Agnosticism: The Great Santa Revelation Of Third Grade

Gnosticism means rebelling against and breaking free of the conformity set forth to us by religious dogma. That same dogma that, for centuries, has instilled unbelievable fear and guilt upon the masses. It means dispelling all the fear based untruths about God and our eternal Souls by bringing reasoning and intelligence into the equation. Gnosticism has been linked to the New Age movement. This so-called New Age movement isn’t so new. In fact, it is older than time. Gnosticism was around long before the time of Buddha or the time of Jesus, and it came about way before the Old Testament. The whole world believed in it, totally and completely--we have had many lives. The term "gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek. The Gnostics believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the divine, hence the name.

Faith can ebb and flow through a lifetime, and it is rare for it to remain constant. This was one of the main points in Christian Wiman’s My Bright Abyss. He discusses that just as we grow as individuals; we must also grow in our faith. At this point in my senior year I was going through a particularly hard time, and was having trouble trusting in God and believing everything would be okay. In hindsight this may have been a good thing in the long run, as I was more receptive to the messages I received at NCYC, particularly with respect to what prayer is, and how to pray.

Emerson was an author in nineteenth century America; society and the church during that time were very different and much more conservative compared to society and religion in modern times. In the time that Emerson wrote Nature, religion greatly influenced law because it gave people ways to live, and a majority of the populous viewed those guidelines and beliefs of the church as laws, while as now the beliefs of the church are viewed almost as guidelines. Emerson was partially correct in his statement that says ethics changes, while religion stays the same in that that ethics changes with time, but religion does not change, but instead religion changes over time, though it takes extended periods of time for any major changes to become noticed.

Asoka’s son, Mahinda converted many leaders such as the king of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) which is said to be the longest and oldest tradition of practicing the religion

Faith, defined as a strong belief in something which cannot be proven, has been argued over countless generations. Still, even without proof, individuals worldwide hold true to their faith each day. After studying faith and religion in texts written by scholars with varying backgrounds, it is easy to see faith is something which is widely disputed. Comparison of Sigmund Freud’s The Future of an Illusion and Paul Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith, fully displays the discrepancies in points of view on the function of faith, as well as the necessity of faith, in society; while the comparison of Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Karl Marx’s “on the Future of Religion,” demonstrate both similarities and differences

In my youth, I never enjoyed going to church. I found it to be a tedious waste of time, so in an attempt to get out of it, I said I didn’t believe in it and claimed to be an atheist. My parents, of course, either didn’t believe me or simply didn’t care and continued to force me to attend mass every Sunday. In a last ditch effort to procure one extra hour of fun a week, I decided to do a little research into why Catholicism was “wrong” so I would sound more believable and my parents would take my claim seriously. In my innocent quest for ways to disprove an entire religion, I found a lot of lies, a lot of opinion, and absolutely no definitive answers. At first I was completely befuddled by the swamp of lengthy bible passages that could be interpreted

Gnosticism was one of the movements that grew out of Christianity. It would challenge the beliefs of the church in a way that would put the two at odds. This case study will discuss the beliefs of Gnosticism and the Church’s response to it using research from scholarly printed text and on-line resources.

Altemeyer, Bob. "The Decline of Organized Religion in Western Civilization." International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2004, pp. 77-89. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com

When I first started believing in God most of my faith was based on how I felt and not what I knew about God. I did not have much experience yet and I had just started reading the bible. When I entered college I was confident in my faith, and my God, and wanted to learn more about Him from the Bible. I was frustrated when I began to read the more difficult text to only find myself completely disconnected or lost, especially in the Book of Revelation. I was eventually fortunate enough to be pointed towards a book on Revelation, “The Rapture Exposed” by

I grew up a Christian; I went to Sunday school and youth group when I was younger, and prayed every night with my father. On the other hand, I have always had a passion for science, a need for truth, and a curiosity about the world around me. Until the end of last year, I never saw a conflict between my religious beliefs and my understanding of science; for 17 years of my life, I went along with what my family and society told me to believe. I love and respect my parents, and never even considered straying from their values; the thought of shifting my beliefs wasn't even a possibility.

The world’s largest religion happens to be Christianity; In the African-American community, a tremendous 70% of the population believe in this faith. Prior to an epiphany, I believed that God existed and I should live my life around the words of the bible. As I grew intelligence and matured, that concept didn’t resonate as strong as it did in my younger days. In the 10th grade I began to wonder if there even remained a God that watched over us. How millions could believe in a being that isn’t seen, felt, or heard, I wondered. The direction the world was advancing in and all the destruction of our planet and the human race also caused second guessing of my prior assumptions. If there is indeed a God from each and every religion or belief, ergo

In the article, “On Being an Atheist”, H.J. McCloskey discusses the reasons of why he believes being an atheist is a more acceptable than Christianity. McCloskey believes that atheism is a more rational belief versus having a God who allows people to suffer so he can have the glory. He believes to live in this world, you must be comfortable. The introduction of his article, he implements an overview of arguments given by the theist, which he introduces as proofs. He claims that the proofs do not create a rationalization to believe that God exists. He provides 3 theist proofs, which are Cosmological argument, teleological argument, and the argument of design. He also mentions the presence of evil in the world. He focuses on the existence

During elementary school I decided I wanted to move in with my father who did attend church religiously every Sunday morning. Catholic mass was awful and difficult to understand. My father put my brothers and I through communion and made us participate in church bible study to further understand the religion. As I got older my views on Catholicism had gotten worse, I started hating going to church. When the nuns called my age group to have children’s church my father forced me to go, they took us to a room that had no windows and was always cold. The nuns made us read the old testament in the King James Bible version and I always had a hard time reading and understanding it because of the way it was written. This experience made me hate and

As long as humans have walked the Earth, we have sought out answers. Answers for questions like: "Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? Where did we come from? and What's that?" How different people answered these questions is important to study because it shows us the spiritual side of human nature. Especially now, a time of conflict between Islam and Western Civilization, it is important to look back and trace the evolution of religion. To see where we started and perhaps, gain some perspective into what is happening now and what may happen in the future.

My mom once told me when I was young and ignorant, “Faith is the foundation of a beautiful friendship with the one person who will always remain by your side”. These words were expressed even more profoundly every Sunday in the echoing corridors of a small church by a priest I had yet to know or even care about. Preaching with his perplexing words in which I could only muster barely a fourth of my full attention span listening to. Thus, the term faith did not exactly resonate with me until many years later. My early years were filled with the teachings of the bible in Sunday school and later on as well in middle school during Friday night sessions. Unfortunately, my mom was an extremely strong enforcer of our faith for she was also raised Catholic from birth, but my dad on the other hand has a more scientific approach to how the world came to be. The years I spent in Sunday school blurred into an everlasting line of bleak nothingness just a ticking clock waiting till an end. Even today I do not remember anything that occurred within those taxing sixty minuets of constant bible studies it’s as though I lost the key to the inner workings of my childhood. Nonetheless, there have always been unbelievably great role models in my faith such as my mom, youth ministers, and friends who encourage me to be open to my faith. However, it’s always been my own restrictions that prevent me from furthering my relationship with God. So when my sister suffered her first severe