Religion Initiation Rituals

In the article “Redefining Myth and Religion: Introduction to a Conversation,” Dr. Loyal D. Rue discusses how science, religion, and myth are related and how they coexist. Some people may argue that science and religion should not coincide and that they are opposites. However, Rue argues, “…In an ideal world, the vocabulary of science would inform the myth that binds together the culture.” In this statement, Rue claims that science can be used to help explain the supernatural phenomena that religion and myths describe. Science is not anti-religion; it helps us to explain religion in ways that humans can understand.

Fast forwarding to my sophomore year of high school, which was just two years ago, I learned the significance that baptism actually held- and it wasn't an audience of giggles,

In the beginning God created the heavens with the Earth along with man in his own image. For over 1500 years, Christian followers were heavy believers of the bible, seeing it as the primary source for knowledge. Then came the scientific revolution in the 1500s, a movement which challenged the Christian view of the universe. It was a time when people were looking for a new way of thinking about the world. Since then and to this day, there has been several instances in which scientific inquiry and religious belief have collided in their ideologies.

Initiation Rituals are nothing new to different parts of the world or in different tribes. Different places have different initiation rituals, some far outside the norm and others mild. But the main goal is typical to go from one old status to a liminal status, and then into a new status, like for example entering Manhood. For western society, physical changes to the body through the body like the beginning of menstruation or the addition of more body hair would be some of the many physical changes that take place and signal the start of the transition to adulthood in this culture. It is not like that for everyone else, in many tribes such as the Fulani people, the people involved are put through a series or just one thing that will officially

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

Ever since its inception, Christianity has been epitomised by a range of religious practices that explore the sacred beliefs that have been upheld and spread around the world. These practices thus continue to bear a significant influence over the lives of adherents and how they seek to express their faith in Christianity. One such religious practice is that of baptism which functions as a significant milestone in the life of any

how God’s creatures operate. The danger suspected by naturalists proved true – men of science

Some of the "rituals" as a Mormon, are that every Monday evening we get together as a family and do some kind of activity together. It is called "family home evening". We do activities such as getting together to watch a movie, have dinner together, go to the park, the movies, an event, or even play board games. The point of this day is to reunite as a family and share some family quality time. Being that we all have things to do in our personal lives, work, school, hobbies, etc, sometimes families don't really share moments together because of their different schedules and what not, so we do this once a week to catch up, share a time together, and if there is anything to talk about as a family it's the perfect time to do it, if there is

The Aztecs were very serious about their religion and it affected every Aztec’s daily life. Their religion revolved heavily around human sacrifices in order to please the gods. Sacrifices to the sun were essential to them because they did not want the sun to burn out on them. They do this because in their religion there was believed to be four other suns which had burned out before the sun we have now. Other than that it united its people and was what shaped the magnificent Aztec empire to what it was.

Before the Indians were forced to live on reservation, they fought to keep their nation. For instances, several irate young Indians mistakenly killed some settlers on their way to a reservation. Their tribe leader Chief Joseph convinced them to head to Canada because he knew soldiers were headed their way to kill them and the rest of the tribe. Only a few were able to make it. Chief Joseph and the others surrendered. He was tired of all that the incomers had done to them, from killing of the bison to taking the land. Other tribes try to hold on by doing religious rituals. For an example, they had one called the Ghost Dance in which they saw in a vision that the land and the buffalo was restored to them again. It gave them hope, but scared the

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 serves a vital role in the development of Christianity as a living religious traditions in most denominations. It is the ritual used in the

Throughout the course of organized religion both present and past, ritualistic acts of praise and worship have been practiced as a sign of both love and honor to God. Catholicism refers to these rituals as sacraments. As Christians and members of this faith, the first sacrament received by each member is Baptism. This sacrament has not only been practiced since the beginning of our faith, but has deep meaning and symbolic ties to the start of creation with Adam and Eve. I hope to prove through both illustration and published works how Baptism as a sacrament is both a sign and symbol of humanities desire to become closer to God by cleansing them of original sin through this ritual and rite of passage.

All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.

The religious minds relate muths to the sacredness of their belief. Sometime this sacredness is towards certain object. These objects can be animals, people, localized spaces within sacredness are found in the history of religion to be primitive to the most highly developed. Mysterious acts. These mysterious acts can be the manifestations of a stone or tree, which are consider elementary initiation. These mysterious acts also have supreme initiation, the most notable act is found in Christianity. This supreme initiation is the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. (http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/general/ge-gues.htm).