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 …show more content…
We all formed a circle and they sang songs. The pastor played this hand drum, someone else played the guitar, and a few people sang. I felt a sense of community when this happened. Everyone was smiling and swaying to the music.
It seemed somewhat intimating when I had to find struggles faced from this group because Christians are a privileged group, but when I asked some of the members, I did find some answers. Some people mentioned that it is hard to maintain faith, because we are surrounded by science. Others mentioned how they disliked when people assumed certain things about them. People will assume that they all act perfect, or that they’re all republicans, or that they hate certain groups that aren’t like them. I found this information to false promptly after I had discussions with them, and they shared personal
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While talking to a few of the members we started talking about things you aren’t supposed to do. I decided to do more reading about it. In Christianity, you have the Ten Commandments. I related these to the first Five precepts in Buddhism. The difference between these are in The Ten Commandments it mentions that people of Christian faith will have no other Gods before their God (Watson, 1965, pg. 41). In Buddhism, there isn’t really a belief in God, so these parts of the Commandments aren’t similar. In the Ten Commandments, it says thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, or steal (Watson, 1965, pg. 110-130). In the Five Precepts, they say do not destroy life, commit sexual misconduct, or steal (Kozak, 2011, pg. 54). The Commandments and the Five Precepts are similar in this manner besides a few minor tweaks. I found this to be interesting because, to me, this means that people, no matter if they’re religious or not, all have similarities. Everyone should have these few basic values in life, and if people can realize their similarities, we can work towards a better
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.
Over the course of this class I feel like I have become a much better writer. When I go back and look at some of my Journal entries and assignments that I did at the beginning of the semester, I can’t help but tense up at some of the things I wrote. Sometimes the things I was writing didn’t flow well, or I might have even have missed glaring grammar mistakes.
Over the past year I have grown as both a person and a writer. My writing has improved
Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood as a kid sanctioned me to perpetually become aware that I was different from my neighbors. Through some social interactions with my friends in elementary schools, I quickly descried that my appearances, such as my hair, eyes, and nose was different from my peers. For instance, my hair was a lot darker than most of my peers’ hair and the texture of my hair was different from most of them. “Grow out your hair” were phrases that lingered throughout my childhood days, where I had my hair at a very short length. Throughout my childhood, I longed to try to be a part of the dominant group in society such as the Caucasians, but I did not do anything to be a part of the bigger group in society. Instead,
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
Ever since I started talking this class, English 1301, with Dr. Piercy, I have been able to expand my writing and thinking skills. Not only was I able to make more better essays but I also learned important topics such as how education creates an impact in the world. In this essay I will be talking about three writings and how they are related to this course semester. The three writings are “On Bullshit” by Harry Frankfurt, “Why I Write Bad” by Milo Beckman,and “Statement of Teaching Philosophy” by Stephen Booth. How are these 3 writings related to this semester’s course work?
This semester I have learned a lot of new things in the first-year seminar. The few things that I have learned about myself and the type of student I am but also what to do to succeed in school. This class has helped me with the transition from high school to college for the reason I talked about before. When I first got here I was afraid of the switch because I would not have the support I had in high school that this class helped me to understand the ropes of college and how to navigate through it. This class has been for me because it has helped me in college.
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
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
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.
There is an adage about preaching which says that the best preachers are those that carry the bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. It is an adage I try to adhere to as I prepare what I am going to say every week, and one that I hope comes through in my words. But this week I have felt the newspaper in my hand become a great deal heavier than it often is. In a week that has seen so many shootings and cases of gun violence in our nation, reports that global temperatures continue to rise with the warmest July ever recorded, so many people wounded and killed in terrorist attacks in Paris and Bangkok, and the reminder that after 4 and a half horror filled years the civil war in Syria is still ongoing and seems to have no end in sight,
For as long I can remember, I’ve been going to church. I can remember trying (and failing) to stay awake all service, or running around with other kids in my dress. I can hear my mom singing along to all the songs, and see my dad banging on the drums to move the service along. I was raised in the church, and as a result I grew up to be very religious.
Each generation throughout the span of time has defining characteristics, from the Baby Boomers to the Millennials, we each have experienced different things that shaped who we are. How different the world would be without televisions, computers, or even cell phones and we still relied on the radio to transmit information? While change has been necessary to keep up with cultural and social demands, it is always important to reflect on everything that has happened to each generation to get society to where it is today. Paugh History Hall in the Museum of the Rockies reminded me of just that.
I learned so many things during this project, and nothing was really what I expected. I expected a sort of student guided, more informal scripture reading, but I was very surprised by how welcoming and accepting my group was. They were really interested in my project, and they like hearing my perspective on the scripture even though I wasn’t Catholic. There is a perception that Catholics are very rigid and formal, and I thought small group would be a student version of solidifying those doctrines, but it wasn’t at all. Small group, or at least at St Stephen, is truly a mixture of social and spiritual growth, sharing both your