Atheist and bisexual are rarely used to describe southeast Alabamians. I, however, am one of the few which such words describe. I know of no others. Living in the Deep South as a "closeted" bisexual and atheist is dishearteningly forlorn.
My upbringing was as Christian as imaginable in the twenty-first century. Perhaps it was even typical of a southerner. I was reared in a Southern Baptist family and church; I attended a conservative evangelical school from the first through the twelfth grade. Imagine the life: biblical literalism the prevailing philosophy, homosexuality an abomination, patriarchy as the norm, and evolution a dangerous devilish deception.
My sexuality first challenged me between the fifth and the sixth grade. What a weird
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Robert Grice. Worldviews exerted a greater influence on who I am today than any other class I have ever taken. In it, Dr. Grice hated on gays, Muslims, and as he put it, “Kumbaya-singing lovey-dovey postmodern moral relativists.” He held a Ph.D. from Liberty University, Jerry Falwell’s blessing to evangelical academia. The class, despite his ramblings, was engaging and informative at a profound level. Truth be told, his class consisted primarily of far-right wing Christian propaganda. His spin on the content was not the class’s highlight. Rather it was the curiosity it inspired within myself. Near weekly I watched debates facing off a “mad” atheist with a “moral” Christian. Some of my favorites pitted William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins against John Lennox. These debates became my version of football—weekly traditions simultaneously entertaining and intellectually stimulating. It was while watching these debates, panel discussions, and lectures that my confidence in Christianity …show more content…
Should my bisexuality and atheism be revealed to my parents, within their evangelical worldview, I would be damned to hell by God. They would fear for my eternity; and I honestly believe, based on the reactions of similar parents in similar situations, they would likely be willing to sacrifice our relationship in an attempt to redeem me for eternity. This is what I fear; this is what keeps me living secretly; this is what saddens me at an existential level. I want a healthy relationship with my parents, but how can I when our views and feelings are the polar opposite, mine even deemed
In today’s Christian churches there has come about a very controversial subject, one that has been developing for many years, and is now at the fore front of controversial issues dealing with the church. The issue at hand is homosexuality and the Christian church. This controversy has caused there to be a split between the church into two different beliefs, liberal and evangelical, which one is right and which and which one is wrong? Issues such as should homosexuals be aloud in the church? If so how involved should they be? And most importantly what does God have to say about homosexuality? These are tough question brought about by a tough issue and the only way these questions can be
Intro: Molly Worthen is an accomplished PhD graduate from Yale University, and novelist of “Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism” and “The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill.” (Worthen). Spending most of her life studying religion and namely ideology in North American Society.
How are “schemas” in keeping with a Christian Worldview and how will you use this understanding when treating clients?
represent and uphold the standards of a given police department. Putting on a badge that
Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I
There are many different religions and beliefs throughout the world, ranging from Islam, Secular Humanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. The worldview of many of these religions differs greatly when compared to Christianity. For example, the questions of origin, Identity, Meaning/purpose, Morality, Destiny may get you different answer from each belief. I have chosen to discuss Buddhism in comparison to a Christian’s worldview on the questions of origin, Identity, Meaning/purpose, Morality and destiny. “Buddhism is a religion, originated in India by Buddha and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet and parts of southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment
A Christian worldview is defined as a point of view that is seen in a Christian perspective. We see life in the view of Christianity and live a Christ-like life with Jesus at the center of it. In the lecture notes, we described a Christian worldview as, “a body of assumption that deals with the nature of reality, the organization of the universe, the ends and purpose of human life, values, norms, and differentiation between good and evil, right and wrong” (Casarez). It helps, Christians, understand the rights and wrongs of the world we live in, and allows us to have a path that should be walked as Jesus walked his path.
A worldview is one’s presuppositions and values that a person tries to use to understand the world around them. A presupposition affects how we believe and reflect on how we view Politics, Science, and our ethics. A Christian world view helps us to interpret God, Jesus, ideas, beliefs, convictions, and our habits of the world. The cool thing is that everyone has a worldview whether they think it or not there isn’t such a think as “worldview neutral” because believing in not worldview is a worldview. God says in Matthew 12:30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” and in Luke 9:50 “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you” so being for God is follow his holy world the bible. So, when we read the bible it says, “That everything you do in the name of Lord Jesus, Giving thanks to God The Father through him”.
There are so many important factors and topics that are crucial to a Christian Worldview. A worldview can be viewed as comprehensive maps that provide cognitive, evaluative and expressive guidance to peoples’ lives (Dyrness, 2008). Christian Worldview Christians viewpoints are also different because of their religion. Christians believe in the almightiness and powerfulness of one God who created and saved humanity due to sin. God also gave people a prophesized Messiah to become the perfect sacrifice for sin so that humanity could enter the Kingdom of God.
The Christians worldview belief that knowledge is everywhere on and knowing who God is, and he love is power (Hiles, Smith, 2014, pp.4). In the scenario about Paul and his teammate trying to get him follow the leader. Paul knowledge is he know straight hard work and dedication in the gym will always pay off than magic pills.
As a child, I was very quiet, observant and obedient. I would attempt to excel in everything I did in order to make my parents proud.Up until I was a teenager, I followed their will without excessively questioning their decisions. I was raised to have faith in God, go to Church and do as I was told. I spent 12 years of my life going to Church with too many unanswered questions. I didn’t know why I had to attend church, I didn’t understand how this so-called God we believed in was so powerful and why he wouldn’t make world peace possible if he was as amazing as he was perceived. None of it made sense to me. During school my favorite books to read consisted of primarily non fiction books about animals and the world in general, mythological, and books concerning the supernatural. I have always been intrigued by unexplained stories, but in the end, although I acknowledged the slight possibility of supernatural existence, I also understood the difference between facts and mere theories. During summer, my reading list consisted of fables and biblical stories. To me, everything I
The way people ultimately view homosexuality, whether in religion, politics or modern popular culture, is all determined by traditional or changing points of view. This essay will discuss mainly liberal and conservative Christian interpretations of the Bible, including many verses that may support or condemn homosexuality. It will also discuss the political views and laws against same-sex marriage and the social activism in the homosexual community. This is all about view points and it has many conflicting views and arguments.
I was born in the late 1950s and spent my childhood in the 1960s and teen years in the 1970s. My upbringing was shaped very much, by how I was taught and raised. My parents were both members of a conservative religious organization and so with that said I learned this way of thought. We were raised to believe that the 10 commandments were the basis of all things right and wrong, that if we followed them our lives would be as God wanted. Not to mention our parents! As a child, we first believe all that our parents teach us. They are like God to us and must be right no questions asked. I had by then
Sexuality has been an important part of me for as long as I can remember. Recently in a class, we were asked to think about the one thing that no one could take away from you, no matter who whey were or what you were offered. This had to be the one thing that defined your identity
You might as well cut off your entire personality under the roof of religious parents, or at least learn to pretend you are someone else in front of them. There is no having your own beliefs, being gay or being with someone of another race. You learn to find excuses on why you haven’t found yourself a white, Christian man like “I don’t know mom, I guess God hasn’t provided him for me yet,” when really the only guy you’re looking for is in fact a woman. If you came out of the closet, of course, you can bet God will strike you down with a bolt of lightning and your family will shun you. You also have to be cautious of when you say you don’t believe in God, because really you do, you’ve just turned away from him. You get to go to church a little more because your family thinks that Satan has gotten a hold on you. What you need to do is wipe away any free will you think you have and get on your knees and pray to God for redemption. Get use to the white walls around you because when they find out you have a happy relationship with a black boy you will never see another room beside your own. I like to call this one House Arrest.