Madeleine McCann

Fatalistic point of view:
A fatalist would argue that Madeleine was always going to go missing, her parents were always going to have left her and her brothers alone in that room, on that particular night. The abductors had planned to take her at the exact time she was taken. It was always going to happen in that way.

Deterministic point of view:
A determinist would argue that Madeleine was always going to go missing, it didn't necessarily have to happen in the order, time, place or circumstances that it did. But it was always going to occur.

Predestined point of view:
A believer in predestination would argue that God had planned this to happen right before there was even a past or present. God saw this would happen, and instantly allowed it to happen by making that decision from an overview of above. There is no time and space for God, so he didn't decide that Madeleine would be taken at a particular time or place. Just that she would be taken, it was predestined to happen.

Determinism, Fatalism and Predestination

Determinism- This is the concept that no matter what decisions you make in your life, or in a period of time, you will eventually reach a point or event that was planned out for you by God. So either way you will get there, but in your own way by making your own choices. For example if you are trying to reach a goal, only God knows if you will get there. No matter how many or how few times you try, which ever path you take, you will get there. 

Fatalism- Each and every choice that you make leads to where your fate lies with God. The idea of cause and effect is believed in fatalism, the fact that each decision you make leads to the consequence given by God. Furthermore, leading you to a certain point lead up to by each of the individual points in your journey. Whether that be reaching a goal or overcoming something for example an addiction, you will get there, each step will be planned out by God to get you there.

Predestination- This is a religious belief, unlike the other two, where God predetermines your past, present and future, before you have even lived in these moments. This is because God is not subject to time and space so he looks at ones life in a complete overview. So instantly he makes a decision in what their life will be, he predetermines their future. He does this by looking at the final steps leading up to decisions and makes them. Because of this lack of time and space, God doesn't see the past, because there is no past, he merely sees the future and determines it instantaneously. 

Betrayal of women in the Bible

On a whole, women are portrayed very poorly in the bible. First of all, very few women are mentioned in the bible, for the one's who are, they are virgins; pure and harmless or they are very provocative and portray themselves in an ill mannered way giving them a poor reputation. This creates a lot of feminist controversy due to the fact men are mentioned a lot more and have a much more powerful image, whereas women are seen as either really good or really bad. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 these views become apparent, the phrase "Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God..." is showing that men are superior to women and they have power of women. This is creating a particularly sexist view for women  in the bible. Some of the reasoning behind this is that when the bible was put together, it was by men that they selected which passages would be put in. And for that reason, women were portrayed so poorly, giving a false image.

The passage of Esther 8 is an example of a good, pure woman mentioned in the bible. This passage explains Queen Esther seeking compassion from the King in order to overturn the attack on the Jews. Esther's actions result in the King rewriting the law, giving an alternative for his people. He writes "Look, I've given Esther everything Haman owned. And Haman himself my servants have impaled on the pole because he planned to attack the Jews. So you yourselves write the the Jew whatever you like in the name of the king". Her devotion to overturning the suffering portrays her as very compassionate, generous and as mentioned before; pure. This passage is a good representation of the very few mature, good women mentioned in the bible.

However, there are other women in the bible portrayed badly. An example of this is in Genesis 1-3, Eve disobeys God. He makes it clear that neither Eve nor Adam shall eat from the tree of knowledge. Eve is tempted by the serpent and she eats the fruit. This is known as original sin. This was the first sin committed and it was by a woman, this is one of the reasons women have such a poor representation now. It is seen as an inherited ability to sin, there was no suffering or death before Eve sinned, therefore many blame woman for this being the reason we have suffering in the universe now. St Augustine talks about this original sin in his book of confessions.

What is a human being? #2

The ability to be relational, created and rational are all essential when defining the meaning of what it means to be human; without these abilities you may argue we are 'inhumane'. Firstly, the ability to be relational enables us to have relationships with others, this highlights an important sense of self awareness and identity that allows you to form that relationship, not only with others but most importantly, with God. This relationship with God is shown in Genesis 1:27 "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them". This outlines the importance of imago dei (the image of God), this is showing that God created humans in his image, male and female, and that we should live our lives in this way, by trying to achieve the qualities that God perceives. The golden rule in the bible states "Love your neighbor as you have loved yourself", this explicitly expresses the importance of compassion and respect for others. This is important when forming relationships with others, and God in particular. Genesis 1:27 talks about imago dei, this links well with the golden rule in the sense that compassion and respect are both attributes associated with living in the image of God.

Furthermore, creation is a massive part of being human, without it we wouldn't be here. There are two versions of the creation story, Genesis 1 and 2. They both outline the steps over the six days leading up to the completion of the creating the universe. The difference between the two creation stories is that males are made before the females in Genesis 1. Psalm 139 talks about how God is always there watching over everyone, through any situation, as well as this, it talks about God and the way in which is created humans to fit his design for his creation. The phrases "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" and "My frame was not hidden from you" both emphasise that God is omniscient; "wonderfully" expresses this, that God has a complex mind and he made humans using this knowledge. The second phrase emphasises the point previously made about God always watching over you.

The ability to rationalize is very important  when using your reason to make moral decisions. Morality in itself comes about in the human mind through development in age and experience, allowing you to make decisions rather than having an inbuilt sense of morality at birth, many atheists argue this. However the power of free will granted by God can challenge your sense of morality. St Thomas Aquinas, a Christian philosopher, believed in the  link between faith and knowledge, his point was that without faith there is no knowledge which contemplates your sense of rationality, they determine each other. 

The Nicene Creed & Psalm 139

The Nicene Creed focuses mainly on the concept of God being The Holy Spirit, The Father and The Son. This can be misunderstood by people, this states that God being one person is made up of three separate aspects. This is a misconception to some who think that God is the Father, Jesus is the Son and the Holy Spirit is found within God. However, God is all three of these aspects not just one. The Nicene Creed can be read in different ways, for Catholics, in order for God to exist the Holy Spirit, Father and Son all correspond differently to how Orthodox Christians perceive. For Catholics, without the Father and the Son there would be no Holy Spirit. However for Orthodox Christians without the Father there is no Holy Spirit. This differentiation is known as the great schism (split) between Orthodox and Catholic Christians. This specific aspect is found in the third stanza in the line "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son". The Nicene Creed uses a lot of third person pronouns such as 'We' and 'Our', this helps to express Gods attributes and how believers follow them. For example " For us and for our salvation", this shows God sacrificing his life for his people, furthermore exemplifying Gods Omnibenevolence. 

Psalm 139 (The Inescapable God) talks about Gods relationship with people and how he overlooks everyone all the time. In some ways this can be seen as a positive message, on the other hand this could also been seen as a quite a negative attribute of God. It's positive in the sense that God will always be there for you through thick and thin. If you were put in a situation of worry God would be there to help you make a good decision and if you received a good result or proved successful in something God would be there to congratulate you, not literally but spiritually, only those who truly commit to God would notice that and they are the people that really benefit from having such a strong bond with God and their faith altogether. Ultimately this sort of attribute tells everyone that God will always be watching them and helping them make moral decisions. It's a negative attribute in the sense that God can seem over powering in that there is no space for independence and God could be testing you a lot. This can be quite daunting for a lot of people. This feeling is challenged in the final stanza of the psalm when David speaks against anyone that were to disobey or betray God creating quite a possessive feeling. This tone is very different from the rest of the psalm when David speaks of how hard it is to escape God " where can I flee from your presence?". 

On a whole Psalm 139 ( The Inescapable God) and The Nicene Creeh are very different although they address similar cultures. They are different because Psalm 139 mainly focuses on Gods attributes such as his omnibenevolence, omnipotence and omniscience. On the other hand The Nicene Creed focuses more on the relationship God has with people. For example it talks about God sacrificing his life for his people through the son (Jesus) when he was nailed to the cross.