Reflection Paper On Theological Reflection

The book The Prince of Los Cocuyos can relate to my transition into college. The first time Richard Blanco came to America and felt out of place. College is all about experinces and getting to know yourself and learning who you really are. It is hard leaving high school and having to transition to college. Being used to teachers reminding you about assingments to now going online and having to remind yourself. As I begin to start my college experience I thought college would be easier no one telling you what you can and cant do, but its really not easier it might honestly be harder. Having to do so many assignments all at once. I feel like college is all about self motivation and being able to push yourself to work hard. Which I actually am

Freshman year was a little hard for me because I was trying to get adjusted to new people and make friends as well. I also learned quickly that we were responsible for making choices and knowing what was expected of us as a student. Second semester of my freshman year I began taking my first college course thinking that it would be hard because it was a college class. As I progressed through the Early College I was doing well until I started to experience some issues that I was dealing

Theology 104 has really changed my outlook and views regarding systematic theology. I now understand more clearly that as Christians, in order to be able to accurately share our faith that we must all be a theologian to some extent. Looking at the totality of it all, the four religion courses I have taken since January 2015 have really expanded my views and understanding of what it is to be a Christian. Between Philosophy and Contemporary Ideas (PHIL201), Contemporary Worldviews (APOL 104), Survey of Biblical Literature (BIBL 104), and Introduction to Christian Thought (THEO 104), my understanding of the Bible and Christianity in general has increased exponentially. While my overall belief system has not been impacted, I now have a better

“My strong belief is that God created human beings and therefore He knows about every aspect of the human body. So, if I want to fix it, I just need to stay in harmony with Him,” quotes Ben Carson. In the preceding quote from Dr. Carson, he shaped a belief that he could not repair the human body with the aid of God guiding him. In theology, we shape our beliefs based on situations that shape our lives, and unfortunately, we tend to put God in a box based on these beliefs. During this writing, the focus with being the perceptions of God and how, with our beliefs, can be put in a box.

I believe that all Scripture is breathed-out by God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3.16). The Bible was written by "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1.20-21). Because it is completely inspired by God, the Word of God is the definition of objective truth (John 17.7), for it is "true from the beginning" (Psalm 119.160) and God "cannot lie" (Titus 1.2). It is pure and holy (Proverbs 30.5). The Word of God has existed since the beginning (John 1.1) and "endureth for ever" (Psalm 119.160). The Word of God is living, "powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4.12). It will be the judge of humanity "at the last day" (John 12.48).

Throughout this Theology II class, I found myself thinking and learning more about my religion than I have ever before. Since I had twelve years of Catholic school I thought I knew mostly everything there was about religion, yet, this class challenged my understanding of things I thought I had a grasp of. Things such as contingent and necessary beings, revelation, the Church on homosexuals, Jesus’ life, the sacraments, spirituality, what a Jesuit is, who Ignatius is, what Laudato Si is, and what morality is; these are just are just to name a few that have transformed my idea of theology in this new age.

Everyone has their own belief on whether there is a God or god’s, or if they don’t believe in any higher power at all. This is a very opinionated topic, and one that most everyone has an opinion on. The High School I went to, St. Thomas More Catholic High School, is one that strives on religion, specifically Catholicism, which is the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. This One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church strives on the belief that there is only one true God. I struggled with my opinion on what I really believed in, until one night, when something miraculous happened to me, and my mind was finally made.

There is talk around the city of a woman claiming that God is going to restore us to Zion because of God’s unending love for us. I was still nursing from my mother’s breast when they came and destroyed everything. I don’t remember, but my mother, Mariam often talks about the way things used to be. She says before the Babylonians came and destroyed our city, before we were subjected to them; there was a great Temple that stood on a hill called Zion where heaven and the earth met. My mother tells me never to forget that we are a chosen people and that a covenant was made between God and the anointed King David. My mom would tell us that God is dwelling in Zion and taken care in the King. She would always say that we brought this on ourselves, because we sinned against God. My father, Shimon never talks about it, really. The only thing he says, is this is the way things are now and that we should not live in the past. He says, we must look to the future. My dad says that we must accept the status quo, for it represents the order intended by God. I hear him talking to his brothers sometimes when they don’t think we can hear. I think he don’t share much with us, so we don’t get our hopes up. Right now, I’m not sure what to think. All I see is persecution and inequality of my people. We can’t even govern ourselves. We were able to rebuild the Temple, but it’s being used for other things.

Ask any kid and they will testify that the single thought of attending a three to two hour religious ceremony sounds mentally painful and boring ,especially on weekends. Therefore, when we were asked to observe and analyze a religious practice, I was vividly reminded of myself as a kid being dragged to a religious practice I did not want to attend. However, in an effort to get a good grade in my class and get a better understand the Jehovah’s witness religion and its practices I conducted an in-depth Fieldwork by attending two religious ceremonies. The first time was to observe and get a feel for what I was getting myself into, and the second time was to take detailed notes on the events happening during the religious ceremony and ask questions. Although my attendance to the religious ceremonies were my choice I couldn’t help be reminded of how as a kid I thought church was a mean trick invented by adults to get us kids to stop watching TV. Little did I know that religion was so much more than just a distraction, to most people religion is a tool continuously used by humans to explain the world, comfort the mind, and serve as general guide to how to live a better life. In addition, most humans depend on religion to give life meaning and purpose, making religion, to most, essential because they depend on the guidance and reassurance it gives them regarding life and the idea things will get better if you have faith. After attending both ceremonies and asking a few experts a

Religion is practiced worldwide in many different forms. My family and I have been through a religious journey throughout my lifetime. When I was younger, I would attend a Mennonite church with my grandmother and my parents would come mostly for holidays. They were not very much of the church going type until I was older. My dad did not see it was important for us to attend church until his parents returned home from missionary work in Guadalajara, Mexico when my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. I was in third grade when they returned home and we did not start attending regularly until a few years after. We still lived in a “Christian” home but as I have grown up, looking back, I see that it was not much of a Christian home. We only prayed on holidays before we would eat our meal and that was when we were surrounded by my grandparents of either side. Eventually we started attending church regularly at a United Methodist church up the road from our house. I still do not believe we are that dedicated to the church and to God, as we only pray before we eat on Sundays and holidays as well. We do not speak much of God or ways we could work on being better Christians, we still go about the same ways of life we had before, except now on Sundays we attend a sermon. After all of this, I am slightly torn on what I personally believe. I feel as though I am lost in that part of my life. I hope in the next few years, I find what I truly believe.

Harmony is a strong word to use to describe my relationship with religion if I have any. It is difficult to believe in something in a book that was written centuries ago. However, that's one way to look at it, the faith of believing in God is what makes religion so powerful and engaging. This creates multiple large bodies of people who believe in different things, For example a certain person might not believe at all in God, and be in controversy between science and God. Is it possible for different people of different beliefs to live in “Harmony”, I believe that this is absolutely possible. The world is changing at a rate quicker than ever, and it is imperative for different people from different beliefs to come together and stay strong amongst one another.

Christianity is the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices. I had always gone to church and Sunday School at Zion Evangelical and Reformed church, but I never really cared all that much about it. Sometimes I would think of it as a punishment to have to go to church. My parents had to force me and my siblings go and to behave. We just did not want to go. Eventually, in the seventh grade, I started confirmation. Early on, my first thought was, “This is going to suck. Why do I have to go to church every Sunday for three years straight?” Then I began going to confirmation class with my pastor and my mentor. I thought of church as a punishment; My pastor, a time to come and learn about Christ (SC2). I began to create closer friendships with my fellow confirmands, my mentor Tom Kozisek, my pastor Brian Lund (SC4). They still last today with Colton and Tyler, Cade and Mara, Brian and Tom (SC6). I started to learn more and more about God and His word. I also began to open up and I really started to accept Christ into my life. This process really opened my eyes and had an enormous impact on me and my life.

Provided that my family had their belief, I was equally assigned to learn about their belief system. Previously, the basic belief my parents had taught me was that I needed to do things right, be good, and obey/respect them. I really didn’t know about religion. At Ecuador, the reconnection I had with my family also introduced me to their belief system. One day my family and I went to my uncle's house, I had no idea of what we were doing there, but my cousin told me to but on a dress. My uncle’s house got full of my (mom’s) family members, and we shacked hands, started a pray, and sang. I didn’t know the lyrics, but I heard, and I noticed we were singing to Jesus. Then, we all had a sit, and my uncle welcomed us and started to preach. Finally, we made a prayer, sang, shake hands, and we ended. After the cult, our family exchanged ideas, started conversations, and the kids went out to play. That was the first time I did a cult with my family, and I enjoyed it. We started to attend cults frequently. Meanwhile at school, I started to have more information about religion, and started to realize the diversity of religions and beliefs that exist in the world. Based on what I heard at school and the cults, I wanted to understand more about the subject because something were different. For example, I heard that many Christian went to church to worship God, but we didn't go to a church, we attended cults. Our family’s interpretation of the bible in this aspect was that we are the

The experience to learn about a religion different than the one I grew up learning, was very appealing. Throughout my childhood, I attended a Catholic mass every Saturday night, and CCD school every Sunday morning. When my group first got together, we pondered different religions we could potentially work with landing on the Islamic Society of CNY. None of us had any knowledge on the Islamic faith, so we figured, why not. My role in the project was to work on doing research about Allah. Allah is the Islamic faiths, one and only god. Along with speaking about Allah, I highlight the ideology that even though many individuals associate the Islamic faith with terrorism, terror is actually being used against them. In Egypt, a few weeks ago, the biggest terror attack in Egypt targeted the Islamic community killing over 300 plus people. I personally believed it was important to highlight this information throughout the presentation because it is such a common misconception; that Muslims in the Islamic faith are the ones committing these horrible acts of violence, when in turn, they are being attacked on their own front. During the time spent doing my research, I mostly consulted the Islamic Society of CNY’s website, because they had a lot of very useful information. Sadly, the only day Mohammed was available to speak to us was a morning I had a mandatory commitment, so I was unable to speak to him myself. Although I was unable to speak to him myself, the information I asked some

Christian Tradition course exposed me to the Christian Tradition based on Biblical and church history. The course taught me the differences and similarities of Christian Tradition from other major world religions. I learned about the significance of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity based on the teachings of the Bible. The course also briefly covered 2,000 years of church history but with emphasis on the impact of the Council of Nicea, Council of Chalcedon, and John and Charles Wesley on Christianity. The professor emphasized the importance of the reformation that sparked a revolution in the church.