First Baptist Beliefs

I attended the 11 a.m. morning worship service at First Baptist Church at 480 Thompsonville Lane in Oak Grove, K.Y. on Sunday November 1st. This is the church that mother attends every Sunday. While I identify myself as a Christian I have not attended a church service in about seven years so this was a somewhat experience for me. I was very nervous at first because I had not been to church in a while and because other Christians I had encountered seemed to very strict and judgmental. However, overall I had a pleasant time and felt very welcome in their community. Symbols: A symbol is something that is used to represent something else. As Baptist is a Christian denomination, obviously there were several crosses in the room. The symbol of the

God tells Joshua that if he obeys Him then he will have a place in heaven. Symbols are often combined with myths as a way to alert us that we should value these stories according to their relevance, not as accounts of historical events. Myths also serve to describe the importance of symbols. In this sermon for example, Satan symbolizes sin and God symbolizes morality and forgiveness. Doctrine: Doctrines are statements about God, sin, salvation, and heaven. In his sermon, the pastor stated that you must repent and ask God’s forgiveness for your sins in order to gain salvation and entrance into heaven. Doctrine is proven because it expresses a religion’s value. The Christian doctrine of heaven expresses the values that people who do what is right should be rewarded in the afterlife. Doctrine can be proven through its ethical consequences. Ethics: Ethics are theoretical perspectives on rules governing human conduct. Actions are deemed to be right or wrong; sinful or moral. In this case Christian ethics are outlined in the Ten

Myths often justify certain ethical positions by telling powerful stories that demonstrate virtuous or sinful behavior. People often turn to rituals when ethical rules have been violated. For example, if someone were to steal they would then pray to God for forgiveness of their sin.

Rituals: A ritual is a prescribed or formalized action that dramatizes religious symbols. The main ritual I noted was prayer. Rituals are repeated in order to attain or sustain an individual’s contact with ultimate relevance and to consolidate the cohesion of the community. The origins of rituals are often explained in myths. Many rituals are reenactments of myths. The performance of rituals usually involves the use of symbols. People: The people I encountered at this service were very diverse. There were young, old, male, female, and also different ethnicities. This is not all that surprising considering how close this church is to Fort Campbell military