Stereotypes Of Attending Church

Scanning the internet the other day was this derogatory article concerning mega churches stereotyped as big business, assessing how thousands of people give huge amounts of money. The article failed to mention how God blesses His people with such huge amounts of money in order for them to return huge amounts of money. Churches need to be big and rich for help people, and when people are helped the church cannot be big enough.

One should never judge a book by its cover. This is a recurrent theme in the short story “Cathedral.” In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the narrator forms misguided opinions about his wife’s blind friend, Robert, even before he actually meets him. The narrator’s opinions are greatly influenced by stereotypes, jealousy, and even anger.

In August 2014, “God’s Not Dead” brought in 60 million at the box office. Ranking number eight in the Christian genre. Proving that Christian movies can make a large profit. God’s Not Dead is about a college freshman that is a devout Christian played by Shane Harper. Harper’s character must prove the existence of God to his college philosophy professor(atheist), to pass the class. However, this movie was a disaster because it was poorly made. In fact, this movie demonizes non-believers throughout the film. Portrays a stereotypical view of Christians. Therefore, God’s Not Dead reverts to the ancient ideology of Christianity. Instead of creating a realistic depiction of Christianity as a whole, this movie touches on stereotypes on both sides

Dancing has been my passion since the age of three. Wake up, go to school, go to dance, go to sleep. My life was a routine of the same day playing over and over again, and I loved it. My senior year of high school I was accepted into the Commercial Dance program at Relativity School. I felt my dreams become a reality of the perfect future I had always worked towards.

Through these activities, I have gained crucial skills to interact efficiently with others, and learned how to meet others needs as well. Involving yourself in church activities can help you learn these important skills, as well as empathy and modesty; as you see your own community and yourself grow. And by interacting with the public through artwork is

Substance abuse providers that believe spirituality and religion is one in the same, may hold the belief that an individual that is an atheist or agnostic will not have the opportunity to acquire spiritual opportunities when participating in alcohol and addiction programs (Sussman et al., 2013). In addition, these substance abuse providers may believe that when an individual that eliminates alcohol and drug abuse without the intervention of spiritual assistance, such as a Higher Power, they may believe that the individual will not have the capability to achieve and maintain balance within their sobriety and recovery. Sussman et al. (2013) suggests that these substance abuse providers unknowingly engage in a thought process that includes stereotypes. Suggesting that individuals, who engage in spiritual behaviors that do include a Higher Power, are more deserving of achieving sobriety and recovery because they are practicing by being involved with working the 12-step program, thus, making them more righteous in obtaining a blessing from their Higher Power. Noteworthy, the term spirituality is often linked with religion with no specific boundaries out of lack of knowledge. Engaging in a spiritual practice that allows an individual to have a spiritual solution that is higher than them and gives them hope has a significant influence on alcohol and drug abuse. Gedge and Querney (2014) describe discussing spirituality with

Raymond Carver focuses on one of the critical problems that has been present for ages is that people do not know how to interact with those with disabilities in his short story the “Cathedral.” Stereotypes have led to awkward or lack of communication. Breaking down the barrier between disabilities and the world is necessary to develop an understanding for the other and to “look through their eyes.” In the “Cathedral” the husband breaks down many stereotypes of the blind, overcomes barriers in communication and develops an understanding for his wife’s blind friend, Robert.

Although, at Parkway Fellowship, in Katy, Texas I encourage all my friends to come and enjoy church the same way I

Another one of my passions is dance. Since the age of three I have been dancing. Whether it is on stage, at a competition, or just in front of my family, I found a love for this art. Around the age of thirteen I began student teaching; because of this, I found a liking for helping people become more confident in themselves and their dance technique. Not only did I learn to dance, but I also built confidence, learned great stage presence and to have respect for everyone. These are all lessons that will remain with me for life.

In my experience at first progressive Baptist Church I was very much out of my comfort zone because not only did I not feel as welcomed but it was a little awkward because of all the looks I was receiving. I felt I was not dressed as they were and felt as if I didn't fit in and right away I just didn't feel appropriate with my attire. While I was there I actually had people wanting to shake hands and asking me questions about me coming and there was one man who just stared at me and so it was uncomfortable and didn't know how to react. While I was there I started to notice that there is a little difference from the church I go to and the music was way different as well, everyone will talk back with amen or thank you Jesus. The difference

Dance is one of the major things that defines my identity and it is an interest that had become so meaningful, that without it my application would be incomplete. This has been able to shape me throughout the years, from discipline and maturity all the way yo leadership and teamwork. I find dance as an art work, that it is easy to make mistakes and fall, you just have to learn from those mistakes and get up twice as strong as from where you started. Dance is to look above and beyond and just let everything fall into place without hesitation.

The church that we used to attend -Wooddale Baptist- was a mega church just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. Every Sunday, I had the same schedule consisting of Sunday School, snack time, and then “Big Church,” which was with the adults. Due to the unthinkable amount of kids, I was never given the opportunity to make anything more than acquaintances. Every Sunday it felt like I met someone new, plus I only got to know their surface layer identity. Once we started at my new church, Aldersgate Church, my social and religious outlook improved. Starting on the first Sunday, my family and I had made plenty of good friends. We even had dinner plans with two strange families after church that night! Little did we know that these two families became the most supportive and trusted people we would ever meet. Also, the small community within the church and the pastor inspired me to grow in my faith than ever before. I began to enjoy Sunday school, and understand the lessons. Exchanging churches changed the way I worshipped God, and gave me the chance to meet new

I was a dancer for fourteen years, beginning at the age of four and ending at the age of 18. I participated in basically every type of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, modern, lyrical, and contemporary. Each year, I would participate in more classes than the last, and it eventually got to the point where I would be attending dance classes five or six days of my week. It definitely got tiring, but I still loved it. Dance is a great way to be able to portray emotions through movement, and I think that is very unique and special to participate in. It was a very huge part of my life, and so were the people teaching me. Dance and everything that came with it was a huge influence on my life, and it helped shaped me into the person I am today.

A healthy atmosphere in a church should be one of safety, freedom, non-judgment, peace, joy and trust. Church should feel like walking into your home and feeling free to be yourself and freely able to come and worship God.

Dance has been apart of my life ever since I can remember. When I was young, before I officially started my dance training, I was always up on my feet and moving. No matter what hobby I took interest in (whether it was cheerleading, musical theatre, or jump rope), I would always find a way to choreograph little routines a show them to my friends and family. Even when my parents tried to put me in sports, I would do cartwheels and dance on the playing fields, completely oblivious to what was going on during the games. When I look back at how I started my dance training, I just smile and laugh because I was so naïve and unaware that it would become such a huge part of my life. In 5th grade I was put into my first dance class as a hobby. It happened because I watched the Disney Channel movie High School Musical and immediately fell in love with it. I showed the movie to my parents and told them, “This is what I want to do.” At the time I thought I excelled in both signing and acting and that all I needed were dance classes. So in 4th grade I was put into my first dance class and I began to scratch the surface of the basics of dance. What I didn’t know then is that dance would slowly but surely influence my entire life and