decisions.

some ethos to emphasize the amount of hope he feels for sinners to converge to Christianity,

Philo says men go through times of misery and some wicked times, proving the Diety could never be human-like. The Diety has much power and if someone doesn’t feel a positive mood such as happiness, you’re saying the Diety is unable to provide such a thing. If He’s unable to prevent an action then He would be considered incapable, but that can’t be true since He’s an intelligent creator. Demea argues that through all the things thrown your way, there will be good and bad, and come to accept it since it’s from the Diety showing the good of the Diety regardless of what is happening. Demea paints this big picture of many events occurring, and since man can handle it, he believes the Diety will not have something that isn’t obtainable or bad. Cleanthes believes Demea is overthinking the entire situation. Demea is making a somewhat domino-effect of events that would lead to the Diety being good, but Cleanthes believes you can’t prove anything until you have proof of it.

The essay “There is no God” by Penn Jillette is a controversial essay due to his believe that there is no God. The author in the essay declares, ” I believe that there is not god”(129), this statement can be considered as an offence for many people who believe in any kind of god or religion. Furthermore he writes, “No god means the possibility of less suffering in the future”(131). The statements may offend different religions because they believe that God will come and he will save us from all the suffering. Also he says “ Just the love of the family that raise me and the family that I’m raising now is enough that I don’t need a heaven”(130), He is going against many believe of some religions due to heaven should be the place that Catholics and other religions wish to be when they die.

The concept of happiness has eluded philosophers and intellectuals since the beginning of mankind’s ability to reason; though many have attempted to create overarching theories regarding the phenomenon, all have fallen short of grasping the dual nature of its formation: both demanding of hard work and of faith in some higher, seemingly transcendent force. Giorgio Agamben’s piece “Magic and Happiness,” an excerpt from his work Profanations, is no exception. The passage argues in favor of a belief in “magic,” a divine and all-encompassing force that presents, in his opinion, the solitary path towards true happiness. His argument, formed around the notion that persistent effort and achievement ultimately cannot yield happiness in the long

Of the many conversations pertaining to the United States on a global scale, the presumed superpower has found itself as the center of a myriad of debates concerning its probable demise as a hegemon. Many experts conclude that this decline is a result of threats imposed by emerging powers like Russia and China. I argue that the internal issues of polarization and trust in the government are potentially paving the path of slow decline for the United States on an international level. As this paper aims to support my argument, the first portion will describe the U.S.’s rising political gap, as well as its correlation to the American public’s low level of confidence in the federal government’s performance. The second section of this

He recommended gaining a rational control over one’s desires, these desires being those that can be harmful to life such as: lust, greed, pride, and power. He argued that the key to human happiness is to turn away from the body and towards the soul. He said that harmonizing the different parts of the soul would produce a divine-like state of inner tranquility that the external world could not alter. A moral life is to be preferred to an immoral life. This view of happiness is linked to other concepts such as justice, virtue, and the ultimate meaning of human existence. Living a moral and just life would lead to a happier life.

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”(L19-20). This is what the propaganda speaker is trying to fabricate and turn all the eyes away from. He continues demeaning life “To teach that he who saves himself is lost”. Which the speaker of “Dulce et decorum” explains “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest/ To children ardent for some desperate glory” (L25-26).

Central to any study of the humanities is the human condition – our nature, which has historically shown that it is equally capable of both good and evil deeds – and the problem that arises from it; specifically, why do humans suffer? Many philosophies and religions have their own account for this aspect of humanity, and we find that what the accounts have in common is each explains the human condition in terms that are similar to how that institution of thought explains the true nature of reality.

In "God Has Need of Man", Archibald MacLeish dives head-first into the question of suffering. MacLeish finds that the meaning of suffering lies in the idea that God needs the love of man to exist.

In the next part of the passage, Farinaccio starts to says that " There is no moral universe without a moral standard rooted in the transcendent, unchanging character of God. Without it nothing is truly evil, and therefore, there is no problem of evil." Therefore in order to make any assumptions about evil you must first rely on a Christian worldview. Farinaccio confirms that from the scriptures in the bible it is evident that God permits evil and suffering to exist to achieve certain ends. Farinaccio concludes his argument by saying that through a Christian worldview God was the one who allowed both good and evil things to exist, though we may not know why he allowed evil to exist as

In this plan for man's salvation the end shall justify God's means. Therefore justifing the problem of evil and reasons for allowing both sin and death to exist. This ultimate plan of God's Milton presents in Paradise Lost is also a Greater Good Defense. Still, some might not understand why God finds it necessary to put his creations through this process. Milton shows us how this process benefits mankind who has fallen from grace, and also benefits God.