Personal Narrative: The Validity Of Religion

In his recent article for the October 7th issue of Commonweal magazine, David Bentley Hart highlighted how different the Christians of the New Testament are from modern day Christians. Hart’s article, titled “Christ’s Rabble; The first Christians were not like us”, argues that the first Christians were so different than present day Christians that we would have a very hard time getting along with one another if we meet today. Hart, a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, came to this conclusion after in-depth study of the text of the New Testament in its original koine Greek. His work translating the New Testament for Yale University painted a clear picture of the character of the first Christians and underscored how far from the original meanings of the text we have come.

To begin, this is my worldview and how I view the world. I do not believe in labels because it hinders a person from their full capability. I do believe in the understanding a person not just by their appearance but by who they are personally and behavior. Anyone can appear appealing and charismatic, but only a true follower of Christ has like a special glow about them, which is rare in my world. I have learned that it does not matter what denomination, ethnicity or upbringing a person comes from as long as they know The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done miraculous things in the past and in the present. Since I am on this Earth until I either die an earthly death or Jesus comes back, I try to live my life to the fullest.

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.

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

NYPD Standard Operational Procedure when anyone is transferred: The next day they must report in civilian attire to Health Services Division to take a Drug Screening Test. I was fuming about this involuntary transfer to Internal Affairs in the elevator when it reached the eight floor. Not familiar with Health Services Division, preoccupied by still really being pissed off, I followed a small group into a meeting room with about twenty seats. As I sat down I suddenly noticed these guys didn’t really look like cops. When one of these weird individuals said to me “I ain’t crazy, no matter what they say, I wanna be a cop and I wanna a gun.” I was momentarily confused.

Claiming that Jesus had given the power to absolve sin to the first Pope Peter, the Pope and members of the clergy advertised that this power had been passed down to the present day Pope. Luther was outraged when he learned of this new method the church was using to raise funds. He stated that “No man can be assured his salvation by any episcopal function” (Marty, Martin Luther, 32). Luther believed Christians should follow the Apostle Paul’s blue print to salvation which was to live “constantly in fear and trembling” (Marty, Martin Luther, 32). Luther worried that if people believed they could simply buy their salvation that all Christians would face the wrath of God when it came time for judgment because they lived their lives not fearing it. Luther is not alone in his realization of the invalidity and corruption of

When it comes to my worldview, I feel pretty confident in what I know and what I stand for. I grew up in a Christian home, therefore I have been pretty consistent on what I believe in for my whole life. Some of the preceding questions really made me think though about what I really believe and how I am actually living. Although I know what my worldview is, it is not always easy to make sure that I am fully living it out.

I was not exactly thrilled to hear those words, but knew it had come from God. At the time, of course, we thought the vision was about Miranda. I got on my knees before Kevin and told him I knew with my entire heart this test was coming back and we needed to be ready. We would have to walk through this together getting our strength from God. Kevin listened but did not respond.

My 5 beliefs are mostly about god. I believe that there is only one god. He saves us from everything wrong and tells us what is right. I believe that we need to celebrate “Shabbat” (saturday) because on saturday he slept after he made the world. To do a friday night meal and to do the “kiddush” (pray) to show him that we believe. I believe that if you know something is wrong don’t do it even if everyone does it you should do what is right. “If you're everyone will jump from the roof, will you do it to?” That is what my mom used to say. I believe that all of us are the same, that we shouldn’t laugh at black people and that we wouldn't laugh at someone's language and of course do not laugh at someone who is a special aid.

Religion never crept its way into my life like it has for others, i was never indoctrinated into the cult of religion not out of my own choice but because of the choice of my mother and father. Even though children have the freedom of choice to not believe in a deity it can be more difficult than putting a giraffe through the eye of a needle to not accept religion when your parents are so religious and they ram it down your throat until you can't breath anymore and promise the idea of you burning in hell as a threat even though pascal's wager is ridiculous and illogical but it still makes it so hard to not accept god not even out of fear of “god” but from the very real punishment of your parents.I however was given a choice and my parents never

The majority of my life I grew up believing that anyone who was deeply religious was that way because they were incapable of finding their own path in life, but instead needed to believe in some supernatural being to do it for them. I believed that their mind was so chained down, and that one must be so ignorant to believe in something that has no evidence in truly existing. Throughout my life I had been introduced to religious ideas, but the concepts never seemed to resonate with me. Ideas that could not be proven through empirical evidence and rational thought, to me seemed absurd. How could one be so naive to life by such concepts? It was very evident my mom's side of the family held much value in religion

I am writng these thoughts and addressing it to you, Kyle, not with the intention to come to an agreement (in fact, I would be very upset if a Christian would completely agree with my point of view), but to listen what you have to say and learn from you. To get the knowledge not only about the religion, but about how people live their life, and you Kyle, are insightful, in my opinion. Although our opinions are far apart I still can tell that I enjoy listening the ideas and standards you propose.

When I am asked what I believe I am usually puzzled on how to respond. Growing up in a small town in the middle of the Bible Belt, it can be difficult to tell others that you are not Christian. And I'm not. I was raised in a household with a father who went to church his whole adolescent life but as he got older he lost his faith. So he and my mother wanted to raise children in an Agnostic home. Because of this I never went to church (except for a few times with my grandmother) and I didn't realize what it meant to be Christian. I may not fully believe that there is a god but this I believe.

When I was young, I grew up in a Christian family, My notion was that God created the universe, and Jesus Christ is my lord and savior. During this time I thought most of the world believed in Christianity as well not knowing about other types of religions. Nevertheless, this changed right around the beginning of middle school where I learned about other major religions. Moreover, I was pretty shocked to realize that most of the world believed in a different religion. Now as an adult, I have the knowledge and respect of other people's religion. After reading chapter 4 I am able to understand other religions and the similarities between each of them. Examples including, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all being monotheistic religions. Or how

They were thinking that they were proving the God they believed in but in the prof it seemed more like they were proving some other God. They were proving Gods that more just started the universe out and let it do it's own thing instead of being part of the world like the believed in God. I would believe in more of the God that started the universe than the one that takes part in everyday life if I believed in a God. The prof that they gave would prove more the God I would believe in than the God they believed in.