.... described in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." The caroling, the gifts, the feast, and the wishing of good cheer to all - these ingredients came together to create that special Christmas atmosphere. The custom of gift-giving on Christmas goes back to Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Kalends. The very first gifts were simple items such as twigs from a sacred grove as good luck emblems. Soon that escalated to food, small items of jewelry, candles, and statues of gods. To the early Church, gift- giving at this time was a pagan holdover and therefore severely frowned upon. However, people would not part with it, and some justification was f .....

.... relationships with each other and produced larger, multicellular organisms, such as man. It may seem like a gigantic leap, bacterium to man, but given billions of years, it is certainly possible. It is true that The Bible holds certain truths which would imply a reliable source of information; however, some parts of The Bible are not true at all. According to science, life evolved in the following order: bacterium to fish, fish to various land animals, and animals to man. Coincidentally or divinely, The Bible states that God said, "Let the waters teem with fish and other life...let the earth bring forth every kind of animal...Let us make man" ( .....

.... with the Roman bishops and cardinals. This council was a famous one on account of the concourse of both French and German bishops, and of princes as well. Having arranged the matters relating to the Church, the lord pope went forth into a certain spacious plain, for no building was large enough to hold all the people. The pope then, with sweet and persuasive eloquence, addressed those present in words something like the following saying: "Oh, race of Franks, race from across the mountains, race beloved and chosen by God, as is clear from many of your works, set apart from all other nations by the situation of your country as well as by your C .....

.... life. This is not so in other religions. Such religions as Hinduism for instance do not believe this. For everything you do wrong you will be punished. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, if not in this life, then the next. Hindu's also believe that punishing the body is part of the path to salvation. Christianity is nothing like this. Many Christians live in high©class society. Christianity is one of the most appealing in that any sins may easily be corrected and that Christians may live comfortable, if not wealthy lives without guilt. Christianity, like other religions though, has many weaknesses. Although as time .....

.... Indo-European religion of Vedism. has religious, social, economic, literacy, and artistic aspects. The Hindu people rely on the ancient texts, called Vedas, for religious support. Three important Hindu gods are Isuara, Siva, and Vishnu. A component of Hinduism is Saivism, the worship of the god, Siva. Another important component of Hinduism is Vaishism, the worship of Vishou. Vanishism worships Vishnu in one or all of his ten Vishou incarnations. Vanishism includes many different sects. Two important sects are the Srivaisnavas, and the Devaitis of South India. Vanishism focuses on a personal relationship with a loving, caring, and gracious god. .....

.... eighty seven times. Out of those eighty seven times, eighty one appear with the word make or made. This would constitute that an atonement in these uses would cause the person who prepares the atonement to work at making an atonement. We find that in the New Testament we don't have to work to receive a pardon from our sins. The whole bible leads up to the cross and everything after the cross points back to the cross. Christ was the ultimate and final atonement for us. In the Old Testament their atonement to God was to always be unblemished for the sake of perfection (Morris, 147). They believed that the perfect atonement would set them fr .....

.... from our ways of sinning. Christians view Jesus as the Messiah is based upon his fulfillment of the prophecies the miracles and his resurrection. It is this belief that leads to the wide varied of answers to who is Jesus and how each religion views him and his life on Earth. Muslims beliefs differ far from Christians in numerous ways. The Muslims follow a book entitled the Qur’an. The Qur’an is believed to be the exact words of God as revealed to their prophet Muhammad. The Qur’an is the prime source of every Muslim’s faith and practice. The Muslim religion does have similarities to the Christian faith in that it can be traced back to Ab .....

.... and sowing in the subsistence society. Russians possessed a deep religious faith and from it they derived a sense of purpose in the universe and the promise of salvation. The church nourished and preserved the culture of Russia during centuries of internal strife and foreign intervention. Orthodox people feel a strong sense of community and brotherhood towards one another through a shared bond of faith. As a result of this emphasis on community, the rights of the group tend to take precedence over the rights of the individual in Russian culture. The Orthodox and Catholic faiths had an adversarial relationship for years. As this rift deepened and .....

.... if the effort is high, and the student is somewhat oriented towards attaining a good grade, a high grade of effort will be presented. Effort is the best way in determining a student's will to learn. The course of religion consists of 6 units, some of them concerning what we believe in, why we believe in it, and what can be observed in the future. The religion course encourages us to explore our heritage and our beliefs, something we may never had fully understood. The course helps us to fully understand why we go to a catholic school, for one thing. The course gives an overview of the history of the religion, and what has happe .....

.... learned that Sarai was sterile. They then traveled north to Charan, accompanied by Abraham's father Terach. While in Charan Terach died. It was in Charan where God made his first of a series of revelations to Abram. God spoke to Abram, and told him that he would promise to bless him and make a great nation of him. Abram willingly decided to follow God to the city of Canaan. Abram not only traveled with his wife on this journey, but he also picked up his nephew, Lot. He lived his life in Canaan as a Nomad. Famine eventually struck the land of Canaan , forcing Abram and his family to move on to Egypt. In Egypt, Abram was fearful that the Egyptians .....