If I were to tell you I levitated to the moon, would you believe me? If I said I witnessed Jesus walking along the planet, would you believe that either? Though I agree with the morals and most beliefs of Christianity, I cannot seem to grasp the stories of the miracles performed throughout the Bible. My life has consisted of a rollercoaster of feelings for faith, and I am still as confused as ever on what it all means. I grew up in a very faith-driven home. My paternal grandfather was a pastor, and my maternal grandparents are immensely involved in their church—their best friends also serve as the pastor and wife at their church. This faith has been passed down throughout the next generation. My parents met through a Methodist youth caravan; …show more content…
Obviously, this has changed, but I did not necessarily choose Wartburg College because it is a Lutheran college. That being said, it did win my parents and grandparents over as there is a focus on Christianity. Though I chose to continue my schooling here for various reasons besides the church aspect, it does make it seem safer and that the people may be more kind. I have met people here who are of contrasting faiths, but even so, it is almost holding me back in my understanding of other religions when Wartburg is a Christian college. I love the acceptance of the church here, but I cannot ignore how it has hindered my perception of contrasting religions and people. Forgive me for contradicting myself, but there is also a misconception of the way Christians act compared to non-Christians. Martin Luther King Jr. points this out in his speech entitled A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart. Many people believe Christians are the nicest people, while non-Christians do bad things; this is not necessarily true, and could even serve as the opposite. In King’s speech, he says those who are religious are soft-minded compared to those believing in the science aspect; this could end up as a poor trait for religious people as he says, “Softmindedness is one of the basic causes of race prejudice” (King 337). Along with that, he includes those who believe in the science have more of …show more content…
I grew up without any other understanding of religion except for what I learned in church. As I continue to grow, I am starting to understand how religion has impacted my life, and I am still attempting to wrap my mind around the similarities and differences between science and religion. With all of this said, I still have an extremely hard time believing a man could cure blindness, turn small amounts of fish and bread into an enormous meal, or die, move a rock, and ascend into a world in which we may never
Following on from this, many religious events are challenging to prove but if all Biblical events could be historically proven religion would be fact, not faith. Therefore, the lack of logical explanation regarding the resurrection of Jesus provides believers with the opportunity to take a leap of faith, which is what makes religion unique: it
I struggle to understand their ignorance. Too many miracles happen every day in the world to blame them on luck or chance. One of my Mormon friends was on his mission in Bogotá, Columbia when he pulled over to spread the word of Jesus to a wandering man. The man on the side of the road was contemplating suicide. He prayed for God to send him a message just moments before the arrival of my friend. This miracle is just one example that has solidified my belief in my faith. Some people will not believe in God until they see a miracle. Many Christians and people of all religions have a time in their life when they question their faith.
However, real, credible miracles are truly and highly understated happenings that are frequently overlooked by non-religious individuals and by scientific (or lack of) evidence. Causality is “the principle that nothing can happen without being caused.” (CollinsEnglishDictionary.com). Every effect has to have a cause and by this theory, it can be assumed that miracles are not merely phenomena resulting from natural processes, no, miracles are God-ordain acts. “Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” (New International Version, Ps.
Throughout modern times Christianity has been greatly bashed by science and all the new discoveries. Many scientists believe that through recent findings and philosophies that they are able to contradict one of the strongest and most spiritually prominent religions in the world. But science is backed by little proof. Science bases their conclusions off of two things: observation and replication. There are things of this world that can clearly not be seen, for example the Lord, and also things that cannot be reproduced such as Christ’s virgin birth or his resurrection. These miracles are impossible and could only be done by the hands of a higher being. This is why science really does not have a say when it comes to miracles. Also secular scientists, even Christian scientists use the “scientific method” to obtain answers to their problems. However, the scientific method is applied to solve the discoveries of a natural world, not ones of a supernatural world. According to Professor Alister McGrath, “Science is neutral. It does not presuppose or imply atheism”. Thus, meaning that science as a whole does not answer the big questions of life or religion. We know that the miracles performed actually happened because: many people witnessed them, they were accurately transcribed by noble men, and the “hostile” witnesses provide no true answer in the argument against Jesus’s miracles.
Throughout this English 280 course I have learned many things about reading, writing, research, and critical thinking. I have also learned about what potentials I have as a writer and what I can improve when writing. In this process I had also encountered some difficulties when it came to writing. At the same time I also feel that the difficulties I encountered have made me improve from my first essay to my recent essay when it came to the genre, process of writing and the rhetorical language used when writing. Even though my progress was not at all constant I still was able to earned satisfactory grades and learn more with each assignment. I still feel that I need to improve my writing and reading because I will need to use it for future courses, life events and career.
I come from a long line of Christians who believe in the power of prayer and living life with god’s presence. Growing up, my parents required me and my siblings to attend church every Sunday in our best clothes. . After church, we attended Sunday school to learn about the teachings of the lord and to be thankful for all that we have been blessed with in our lives. This identity has created many of the values that shape my life today including treating all people with respect, to love and care for everyone, to always be honest and never lie, and to forgive others. Some of the practices I can attribute from my faith are regular church attendance, praying to god, and confessing my sins so I can be forgiven. My faith is very important to me and has given me not only a purpose, but a way to live my life. My faith provides me with inspiration to be the kindest and best person I can be by donating my time to help others. I do this by volunteering at many charity events and helping my friends and classmates with school work. My faith is a constant reminder of how I can not only help people, but also live my life serving the lord. A group that is apart from Christianity is secularism in which people are atheistic or nonreligious. As a Christian, we do not look down on their views. We respect them, but as a universal religion, we try to appeal to them and would like to have them share in our love of the
Let me ask you a question, do you believe in miracles? Or, more appropriately, do you consider, that in today’s scientific era, it is illogical to relate a fact out of common sense, to one that would establish a witness for the intervention of a supernatural being? Here’s a moment to think a about it. Let me guess, you’re sitting there trying to make up your mind. Don’t worry; you’re not the first person that does not believe in miracles. In the past, some two centuries ago, Scottish philosopher David Hume did not believe either. And probably you have good reason not to either. But, let’s not diverse.
Growing up, I understood that females were to get married, have children, take care of the house, and submit to their husbands. My church did not allow women to hold office, and it did not occur to me that it should be different. Fast forward to high school, I began to see women wearing shirts displaying bar codes with the words, "Don 't label me." What did this mean? I understood the world from the perspective of a white privileged male. A perspective that blinded me to the troubles and adversity others encountered, and made me wonder why people wanted change because life to me seemed pleasant. On top of this, my church began to introduce the concept of having females as elders in the future. Thankfully, I had come to the point where I sought
This semester, I worked for an attorney office and saw exactly how the House Bill 274 affected the law firm. I worked for a personal injury law firm which was called the Law Office of Branch & Dhillon. I worked for Attorney Dhillon, Attorney Woron and Attorney Barber. My to go person, a really helpful supervisor and paralegal, was a lovely lady named Judy. Judy let me explore all aspects to working at the law firm and even let me have my own office, key to the firm, and my own special “attorney” coffee jug- all which made me feel like I belonged there.
I first became aware that people were different racially at the age of seven years old, when my parents and grandparents would tell us how our ancestors and grandparents were treated by white people before I was born. They taught us about slavery and told us all the things black people would get in trouble for, such as drinking out of the white people water fountain which was not allowed. We would listen to the stories of how my great grandmother went to jail for beating a white police officer for putting his hands on her and calling her bad names. How my great grandmother’s youngest son father is believed to be a white man because of his mix hair texture and white looking skin color.
I grew up going to church. To me, back then, that’s just what you did. I never felt comfortable in a church, nor did I understand anything in or about the Christian faith. I went to different churches and bible study groups. I’d go with my friends to their churches and I would sit there awkwardly. I never told anyone that it didn’t make sense to me because I thought I was stupid or I was betraying my religion. As I got older I discovered other religions and what they believed in. I learned that it was okay not to be Christian. When I was ten, I moved to Columbia City, a very white, conservative Christian town. I already felt out of place because of skin color; I didn’t want to add my religious views to that. I forced those doubting thoughts
After being an elementary education and special education major at Ball State University, I have had many new teaching experiences. This semester, I was given the opportunity to teach at Burris Laboratory School. It was great to observe a classroom with a teacher who had been teaching for so long! Although I know there will be challenges, I want to continue in the teaching program. EDEL 200 has allowed many experiences that has shown me how to be a successful teacher.
A Christian's entire religion and faith is based on the idea of the miracle, or supernatural occurrence, of Christ's resurrection. As the question arises, are miracles possible, one must explore their individual feelings regarding the meaning of a miracle or what a miracle is. "Religious believers refer to many things as miracles: the occurrence of something they prayed for, needing something and having that need unexpectedly filled, unexpected recoveries from illnesses, unexplained events, and strange coincidences of all kinds." (Hall, 2014) Contradictory, the religion also believes in God's omniscience, which in itself could have different meanings and interpretations. However, logically and rationally, one could argue that if God is truly omniscient, the need for miracles would be eliminated because divine intervention wouldn't be necessary. If God already knows everything that is going to happen throughout a person's life, then there should be no reason to supernaturally alter the course of what is happening to that person. Therefore, one is lead to continue thinking about what or who might be the source of a miracle. Other explanations aside from God performing miracles could include the possibility of mediums on our planet with beings and events that we cannot see
Miracles are one of the most common reasons people reject Christianity. People do not believe they could happen and therefore claim other parts of the Bible and biblical story must be in error. Christians have been raised to believe the miracles of the Bible but is it actually logical to do so? God is a complex God and therefore speaks in complex ways, which are beyond human comprehension. Miracles are God conveying a message to his people through divine intervention.
February 11th, 1996, in the localized town of Spencer, West Virginia, a baby girl was brought into this world. Unaware of how cruel and vindictive the world truly is, she started her journey. Twenty-years later, here I am still trying to apprehend where I fit into this life. My family is of ample size, and most would consider us in the lower class. Throughout my adolescent years, my family relocated quite frequently. Over several years, I finally got interested in our history and government; Only then was I able to review the events in my short time here and genuinely materialize the effects they had on me.