Reflection On Religion

Religion is one of the most significant aspects in history and during our modern times, giving hope and forgiveness to citizens as they begin their spiritual journey but women’s voices are silenced and kept concealed. In this segment I will research and bring to light the women’s perspective through the hardships and experiences which they’ve encountered and focus on their lifestyle and personal values so we can understand better the role of women and faiths. .

As a child, I remember always saying I want to live in a large house with all my close relatives. In retrospect, that was my greatest but far fetched fantasy, since I did not realize then how divided and chaotic my life truly was. I still don’t, since they say I pushed down all my unpleasant memories, and when I’m ready they’ll come out. I often regain glimpses of the past that hurt me deeply, so I wonder do I genuinely want to remember everything? Let’s rewind. A nickname for the South is the Bible Belt. Church is a part of everyone’s life, no matter what the social class. You pray for every meal, and every day and night you pray. I didn’t pray. There are so many different words that describe beautiful ways to worship, but I can think of none. I memorize the words I hear every day, like the Lord’s prayer, I repeat them, but no belief is held behind the words. I stare at the worshippers with their eyes closed and wonder how the same words have so much meaning for them. As I go home to my mother, her boyfriend and my step sister, I find the reason why I can’t pray. No matter how hard I deny it, they’re still the reason why.

When asked the question on my definition of religion, I decided to look at it in a way that goes beyond just my religion. Religion goes much deeper than being something that we just believe in, it is a relationship or a part of a person’s culture. My purpose of religion is something for me to try and understand what my goal in life is, as well as building a relationship with a higher being. Religion gives people that higher being that they can look to for guidance and comfort. I feel that you can also express your culture through religion as well as explain some of the reasons for some of the things that you have done in your life.

As a child I remember going to church with my grandmother. She was a member of New Beginnings Missionary Baptist church in Miami, Florida. I remember Sunday being a special day for my family. My sisters and I dressed in our beautiful sunday dresses and my mother and grandmother always stressed the importance of our attendance to every sunday service. We had pictures of the last supper and portraits of Jesus all over the house. I remember hearing my grandmother pray every night. As a child, I believed in Jesus Christ, but I never fully comprehended the teachings in church because I was very young.

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.

In the last century, air travel has allowed people to visit new places, businesses to expand globally, and made the world a smaller place.  A unique experience, passengers are assigned seats in close quarters with strangers, and often find themselves in close communion with people they would not normally converse with.  Occasionally, we may find ourselves seated with someone who has a drastically different view of the world than we do, and as Christians, we should be prepared to engage in those opportunistic discussions whenever they present themselves.  What if a seatmate asked me about my faith, asked me to explain my biblical worldview?

Lived religion is a viewpoint of examining religion in real life situations (Ammerman 2016). It is looking at more than what we see as common religion, which is what we consider to be tradition and examining religion from its natural environment (Ammerman 2016). It is studying the beliefs; such as magic, spirits and even the types of dress that people where while participating in their religion (Ammerman 2016). It is just not studying the religions itself, but studying the religious people, what they believe in and what they do (Ammerman 2016).

As to be expected given the strong Christian upbringing I had, the first several years of my life following the ability to think for myself (to a degree) I was unshakeable in my faith. As a child, I had dutifully attended Church every single Sunday with barely any exceptions and heavily engaged with the community. I'd always look forward to Sunday school and learning about Christ along with attending youth club meetings every week on Wednesdays. I had even made developed a hobby for preaching and chattering about Christianity with other Christian children my age. There was no one that could possibly turn me away from my faith in God... or so I had thought.

All of our reasons for our faith are all different. Some people think it is a feeling, others believe it is for their protection only. Me, I view it as a passion and love for the one who has created me. My faith is more than just a feeling I have. It is what supports me and what I know is right. Lots of the time when people look at religion the look at it as a crutch for people who cannot accept reality. Not only as a Christian, but as a simple human being I know that this is wrong. In these paragraphs I will explain my reasons for my faith and the reality and truth behind it.

In modern day, religion is shown as a choice, and in some places in the world it is. Religion is something that you choose to follow. In comparison to the past, in which most times religion was a must, depending on where you lived you could be punished for not following the religion of the land you lived in. Because religion is seen as a choice today, some people are confused as to why people would confine themselves to an additional set of rules that would dictate the way they would live. In exploring this, science fiction books are made. Several books in the science fiction category that include religion often use their own, made up religion, to represent a religion that is practiced. By doing this they can either bring out the good side or the bad side of the religion, often it is the latter. In result of this, certain religions can be seen in a bad light once these books and ideas become mainstream.

I researched about 1 and 2 Timothy. The theme of Timothy is about God, lifestyle and money, and Paul tells us a lot of these three topics. Paul reminds us that we should pray about the things we are worrying about. We need to share good things with others, don’t be selfish. God wants us to give to those in need through fundraisers, charities, donations. 1 Timothy states that we should take hold of eternal life and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Money can’t get us far in life. We won’t be successful if we focus on money since our treasures are in heaven not here. Paul reminds us to be thankful for what we have because we are considered privileged. The love of money leads to evil desires and temptations. You will become lost in faith if you only focus on money. Money is not reliable; it isn’t stable. Instead we should rely on God who provides us with everything we need. Love is an important factor to remain united. We were all saved from our sins, but God wants us to come to a knowledge of the truth. We have to refrain falling into Satan’s trap; temptation. There’s hope to turn away from Satan, but you need to remain faithful in God and trust in Him. In 2 Timothy, Paul tells us that God doesn’t want us to be shy, because God gave us power, self-discipline and love. We shouldn’t be ashamed or scared to preach the gospel, for we should not only preach the gospel but to also suffer for God. Paul reassures us by saying that the Holy Spirit

When we think of religion, we think of a higher being watching us from a holy place, ensuring that we are behaving accordingly. Growing up, my family never practiced any religion. I remember, when I was a child, I would go out every Sunday to play with my friends, but none of them would be available because they would be attending church. When I was younger, I remember attending a service once because all of my friends and their families were attending and I wanted to go with them. At the service, I was not truly paying attention to what the pastor was speaking, I was just trying to play with my friends. I vividly remember the look one of my friend’s mother gave me after I joked with my friend about how boring the service was. I, at the age of 8, remember being so bored, that I left the church while the pastor was still speaking.

This composition will give you information on why I chose the topic Christianity. What is compelling about this issue and why is it important in the study of religion? This assignment and the content within it will explain the significance of Christianity across all religions studied. The information in this composition will show in what ways Christianity is significant for religious beliefs. I will give you, the reader an example of how this religion, have a profound effect on my life, and the area I reside. What impact does Christianity have on the everyday lives of people who practice Christianity in my area?

During the course of this class, I have learned a lot about different religions. I still have an unprejudiced view of religion. However, I did not suspend my belief to have an understanding of religion. I have been able to learn of other religious beliefs without feeling threatened of my own. I found there are many different practices in other religions, some I agree with and some I do not agree with. I have come to except others, ways of worship without getting upset. I have become humble in my conclusion now that I have a better understanding of others beliefs. The world seems to jump to conclusions and be judgmental about other religions. Postponing ones judgement on a religion is a difficult thing to do. Being raised and taught a certain religion and set of beliefs is distilled in to one’s mind. I, on the other hand, reserved my personal judgement until I have learned more about it.

I always found the idea of God, Jesus, and the bible were interesting. At the age of 12 I decided to really think about the stories and lessons and how it all happened in the bible. In my mind when thinking it all over I found it ridiculous but in my heart, I thought of all the time I prayed for a loved one and asked God to watch them. Believing was something I said and not did at that point. To others I lied and said I was a true believer, even my family and best friends. Turning 15 is when going to church and the truth started to come out. Being part of a religious family, this was very hard for me. My brother had already come out and said that he doesn’t believe but that never influenced me because the friend who was like a brother to me said it first. He never believed and was honest about it, but since we argued all the time I told him I believed and began to tell my parent how I felt.