After completing this bible class I have gained some very beneficial information for my own knowledge as well as for my families use as well. I have gotten the chance to read bible passages that I have never read before and got a chance to understand them and get to know the Lords message in a clearer forum. I admitted a few times throughout the class I was embarrassed because I did not know some of the bible scriptures, but it was a learning process. I am no longer embarrassed because this just thought me to become a better Christian and become more involved in reading my bible. I should have been doing this a long time ago, but failed to do so. In following through with the expectations I have set for myself I will become an ever better person, mother, friend as well as a wife to my husband. Only good will come of this.
In having the bible in your family and in your home there is a since of warmness and a connection there that some cannot understand. A family needs the Lord and his guidance to keep them close and in harmony. I see big families gathering together for cookouts and going out to eat and it is a special bond they have among one another and it is amazing that they have created that with God and his teachings. The Lord tells us there is nothing more important than family and unity. I wished people could be like they use to be in the earlier years with their families and attend church functions together, there was no need to be scared like people are today of getting out and doing things. Evil has gotten worse and it is out there and the devil is behind all this violence, killings as well harm to our children. We as Christian’s must stick together and make a difference in the world as we try and unit and spread Gods w...
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My daughter has always said she wanted to be an attorney and study at Harvard Law School and help many needy people in her lifetime. This year she applied to Harvard’s summer school program for high school students looking to gain collage credit early and she was accepted! I was very excited for her as well as her new adventures she will begin, but sad in a way because I will miss her and a little worried because this world is not so safe anymore. She is only sixteen and will be leaving the comforts of her home to be living on campus in Boston at Harvard. It will be a big change, but a huge eye opener for her and also let her get a perspective for her life. I pray for her safety and ask God repeatedly to watch over her and keep her safe from harm and her eyes, hands, ears and mouth clear from sinful things I cannot control here from home.
I must say that I learned a lot from this class both through the readings and through class discussion. I really, honestly do not have anything that I starkly disagreed with in either. I found it all to be very valuable information for me and this class was extremely helpful in assisting me to better understand the current paradigm shift the church is going through. There are three take-a-ways in particular that helped me to better understand the post modern shift in the church and my role as a minister in this changing paradigm. The first take-a-way is the understanding that there is a shift occurring towards focusing more on the congregational life of the church with more attention on the laity and its formation. Second, is how to plan, as a church and as pastors, to adjust to this shift towards congregational life and how to be better prepared as a postmodern church to be relevant in this changing time. Lastly, I received a better way of explaining the meaning of what truth is in this post modern time.
Recognizing God is a part of our vocation within community can be confusing for us, how can we serve God in the different venues of our life when the world teaches such differing views? We are encouraged to share our witness, testimony, and service within our families, workplace, and our social settings. Family includes the household within our life touching upon each role parent, child, and spouse. It becomes acceptable to compartmentalize the areas of our life and serve in comfortable areas. Consumerism and societal pressures challenge us to withdraw from the Spirit when we feel intimidated, out of place, or even unworthy of God’s involvement in our life. We are called to be “the salt of the earth”, accepting the challenge to unite God’s calling upon our whole-life. According to Migliore, “United in Christ by the power of the Spirit we are one community; we are members of one body and mutually dependent on one another. Recognizing God works with all areas of community unites families, workplace, and social settings together.
The biggest lesson I learn during this class is time management. I have a 9 month old baby and he allows wants my attention. I had to rely on a family member to take care of him while I get a few hours to read the textbook and do the writing assignments. I had to truly focus on my work and not go to social sites because I barely had time to do so.
Church attendance is slowly dwindling in all the churches, even in your megachurches and the Word of God is not being sought as it should. Without the basic knowledge of “what is sin”, “who commits sin”, “where does sin come from”, and how to get rid of sin” it is resulting in much dishonor among people and rebellion against God. People are continuing to live secular lives living without basic biblical principles. People are continually seeking those things when that leads them further and further away from a Christian life and they should be seeking spiritual guidance. The Bible can and will educate you on all types of self-helps, psychology, geography, philosophy, love, prosperity, etc. One Book does it all except make you read. Yes, there are things that clergy should set up to attract people to the Word and the Word should be presented accordingly and sought out by all. Times have changed and we should equate the times in the Bible. The Bible was written so many years ago and the Word still applies
Christian faith and Ethos is the class I am taking this term. The professor 's name is Reverend Leroy Leach Jr. The class is about God, the creation, and how to read the Holy Bible.
I can use this information now to gain knowledge ahead of time. And use it as a teaching material. I have learned that you do not have to gain experience and knowledge by learning the hard way. If you take heed what is being placed in front of you it wont take a lifetime to learn. God has anointed teachers and preachers above us to give us a heads up on what to do and not to do.
Secondly, I would take the Bible as a covenant in my life. God gave the Bible for his people as a Covenant, in order to live a holy life according to Bible. Therefore, God’s children should read scripture daily to study what God’s commands and to apply in daily life. As a child of God I usually read the Bible daily for my personal spiritual growth.
Being from the South, church is implemented into our minds almost as soon as we come out of the womb. Family is the main reason that we are the religion that we are. Personally, I am a Christian of the Baptist denomination, and a pastor at my church. I believe family is one of the main reasons I am religious today. Nobody has a greater influence on us than our families and my family has had one of the greatest religious influences on my life. In the article it talks about the impact that family has on religion, and my family has had a huge impact on my religion.
This semester has proved to be a real awakening to what direction I need to be pursuing in my spiritual walk. I have learned so much through this course. Some of the things that I have learned that have become more important than they were in the past are; the need for silence, the need for community, the need for direction, and above all how utterly helpless we are when we try to “do” everything, including ministry without seeking God first.
I began this course thinking my worldview was that of a Christian Theist, as I had come to discover, as the course progressed, my worldview was a mixed bag of beliefs outside the elementary belief of Christian Theism. I was not disheartened by this finding, but surprised. The realization then set in that I was uneducated or did not know God like I thought. In fact my beliefs appeared to be more influenced by society than the deity of God. Fortunately, this is a learning experience intended to bring me closer to the truths of Christianity and an understanding of the beliefs of others.
First and foremost, I will always be focused on the fact that it is my responsibility as a teacher to “cause my students to learn”. I cannot teach my students content unless I have prayed and asked God for illumination and for an “appliers heart”. It is important that I understand the content and application before I teach this to my students which should result in a life change for them. Application is the main reason for God’s revelation and it is my responsibility to share this with my students. My ultimate goal is to illustrate how scripture can be used in daily
...le writing this paper, I was very distracted with trials that the Lord was throwing my way. Family problems, relationship stress, and the overwhelming reality that this paper dictated my grade and academic progress. I spent more than 8 hours researching reading different commentaries. I put forth more effort than I have for any paper in my educational history. It was surprised to realize that this paper wasn’t hard, but very time consuming. I enjoyed this assignment mainly because is presented me with thoughts that I never would have come across on my own. Reading through the entire book of Matthew helped me comfort some life obstacles that I have recently been praying about. I feel as if I have conquered the fear of feeling inadequate when I read the gospel, and now read the bible with an open heart and the knowledge that I am always going to learn something new.
Praise God; that was the phrase I would here every morning when my dad would drop me off for school. Although my family has gone through many hard times, they have grown to know Christ and wanted to share that with their kids. I grew up in the kind of household that if you said “shut up” then you were going to be spanked several times. I knew one thing on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights; you go to church. Church became a hobby to me, I didn’t hate going there but it was just what you did. I thought that all families were like that also, I didn’t realize till my teenage years that not everyone goes to church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. But as I grew older and started really listening to what my friends would talk about at school, I saw that life wasn’t all about going to church and being a Christian for some people.
I honestly thought it would be an easy credit and something fun to take. I thought the study of religion was just learning about other religions to see what they were like and why they are different from our own. I guess I thought that studying other religions would help me understand my own better. Now, I understand more and the study of religion is much, much more important than I could have ever thought. Learning about other people’s religions and their cultures helps us become better people in this world. If we can better understand someone’s point of view, then we can respect their decisions and them as a person more. Not understanding a culture or religion can lead to stereotyping and just hatred for others. If everyone in the whole word learned about other people’s culture, religion, and ideas; then the world would be a much better place. I think this class should be mandatory just for that reason alone. I think the reason that my view on the study of religion has changed is because of what we have learned throughout the textbook. Learning about these different religions that have been taken out of context really puts a spin on things in your mid. I mean, take Muslims, a few Muslims did some very bad things, but now people think that all Muslims are terrorists or bad people. Learning about the religion helped me understand that they are vey peaceful people and just a few did
Starting classes at Vanguard was a terrifying experience for me, I didn’t really know anyone and I had been homeschooled most of my life, as soon as I walked into New Testament Survey I felt at peace. If there was any class that I was going to really enjoy and take things from and apply them to my every day life I knew it would be this one. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the bible, and gaining more and more insight each time I went to class. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30 I was excited to be going to class. Each week when I did the reading for the quizzes I learned more and more and each day I developed a stronger knowledge of why I believe exactly what I believe.