... also known to aid in romances. To know that a black witch was present, there was always the sudden death of a victim’s animal. The black witches most commonly performed the religious traditions of Voodoo. The practice of Voodoo enabled witches to put spirits and evil demons into one’s head. The movie "The Exorcist" was a fictional horror movie based on a young girl being possessed by the devil, coincides with the 11th century practice of Voodoo. As in the movie, when Voodoo was performed the victim would go into convolutions and lose control of movement. They would start to sway, stagger, tremble, pant, sweat, and act wildly. After the spirit would leave the b ...

... citadel. When David captured the city in 1000 B.C.E., the Jebusites were absorbed into the Jewish people. David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom, and Solomon built the first Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. ( Elon, 1989, p.89) Because of David making Jerusalem the capital of their kingdom and Solomon building the first Temple located in Jerusalem, which is important to Jews because it housed the Ark of the Covenant which Jews see as important to them because it is a symbol of their freedom from slavery and the Covenant God made with Moses, and allowed Jews to establish their promised land. Jerusalem is considered by Jews as their holiest ...

... need to collapse before nirvana can be achieved. This practice of meditation was the Buddhist practice that I participated in, with the intent on a greater understanding of what being a Buddhist means. This exercise taught me the inherent difficulty in calming the mind, along with the negative effects outside influences like other people have on the practice. The first place I attempted to meditate was outside my dorm next to a tree. This proved to be a comfortable place, yet full of distractions. I have meditated before in my martial arts classes, yet it was difficult calming my mind. While concentrating on my breathing, I was easily distracted by outside occurr ...

... happiness? One must forgive and forget. Meditation is a key factor in the Buddhist religion. Meditation is a way of developing more positive states of mind. The awareness obtained from meditation helps one have a fuller understanding of oneself. Buddha taught "the Four Noble Truths." The first is "Life is Suffering," which means everyone suffers jealously, pain, sickness, etc. even enlightened ones. The second is "Suffering is Caused by Attachment," which basically says one must accept responsibility for one's actions. The third noble truth is, "Freedom from Attachment is the Cure for Suffering"; this says when one is released from suffering h ...

... concept to its beliefs. This paper will describe the reincarnation concepts as they apply to Taoism and Buddhism, and then provide a comparison of the two. The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before the universe was formed and which continues to guide the world and everything in it. Tao is sometimes identified as the Mother, or the source of all things. That source is not a god or a supreme being, as Taoism is not monotheistic. The focus is not to worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao (Hartz, 8). Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complic ...

... in the end, you will be saved and given eternal 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 ...

... principles for documentary historical proof: the bibliographical test, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test (McDowell 43). The bibliographical test is the examination of text by the documents that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the New Testament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the time intervals between the time in which the piece of literature was written and our earliest copy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations. Totally there are around 24,000 total MSS for the New Testament. The next closest do ...

... reality is conceivable. Now he moves on to saying a being having all of God's properties plus existence in reality is a being greater than God. He comes to this conclusion from the first two statements. Now he moves to the conclusion that a greater being than God can be conceived. This is evident from his third and fourth statements. By the definition of God no greater being can be conceived. Hence it is false that God exists in the understanding but not in reality. This is evident from all of the previous statements. By granting the fool's statement as true he's setting up the fool to contradict himself. He then leads the fool to a statement that he cannot ...

... - 14 AD Caesar Augustus Roman Emperor. 19 BC Herod's Temple begun. 16 BC Herod visits Agrppa. 4 BC Herod dies; Archelaus succeeds. 37 AD - 41 AD Caliguta Roman Emperor. 41 AD - 54 AD Claudius Roman Emperor. 54 AD - 68 AD Nero Roman Emperor. The first persecutor of Christians. 66 AD Jews in Palestine tried to revolt. Were crushed by Titus. 69 AD - 79 AD Vespasia Roman Emperor. He continued the persecution. 70 AD Jewish temple destroyed. Small part of the wall left standing. ...

... believable. Others would seem outrageous today. Puritanism was founded on the principles and beliefs of John Calvin, and one of the major ideals they focused on was the doctrine of predestination. Calvin believed that the grace of God was the ticket into Heaven and that his grace could not be earned. God's grace was bestowed upon a select few regardless of what they did to earn it. This ‘ doctrine' stated that God determines a mans' destiny, whether it be redemption or condemnation, regardless of any worth or merit on the person's part. It could be compared to the failures of Communism in that no matter how hard a person worked, how devout a person was, how of ...