College Admissions Essay: Faith For The Faithless

Faith in Christ has given me a unique life filled with optimism and purpose. From a young age, I have been raised in a home where I was taught about the love of Christ. Not only at home did I learn about Christ, but at school and at church. Thus, my life has been filled with experiences that have amplified my faith. For example, when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I found that my relationship with Christ grew. Through all of the difficult circumstances that I have faced, faith in Christ has given me the encouragement that I need to persevere through any situation. Additionally, faith has influenced my decision making, which is why I strive to make all my decisions and live my life according to faith-based principles. This means

God shows love in the greatest ways. There are so many passages, especially in the book of John that prove what a loving God we have. He sacrificed his only son for us and if that doesn't prove his amount of love then I'm not sure what could. Everyday this attribute of God shines through anybody who believes in him. There are ways love is working in your life right now and you don't even realize it. Romans 13:10- "love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Going about your day with love will never steer you wrong. Even if you feel like you just cannot be loving today, try your hardest to have an attitude of love and it will change your perspective for sure. It can drastically change your personal views as a believer, the way you can apply this attribute, and how the attribute of love can draw in non-believers.

Faith and reason can be viewed as opposites. Faith is an element of belief, something an individual does not necessarily require a reason for accepting without reason. For example, an individual’s reason for believing in God may not seem too rational when they are trying to explain them. They may not even stand up to criticism. On the other hand, reason is constructed as a formula. Faith is basically something we believe in, like something we learn in church. Reason is something we learn in school, such as a math formula.

My parents are the reason I have been sheltered my entire life. Despite their desire to protect me, all I have ever wanted was to experience cultures outside of my own. My heart longs to travel, and help others outside of my methodical reach, including outside of my country. I've had the dream to travel to London since kindergarten. My best friend and I used to sit in our rooms planning our trip that we would one day take. As far as missions go, I have been supplicating my parents to let me attend since eight grade. Every trip presented to my grade I have asked, and have been denied the opportunity. My heart is fervent to help those outside my country and I dream of it and aspire to do so one day.

It all began at Keele Western Hospital in Toronto. It was 2:30 PM on June 5th, 2000. That was the day that I was born, and so my life had begun! For the first four years of my life, I lived in an apartment complex in Toronto as my parents were immigrants from Iraq so they were just getting established. At the age of 5, my family and I moved to Bolton. I attended St. John Paul II from Kindergarten to Grade 8 and had a pleasant time throughout the years—I met friends, learned a lot, and developed great habits. Through out those years, I developed a huge passion for technology and design. As of today, I can design and write an app from the ground up. I also really enjoy motion graphics; as an example, mostly all the graphics on the morning announcements are made by me. Currently, I do not have a job and have no idea what I want to

Faith is a concept used throughout all aspects of life, in ways of life and spiritual growth. Faith is considering a way to see things without the natural appearance of it. Faith is an essential tool used in everyday life. Consider the process of using faith in order to gain growth in life and spirituality. Faith is a belief that is assured by a conviction that the thing hope (expected) for in the present, will be manifested in the future.

Ever since I was born, I was immersed in many religious services. The foundation of every single Jewish service was based around this person called God. “God” was considered to be the most powerful person on the planet, even though no one has actually seen God. When I was in preschool, I learned about God because I went to a Jewish preschool. As a child, you pretty much believe anything that anyone tells you. As a result, I thought of God as the most holy figure on our planet. I pictured God as an old bald man with a grey beard. I thought that every time that the Rabbi made us stand up during a service, it was because God was coming into the room and we needed to honor him. Even when we were outside of services, I still believed God

Is it easy to put your trust into a God that you cannot see? For most people it can be hard to believe but for me it is easy because I grew

In the novel A Portrait of The Artist as Young Man by James Joyce, readers see Stephen go through life with faith, surrounded by others with faith and religious activities. After a while, Steven loses sight of true faith, forgets God and becomes an artist. Compared to “Portrait”, many skeptics in today’s culture have a mind set that organized religion does more harm than good. Many of these people make persuasive arguments that are or can be conclusive. In some cases they think or say, no matter what domination, a church, which is considered part of the organized religiosity, has too much power or it is filled with politics. Also some make the argument that, rituals take away from God and put emphasis on one’s self.

Growing up, my parents never talked about God, or church, or Christianity. I did not know who God was, nor did I know anything about Christianity. I did know, that all of my friends believed in this so called ‘God” and would go to church every Sunday, and identified themselves as Christian. I did not know what any of this meant, but at first I acted like I did, so that I wouldn’t be seen as different.

The greatest change that I think I have undergone during my time at Thayer Academy has to be the emergence and development of my confidence. I feel as through during these last four years I have finally broken through my shell and now I have no plans of returning. While this sounds cliché, this saying does really apply to me. I am extremely grateful for this transformation from a quiet kid to one who is more out spoken and ready to participate. I feel as though it will benefit my future life and future endeavors.

In the great words of Immanuel Kant, “God is a postulate of practical reason, a necessary component of moral thought. A moral person will always wish for the highest good, a world in which morality alone is sufficient to cause happiness” (Reszitnyk, 2016, slide 12). Essentially, morality is truly created upon our own ideas based on life experiences. If the existence of God is the core of morality, and is the objective moral fact, then He is the good that exists. Anselm of Canterbury, which means, “The essence of God, is a being than which no greater can be conceived. It is greater to exist than not to exist” (Reszitnyk, 2016, slide 10). Essentially, one can believe in God since He is the greatest one can conceive, and since God exists to one

You can not have religion without faith. George W. Forell states that "faith is universal," (Forell 1). By this Forell is saying that everyone has some sort of belief, they believe in something or somebody. Forell is not limiting this belief to God, or gods for that matter, he simply means that all humans believe in something- money, or education, or the general goodness of mankind. Forell goes on to also describe Christian faith; "Classical Protestantism asserts that God wants fellowship with man and that if we trust completely in Jesus Christ and his work we will have communion with God. This complete and utter trust in Jesus Christ is faith," (Forell 19). I tend to side with George W. Forell and his explanation of Christian faith.

Building a strong faith community is the primary mission of St. Timothy Catholic School. Consequently, administrators and teachers work together to provide students with formal religious education, enriched with faith-centered activities and assignments. Through such activities as sacramental preparation, saint reports, and devotions to Mary, students are encouraged to learn about their faith, develop a deep and personal relationship with Jesus, and spread the good news. Furthermore, as primary educators of their children, parents are welcome to participate in the school faith community. Most notably, St. Timothy School parents developed the “Mary’s Corner” component of the school website. Contributing to the Catholic identity, Mary’s Corner is a parent created and maintained blog on faith-filled activities, and other information that helps parents stay connected to the faith community.

Is there really a God? Is it possible that there is a superior being watching over us? It seemed farfetched to me when I was younger. I asked myself these question growing up. I never bought into the thought of believing in a God as a kid. That was until I faced adversity in my life. I turned to my faith in hard times. Religion is a crutch. When you are wounded, you often need a crutch. The crutch symbolizing faith, and the wounded leg embodies the problems we face in life. In my life, I have learned that faith has been side by side with me for my existence and through tough times. Life can get hard, but when you stand by your faith when dodging obstacles it makes it much easier. That is how faith can help overcome obstacles.