In the beginning of the story Young Goodman Brown is faithful to the idea that the people he respects and loves remain pure and stray from sin. ... The devil undermines this excuse by revealing his past associations with his forefather's as well as many respected clergy men across New England. Upon realization of his family's sins a large part of his moral foundation crumbles. ... There is no good on Earth, and sin is but a name" (6). ... The world is fraught with evil and sin is only a semantic construct. ...

• Word Count: 756
• Approx Pages: 3

A life in which doing anything for your own pleasure was considered a sin. The play opens with children dancing in the woods, an obvious sin according to the puritans. ... Nathaniel Hawthorne's grandfather was a judge in the Salem witch trials and Hawthorne was always haunted by his family's past. ... There have been many other examples of hypocrisy in religion in the past as well as the present. ...

• Word Count: 909
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Mind Over Matter All of our past experience and knowledge guides us as we move through life. ... In Mary's vision she is told that, "There is no such thing as sin; rather, you yourselves are what produces sin when you act according to the nature of adultery, which is called "sin."" (Mary 3:3-5) meaning that what we perceive to be a sin is not something ordained by God but rather something that we identify by ourselves. This comes as a major surprise because it was a widely spread belief that the definition of sin was determined by God. ...

• Word Count: 1204
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The poem, "BATTER MY HEART, THREE-PERSONED GOD" written by John Donne, sometime in 1610, is a extremely spiritual in nature. John Donne was probably a very religious man. It seems that he worshiped God and feared the devil. As a result, fearing that he was becoming consumed with evil, Donne dedi...

• Word Count: 308
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Augustine's Confessions is a personal recollection of his ascent from a life of sin and emptiness to one of fulfillment and higher understanding. He started his quest (from where we entered his voyage) rejecting God, but as his books are titled Confessions, Augustine begins to confess his sins and flaws to God in order to understand a deeper meaning of life. ... From this statement it is apparent that Augustine's luster for the Manichean doctrine had begun to diminish because Augustine found the pathologies of past philosophers to be more probable than current ones. ...

• Word Count: 700
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The past several years have been marked by high-ranking criminal cases involving the use of excessive legal force against certain races. ... " He further explains that sin and man are the obstacles to a revival. ... Too often pride is the sin of many believers. ... Jonathan Edwards saw pride as the primary sin of believers. ...

• Word Count: 965
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Christians believe that after the messiah, Jesus Christ, had spent about three years teaching the gospel, he was crucified for all of our sins. ... Basically I think that taking this journey, which is stated as a rule in the five pillars (five duties of every Muslim containing only worshiping the one true god Allah, praying five times a day in the direction of the holy land Mecca, giving alms to charity, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life), is a way to relive the journey that Mohammed took in order to be closer to him and also ...

• Word Count: 676
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

His past actions were determined by fate, but his decisions to flee from Corinth, murder an older man (which so happened to be his father and the King of Thebes), and to marry an older woman were that of his free will. ... When Oedipus tore at his eyes he accepted the full burden of his acts and knew that he must be punished for his sins. ...

• Word Count: 725
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

This God gave his Son to die for us and cleanse of us of our sins so that we may enter the kingdom of heaven. ... This is probably the fault of my past in dealing with stupid adults and irresponsible authority figures. ...

• Word Count: 684
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Devil tells him not to stress about it because members of Brown's family has met with the Devil in the past, even the minister of the village has met with him. ... Hawthorne mainly illustrates symbolism and irony through the theme; man is oblivious that sin is an unavoidable part of human nature. ...

• Word Count: 999
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Once Job spoke all three of his friends jumped right on top of him saying that he had to have sinned or else this would not have happened to him. ... God also made Job become even more of a believer than he had been in the past. ...

• Word Count: 958
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School