Religion Reflection Paper

Having the privilege to serve in the military has allowed this writer the opportunity to be exposed to the pluralistic society in a way which has exposed him to the beauty of the diversity enjoyed in American culture. One aspect of said diversity is the interaction which has taken place amongst the Christian and various world religions who also wear the same uniform in defense of America. It was the pleasure of the writer to attend a local synagogue in which his Jewish brothers and sisters welcomed him with open arms. The local congregation of Jewish believers went out of their way in order to ensure their newest visitor understood the flow of service and the significance of the ritual which took place on the first Shabbat or Sabbath of the month. The following essay will serve to detail the worship experience as well as how it and other beliefs of Judaism compare/contrast with the Christian faith.

Religion 120 has taught me something more than just the meaning of religion. I would argue that I will be taking away more knowledge from this class than any other class I have taken so far in my college career. The learning path Professor Robert takes has benefited me throughout the semester. The learning path I took persuaded me to open my mind and absorb and understand the ideas of other individuals. After I opened my mind up and read all of the content we were assigned in class, along with listened to my classmates and professor Robert’s take on religion, I was able to picture religion as something other than just the physical place of worship and discussions taken place there. When most individuals think of religion they think about going to church and not much else. Religion is so much more than just the physical place and the individuals leading the practice. Religion has the potential to help guide you in life, along with giving you a sense of meaning in this big world. Religion has the power to help you connect with individuals like yourself,

Me:What is the holy book of your faith and how does it compare to others?

The opening chapter of the bible, known as the Genesis, begins with the words “In the beginning God created the havens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The text tells us that the earth was formless, empty, and dark. The Bible reveals that God made the world and all that is in it out of nothings. He spoke His Word, and everything came into existence. According to Genesis 1, God created the earth in six days. On the first day, God created the light. On the second day, He created the firmament called heaven. On the third day, God created the dry land in the midst of the lower waters. On the fourth day, He created the sun, the moon and the stars. One the fifth say, He created the fish and all the other living creatures in the oceans and the lakes. On the sixth day, God created the land animals and man. He created man in his own image and placed man in charge of the animals. The seventh say, God rested from His work of

This narrative, which describes how God created the universe in six days, can be found in the first few paragraphs of the Bible. It is said that on Day One, God created the heavens and the earth and allowed there to be light upon the earth. God then allowed a separation of waters above from the waters below on day Two; this separated the skies and the seas. On the third day, God formed dry land and allowed the earth to sprout vegetation. God then allowed the heavenly lights to appear on the earth on Day Four. On Day Five, God created animals to inhabit the earth. The sixth and final day of creation of the universe saw God creating other animals such as carnivores and humans to inhabit the earth as well (The literal interpretation of the Genesis One Creation account, 2007).

My faith has been very important to me and my family since my birth. I was baptized at Broad Street United Methodist Church by Rev. Mark Ale on January 17, 1993. The reason my faith has played such a vital role for me is mainly due to my Mom’s United Methodist influence. After my Dad began to live on his own he grew distant and stopped going to Church until he married my Mom, and she told him that a condition of being married to her was that they would go to either her Church or his Church every week. When I stated Kindergarten my parents and I were attending Holy Name Roman Catholic Church each week and decided to raise me as a Catholic, so I was brought into the Catholic Church not missing any sacraments due to my valid United Methodist

There are several reasons why I have the religious affiliation that I do. My membership, unlike that of so many, has very little to do with the choices my friends and family have made. My decision was based on reason and personal experiences. While some may say that these things are both easily influenced by parents and peers, in my case I have parents of different faith and therefore have less direct influence from them.

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

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.

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

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.

    In this World religion class I've learned a lot. I knew a bit about christianity, but most of the other religions I had heard of, but I've never seen how religions differ and coexist. Most people tend to believe in a higher power and this course has taught me that there are so many ways people look at “God’ and ways to worship. I learned that religion is never static but changes overtime to adapt to modernity.

To understand where I am now in relation to Catholic theology I feel that it is appropriate to look back on the thoughts and ideas that I had when I first started this THEO 1001 class. Honestly coming into college I have thought about my faith very little and studied the bible and what it means even less. In my mind I have always thought that theology was primarily a group of people just sitting around reading the bible repeatedly and then coming up with ways on how to interpret certain beliefs and messages in it and what they mean to us as Christians. Now I understand that theology has many more aspects to it than just the one example I gave earlier. The fact that this class was just about Catholic theology doesn’t really have a meaning to me because I haven’t studied other religions or denominations theology. Diving deeper into what I thought about how Catholic theology impacted my life will be a very shallow dive, given that I am neither Catholic or a theologian I honestly thought that this class was going to be a history of how Catholics are the greatest Christians and their way of looking at the bible. Thankfully I was very wrong about both those things and have learned about some very interesting topics throughout the class, one being the fascinating section we did about anthropology and what role it plays into theology.

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.

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.