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Problem of definition of religion
Conception of religion
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Every Sunday. Stares and disappointment. I sat with my grandmother at this big church. People would stare when they realized I didn't know the prayers or songs. I was trying to learn more about religion why did I feel so scared? Am I going to find where I belong? Will I have enough time? These are questions I sometimes have to ask myself. When I was little I explored many religions but now that i'm older I am frightened about faith. My whole family has always tried to introduce me to all kinds of different religions. I have a split family. My mom, dad, and grandparents have different religions. I felt out of place at these different churches. I felt as if people knew I was different and knew that I didn't completely have a religion. It scared …show more content…
This is when my fear started to come out in front of my eyes. All the doubts and questions led to me not having a religion. I became very frightened. People just assume that if you don’t believe in anything you're an atheist. But that’s not true at all. What some individuals don't realize is that you're not an atheist but maybe you're still searching for answers. I didn't want this god or whoever to hate me. I didn't want to end up having to experience one of the consequences my family told me about. This didn’t stop my search but I was held back lots of times. I never completely agreed with any of the religions that I learned. If the religion was against something like homosexuals than I would get aggravated. One religion that I learned about was even against celebrating small holiday’s like birthday’s. I just couldn't completely agree. I thought that you had to completely agree with a religion to become it. Since I didn’t have a religion the afterlife started scaring more than anything else. I wondered if I would go to hell, get reincarnated, or it may just be like sleep. This is one thing that scares me up to this day. I want to know what happens in the afterlife. I want to be
I have attended a Christian church my whole life. While I have attended various denominations, I have always considered myself to be non-denominational, not favoring one over the other. The only other churches I have ever attended were Catholic; I have had other family members practice this faith and so have always been a guest with them if I have gone and had the services feel fairly familiar. When we were given the project to go and attend a different religion’s church I wasn’t sure what to expect. I decided to attend a Jewish church since Judaism and Christianity believe some of the same fundamentals but are still separated, I thought it would be a good way to learn more about the church as well as be able to relate better to anyone I know who practices Judaism. Also this taught me what it feels like for someone who does not have any experience in church.
I did not have a religious upbringing, excluding the few half-hearted attempts at taking my sister and I to church and the local church preschool, my parents largely left us to ourselves when it came to religion. My preschool experience was soured by the concerned teachers who wrongly assumed that I was drawing devils on my papers, when in fact, they were obviously vampires. My grandma cried when my parents did not baptize me, and my grandpa has called more than once, worried that I did not “know Jesus.” Regardless, religion has always been an interest of mine, probably because it is something so foreign and unknown. I have been to plenty of church services with friends after sleep overs, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, even one of those churches that speak in tongues. My parents never let me stay over there again. In “The Year of Living Biblically,” by Jacobs, a similarly agnostic man, attempts to gain some sort of insight by living a year of his life according to the Bible. He
Again I was raised neutrally with religion. As a family we didn't attend church. My grandparents are all Jehovah's Witness's, although both my father and mother ended up being disfellowshipped from the congregation. Since not having any religious influence being taught to me, I was open to explore different religions for myself. I learned about several different religions. I know now that I am a Spiritualist, rather than Christian.
Looking back on my childhood, I have many memories shrouded in fear and self-loathing. I was raised in the Baptist church. My mother and grandmother made sure that I attended church every Sunday morning. My grandmother was from the mid-west. She carried her strict Bible belt background with her as she traveled west with my grandfather. The many lessons I learned from my grandmother and the minister at our church played a big part in how I began to see the world and my place in it.
First off, thank you Joshua for sharing your story about your first church experience. Mine may have been the same if so many of my family were not active members of the small Presbyterian church in Virginia I was raised in. I remember that my mother stopped going when I was still fairly young; it was not until I was an adult that I learned it was because she was not comfortable: she felt many members were very judgmental, and not in a biblical way. I moved to North Carolina as a young adult, but I did visit this church one Sunday a few years ago. The small sanctuary was not even 1/3 full and most of the people were quite old, adults that I remembered from my childhood (I’m 56), with very few younger adults. Almost
Growing up in two places was always had for me. My main life in Iowa had my close friends, my school, and my mothers side of the family, but in Ohio I have have all of my fathers side of my family. Every one out there in Ohio are very strict with religion, they go to church every Saturday for 8 hours each time. I’ve always been interested in my religion, but Iowa has no temples to go too so i have never been very religious. I started to go through a very hard time in my life and had no clue how to coupe with my problems. Eventually the stress became way too much to handle and i soon became desperate for help. I had tried very thing from seeing a therapist to trying to distract myself but nothing got better. I was in a very dark place in my life and had no one to talk
As far as mankind’s history can date, religion has had quite an intimate relationship with people. Although maybe it hasn’t always been identified in the same way as we identify religion today, spread across the world we have the remains of pyramids, temples, and even written in ancient texts from centuries ago dedicated to god, to the afterlife, to what lies on the other side. And up to today’s times, religion has grown along with man.
The older I got, with a more open mind, and higher maturity stand point, I became fully acquaintance with the Lord my freshman year of college. I standing regularly attending mass at Lifestream Journey Church in Norman, Oklahoma. There I was surrounded by a distinct college aged community who came predominately as a release of their burdens and dedicate their time to worshipping God. Growing up Catholic, I was really shocked and felt out of place going to a contemporary Non-Denominational Christian service. Soon, I began associating myself as a Non-Dem Christian as well believing that I did not find a need to separate myself any longer from different believers of
Trying to decide what religious service to attend was hard. The U.S. is a religiously diverse country where people can practice any faith freely. I started doing some research and found a Jewish synagogue nearby, about 4 miles away from where I live so decided that was the place I wanted to go. I wrote an email to the administration of the church to see if I was welcome to attend, if they were open to strangers. Later that day I received a very positive response from the Rabbi saying that I was welcome to attend
When I was nine years old, my family and I attended church every Sunday and Wednesday. The church we went to was a non-denominational organization so it wasn't a very popular religion, but somehow we still managed to find it. This church gathering was held in the home of an older woman, and twice a week fifteen people would arrive for a bible study, or what they called "meetings." Many people around the world also practiced this religion so, as strange as it might seem, we weren't the only participants. However, behind its quaint facade, this religion ultimately caused me to become less religious today.
I was brought up in a Christian home. I attended church every Sunday at India Hook United Methodist Church starting when I was two weeks old. I still attend the same church. As I got older, around middle school, my parents stopped going to church as frequently so I did too. Throughout middle school I was very weak in my faith. I didn’t really know much about Christianity, despite being in church since infancy. I started going to church camps over the summer towards the end of middle school. At Summer Lake Junaluska MYP 2013 I found salvation in Jesus Christ. I was sitting there listening to the band, This is Luke, play. All of a sudden I felt God’s presents and I immediately started crying. That is also
During this period I have my first memories of organized religion. At least once a year my dad would take me to go visit my paternal grandparents in Texas. They were devout Christians
The way my mother and brother treated me made me feel stupid and I questioned where I belonged. My parents were considered Catholics but it was more for show than depth of being in a relationship with a loving God. My grandmother would take me to church if I had questions but then my mother would yell at her for taking me to church too much. “The main difference between “religion” and “relationship” is our approach or attitude.” (Wilhite, 2013, p. 21) Though my parents baptized me when I was a baby, they never discussed their faith with me, and I never really knew who Jesus really was until I was 23. “He is the only one who can separate the true from the false; he alone can purify the motives of the heart.”(Foster, 2001, p. 87) I always thought that my family was just like everyone else’s but then I met a girl in kindergarten who changed my
The beginning of my faith journey can be described as rocky, at best. Each Sunday morning my dad would stay home just so that he could catch every possible second of Sunday football coverage. I wasn't even exactly sure who God was; my mom just told me I had to go to church "'cause I said so." This upset me, especially as a child. Furthermore, the example that my father set for me was far beyond comprehension. Who was he to tell me to go to church when he didn't even go himself? For a long time, I lost trust in my parents because I was being led on so many different paths.
I was born on November 11th, 1999 into a christian family and raised as one for the very first 11 years of my life on this beautiful earth. Being in church gave me a faith that I can never let go. Why can I never let go of it? Because it is my culture inheritance , it’s the way I was raised and it is something I can't or even want to change. Going to church was something I never quite understood until I was older. I thought it was just like school to me, it was something that I never questioned. What I do remember and understand was every morning and night I was taught to bow on my knees on the side of my bed and give thanks to the lord for another day of life.