Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?

After reading part one of Beowulf, I believe that part of the reason why Beowulf won was because of his natural strength, however, there are numerous passages in the reading that support the idea of God helping Beowulf win. For instance, Beowulf states that "Fate saves the living when they drive away death by themselves" (31). Beowulf is recalling when he killed all those monsters at sea and when he was so exhausted, God made land visible for him to see. In addition, as Grendel makes his routine appearance at Herot, it describes him as "bearing God's hatred" (34). This implies that God is opposing him, therefore taking Beowulf's side. When Beowulf beats Grendel and "...screams of the Almighty's enemy sang..." he manages to slither out of there realizing "...what it meant [t]o feud with Almighty God..." (36,37). The text mentions that his screams of pain were of the "Almighty's enemy" indicating God's support and help was given to Beowulf.

So then, if God played a big role in helping to defeat Beowulf, then does God help those who help themselves? One may question if it is God who helps you win a sports game, or if it is because of the hard work you put into it? I believe it is a little of both. I think that, for certain things, you must work for it, and prepare for it. I also believe that God helps you if you acknowledge or give credit to your Creator, by recognizing that He has provided you with your strengths and abilities.

Regarding our future and salvation, I also believe that it is both God and ourselves who control it. First off, God is all-knowing and knows what lies ahead in my future. He knew whether I would accept the gift of salvation He gave me, or reject it. When I choose to accept and devote my life to God, then I am contolling my own future. However, we must not forget that there is a second part: God is the reason that I can have salvation because of His sacrificial death for all of our sins. Ephesians 2:8 says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-" (NIV). We are given the choice to follow and accept Him because He died on the cross for our sins. We cannot save ourselves. However, once we accept the gift He has given us, we must live a life that represents and follows God. We can't just talk the talk, we must walk the walk.

Personality Test

After taking the personality test I found that I was ESFJ. I am an extraverted (33%), sensing (38%), feeling (38%), and judging (33%). After taking this personality test, it suprised me that it was so accurate! I do agree with everything that it said. People who are ESFJ are caring and sympathetic, as well as cooperative. I fit well into each of those categories. I am a caring person and a good friend. Overall, I found this test to be very interesting and accurate and enjoyed looking at possible occupations.

Free Will or Predestination?

Christians have been in disagreement over the topic of free will versus predestination for many centuries and it looks as if this debate will continue to last until Christ comes back to earth again. This controversy is probably the most famous topic that is debated within the Christian religion. Both who believe in predestination and freewill claim that they have adequate information from the Bible that support their cause. Those who lean towards the predestination camp believe that God has predestined or already chosen an “elect” group of people who will be with Him in Heaven. They also believe that He has predetermined those for damnation. On the other hand, those who believe in free will believe that God has given us the choice to accept or deny Him, thus our future will be determined depending if we accept or deny Christ. Arminians, those who believe in free will, believe that we are given the choice, where as Calvinists, those who favor predestination, do not. This topic of being predestined or having your own choice, captures the attention of many eager Christians who seek out an answer they believe is correct.

But does the Bible take one side in this debate? As Christians, there are many aspects in our religion that are left unsolved. God doesn’t clearly come out and say that this is what you should do regarding this, and not do regarding that. He provides us with many commands and rules in which we are instructed to live by, but He doesn’t cover every question or detail that arises. This is why the topic of free will and predestination is so often debated. If predestination is true, then why would Christ call us to go out and evangelize to others? If God knows everything, then technically doesn’t He know who will be with Him someday in Heaven? If so, then that sounds like it supports predestination. In regards to predestination and freewill, does the Bible tend to lean more towards one side, or are there aspects of both sides that the Bible strongly supports?

Test Blog

Chinese/Taoism Response

After learning more about the Chinese culture and beliefs, it is interesting to see their kinds of philosophies and beliefs. This week as we talked about Taoism, I realized that there were some aspects in it that sounded appealing. For example, the fact that they believe in a life of simplicity which sounds very nice. Also, the fact not to worry about anything, being content, and being yourself. Those were a few aspects of Taoism that I thought were appealing. When we read the "Pooh" book this week, I thought the simple lifesyle of Pooh sounded very nice. However there are also some aspects of Taoism that I don't really agree with. For example, they believe that the world is unchanging and that we are not to interfere with it at all. As christians, we are called to make a difference in this world, to go out and bring others to Christ. I found this week beneficial because now I have a better understanding of the Chinese culture and religion.

Qur'an Response

Despite the difficulty when reading the Qur'an, I can definitely understand why they believe what they believe a little bit better. I thought that this book was very hard to understand and made no sense, however it is beneficial to know why they believe these certain things. As a Christian I think it is good to know about other religions, just so we are not one-sided, and really understand our religion and why we believe what we do. I found Christianity and the Bible more reliable and appealing because it is easier to understand the storyline, therefore being more reliable because the Bible was written during the same time frame of Jesus as well as prophesized before. Unlike Muslim, where Muhammed came out of the cave and told people what was spoken to him, and then that wasn't written down until a while later. Therefore, I think that studying the Qur'an is beneficial because now we know some of their reasons for their belief, and maybe won't be so judgemental next time we are around Muslims.

Camelot Response

I thought the overall portion of the movie was not too bad. Despite it being an older movie with weird singing and what not, it was pretty easy to follow the story line. I appreciated how the plot of the story was not too difficult. Also, I thought the movie gave us a good look at what life may have been like during that time period. Despite the singing, I thought they did a good job of getting the story across. The film has universal human appeal in many ways. For example, there is a love story involved, which appeals to every human. Also, there is always violence and fighting involved. The violence can appeal to many humans across the world, however there is an opposite effect as well that humans have-especially when the guy almost dies after being jousted by Lancelot. I think this movie does show some Christian significance. For example, we see the sinful desires of humans in here between Lancelot and Arthur's wife Genvieve. They secretly are in love behind Arthur's back. This shows the sinful temptations and desires of humans. Also, we see that Arthur has hope that his relationship will become better and that his kingdom won't be corrupted and fall. Therefore, I thought that they did an okay job in this movie, but it would appeal to me much more if there was no singing.