"Explain what a study of Mark's Gospel can tell Christians about the nature of discipleship"

"Explain what a study of Mark's Gospel can tell Christians about the nature of discipleship" By looking at Marks's Gospel we can find out a lot about the nature of Discipleship and the Apostles. The Apostles name's were Simon Peter, Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, John his brother, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the publican who changed his name from Levi to indicate a new life, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananite and Judas. The word 'Apostle' means someone chosen out ordinary disciples to become a leader. When a priest/vicar is ordained, this means he is now an Apostle. An Apostle is anyone chosen to Preach. There is some controversy to whether Mary Magdalene is an Apostle, but according to Mark, she is not counted in the final twelve. Catholics would say that Apostles are only male leaders in the church, but in the Church of England they believe that any disciple can become an Apostle, male of female. The word Apostle is from the Greek word 'to send'. A disciple is someone who learns, listens and follows. Anybody can be a disciple and anyone who follows Jesus is a disciple. When Jesus called the Apostles, they were ordinary men with ordinary lives who all wanted something. The four fishermen wanted taxes to change and the tax collector Mathew led a comfortable life, but was lonely. There were two zealots in the group, and their

  • Word count: 983
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Instruction for the Early Church was the Main Purpose of John's Discourses" - Examine and Assess this Statement with Reference to Any Two "I am" Discourses.

3CA 24th November 2003 "Instruction for the Early Church was the Main Purpose of John's Discourses." Examine and Assess this Statement with Reference to Any Two "I am" Discourses Instruction for the Early Church is an important function of the discourses in John's Gospel. Indeed, the scholar Bultmann describes the discourses as sermons because the discourses instruct the Early Church in the beliefs of Christianity. The discourses instruct Early Christians in John's Christology as the divine and human nature of Jesus is emphasised. For example, in the True Vine Discourse, Bultmann points out that Jesus' absolute vine nature links him with the divine; Jesus is not is not like a vine, he is the vine. In the Resurrection and the Life Discourse Jesus points out that through him, and only through him can people access eternal life "he who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." It was important for the Early Church to stress Jesus' divine authority in his relationship with God. In the Resurrection Discourse Jesus is called the "Son of God", in the True Vine Discourse Jesus links directly himself with God: "everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you". This is linked to the theme of Jesus being eternally with God, illustrated in the Prologue "The Word (Jesus)

  • Word count: 886
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"It is not possible to be a true disciple of Jesus in the modern world" , do you agree, give reasons for your answer, showing you have considered more than one point of view, refer to Christianity in your answer.

A03, DISCIPLESHIP COURSEWORK. QUESTION: "It is not possible to be a true disciple of Jesus in the modern world" , do you agree, give reasons for your answer, showing you have considered more than one point of view, refer to Christianity in your answer. ANSWER: No I do not agree with the statement " It is not possible to be a true disciple of Jesus in the modern world" Discipleship means denying yourself, carrying your cross and following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. A disciple is a person who devotes their life and follows the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ .Discipleship involves making material sacrifices. Obviously there are several differences in our world today and the world of Jesus' such modern technology nowadays, such as computers, telephones, mobile phones and so on, whereas in Jesus' day these things were completely unheard of. These differences make our world today completely different to that of which Jesus would have lived in however in my opinion discipleship still exists in our world today. Calling today can be described as 'vocation' . We are all called to continue the good work of Jesus Christ, we as Christians work and pray for the growth of the kingdom of God on earth. Priest and Nuns are also called, they live the values of Jesus in our world today, and from this they give witness to others . Just like the first disciples, we as Christians

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Jesus was a good man, but that is all." Do you agree or disagree?

"Jesus was a good man, but that is all." Do you agree or disagree? I feel that to truly understand the significance of this quotation we should define the real meaning of the word "good." This quotation raises the issues of Jesus simply as a man who was good or that it emphasises the special relationship between Jesus and God. (Jesus was often referred to as the Son of God.) I feel that these are the two main ways that we can interpret the quotation. To look at Jesus as simply a good man who had a philosophy of doing good and showing compassion to others is safe but we already know that Jesus is not a mere man. He is so much more than a man; we can see this by looking at the way the gospel of Mark begins: "This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark Chapter 1 Verse 1) Mark clearly wants to emphasise and concentrate on the special relationship between Jesus and God. We usually see God to be the epitome of "good", by saying this I mean that we as human beings look at God as a role model. We try to be like him and live up to his morals and values every day. By stressing this special bond it also shows that Jesus had a certain amount of authority. Jesus shows kindness and compassion in many of his actions. To a certain extent it is kindness and compassion that provides Jesus a motive to perform miracles. For example when "Jesus Feeds a Great Crowd":

  • Word count: 694
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Belief in the resurrection has more to do with wishful thinking than with historical fact" Do you agree?

(iii) "Belief in the resurrection has more to do with wishful thinking than with historical fact" Do you agree? I believe that this statement is correct. The resurrection is very hard to believe nowadays because of modern science and the points of view of many philosophers. A man rising from the dead is very hard to believe as from modern science we know that this is not physically possible. Once you're dead, you're dead and there is no possible way to be resurrected after death. There are also many other reasons why I do not believe these statements to be correct. Points of view from Philosophers such as Sigmund Freud have beliefs which I can relate to very well. Sigmund Freud believes that the reason people are religious is because they need something else to look forward to after death. Also he believes that people, when they are younger, look up to their parents and see them as 'all powerful', as you look up to them, but as you get older you realise that they are just normal people and you need something larger to look up to. Jesus, and God, is something people need to have in order to look up to them and hope that there is something after death. However others may have different points of view. Christians would say that Jesus was the physical God so therefore he would have the power to do the impossible, bring a dead man back to life. As Norman Geisler says in his book

  • Word count: 769
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Christian Festivals have lost their Religious meaning" Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answers showing that you have considered other points of view.

"Christian Festival have lost their Religious meaning" Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answers showing that you have considered other points of view. I agree that Christian festivals have lost their religious meaning. Leading up to Christmas shopkeepers just commercialise their products to make money this shows it has no meaning to them. It is no longer about Jesus being born, him dying and him rising from the dead. At Christmas time people think it is a time for giving and receiving presents but do they know how religion is involved in this? Many adults fell under pressure at this time. They have to get the presents the children want to please them. As a result of this many companies profit from this because children want what they see on T.V when big toy stores advertise there Christmas stock. There Christmas stock comes out months before the actual day arrives. Children focus on Father Christmas coming to give them their presents they should still believe this but their parents should tell them why he is coming. Who made it possible. Children should learn the religious meaning at an early age so they don't just wait until they receive presents they wait for the miraculous birth of Christ. Many shops decorate their windows with bright colourful lights and tinsel even though this looks attractive and gets you into a Christmas mood they should remember the

  • Word count: 730
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Christians today are not prepared to suffer as Jesus did" Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion, showing that you have considered another point of view. Your answer should refer to Mark's Gospel.

(b) "Christians today are not prepared to suffer as Jesus did" Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion, showing that you have considered another point of view. Your answer should refer to Mark's Gospel. Well for me I need to look for both before deciding whether or not I agree with statement. To start I feel that there are not as many fully committed Christians nowadays so people do not know what to do when they face a type of persecution. You may say that we do not know our true faith until it is tested. But how do we know when were being tested? In earlier times, like for Jesus, it was clear when he was being tested and he made the correct choice by putting faith in his beliefs, but in these days we never hear of miracles from God, or that in our society today, faith is not a major issue for Christians, so we do not face persecution that much. But there are times recently like in Ireland when school children were being persecuted for their faith. But like Jesus, they did not give in to pressure and deny their faith; they had faith and believed in it. And even though we may be persecuted about being Christians it will not be to the same degree as it was in Jesus' day, but there again it is still persecution against our faith and no matter what type of suffering or persecution is involved, we should be true to our faith and ourselves. But even though we may be true to

  • Word count: 783
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Christians today are not prepared to suffer as Jesus did." Do you agree? Gives reasons for your opinion, showing that you have considered another argument. Your answers should refer to Mark's Gospel.

Question 4: "Christians today are not prepared to suffer as Jesus did." Do you agree? Gives reasons for your opinion, showing that you have considered another argument. Your answers should refer to Mark's Gospel (8 Marks) Christianity is the most followed religion we have in the world today, having originated 2000 years ago nearly, when Jesus Christ walked the land of Israel preaching the word of God to save man from sin. And, so even in it's beginning, Christian's have suffered persecution as Jesus did, as he was mocked, beaten, conspired against and eventually put to death by his own people. World wide through all those years, Christianity, like other religions, like Judaism itself, has been frowned upon by some individuals and they decide to act against these messages of peace, and love, and hope for all man-kind and heaven on earth. Missionaries who visit lands such as China and Nigeria have gone missing, never to be seen again, because they speak out against some of the evils there, like China's population control laws, which demand the death of every third child, brought about through the country's overcrowding. Christians even persecute each other, like in Northern Ireland, where only a few years ago, the official fighting died down, in arguments over political rights. One argument as to why a Christian may be reluctant to suffer as Jesus did is that there is so

  • Word count: 1372
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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"Describing Jesus as the Son of God is Unnecessarily Difficult for People today". Should this Title be dropped?

"Describing Jesus as the Son of God is Unnecessarily Difficult for People today". Should this Title be dropped? In this essay I will discuss the two different arguments, should the title, (Describing Jesus as the Son of God is difficult for people today) be dropped or not? I will tell you both sides of the argument and the different views. Many people think the title should be dropped because there are already many titles to describe the Christ, Messiah, Lord of the Sabbath, Son of Man and so on. They think there are to many titles and this gets too confusing, so there should be fewer titles to lessen confusion. Also the point that Jesus is the Son of God cannot be proven because there is not enough evidence to say that Jesus is or isn't the Son of God. At the trial of Jesus, (Mark 14:53-72) this is the only time when Jesus claims to be the Son of God, if maybe he had said this more often then people may have believed him. Many people also claim that we are all God's children, not just Jesus. Other people believe that this title should not be dropped because God refers to being Jesus' father in the Baptism and Transfiguration. ("You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you." Baptism. Mark 1:11) (" This is my own dear Son ~ listen to him." Transfiguration. Mark 9:7). The title also adds to our understanding of the Trinity, that God and Jesus are one. God also said that

  • Word count: 350
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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R E revision notes Mark's gospel is about good news. The good news is about Jesus. Jesus is the Christ, the promised messiah

* Christ is Greek for Messiah. * Gospel means good news. * Mark's gospel is about good news. * The good news is about Jesus. * Jesus is the Christ, the promised messiah. * Jesus is the Son of God. * He wrote to tell us: what Jesus said and did, who Jesus was and the impact Jesus made on the people. * He wrote it because people all across the world needed to know more about Jesus and Jesus original followers were dying out. He needed to record what he did for future generations. * Mark wrote the gospel in Greek but used some Aramaic quotes e.g. eloi eloi lama sabachthani. * These Aramaic quotes indicate marks gospels authority because he had to get the information from an eyewitness. * Conservatives: they believe that the bible is inspired but not scientific. * Fundamentalists: they believe that the bible is inspired completely by God and can't contain error. * Liberals: believe writers inspired by God but human mistakes made. * Literalists: fundamentalists who take exact literal interpretation. * Gospels are precious to Christians. * Christians believe the bible is relevant even today. * Jews believe that their God is the one true God. * God made a covenant with the Jews. * A covenant is an agreement that is sacred and binding. * Sadducees were a party of priests at the temple in Jerusalem. * The Pharisees believed in the Law of Moses and they live by it.

  • Word count: 1586
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)
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