Reflection About God

A. We all know that humans have a good side and a sinful side by nature. However through Christ we can redeem ourselves and live a new life in Him.

“Man is not at peace with his fellow man because he is not at peace with himself; he is not at peace with himself, because he is not at peace with God.” Thomas Merton

I can attest to the truth in this quote with multiple instances of this same recognition. I never realized the extent of my own blessings until they were taken away from me. This summer when I lost my grandpa and my dog in a matter of two weeks, it took me a while to comprehend the magnitude. Going about the days following, I began to realize

I learned from this passage that Jesus loves each and everyone one of us. I know he is our savior because he fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy that no other person could achieve. I can apply this passage to my life by spreading the word to others just as Paul did to the Romans.

I'm sure you have had a Scripture suddenly come into your mind or a Bible reference, which, when you look it up, speaks directly to your situation. God often speaks through His word. You need to read it, study it and meditate on it. It's a lamp to your feet and a plumb line to measure everything by.

Who is God? Is a question I can easily imagine a kid asking an adult and the latter replying with God is our creator, or God is an old bearded guy up in the sky watching over us, or even God is a supreme immortal creator deity that certain people believe in. All those responses are different because those replies are based upon that person’s beliefs and values. There is no single correct answer to who or what is God . An answer to the question “Who or what is God?” can reveal how a person views God and religion. This past semester my answer to “who or what is God?” and “how can I relate to God?” has grown in depth of understanding and how I relate to God.

The surrendering to a God that we as humans unable to see but are capable of having a relationship with is definitely a mental effect of going deep with the creator that the bible tells us in His word by apostles who witness the wonderful works of His creation which gives hope. In (Gen. 1) the mere spoken infinite power of God’s word give obedience immediately. “God said let there be light” (Ps. 33:9) Lets us know “He spoke and it was done.” There is no duplicate in God’s creation because of there is no similarities everything was created for its own purpose. Man is unable to duplicate God’s reproduction it is inexhaustible in its patterns and types. That God made everything so marvelously perfect that the morning stars sang and the son of God shouted for joy. (Job 38:4-7) God’s personality is being glorified for himself, that we are his employee’s that aren’t qualified to acknowledge just what our purpose is on earth without His sovereignty and proprietorship it was wonderful made for Him to get the glory with use reaping the benefits. The work of God’s provision is

God is always with us, and Jesus’s Love is Beautiful & Graceful: Holy Spirit is Transforming Continually.

Religion has been a topic that I have struggled with all my life. It was always a subject that I never had much interest in learning as it was not stressed to me as a child and because of this I have found myself to be ignorant to the practices of the major religions of the world. Stephen Prothero’s book God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World has helped me to develop a greater understanding of major religions like Islam, Confucianism, and Judaism. He was able to provide the basic ideas and stories of religions in an organized and simple manner that made it easy to understand the foundations of each religion. Prothero also explains the problem, solution, technique and exemplar for each respective religion to further develop that understanding. This was a great way to explain the major principals of these religions and educate those who are unfamiliar with them. Of all the religions Prothero presents us with in the chapters, the one I found to be most interesting was the one on Judaism.

There are several questions that many people find themselves asking at least once in their life and a few are, “When will the world end, how will the world end, and will we even be here to experience the end?” I’ve grown up to believe the world will end according to the prophecy stated in the Bible, but I’ve also realized that there are others who believe that the world won’t end based upon prophecy, but they believe the world will end according to what scientific research states. Now we are all entitled to our own thoughts, and I feel as if even though there are valuable facts proven by scientists, I still believe that the world will end based upon what is stated in the bible. Scientists have proven time and time again how the world will end, but yet I still choose to follow my religious beliefs about how the end will come. Yet in still there are many others who believe the facts at hand, and that is understandable. We believe in what we know and are taught.

Do people ever wonder what literally happened to the Jew''s faith during the Holocaust in a kind of big way. God is letting all the terrible things for the most part happen to the Jews, which is quite significant. The Jews believe that God definitely is being biased against them. Many people basically are probably wondering what God essentially was thinking during the Holocaust. The Jews mostly believe that God generally is treating the Nazis like matter fairly more than the Jews do, definitely contrary to popular belief. God literally is letting all the terrible things specifically happen to the Jews, which mostly is fairly significant. In concentration camps, children are being burned because they essentially are not old enough or strong enough to work and they then particularly become useless in a generally big way. “A truck drew actually close and unloaded its hold: small children in a generally big way. Babies, or so they kind of thought. Yes, I did see this with my own eyes...children thrown into flames” (Wiesel 52) in a sort of big way. The Nazis kind of were burning babies and children...what kind of happened to those being humans just like you. In at sort of the least one concentration camp, a boy was hanged, but because he did not mostly weigh much, he did not really die instantly, which particularly is quite significant. “But the third rope actually was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...And so he for pretty much more than half an hour,

Then, my legs began to shake. It was slow at first, then faster. I did not know what was happening to me, but I knew God was in control.

Before taking American Religious Lives, I had previously taking Mystery and Meaning, that was my first encounter with religion. Essentially everything that we have learned in the class has been new to me because I do not have any prior experience with American religion, since my other Religious Studies class focused on Asian and Native American religions. Growing up I never went to church growing up, but I was baptized, but never understood what that meant. I do no think of myself who is involved or a part of any religion. The fact that I am unfamiliar makes the class very challenging for me, but it is also a good type of challenge because it makes me work harder to understand all the topics discussed in class and it makes me really have to think deeper about all the topics. Not being associated with any religion is also helpful because I can be an outsider and not have a biased opinion and not have to choose a side of the different religious perspectives. Religion seems like it is a very complex topic, where a lot of religions in America have different sects and each sect has a different background. I knew that Christianity was the most popular religion in America, but I did not know about all the different sects and that Christianity as a whole is the faith of over 70% of Americans and that most of the other 30% is made up of people who are unaffiliated with any religion. (Wormald, 1).

In examining, evaluating, and dissecting my religion, I discovered that my religious belief considers certain elements more important than others and influences the extent of my religious expression. As a devote member of the Catholic Religion, I strongly believe in a belief system, sense of community, and rituals bear the greatest weight in providing the ultimate guidance through life. In comparison to the Santeria religion, my religion is very similar. Catholicism and Santeria both built the foundation of the religion based on a single belief system, cherish community involvement, and regard performing rituals as the outward commitment to the religion.

At the beginning of this semester, we were required to write a reflection on our then-current knowledge of religion, women, and gender. I had very little knowledge of any religions other than Christianity because that is the religion I was raised in and continue to practice. As for women in religion, I also didn’t know much about except for Christianity, and even the extent of my knowledge in that area was limited. In reflection, after hearing several women from different religions speak as well as learning from texts and the professor, I have gained knowledge and perspective of women in religion.