Reflection Of My Religion

Ultimately, when an individual responds to their baptismal call, a community of Christian believers are united under the goal of guiding the initiated. Thus, this attained unity allows the faith to prosper like a living religion. Furthermore, re-birth from sin is intrinsically connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is a fundamental belief throughout Christianity, though it is practiced differently. “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.” (CCC, 1213). Regardless of the denomination, all baptism rituals symbolise beliefs in the Christian faith, all involves water. Some denominations, like Lutheran practice the sprinkling of water over the head of an initiate, while Pentecostals, practice immersing the head of the initiate in the water. Thus a reminder that, “Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”, for individuals who have been initiated that they made a commitment to the teachings, practices and life of of the community. The baptised should live a life of faith as modelled on the example of Jesus, who forgave their sin. The last belief derived from Baptism, is the believed in the Trinity. Through the guidance and support of the Holy Spirit, an individual's is able to carry out God’s word, and evangelise and spread the message of Jesus. “One will come more powerful that I, and he

More than simply a guide to personal spiritual development, Santeria is a social religion. Reminiscent of the Yoruba emphasis on family relationships and the importance of respecting and communicating with ancestors, but more directly imitative of the bonds forged in Cuba’s Cabildo Africano Lucumi that were based on initiation rather than kinship, the modern practice of Santeria in the US is based around the Ile, the community of believers. The santero/a who leads an initiate into the faith becomes the godfather or godmother to the new member, who joins the godparent’s Ile. A system of hierarchy exists within the Ile based on how long ago members were initiated. The Ile gathers together for festivals and to celebrate new initiations into the religious community.

Baptism has many inextricable ties to the beliefs that are held so very tightly by the Christian church and its adherents. It is one of the many traditions of the faith that seeks to express aspects of the religion that are essential to its practice. Baptism is linked to beliefs about: spiritual rebirth through Christ who seeks to cleanse and purify each individual from their sins, admission into the Christian Church and its mission, faith in the Holy Trinity, particularly in the power of the Holy Spirit which seeks to bring knowledge of God to the world as well as the need for salvation from eternal damnation as emphasised in Lewis Sperry Chafer’s book Major Bible Themes which states that: “...baptism when practiced can be no more than an expression of faith and the hope...that the child will ultimately be saved.” Baptism also highlights the Christian beliefs based on faith and repentance-reconciling with God and accepting one’s role as His son/daughter, participation in the life, death and resurrection of Christ by being able to partake in celebrating His sacrifice for mankind, and finally the forgiveness of sins- turning towards a life filled with God’s guidance and righteous presence.

Catholics feel a child is born with a fallen human nature and is tainted by original sin. Therefore, their belief is that newborns are born with original sin and are in need of baptism to enter heaven. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth. (Catechism of the Catholic Church pg. 1250) Catholic Church Father St. Augustine (d. 430) taught that children who die without baptism go to hell. This statement was later softened to say that children who die, without baptism, go to a quasi-heaven called limbo. In the Catholic religion the bishop, priest or deacon are called upon to perform baptisms. In case of necessity, anyone, even a non-baptized person, with the required intention, can baptize by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula phrase "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", or words to that form and effect, referring to the three persons of the Christian Trinity. It is often followed by an "Amen". Mormons believe infant baptism is unnecessary. Unbaptized children are saved through the power of Christ’s atonement (Moroni 8:12). The Lord said, ”They cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me“ (D&C 29:46–47). They are not to be baptized until they reach the age of accountability, which

Often held as a rite of passage and entrance into the Christian church, baptism is much more than just symbolic ritual. Baptism was commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission recounted in the book of Matthew. Even though we are simplistically called to be obedient by being baptized the Christian church has long debated the aspects of this ordinance. Denominations are divided on the basic meaning, types and modes of baptism even two thousand years after the founding of the Christian church. Just as the other ordinance, the Lord’s Supper, congregations find themselves at odd with tradition, biblical interpretation and even individual understanding. However, the simple message of this awe inspiring act can be explained out of the

Baptism is a highly significant practice for most Christians as it is the rite that marks the admission of an individual into most of the Christian churches. It is through this practice that candidates (commonly infants in Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox branches of Christianity) hand themselves to God whilst receiving a promise of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Baptism is significant to the individual and also to the wider church community as it is through this introduction of a new person into the community, that adherents are able to live out their principal beliefs in different ways and therefore fulfill their relationship with God. Within the sacrament of baptism, all three aspects of the principal belief of the Trinity is revealed, “Go, therefore, make disciples of all

Throughout the semester, the lived religion approach has enabled our class to analyze what religion is to many different types of people from all sorts of cultures. This method has allowed the class to view each religion in its own unique form. Essentially, the lived religion approach opens the doors to what each different religion/culture can offer, and how each of those groups embody what they get from the religion in their day to day lives. Unfortunately, conventional approaches do not dive into these different religions deep enough to see what the culture practices contribute to a religion. This paper will attempt to answer the question of why does myth and ritual play such important roles when it comes to an

The Catholic practice consists of baptism, confirmation, communion, reconciliation, anointing of the sick holy orders and holy matrimony. One main belief of the Catholic is the communion or the eucharist at a mass, in which they receive the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread

Campbell describes the ritual of baptism performed in the Catholic Church. The ritual consists of fire and water uniting. The ritual is similar to ancient rituals uniting a male and female in marriage. The ritual of baptism to many Christians is interpreted as the ritual that “washes away original sin”. Many Christians do not see the true meaning of the ritual.

As one is baptised, they are said to be ‘reborn’ when they emerge from the water (Lawrence, 2006), and the ‘stain’ of original sin is washed away (Saunders, 1998). In a purely physical sense, only the body has been washed from physical filth, but when looked at through the lens of symbolic spiritualism, it shows that the body and mind has been cleaned away of all previous sin to allow a closer relationship with God. This is the initiation process into the Catholic Church, however it is only one of many before one can obtain the title of a true Christian (Abrams, 2003). Once baptised, it is said that the person is part of a community that seeks out the coming of the Lord (Water Baptism, 2016). Divergently, it is clear that when one is submerged, they are symbolically dying alongside Jesus on the cross, taking the place of the thief. They are said to have had their old body killed, died alongside Jesus, only to be remerged from the water as a new person, spiritually clean, much like Jesus’ resurrection. The participant takes place as the thief next to Jesus, who did not have time to be baptised on the cross, however still pledged himself to Jesus, who said ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me’ in (Luke 23:42). Another vital use of water in the Catholic faith is the use of holy water throughout the places of worship (Johns, 1997). Holy water fonts are placed at the entrances of these places of worships and Churches in accordance to the Jewish practice of purification in the Old testament. Holy water is described in the book of Leviticus to ‘remove uncleanliness’ associated with many everyday aspects of life. According to priests, holy water also acts as a way to show a symbolic removal of sin (Oestigaard, 2013), protection of evil and a way to remember our Baptism into the faith (Saunders, 2016). When looked at in relation to Baptism, it is evident

Baptism is an individual public profession of personal faith in Jesus Christ, mainly seen in Believers baptism. It is seen to be important that the person is old enough to understand and be able to make that commitment to Christ. During the process of baptising an infant in the Catholic Church, the priest asks the parents what they want for the child. The parents will say baptism and then make the baptismal promise on behalf of the child, this is based on the Apostles Creed. The priest anoints the child with Oil of Baptism on the forehead and chest, this relates to the days when athletes used

The pope also claims to have the authority to absolve sin through confession which is something only God can do. Encouraging useless sacraments as being instituted by Christ Himself like infant baptism, penance, the eucharist, confirmation, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony. Infant baptism is a sacrament which catholics believe removes original sin. Penance is another ceremony in which a parishioner confesses his sin to a priest seeking forgiveness and hoping to be absolved from their sinful

Catholics do not believe in that it is the power of the church to add truths contained in the “deposit of faith” . Catholics also do not believe in that it is not allowable to break a lawful oath or to tell a lie or do any other wicked thing whatever for the sake of promoting the supposed interest of the church of for any good however great likely to arise from it. Catholics believe one God believe that this only God is absolutely one in His infinitely holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence, His infinite knowledge, His providence, His will and His love. They believe in are lord Jesus Christ who is the son of our

Catholicism is a monotheistic religion believing that God is the Creator of all that is. We must love and serve God in our daily life, through prayer and good works, in order to achieve salvation. The element of central myths plays a large role within the Catholic faith, as the Bible is the core of Catholic

(GotQuestions) The Catholic Church views “justification as a process, dependent on the grace you receive by participating in the Church”. (Rosario) In Catholicism justification is the cleansing of a person’s sins. Through God’s grace and their faith in Jesus Christ they would be able to be “born again” through baptism.