The Community Of The Mennonite Faith Essay

The Quakers were first founded in the mid-1600s in England and were formerly known as The Religious Society of Friends. They were a very simple and devoted democratic group of people. When they arrived in America, they began to try to settle in Massachusetts. Massachusetts was also where the Puritan colonists had been settling and because they (the Quakers) threatened the Puritan’s beliefs in America they gave them and other opposing religions, such as the Baptists, harsh punishments for inhabiting their land which included hanging, fines, whipping, and banishing the people from Massachusetts. The Quakers later moved their efforts to the new land of Pennsylvania. They established their land on “the equality of all persons (including women, blacks, and Indians) before God.” They proved this stance of equality by being the “first group of whites to repudiate slavery” of Africans. They also purchased their found land from the Indians that owned it. These actions show that the Quakers truly lived in equality. “Religious freedom was Penn’s most fundamental principle.” The Quakers never gave an established church for Pennsylvania and allowed almost all religious freedom in its land. Although the Quakers were lenient on race, gender, and religious preference they did have a “strict code of personal morality.” They “prohibited swearing, drunkenness, and adultery” among many other activities that they thought were immoral. Many of their beliefs spread throughout America and has

of a holy book he said had been engraved on gold plates by an American

For three years, I have been a leader in Route 56, a preteen program of fifth and sixth graders for my church. Every month we meet on a Friday night to play games, worship, and do a Bible study. This program allows me to show them love, hear about their personal life, and have fun in a caring place. I wanted to join this group, because I wanted to know what each of the preteens are going through.Whether if they were in a bad place or good at the moment. It was important to me to demonstrate love around them to demonstrate through my actions that they are loved, because I did not have someone to be there for me throughout my preteen years. My parents fought constantly, I was bullied at school, and betrayed by people I trusted.However, when I joined the church’s youth ministry they showed me an amazing amount of brotherly love. The pastor, leaders, and students care for one another, so it is a support group for all us. This ministry taught me how to love others. When I was informed that Route 56 needed help I did not think twice and signed up. Throughout the three years I have had the privilege to allow the children to feel comfortable to express themselves. Some of them were closed off or simply hung out by themselves when they were new to the program, but I have seen them grow out of their shells interacting with

Karen Armstrong, author of “Homo Religiosus,” claimed that without the physical rituals and traditions, religion morphed into a belief. Simply put, Armstrong argued that religion requires not only blind faith but also customs and practices that affect one’s physical and mental behaviors. It is through these rituals and taboos that the religions grows and forms, and yet also changes when deemed necessary. Additionally, Armstrong constantly compares religion to different art forms. She does this to convey the message that much like art, one must focus and study religion for lengthy periods of time to be properly understood. However, this connection also suggests that art and religion can perform an analogous role to humankind when required, as they both evolve and change when a society 's infrastructure does. Throughout her essay “Homo Religiosus,” Armstrong focuses on the similar role that both art and religion play in society to discuss her claim that religion is not just a belief, but rather has to do with changes in physical and mental behaviors that in return create change in society and the religion one needs.

One of the most important factors to consider is that during the 1690’s the church of Salem Village was conflicted about being too conservative, which caused a divide in the congregation. This division lead to social and political issues between the two groups. This rift resulted in presumably innocent people being accused of witchcraft. In 1689, Samuel Parris was invited by the Salem Village church committee to take over church services after the dismissal of George Burroughs. This was not the first time that a minister had been fired from the Salem Village church. Anthony Brandt deliberates a theological shift which occurred in the Salem Village in his piece “An Unholy Mess”. He writes the congregation had been in dispute over on whether they should become more like the progressive Half-Way Covenant, such as the church in Salem Town. This new theological approach would offer more community members a chance to become church members and would do away with the strict Calvinistic view of the “visible saints”. The concept of “visible saints” decreed that only certain members of the church were guaranteed entrance into heaven, could participate in Communion, and they sat special seating at service. Samuel Parris was a firm Calvinist Puritan and had no desire to see the church make such a reformist change. Parris in fact used this division to create a social divide among the four hundred villagers who had not been allowed membership into to the church or to be baptized. He

Rebels of society are often times considered deviate and choose not to adhere to society’s customs and norms. However, would one consider the Amish communities as rebellious? The Amish are a unique subculture of the United States that do not adopt customs, norms, and lifestyles of the broader society (Sternheimer, 2012). Just because they set themselves apart from social norms, does not make them deviate. The Amish is an old religious group that originated in Europe. In the sixteenth century, Jakob Ammann and other devoted followers broke away from the Anabaptists and establish themselves as the Amish. Due to a disagreement with the laws and order set by the Anabaptist, the Amish felt the need to set themselves apart. Largely, order of

Arias had a pattern of unstable interpersonal romantic relationships with men, and the dynamics repeated in her relationships. She alternated between extremes of idealization and devaluation, and she was a chameleon, changing herself to fit in the people around her, in this case joining the Mormon Church a short time after meeting Alexander. In the beginning of these relationships she displayed intense fascination and were intrigued by their personality quirks, when she was ready to move on she then made claims of sexual deviancy, physical and emotional abuse, and in the case of Alexander, even stated he was a pedophile.

Many studies about Jehovah Witnesses state that they are the strictest religion out there. They have rules that should be followed or the person ends up condemned. They do not believe in other religions whatsoever, in any shape or form. Jehovah Witnesses God’s name to them is Jehovah. The sociological concepts discussed will be social class and norms, a function and a dysfunction of Jehovah Witness religion, a symbolic ritual, and an aspect of this religion that entails conflict.

Living in community will expose selfishness, ambition, jealousy, dissension and impurity in ourselves, allowing us to experience loss, despair, and stress. Even so, all of this is important to our spiritual formation because we mature as Christians,

Hume Lake is a Christian camp located in California and serves an important function and mission in the lives of their campers. This organization is specifically located in the Sierra Nevada, near Fresno county, in central California. Surrounded by a reservoir, Hume Lake allows their campers to feel connected in community as they spend time doing different outdoor activities such as playing football or jumping into the lake. This ties directly back to Hume’s function, which is to provide an exciting and engaging environment for campers through different outdoor and indoor activities alike that will allow them to grow in their relationships with one another. However, this is Hume’s function from a

Mormonism is a name meaning the spiritual principles of followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well known as Mormons. Mormonism defines the guidelines of the Church that were reestablished to the world by the Prophet Joseph Smith. If you would ask the question “what is Mormonism” to a member, there’s a high change they would respond by acknowledging their love of Jesus Christ, he is the dominant part of the religion. Where can you find a continuing participant of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, well they're instituted at every level of civilization. For instance, in a charity, business, education, science, political parties, government, news media, and lastly the entertainment productions. The originator of The Church, Joseph Smith, wrote, “the essential philosophies of our religion are regarding Jesus christ, he died and was buried, rose again and on the third day ascended into the heavens; all supplementary things which relate to our religion is only accessories to it.”The main beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of the earth and the Son of our

The Seventh-day Adventists are one of the many different branches of Christianity. The Adventists came about during the 19th century and began with the “Millerite Movement” (“Seventh-Day Adventists”, 2013). The movement was started by an American Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller, who believed that the Second Coming - the return of Christ to Earth - would occur between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844 (“Seventh-Day Adventism”, 2004). This prediction was largely based off Daniel 8:14 in the Bible (See slide 4). Since he and his followers believed in this imminent advent, or return, they were called “Adventists” (“Seventh-Day Adventism”).

From the beginning humans have identified with each other through the same beliefs, experiences, religion, and location. Through this identification comes a sense of place and community, otherwise known as culture. Most people cherish their culture and pass the traditions down onto their offspring. By passing down one’s culture it creates a very unique and diverse world. A unique culture that dates back to sixteenth-century Europe is the Amish (Kraybill 1989). The Amish formed by descending from the Protestant faith. This dissention developed a culture that has stood the test of time. Today the Amish live in several areas around the world but there is one group called the Swartzentruber Amish that calls Lawrence County, Tennessee their

Based on this definition it is interesting to note that the Old Order Amish Mennoite community satisfies the requirements of place, interests and communion. Aside from being a perfect example of a community the Amish people exemplify what it means to be a part of a community that it is their source of identity, strength, and sustainability. Each individual exists for the community but as a whole the community nurtures each member and therefore it is unthinkable for an Amish man or woman to leave their community behind. On the other hand many Americans feel they must “get involved.” In public life as well as in private, we can discern the habits that sustain individualism and commitment as well as what makes them problematic. (Bellah, p.74)

As a result of myths of white family life, there has been much confusion over the nature of black families. One of the myths of the nineteenth century entails the close- knit white family, which was parallel to that of the European family. Also, as a result of these myths, scholars often ignored the differences of American and European life. For example, women in frontier areas had a much stronger voice in family affairs than most scholars realized, simply because of the shortage of women. Therefore, women exercised a large percentage of authority in the family. In the cities where family was of little importance as an economic unit and the