As tears fell from my eyes and onto the light blue carpet, I heard words I never thought I would hear. One Sunday about three years ago, our assistant pastor preached a message, and after that, he announced that our pastor was stepping down. Because it was such a close-knit church, we quickly learned that our pastor had committed adultery with one of my best friends’ mother. My family was extremely upset and the whole church was distraught when we heard the news. I had no idea what to think. This man, whom I trusted, had baptized me and answered any questions I had. My family adored our pastor because he was such a great teacher of the Bible. I could not fathom how my pastor, a man of God, could be capable of a sin like this. After church that day, my family went out to eat. At the restaurant, my father mentioned that he wanted to try out a different church. This idea my father posed to my family was so foreign to me. This church family was all I had ever known since I was four years old. I continuously asked God: after eleven years, why did my family have to be uprooted. I could not understand how something like this could happen. The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for the good of those who love God,” but I did not understand how anything “good” could possibly come from my situation. My brother and my father were excited to visit new churches, but my feelings were the opposite. Despite my feelings, I decided I was going to be optimistic and give
The question is asked what does it mean to claim that God is triune and how does this bear upon human life? Merriam-Webster (2018) defines triune as three in one, or relating to the Trinity, the triune God consisting of three parts, members or aspects (Webster 2018). To claim that God is triune would mean that there is a knowledge as well as a belief in the Trinity of God and that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is triune has a bearing on Human Life because God is Holy and He is the creator of the world and as humans he has a major effect on the come of each of our lives. But for the believer His ways becomes our ways, therefore it affects how we act, live, think, love, and how we treat others. As well as our character and the way in which we live our lives is affected for the better once we have come into the knowledge and acceptance of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held
day, a very good friend of mine and her family invited me to their church. I was reluctant to go,
Of all the incredible divine qualities Jesus Christ exemplifies, the one I love most is His constancy. He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever,” and as Moroni teaches us, from Him cometh “every good gift.” Because Jesus Christ is constant, all of God’s children who have ever lived or ever will live on the Earth can look to the scriptures and prophets to identify patterns of obedience by which they may obtain every one of these good gifts, This is in accordance with that law decreed in heaven, that “when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it was predicated.”
Starting a church and building a church was a lot harder than I expected. Many of our projects and efforts just did not work. But I tried to take the high road. “Well that didn’t end the way I expected, but at least no one important died.“
ideas of God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit in
As I gazed around the church I was able to see love and an abundance of warmth generating from the elder parents to the young within the chapel. The service although I was unable to understand it, promoted an overwhelming feeling of acceptance and respect from those around me as we engaged in the reading of the scriptures, songs being sung and the blessings being given to all those asking. The parishioners beamed with an elation of learning the word of Christ, and did not make me feel as if I were an outcast; those seated around me apologized for their children, and guided me to receive the message from the priest. The emotional response I have for the people of the church was an elated since of hospitality and acceptance, which I thought would not be give; a preconceived idea. From the moment I arrived I was able to feel as if I belonged in the church family, the feelings of inadequacy faded. I found that being engaged within this experience has challenged me as an individual to become more open to those I am the most uncomfortable, have little knowledge, or preconceived images of, in other words judge from the inside not from the outside, take a leap and learn whole heartedly about those I know nothing about. The challenges I faced where to put aside whatever misconceptions and prejudices I have from my personal beliefs, values and experiences and be
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.
“What did you think of the service?” my dad asked as my family packed into the van. My parents wanted to show us different types of churches than the Anglican one we had attended for years. While we wanted to visit more, we had suddenly found our next church before searching more than a month. We believe that some denominations are more righteous while others not, but as long as they are Christian I say that does not matter. Anglican and nondenominational churches along with others do not matter as long as they have truly Christen congregations.
On May 29th, 2015 at about eight a.m., a group of eleven youth and three youth leaders from Fair Haven Baptist Church loaded into two vans and prepared for a twelve hour drive. Our destination was a new church located in the middle of a crime-packed, non-believing neighborhood in Sulfur Springs, Florida. For the week, we would partner with a missionary group called Hope Street. Our mission was to take flyers that advertised the local church and go door-to-door, inviting people to the grand opening, which would also be their Easter Sunday service. Little did I know of the huge impact Hope Street would make on the Sulfur Springs community.
When discussing and proving the person of Christ, there are two basic laws that must be addressed and proven. First you must prove that Christ is one hundred percent human (humanity), then you must prove that at the same time Christ is one hundred percent God (deity).
Christ in Majesty is a Romanesque fresco secco from the 12th century that was transferred to plaster and wood. It was originally located in the apse of the Church of Santa Maria de Mur in Catalonia, Spain but now is located in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as a gift from the Maria Antoinette Evans Fund. The fresco is a transition from Roman and Byzantine Art to Gothic Art. The artist of Christ in Majesty utilizes his art to educate people in the doctrines of the Christian faith.
The bible was written as an account of what many viewed that God had accomplished so his actions and words could be passed on for generations. Some believe it is a literary account and some believe it is a historical account. The word of God in the bible comes in many forms and is left up to interpretation by the reader. Some believe that the word of God should be the only word and should be strictly followed. Some believe that the words are meant as a guideline to help us through life. Whatever your belief is you can always seem to find the meaning behind your belief through the word of God in the Bible.
Studies of Jesus primarily focus on the duality of Jesus and how he is able to be both human and divine at once. This subject was disputed at the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451 between the
Through out history, as man progressed from a primitive animal to a "human being" capable of thought and reason, mankind has had to throw questions about the meaning of our own existence to ourselves. Out of those trail of thoughts appeared religion, art, and philosophy, the fundamental process of questioning about existence. Who we are, how we came to be, where we are going, what the most ideal state is....... All these questions had to be asked and if not given a definite answer, then at least given some idea as to how to begin to search for, as humans probed deeper and deeper into the riddle that we were all born into.