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1000 articles found for “God; humankind”

• Rock

  [Bible]

  A rock is a large, solid mass of stone. In the Bible it appears as the actual rock that gave water in the wilderness, and it also serves as a figure for God's unchanging protection, for Christ, and for the foundation of the church.

• Queen of Heaven

  [Bible]

  The Queen of Heaven is a title used in the Book of Jeremiah for a goddess whom the people of Judah worshiped by burning incense and offering cakes. Jeremiah condemned this worship as idolatry and a departure from God.

• Ekron

  [Bible]

  Ekron was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines in the Old Testament. The ark of God was sent there, and 2 Kings refers to it as the city of "Baalzebub the god of Ekron."

• Chebar River

  [Bible]

  The Chebar River was a waterway in "the land of the Chaldeans" where the prophet Ezekiel, living among the Judean exiles during the Babylonian exile, saw visions of God. Many scholars identify it as a canal in Babylonia.

• Covenant of Salt

  [Bible]

  The covenant of salt is an Old Testament expression that uses salt as an image of the eternal, unchanging nature of a covenant made with God. It appears in Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5, and Leviticus 2:13 contains the related phrase "the salt of the covenant."

• Adultery

  [Bible]

  Adultery is sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. The Bible forbids it in the Ten Commandments, and the prophets also used the term as a metaphor for forsaking God to serve idols.

• Council of Ephesus

  [History]

  The Council of Ephesus was a church council held in 431 at Ephesus in Asia Minor. It was convened to address the relationship between the divinity and humanity of Christ and whether Mary may be called Theotokos ("God-bearer"), and it is counted as the third ecumenical council.

• Total Depravity

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  Total depravity is the doctrine that, since the Fall, every part of human nature has been affected by sin, so that people cannot by their own power turn to God or attain salvation.

• Søren Kierkegaard

  [People]

  Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) was a Danish philosopher and Christian thinker. He regarded faith as a decision the individual makes before God, and he criticized the formalized state church. He is often called a forerunner of existentialism.

• Forgiveness

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  Forgiveness is the act of restoring a relationship without holding the wrongdoer to account or taking revenge. In Christianity, it refers both to God's pardoning of human sin and to people forgiving one another's wrongs.

• Pillar of Fire and Pillar of Cloud

  [Bible]

  A sign during the Exodus in which the LORD led the people of Israel through the wilderness, going before them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. It symbolizes God's presence and guidance.

• Mammon

  [Bible]

  Mammon is a word of Aramaic origin that Jesus used to refer to wealth. In Matthew 6 and Luke 16, it is portrayed as a master that opposes God and holds people in servitude.

• Huldah

  [People]

  Huldah was a prophetess who lived in Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah. She delivered the word of God to the officials whom the king sent to inquire about the Book of the Law discovered in the temple.

• Humility

  [Christian Life]

  Humility is a disposition and attitude of lowering rather than exalting oneself. Christianity teaches it as a virtue that acknowledges one's limitations and sin before God and expresses itself in service to one's neighbor.

• Hokmah

  [Bible]

  Hokmah is the Hebrew word for "wisdom." In the Old Testament it covers a wide range of meanings, from a craftsman's skill to the wisdom of a life lived in the fear of God. It is a central concept of the wisdom literature, including Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes.

• Redeemer

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  A redeemer is one who pays a price to recover a person or property that has been sold or bound. In Christianity, the term is a title for God, and especially for Jesus Christ, who delivers humanity from sin and death.

• Parable of the Growing Seed

  [Bible]

  The Parable of the Growing Seed is a parable of Jesus found only in Mark 4:26–29. It describes the kingdom of God through the image of seed sown in the ground that grows, without the sower knowing how, until the harvest.

• Firstborn

  [Bible]

  The firstborn are the first offspring of the womb among both people and livestock. The Old Testament law required that the firstborn be set apart and given to God or bought back by payment of a price (redemption).

• Sacrament of Confession

  [Worship & Rites]

  The sacrament of confession is a sacrament of the Catholic Church in which a believer confesses his or her sins to a priest and receives forgiveness through the priest's pronouncement of absolution. Most Protestant churches do not recognize it as a sacrament and instead emphasize repentance through confessing one's sins directly to God.

• Plural of Majesty

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  The plural of majesty is a usage in which a plural form refers to a single person while conveying dignity and honor. It is often used to explain the plural form of the Hebrew word Elohim, which refers to God.