Personal Narrative: Christian America

I lived in Barriere most of my life since 1998 .. I lived in a family with three sisters and a brother named Shilo, Jessica, Moriah, and Thomas. Moved to a 5 bedroom house, my room was downstairs. I lived in a teachers subdivision in Barriere. Back then my home church is Pentacostal Christian Life Assembly I still attend there today. My family had been going there since was about 4 years old. At that time I had been going to youth run by a guy named Cliff Millar at the PCLA. I had lots of friends in Barriere and surrounding places. I hanged with my crew in that youth group. I was just hanging with them to feel like I belonged somewhere. But really I was empty inside I felt as if I needed to act out or showoff to become cooler and or better

I grew up in the Christian faith, where at a young age I probably accepted Christ, but it wasn’t until my twelfth birthday when I decided to rededicate my life to Him after a friend wrote in a birthday card, “Remember what Jesus was doing when He was twelve?”

I attend Gospel Light Freewill Independent Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC. It’s a relatively small church, with about 50-70 people on a Sunday morning. My grandmother, my aunt, and my uncle attend this church as well. I consider myself to be a child of God and a true “born again” Christian. Being “born again” means that one has accepted God into their heart and has been changed on the inside. I accepted him into my heart on October 9th, 2012. Growing up strictly in an independent Baptist church, I didn’t know that other churches were different, at least not until I visited my boyfriend’s church which is Southern Baptist. My pastor preaches heavily on hell-fire and brimstone. He walks up and down the altar, yelling and jumping. There are

Since I was a child, I loved making friends. Whenever I saw someone new, I would run up to them and immediately become best friends with them. As I grew up, I recall some occasions when I felt left out. I remember being so sad that they wouldn't include me. From that day on, I made a commitment to make everyone feel involved because that feeling of being left out was one of the worst feelings a young boy/girl could ever have.

Today was a boring and very uncomfortable day for me. Everyone know my last day here at Grace Christian Center is tomorrow so everyone is telling me that they’re sorry that I’m leaving. I’m not sure if its true or not , but its nice to hear. When I walked through the doors of GCC I went straight back to my seat and started cleaning out my desk. I don’t have much in there but I want to make sure that I leave it in better shape than when I got it. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean that I have to leave my work area cluttered. After cleaning up my area I decided that I was going to go downstairs to eat lunch with the rest of the staff member, which was odd because that’s something that I normally run away from. Me and the staff ate

I am an atheist, but it wasn't always that way. My entire life there was a constant pressure on me to accept that there was a supreme being that created all. Even at a young age I couldn’t bring myself to fully believe this. I continued grasping for straws because, just like every other religious person, I was scared of the “consequences” that would come with not believing. My Non-Denominational Christian Church promoted telling this to everyone, even children.

I became a Christian in 1982 while in high school. I had never attended church prior to Easter 1982. I found something interesting in the whole of the service and decided to read a Bible. The Bible made some sense to me. I had a few questions about some of the stuff that had happened and was given Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. Well that answered most of my questions. I was also given Mere Christianity which answered more questions. I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and asked G-d to come into my life and forgive me of my sins.

Not realizing I've fallen into a deep paralyzing sleep until the next morning. Sliding out of the foot of the bed with the inability to stop. This vision stuck with me. Talking with a church member, Jeff Hanson, a lean guy jolly with dark circles under his eyes, and nonjudgmental Christian, a friend of my parents.

Reading was very diffuclt to me. The pronouncing and putting two-three letters together was discouraging. “Th” or “et”, made me feel like I was illiteric.

“The other important skill is empowering people by way of letting the biblical narratives ask their own questions of our social context…the discussion was wonderful, and people started to get this idea of dwelling in scripture before plunging into a meeting, in order to hear God.”. (A. Roxburgh/F. Romanuk,176)

Being raised a Christian from the cradle, by my Mom, I do not have a light bulb moment when I found Jesus. I went blind at age four. Even at that age my Mom's Christian training had a deep affect on me, and my being blind drew me closer to God. However, my earthly Father blamed God and stopped walking with God. He became increasingly abusive. Eventually, in my twenties, my mother, sister, and I fled for our lives. The church we were attending, and I was baptized in, did not want to be involved with the three of us. Thus, we were in hiding without a church family, or the blessing of church services. We started doing our own Lords Supper at home, and I was chosen to lead at these services. Of course we studied the Bible, and I spent so much

"Hidden in plain sight in hundreds of judicial opinions is an extraordinary principle-love your neighbor as yourself. At first blush the idea of its application to our legal relations seems odd: This is a matter of morality, not legality. But the biblical command to love neighbor as self has exerted an important influence upon the decisions of American courts. While more frequently excluded from application, the love command has found expression in a wide range of cases. From criminal to civil procedure, from torts to con tracts, from employment to family disputes, neighbor-love has been a vital part of American jurisprudence."(Greenlee) This is a flawless case of the Christian narrative versus the cultural narrative within the United States. Those in the Christian narrative follow the standard of loving your neighbor as yourself, but your neighbor is every person, even a man like Matthew Poncelet in Dead Man Walking. This is where the character, Sister Helen Prejean, fights with following the principle of love how a Christian should against how culture says a Christian ought to follow it.

Growing up as a teenage girl in the world with the state it's in, it's often hard to not want to please everyone. That's something I struggle with, especially as a Christian. I want everyone to like me. I feel a pressure to please everyone, show my love for Christ, and a burden to never slip up..always be perfect. Once entering high school, the need for everyone to want to be my friend and like me grew. I would do anything to please these "friends." Often more times than not, these things that pleased them ceased to please God. Looking at those people I had in my life, I got to thinking what were they doing for me. Yes- that may sound like a selfish question, but really what were these people I was trying so hard to please doing for me? The answer was

Matters of Faith offers music, a message and sometimes a guest speaker. It is a place for many people to come together and hear not only about their own religion but to hear about other religions as well. These are the reasons that intrigued me to see what Matters of Faith was really all about.

I never went to college scarcely school at all, even so, I have always been a child of God, He is essential to me. I'm called by God and know God's voice, from where only education is from, replicated in me, my mind is Christ mind, Christ mind is my mind, I like to think I'm having a mind melt with Jesus. Born into poverty, neglect, physical and mental abuse, shamefulness and God.