Paul and the Law- Paul's view on the Law Research Paper

Paul and the Law- Paul's view on the Law - Research Paper Example The church cannot be denied to have such power as to gather people as a force which can go against the government when the church does not agree with the leadership. Likewise, the government could be a strong force which could dissolve a church. Thus, the two oftentimes have to come up with solutions to bridge the gap and bind their forces to promote good leadership. America once experienced leadership under the government and the church and also witnessed many changes as the state tried to separate itself from the church. In this respect, it is interesting to look into this matter and examine the biblical principles concerning the government, which circumscribe the law and the role of the church or religion. In this paper, the focus will be on the perceptions of one man who was an expert in law—not only the Jewish law but also the Roman law, and at the same time converted to Christianity— Paul the Apostle. The Law As a Right Paul had always been a zealous Jew who, acco rding to the Bible, became a persecutor of the early Christians. In fact, before he was converted to Christianity, he stood approving the demise of Stephen who was stoned to death by people, believing that he was teaching things contrary to Jewish laws (Archeological Study Bible, Acts 7.60). When Paul was arrested after his conversion, he presented himself before Agrippa and confessed how he had been a Pharisee from childhood. He said that he did not simply persecute the followers of Jesus Christ but also imprisoned and killed them. In his argument before the Roman ruler and the Jewish officials, Paul not only presented the circumstances of his conversion but also used his knowledge of the Roman and Jewish laws to show that he was not worthy to be imprisoned. From this, it could be concluded that Paul looked at the law as a God-given mandate which should also be followed even by the great workers of the church, whether it is to their advantage or disadvantage. He presented his case before the appropriate audience whom he believed would be able to do something about his situation, and took advantage of his knowledge of the rules and regulations of the government and the church in order to show his innocence and demand an appropriate action. As a result, he was able to convince Agrippa with his speech about his innocence, so that the latter thought Paul could have been freed if only he had not appealed to Caesar. In addition, when Paul was arrested together with Silas in Philippi because Paul drove out the spirit of divination from a servant girl, he refused to be released without being escorted. Paul argued that he was a Roman citizen who was wrongly imprisoned because he did not undergo the lawful process of being heard. Therefore, since he was put to public shame for being imprisoned, he claimed for his rights as a roman citizen. During his time, Romans were considered a special breed of human beings who had extensive privileges. They were not supposed to be abused or manhandled the way ordinary people were treated (Vos 551–552), just as the imprisonment suffered by Paul. As a Jew turned Christian and as a Roman citizen, Paul did not simply let go of the circumstances and play his part passively. Rather, he took advantage of

20th Century Artist Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

20th Century Artist - Assignment Example During the formative years of his life, he was influenced by the events of the firs world war as well as the Second World War. His artistic works entailed paintings akin to portraits of visualized images from his surroundings such as the pictures of naked people. The artist, as mentioned, is John Caplans. The profile of the artists is available on Wikipedia. The web address which has comprehensive and detailed information on the artists is Wikipedia. This is given by the link understated below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coplans. Coplan was born in Britain. However, he later moved to the United States where he practiced his artistry. Like most artists his age, he was greatly influenced by the events that happened around his time of birth. Coplan later died in 2003. His date of death is recorded as August. The style o work of Coplan could be described as realistic. However, it is also evident that his work was also characterized by some form of narration. His work mainly consisted of paintings or portraits of bodies. The bodies he used in this case were of human beings. He majorly focused on creative paintings of naked human bodies. In as much as his works could have been described as being creative and real, their bore some sense of narration. In his artistic works, he attempted to offer explanations to some phenomena in the real world. In doing his artistic paintings, the primary medium that he used varied depending on the portrait he was working on. Theses materials included films and canvas against which he did in his paintings. In some aspects, his materials also included modern day materials used in art. For instance, he evidently used paint in his artistic work. The works of Coplan are vailable in many forums. They are usually played in different art forums too. For instance, they are preserved in Pasadena Art Museum where he used to work. In addition, his works are also available in the Akron Art Museum. Some of his works can also be