Of all the religions I 've studied, I can relate most to Christianity and I believe Christianity encompasses the absolute truth of all things. Christianity makes the most sense to me on a variety of levels. My own personal experience with Christ, the philosophical and scientific answers it provides, the uniqueness of the scriptures, the character of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus, the transforming power I have seen it have on others and the hope it provides are a few of the factors that led me into Christianity. I don 't consider the crux of Christianity to be religion, I think it is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I heard one pastor ascribe the mantra of religion as "I obey, therefore, I am accepted" and the mantra of the gospel is "I 'm accepted, therefore, I obey". I also think that nominal Christians have turned many away from the truth of the this faith. I grew weary of the "church people" and was turned off by the hypocrisy I was experiencing. This led me on a path of agnosticism with bouts of atheism for awhile. When I was 22, my pregnancy led me to really became deeply aware of my sins which led me into prayer and a turning away from those things. After my son was born, I was so full of love and appreciation towards God and I was determined to get to know everything I could about Him. I don 't think I would have come to that kind of love and appreciation if I had not first be made aware of the gravity of sin as the bible describes it. My first
Loving and worshiping God began to be more and more part of my daily thinking, motives, actions, and decisions.
Another prime part of foundation is how we base what is good and what is evil. This is the basis for morality. (Hayes, 2008) Moral law is at the core of our definitions of our worldview. The Bible does tell us that there is a moral law that is instilled into our hearts. At this core we have the one who created this moral law, God. This moral law is part of our nature and it is outlined very clearly in scripture. Most of the Sermon on the Mount, delivered by Jesus to the masses, outline in Matthew 5: 21-48, 6: 1-34, 7: 1-6 (Open Bible, 2015) This chapter in the New testament is really a moral code that we should be living our lives by. Jesus was also clear that he was not there to destroy the old law. But he was there to fulfill it. Most of the Gospels give further defining information on what is considered
Christianity treads a delicate delineation between faith and reason. At times, the two seem mutually exclusive. During the early stages of Christianity, church fathers argued about the roles of Athens and Jerusalem in Christianity. Some, like Tertullian, insisted Christianity consisted solely of Jerusalem, or faith alone. Others, like St. Augustine and Clement of Alexandria, argued that all truth stems from the character of God, and is thus viable to the Christian. They united Athens and Jerusalem, reason and faith. The interplay of faith and reason shines brightest through the work of Thomas Aquinas, who, like Augustine, believed faith and reason play an intertwined role in revealing truth.
Throughout this class we have discussed the different worldviews that an individual may have. This class has taught me that a worldview is how an individual understands the world and their place in it. “A worldview consist of what a person believes to be real and true, what a person values, how a person makes decisions, and what forms a person’s desires, longings, and goals” (Fuller, Lecture One). An individual’s worldview is the motivating force behind their every emotion, decision, and action. A worldview is what helps an individual make sense of life and this world. A worldview will provide answers for many different questions in life. A few of the questions that a worldview helps answer are questions of origin, human dilemma, hope, and destiny.
In Romans 1-8 Paul is writing to teach the doctrine of Christ. Although Paul goes into much more depth in these eight chapters, his message ultimately boils down to the following sentence. We have all sinned and deserve death, however, through the redemption and sanctification of Christ we have been saved and should now lead, Christ centered lives of faith.
I then went most of my junior without even thinking of what my beliefs were. I went to church a little more that year, basically whenever my parents wanted me to, but I kind of stopped listening to what the priest was saying. For awhile I considered myself agnostic; which is someone who recognizes God, but does not practice any religious
In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held
My whole life I have been surrounded by Christianity. I’ve gone to church for as long as I can remember mainly because of my best friends uncle. My best friends uncle is a Pastor at a Methodist church. All of this has influenced me in my decision in determining that Christianity is the Ultimate Reality. The major claim of Christianity is Christ, Son of God, rose from the dead to show his deity and forgive us for our sins.
Born and raised in Marion, Iowa and into an evangelical church, my parents “Baby Dedicated” my life to christ. At age 5 my family moved to New Covenant Bible Church. When I was young I didn't think much of church, it was just something you did and was merely going through the motions. But when I hit middle school my parents made me go to church every Wednesday and Sunday. Key phrase, made me. At this point in my life I didn't like church, at all. As I grew older, I wanted to be at church less and less. And I dreaded going every time Sunday morning rolled around. I had the mindset that the world had more to offer me than Christ did. And so I made excuses and put up fights and soon I rarely went to church. My family went but I stayed
“ You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left it open to us. He did not intend to.” (Lewis 78.) In Mere Christianity, Lewis talks about the silliness of accepting Jesus as another great moral teacher. According to Lewis, we must all make a choice to call Jesus liar, lunatic, or Lord.
I was raised in a Christian home and attended church quasi-regularly up until the age of six. Church participation after the age of six became inconsistent, due to conflict in the
As a child I was forced into a religion I knew absolutely nothing about. My mother woke me up early every Sunday and got me ready for mass. I hated it. I didn’t comprehend why I was being forced to attend and listen to some stranger talk for hours, about something I did not understand. This continued for a couple years until I was around 8 years old and my family became inactive. Although we became inactive, our faith still lingered and we continued to pray every night, and not leave our homes without a blessing. A couple years later I felt as if something was calling me to attend the church. I started
Some time ago, I remember going to church as a child not because I believe there was a god, but because I was told. At first, I did not mind the ways of the rules were until later I started to struggle following them. I felt like I could not belong to the church for being a certain way and I thought some of the sins they call “mortal sin,” were part of being human. I can relate to the child in the poem “Why I Left the Church,” by Richard Garcia.
When I was a sophmore, I went through a period of time where i stopped going to church as much as i had before. After a while i found myself questioning where i stood in my faith. I would always become angry quickly and shut everyone out, soon i realized that i needed to go back to where i started. That same night i fell to my knees in prayer asking the
Since the day I was born my parents took my sister and me to church ever Sunday. I grew up in a loving Christian home and was encouraged at an age where I could fully understand, to purse a relationship with Jesus. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was in the second grade and was baptized in the fourth grade at age 10. Growing up I have always been super involved in Church. I have a heart for people and love serving. Since 3rd grade until now, my senior year of high school I have been on the leadership team with my youth group. I can not imagine my life without Jesus as the center. I have been pushed to step out of my comfort zone and because of that I have grown in several different ways. For example, I am an extrovert and enjoy getting new people, but never liked public speaking as I felt nervous and intimidated. By the many adult leaders, and pastors coming along side of me and encouraging me to step of on my comfort zone I now highly enjoy speaking and spreading the truth about The Lord in big groups of people. I am so thankful for the many God loving people that have come in my life and helped stretch me. Jesus is my entire life and I am nothing without him.