Please review your notes on elements helpful to the spread of a religious movement and read this summary of former class discussions elements helpful to the survival and spread of a religious movement. Then read Chapters 13-28 of Acts. Choose a verse or an incident from this section that seems to you particularly important in explaining one of those factors the class agreed might be helpful in the success of a religious movement. Explain your choice.
This might be a good time to choose your FAC I, II, III, and IV potential ideas. Remember that this is a "choose your own" ID exercise. Identify your favorite acts characters, and be ready to explain how these figures help understanding the growth of the church.
Acts 13:9 “Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.” This verse fits in the category of charismatic and bright leaders in two ways. One Paul is filled with the Holy Ghost, also known as according to Dr. Marmorstein, charismatic and two he is a bright leader. Paul, originally named Saul, was a very Jewish man who persecuted many Christians. He eventually changed his ways when he met the Lord on the way to Damascus. He then became filled with the Holy Ghost and preached all over the place. He was one of the main leaders of the early church. He spread the word of Christ wherever he traveled and he wrote many different letters to people, which became about half of the New Testament. He was also a very educated man; he went through some of the best education of the time. From reading the other books of the New Testament he studied the word of Christ a lot. Paul was a great leader and he was what the early church needed; that is probably why Jesus made him into a Christian. -Kelly Longden
ReplyDeleteAfter Paul is arrested, Acts 21:39 states that "Paul answered, 'I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.'" It then goes onto say that Paul gave his testimony of how he became a disciple of God. This goes along with the element of persecution. In amongst all of the persecution and hate he felt from the people, his first thought was to spread the word of God. It goes to show that, if you have God in your life, nothing else is necessary or really matters. -Melinda Quade
ReplyDelete6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” Acts 14:6-11 is a very important part of the Apostles acts, because this shows strength of a real leader. Peter is showing real zeal when he speaks about letting people into the church. This is what being a true leader of the church is about, it’s about letting people into the faith without prejudice. That is what being a true leader of the faith is all about.
ReplyDelete-Liz Matson
One of the reasons for the success of the Church is the credibility of what the Disciples were teaching and the miracles that were performed in the name of the Lord. When Paul heals the lame man in Lystra it has the opposite effect on the people that were listening at the time but Paul was able to leave elders in charge of the ministry in Lystra and the church withstood. The people at the time thought that Paul was Zeus incarnate but when he tried to tell them otherwise they stoned him and left him for dead. Later the disciples talked about how they were going to face hard time but they had to keep the faith. It is easy to see why the Church lived on when it had such determined leaders. -Thomas Geyer
ReplyDeleteActs 18:24-28 tells us of a man named Apollos. Apollos is described as an "eloquent speaker", though slightly unaware of much of scripture. After being informed by Priscilla and Aquila he becomes an avid supporter to the Way of God and becomes very vocal. This is a perfect example of seeing the bright leadership of the early Christians correct Apollos as well as ensuring that he could pass that message on perhaps even more effectively then they could because of his tremendous speaking ability.
ReplyDelete-Zack Krage
Acts 16:25-34 tells of an earthquake that frees Paul and Silas from prison. they had been singing hymns and praising God before this, so when the jailer saw these events he knew that their God must be credible. after seeing this miracle for himself he asks how he can be saved. Paul and Silas turn on the charismatic leader role and preach God's word to him and all his household. -Seam M.
ReplyDeleteActs 14:19-21- "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch..."
ReplyDeletePaul and Barnabas are two of those leaders who spread the word of Christ from the beginning. Paul gets stoned to the point where he looks dead, and the very next day he goes back to preach some more. He even returns to the places where the Jews had come from that incited the crowds to stone him. Bold, charismatic, filled with the Holy Spirit.
In reading these chapters I found the most effective attribute Paul and the others used to spread the word was their credibility. There were many instances where Paul and Barnabas would be in a city for some time preforming miracles and preaching with boldness. Some people would hear what they said and take it to heart, and others did not, but there always was someone who listened. "At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders." Acts 14:1-3
ReplyDeleteThe Lord used Paul and Barnabas as advocates who he found accredited to spread his gospel!
-Greg
Acts 14:19-23
ReplyDeleteSomething that you need for a successful religion are signs. So what better than to survive being seemingly stoned to death by a bunch of religious zealots? When you're a budding religion and under intense persecution, would you be glad to know that the people doing the pastoring are surviving the death penalty? People probably would flock to you, if you survived execution.
-Walker Larson
Acts 18:9-11. I found this passage to be interesting and relatable to what we discussed in class last week. In class we talked about different things that would help spread a religion. One of those things we discussed was that you need to have people who are going to spread the word of your religion to others. In this passage the Lord speaks to Paul in a vision telling him not to be afraid to speak and not to be silent. He encourages Paul to continue to spread the word and he did so for a year and six months. This passage does a good job of showing Paul being an example of someone who is spreading the word and religion to others.
ReplyDelete-Dawson Pfister
Acts 13:32-33. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus. Starting a new religion you need a main figure and main idea for that religion. This verse does a great job showing this. In Christianity Jesus is the main figure and his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is the main idea for the Christian religion.
ReplyDelete- Eathen Erck
I find Acts 18:5-6 "5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." Very Interesting It sounds like at first Paul just saying that he gives up. Trying to reach the Jews at Corinth but later in Chapter. Paul got a vision from the Lord telling him stay. Which he did then he stayed there for a year. Plus he reached many Jews and Gentiles. The lesson here is him trusting God when things kinda seemed hopeless. Then he was shown the Power of Gods work. - Austin Dreyer
ReplyDelete(Acts 13:44-52) In this passage the Gentiles gathered to hear the word of God, but the Jews got angry when they saw how large of a crowd came to listen to Paul and Barnabas. The two men tell the Jews that because they have chosen to not listen to the words of the Lord, they have now started teaching the Gentiles. This reinforces the idea that Christianity spread, because it was open to everyone.
ReplyDelete-Bridget Fuhrmann
The passage focusing on the Philippian jailer being converted (Acts 16:25-40) proves that evidence is a key component to the spread of a religion. As Paul and Silas were in the prison, singing and praying to God, there was a great earthquake that caused the chains of the prisoners to be undone and the doors of the cells to be opened. Once the jailer saw this, he assumed everyone escaped, so he was going to take his sword and kill himself so as to not be executed in a far more terrible fashion; but, once he saw that everyone was still there, he then asked how to be saved. In order for some people to believe in something, they need to have evidence of it, and that's just what happened to the jailer. He saw what had happened and realized that Paul and Silas were telling the truth.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Bland
Some evidence elements that I feel give a good read of the book of Acts is Paul's credibility and education in ways of convincing others contributed to the spread of this new religious movement. In Chapter 22 of Acts, he speaks to the people telling them of his upbringings as a Jew. Had he not spoke in Hebrew of how educated he was and his relation to the old faith going into the new; his credibility would not have played a part in how the people saw God. Another crucial element to the spread of this religion was his education of the previous laws and his story in how he came to accept this new faith.
ReplyDeleteActs 18:9-10
ReplyDeleteOne night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
This is a very good passage for those who want to help spread the word of God but are afraid of harm and persecution. Paul despite his fear trusts in God to help keep him from harm and goes on to stay in Corinth for a while preaching to many.