In Luke 1: 3-4, the author states that he decided to “ write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed .” Theophilus is Greek for lover of God and it is suggested that he may either be an individual who recently converted to the faith or a Roman official of whom the church is seeking acceptance from.

Some scholars believe that the apologetic view of Luke ’ s work is overemphasized and that it should not be regarded as a “ major aim of the Lucan writings .” While Munck believes that purpose of Luke ’ s work is not that clear-cut and sympathizes with other claims, he believes that Luke ’ s work can function as an apology only in the sense that it “ presents a defense of Christianity and Paul ” and may serve to “ clarify the position of Christianity within Jewry and within the Roman Empire .” Pervo disagrees that Luke ’ s work is an apology and even that it could possibly be addressed to Rome because he believes that “ Luke and Acts speak to insiders, believers in Jesus .” Freedman believes that Luke is writing an apology but that his goal is “ not to defend the Christian movement as such but to defend God ’ s ways in history .”

Supporters of this view believe that the Roman Empire does not threaten the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ because Luke “ simply recognizes its existence as a political reality, but he is clear that God is greater .” Throughout Acts, believers like Paul are being charged with spiritual crimes concerning “ teaching against Israel, the law, and the temple ” ( Acts 21: 21, 28 ; 23: 29 ; 24: 5 ; 25: 8, 19 ; 28: 17 ) or being a civil disturbance ( Acts 16: 20, 21: 38, 25: 8 ) rather than political charges.

Franklin agrees that Luke ’ s work is apolitical and believes that Luke ’ s main concern was the “ triumph of God in Paul ’ s arrival in Rome.

St. Bonaventure ’ s “ Retracing the Arts to Theology ”, a primary example of this method, discusses the skills of the artisan as gifts given by God for the purpose of disclosing God to mankind, which purpose is achieved through four lights: the light of skill in mechanical arts which discloses the world of artifacts ; which light is guided by the light of sense perception which discloses the world of natural forms ; which light, consequently, is guided by the light of philosophy which discloses the world of intellectual truth ; finally, this light is guided by the light of divine wisdom which discloses the world of saving truth.

Modern opponents of instruments do not make the same assessment of instruments as these writers, who argued that God had allowed David the “ evil ” of using musical instruments in praise.

His comment on Numbers 23: 19 has a still more polemical tone: “ God is not a man that he should lie ; neither the son of man, that he should repent ; < font face =" times new roman " size = 3 > if a man says: ‘ I am a god ’ he is a liar ; if he says: ‘ I am a son of man ’ he will have cause to regret it ; and if he says, ‘ I will go up to heaven ’ he has said but will not keep his word ” last phrase is borrowed from B ' midbar 23: 19 ( Yer.

Upon receiving the evidence of al-Ala's defeat in al-Andalus, al-Mansur is said to have gasped, “ God be praised for placing a sea between us ”!

“ Alexander of Hales ,” in The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, edited by Paul L. Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley.

: And he used to repeat that sentence from St. Paul “ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ,” and many other verses of Scripture, urging us thereby to awake from the slumber of the soul by thinking in good time of our last hour.

After Elihu's speech ends with the last verse of Chapter 37, God appears and in the second verse of Chapter 38, God says, speaking of Job: “ Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

In Chapter nine, Job recognizes the chasm that exists between him and God: “ For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together .” Job ’ s regret is that he has no arbiter to act as a go-between ; that Job cannot reconcile himself with God anticipates the need for the Messiah to become incarnate.

One scholar says, “ This person would have to be superior in authority to either party, ”; thus the arbiter for whom Job hopes would himself have to be divine, or else he would no more be qualified to “ lay his hand upon ” God than is Job.

Job again expresses his desire for a witness, and then declares, “ my eyes pour out tears to God, that he would maintain the right of a man with God ”.

Ezekiel's phrase “ glory of YHWH ” ( glory of Yahweh ) describes the presence of the God of Israel which filled the Temple.

My God, how long is he going to wait, I thought.

Lucretius has remarked: `` The reason why all Mortals are so gripped by fear is that they see all sorts of things happening in the earth and sky with no discernable cause, and these they attribute to the will of God ''.

that is, on the basis of his own sinfulness and abject wretchedness, Piepsam becomes a prophet who in his ecstasy and in the name of God imprecates doom on Life -- not only the cyclist now, but the audience, the world, as well: `` all you light-headed breed ''.

The steady purpose of our society is to assure justice, before God, for every individual.

It is not the authority of God Himself which makes them true.

Because God is what He is, the laws of the universe, material and spiritual, are what they are.

Forgiveness is the door through which a person must pass to enter the Kingdom of God.

His very honest act called up the recent talk I had with another minister, a modest Methodist, who said: `` I feel so deeply blessed by God when I can give a message of love and comfort to other men, and I would have it no other way: and it is unworthy to think of self.

Then he thought of Aaron Blaustein standing in his rich house saying: `` God is tired of taking the blame.

It is harder, he muttered, to meditate on man ( or woman ) than on God.

I pray to God that he may be spared to us for many years to come for this is an influence the United States and the whole world can ill afford to lose.

This conclusion is based on two propositions: that man by the use of his reason can ascertain God's purpose in the universe and that God makes known His purpose by certain `` given '' physical arrangements.

Believing that God is the Author of this law and of all laws of nature, Roman Catholics believe that they are obliged to obey those laws, not frustrate or mock them.

The truth, however, is that the ecumenical church is just the local church in its own true character as an integral unit of the whole People of God throughout the world.

Since the will and word of God are for them concentrated in Christ-like love, it seems clear to them that non-violent resistance is quite another thing.

But of course the paterollers won't be of any help, not with everything so upset and that Yankee cavalry outfit they say is running around, God knows where ''.

Can the church risk assuming that the `` folly '' of men is as dear to God as their `` wisdom '', or, as is also commonly implied, that `` the foolishness of God '' and `` the foolishness of men '' are simply two ways of talking about the same thing??

There is an ancient and venerable tradition in the church ( which derives, however, from the heritage of the Greeks rather than from the Bible ) that God is completely independent of his creation and so has no need of men for accomplishing his work in the world.

In any event, it is an irreversible step, and if we are at all honest with ourselves, we will know we have no other alternative than to live in the world in which God has seen fit to place us.

Under the LDS Church's doctrine of continuing revelation, Latter-day Saints believe literally in the principle of revelation from God to his children.

Others consider that Christ made the commandments to " love God and one's neighbour ," and to " love one's neighbour as oneself " touchstones of the moral law ; that these imply a radical equality, and that, by this principle of equality, the Law of Moses is to be adjusted or even abrogated.

God had no beginning, and is the universal first principle.

Among the Ancient Greeks, Heraclitus conceived of a logos, a supreme rational principle, and said the wisdom " by which all things are steered through all things " was " both willing and unwilling to be called Zeus ( God )".

Jesus acts as the organ or instrument of God, the creator of life, the principle of every revelation of God, who in his absoluteness and transcendence is enthroned above and isolated from all the world.

" The overall moral or theological principle is that a person who performs such actions ( luti ) challenges the harmony of God's creation, and is therefore a revolt against God.

The principle, in Calvin's words, is that " God adopts some to the hope of life and adjudges others to eternal death.

Wycliffe's fundamental principle of the preexistence in thought of all reality involves the most serious obstacle to freedom of the will ; the philosopher could assist himself only by the formula that the free will of man was something predetermined of God.

In Mormonism, continuous revelation is the principle that God or his divine agents still continue to communicate to mankind.

:*" sacred feminine ": Pagan religions recognize " the female divine principle ", identified as " the Goddess " ( as opposed to individual goddesses ) besides or in place of the male divine principle as expressed in the Abrahamic God.

Judaism may accept the possibility that God is atemporal ; some forms of Jewish theology teach this virtually as a principle of faith, while other forms of Judaism do not.

The principle is that The Fall of Man ruined the human soul to such an extent that nobody wants a relationship with God.

" Duty to God " is a principle of Scouting, though it is applied differently in various countries.

According to Thomas Kuhn, he and Descartes held the teleological principle that God conserved the amount of motion in the universe:

He believed that the Christian idea of God was very similar to the Platonic concept of " the Good ," in that God represented the principle behind all other principles.

Indeed, Ockham's contribution seems to be to restrict the operation of this principle in matters pertaining to miracles and God's power: so, in the Eucharist, a plurality of miracles is possible, simply because it pleases God.

Leibniz's version took the form of a principle of plenitude, as Arthur Lovejoy has called it, the idea being that God created the most varied and populous of possible worlds.

The group's motto was God and the People, and its basic principle was the unification of the several states and kingdoms of the peninsula into a single republic as the only true foundation of Italian liberty.

In Germany, " the modern way " or devotionalism caught on in the universities, requiring a redefinition of God, who was no longer a rational governing principle but an arbitrary, unknowable will that cannot be limited.

" The overall moral or theological principle is that a person who performs such actions challenges the harmony of God's creation, and is therefore a revolt against God.

The Jewish view is that God is eternal, with " neither beginning nor end ," a principle stated in a number of Biblical passages.

Maimonides ' fifth principle of faith states that " I believe with perfect faith that it is only proper to pray to God ," and this is often seen as stating that " One may not pray to anyone or anything else.