Interpretation And Religious Community Analysis

This restriction of variation in interpretation and action transfers over to their religious beliefs in such a way that open-mindedness about the interpretation of religious text is forbidden and the words written must be the truth and the only truth.

Interracial marriage has traditionally been viewed as a means of expressing a hatred of oneself, of escaping something in one’s culture or self that one no longer wants to identify with. Jacki Thompson Rand describes the outcome of this phenomenon in an essay on her experience as the child of an interracial marriage. She explains how her mother married a white man in an effort to make herself more white, and therefore more legitimate: “My mother 's marriage to my father was a racial love

My cousin who came from a very religious Catholic background had married a Jewish man. The family was not so much angry but surprised mostly by the procedure of a Jewish wedding. The family worried about the issue of children and what their religion would be. The couple decided that when they had children, they would leave it up to them to choose what religion they wanted to be. The family didn’t treat him or her any differently and accepted them with open arms.

Historically, interracial families’ were a taboo in the United States and many other countries. In the 1960’s, the civil rights movement caused the country to move

The family issue I will be analyzing is interfaith marriage. Interfaith marriage is simply marriage between two people who belong to or identify with different religious groups. However simple the definition may seem, the reality of interfaith marriage can be far more complex. For most of human history it has been a social taboo to marry outside of one 's faith. However, in recent years it has become much more acceptable, even to the point of seeming to essentially be a non-factor as far as society is concerned. Nevertheless, with the inevitable differences in customs and beliefs, and despite social acceptance, interfaith marriages can still cause major conflict in the household. This paper will explore seven different sociological theories, and attempt to explain how they can decipher the effects of interfaith marriage upon the family.

The divorce rate in the secular world is over 50% (JPost, 2009) which includes both non-Orthodox Jews and inter-religion marriages. The Modern Orthodox Jews have a significantly lower divorce rate as there are no conflicts that have to do with which religion to follow (Waxman, 2009). In the secular or less Orthodox world, children can be brought up following two religions or even no religion at all. If they are brought up with no religion, there is a very low chance that they will follow Judaism when they grow older. Also by following two religions they may become very confused and they may in turn cause them to choose one over the other. When even one child doesn’t choose Judaism, the Jewish population suffers. It may not seem like a big issue when looking at one child but with a 72% intermarriage rate in non-Orthodox America (Simple to remember, 2011) it can be a huge predicament. However some people believe that limiting intermarriage will harm the Jewish population by not letting people marry who they love. Going along this argument, if they do not date people of other religions in the first place, they can not fall in love with them. With Modern Orthodox Judaism, intermarriage is very rare which helps keep the Jewish people a nation with a growing population.

Religion is something most people around the world have in common. Whether one holds religious beliefs or not, he can relate to others with similar beliefs. A belief in a higher power has a big impact on society today just as it has in the past, as illustrated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Religion impacts all members of society, whether they believe in one or not.

Among young influential minds, The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington DC. evoked foster care placement to prevent the ability of children being placed in homosexual homes. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 16 states, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation...have the right to marry...found a family... entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution…” (UDHR, 1948). Not defending the ability to same-sex marriage. In New Jersey a Methodist Ocean Grove Camp declined a Civil Union Ceremony. Religious beliefs argue that in the bible God does not promote or support gay marriage. Supporting their reasons in the bible, as stated by God, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither...nor homosexuals...will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1st Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)). Debates continue in several schools. At a school in Florida a social studies teacher posted a comment on facebook criticizing same-sex marriage. In other schools teachers dismissed students involved in homosexual relationships claiming to be uncomfortable. Therefore, many will argue the several consequences to allowing same-sex marriage, but the inability to see past the discrimination among Americans prevent a growth in our society. Positivity can be created through Americans creating a

Better. This is a quality that everyone seeks to achieve. Day to day life in society is geared to improving one’s life to the best of one’s abilities. Even though people gear their life in this way, it doesn’t mean that becoming a better person is any bit easy. Karen Armstrong’s essay “Homo Religiosus,” discusses the role of religion and its underlying arts and disciplines. Oliver Sacks’ essay “The Mind’s Eye” analyzes the lives of several blind individuals. Sacks' essay goes through how several individual continues to live his or her life despite being blind. The practices of blindness enact the arts and disciplines of religion because they allow an individual to become a better person.

In C.S Lewis’ novel, Mere Christianity, he dives into the differences that can be within a moral code, while also proving that they are all the same that the base. Lewis also tries to answer a question that does not have a simple and clear-cut answer: why do we feel bad when we misbehave, if everyone misbehaves?

It is hard to believe we are in the fifth week of this course and it is nearly over. I have enjoyed studying the Old Testament from an academic perspective and my knowledge of the Old Testament has absolutely grown. To begin with, I learned the origin of the Jewish religious edict abolishing inter-marriage began as Ezra and later Nehemiah established new Jewish traditions during reconstruction, in an effort to eliminate the long standing temptation of Israelites to worship other gods (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 201-202). Interestingly, despite instituting this rule centuries ago, the Jewish community is still grappling with the issue of inter-marriage and its impact on the permanence and purity of practice of Judaism and their new covenant with God (Golin, 2010).

The two articles used were “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation” (Lewis, Ford- Robinson, 2010) and “Marital Dissolution among Interracial Couples” (Zhang, Van Hook, 2009). The first article “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation”, spoke about the unprecedented changes that our society is going though in the 21st century.

Linda, your thread provided information on presuppositions and preunderstandings that can assist the readers in comprehending these two major factors in understanding why Scripture must be interpreted correctly. Although, they are the core of our existence, yet in studying the book “Introduction to Biblical Interpretation” by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg and Robert L. Hubbard, Jr., we find that proper theological interpretation is lacking in some churches. Klein states, “No one comes to the task of understanding as an objective observer. All interpreters bring their own presuppositions and agendas, and these affect the ways they understand as well as the conclusions they draw.”1 In addition, Duvall proclaims, “We are separated from the

Within the texts we have explored in class throughout the quarter, many comparisons and connections can be drawn through the lens of religion but also of medicine. However, the topics can blend and combine with other lenses where the line is not clear cut. Nature also presents itself as a lens carried through the religious and medical lens of the texts. The purpose of this piece is to synthesize the arguments presented by the authors while integrating personal thoughts and reactions to the texts. The body is the vessel through which the text and ideas are presented. Within each particular lens, the body will be present as this vessel and create commonalities or differences within the ideas formed.

Biblical Interpretation is important and necessary so that we can understand what the text is saying, what the intended theological message is, and how to personally apply and teach these Scriptural truths to carry forward the Gospel in rescuing others from despair and death to hope and life, thus displaying His glory and growing His Kingdom. It is about finding what God is revealing about Himself and His Son Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is for us to know that God desires to have a relationship with us and for us to be set apart in a covenant relationship with Him to display holy lives that bring Him glory. Interpretation, using hermeneutical principles, help guide us in proper boundaries for interpreting Scripture so that we can reveal the intended meaning of the text. Without this, we run the risk of imposing our own ideas on the text, therefore misinterpreting. Misinterpreting can cause us to miss theological truths, administer the wrong application, and neglect or overlook the meaning of the text which weakens the impact of God’s truth in our personal lives as well as others we are teaching.