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The role of meditation in our life
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The role of meditation in our life
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I have been a Christian for 27 years and I am so thankful to Christ for his salvation and forgiveness. I know that reading and meditating on God’s word is a vital component to spirituality, and I am currently reading through the book of Joshua, prayerfully asking God to apply His word to my day to day life and show me where I need to change, and to empower me with His Spirit to live courageously and victoriously. Marne, my heart is very sensitive toward the things of God, and I have a burning fire within to “live for him” and to “live like him” in this world. Additionally, prayer is very important to me, and I pray regularly for my loved one’s, guidance, wisdom, a humble heart, forgiveness and so many other things, while I rejoice in my heart
Erwin McManus discussed his desires saying, “It’s hard to define the things inside my heart.” Desire is one of the major topics in our society; people see an object, be it tangible or intangible, that they have to have and they think about it. Everyone has his or her desires: we all are human. Sometimes though, it is hard to clearly discern what we want. Sometimes we want something and not even realize we want it. Glendon Swarthout is one author who writes about this frequently. One novel that stands out among all the rest is his Bless the Beast and Children. Throughout the pages of Swarthout’s novel the desires of the characters come up, not only directly, but also in very indirect ways. Sometimes the characters themselves don’t even realize they want it. Accordingly, Glendon Swarthout’s Bless the Beast and Children exemplifies desire throughout the novel.
The Grace That Keeps This World, by Tom Bailey, is an enthralling novel about the Hazen family who have lived in Lost Lake their whole lives. In this novel Kevin Hazen, a young man of 19, is searching for where he belongs in the world and in his own family. He wants more for his life than the life of survival that his parents have lived their whole lives. The story of the Hazen family is centered around the first day of deer season. For the Hazens, this hunt is more than just a sport. They use the meat of every deer they shoot to help them survive through the winter.
The movie Glory is the story of the first African American military unit which fought during the Civil War. This powerful story is told through the eyes of the unit’s leader, Colonel Robert Shaw. The director, Edward Zwick, uses a number of important scenes expressing growth, patriotism and leadership. Whenever there was an obstacle that the 54th regiment needed to overcome faith seemed to be the answer. Faith in their fellow man, faith in their country and faith in God.
Through the close study of two of the aspects shown in the diagram, their contributions allow Christianity to be considered a living religious tradition. The significant contributions of Pope John XXIII, during both his papal and Pre-papal life have had everlasting effects on not only Catholicism, but Christianity as a whole and lead to the sense of Christianity being a living religious tradition. His works include two Papal encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, along with his work being Apostolic Delegate of Greece and Turkey. Moreover, The significant practice of Baptism has further contributed to Christian being considered a living religious tradition as it accounts for the premise of most Christian beliefs to be initiated, especially in terms of salvation and affirming the beliefs in the trinity and following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Moral conviction is something that everyone should have, it is inherent, or at least that is the assumption. In the book, "A Case for Christianity", by C. S. Lewis, Lewis argues that it is part of the "Moral Law". Not the part that will make you forget about yourself and help someone else even though it might put you in danger, but rather the part that makes you feel bad when you have wronged another person or broken your own moral code. That is just it though, you set your own moral code, not anyone else. Sure it can be influenced by teachers, parents, friends, movies, media, and numerous other entities of our society, but the end result is your own choice, your own moral standard that you have set for yourself.
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Jesus began, "repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," or is it, do penance: "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17 K.J.V.). The two words repent and penance have somewhat the same connotation in the understanding of having sorrow for ones’ sins, nevertheless the two words are at the heart of Christianity and Christendom. The Catholic Church exerts the Latin term “paenitentiam agite” to justify its position on sacramental penance. The Latin term can be variously translated into English by the word repent or do penance, though similar, but somehow un-unified as earthly is with spiritual. This concept of repentance and abhorrence of one's sins before God is a heart issue. To do penance for one's sins before God is a heart issue. The dividing factor between the two words is who can know an individual’s heart in relationship to the scripture; As Paul wrote, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10 K.J.V.). The same factor affects the relationship between Christianity and Christendom, who can discern the motives of human hearts in relationship to history. Christianity is a universal appeal to man's heart, heart of Christendom is a universal appeal for an earthly kingdom. The union of these two or schism as one wishes to perceive, is in the concept of a visible church and an invisible church.
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
First, I have a daily centering prayer practice, where I sit for 15 to 20 minutes in the morning in silence with the intention of opening to the presence of God and his action within. I find that this practice gives me an opportunity to center my attention on becoming receptive to God and has created in me an appreciation for prayer in which I say nothing and rely on Grace to be the catalyst for my experience and transformation, not my doing or saying the right thing. I also like to follow the liturgical season and participate in the experience of the journey of Jesus. Even though giving up something like TV for lent may not be on par with the suffering and temptation of Jesus, it does give each of us an opportunity to short circuit our devices of comfort and distraction and feel the pull of temptation. So, for each season I try to interact with its appropriate aim. Lectio Divina, is another way that I am exploring the scriptures and allowing for God to communicate with me in a new way. Reading a verse or passage, then letting go of trying to interact with the reading, but instead allowing it to wash over me and reveal a word, phrase, or experience and then repeating it a few times really allows the Bible to communicate with me new truths each time I read. Finally, I try to be a good neighbor. I am afraid that I have a long way to go in regard to being a good friend or a good
According to Odia, (2014), Christianity's center of gravity shift from Europe into the global south over the last 100 years has been the most dramatic since the advent of Christianity 2,000 years ago. Quantitatively, Odia also posits that it may also be the largest shift in religious affiliation that has ever occurred, anywhere.
There are religions everywhere regardless of where a person goes in this world. A person could experience many different religions if they were to travel the world; however, many religions can be practiced within one country, especially within the United States. The diversity of religion is very common in many countries and usually all religions are pretty accepting of others. Christianity is one of the most widespread religions that are practiced throughout the world, especially in the United States; although, Christianity was started in another country. This particular religion may be widely practiced but some may still not quite understand what Christianity actually is. By going through the central themes, this religion can be understood a little bit better by many.
Christianity is defined as, “A major religion, stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century AD.” (Shelton) It has become the largest of the world’s religions. Yet in Ancient Rome in the first century A.D. they were not welcome. Christians were burned and tortured, and persecuted for just over three hundred years because of their beliefs. Why? We may never fully know, but I believe it was mostly out of fear. Fear of the new, and fear of change.
... By having them journal their prayers to God daily and encouraging them to read these entries frequently to refresh the memories of those prayers and seek for those that are answered allows for each client to find their way to a spiritual understanding that is not necessarily demonstrated by my impact, but that of God Himself. I am available to answer questions that pertain to the bible, but allow clients to interpret the teaching to their lives and recovery. These approaches allow clients to not rely on my experiences, but on their own encounters and knowledge. Gently guiding them to hear and see how God works in a client’s life is a rewarding and satisfying experience.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
Christianity is one of the world’s most widely practiced religions and has a long history spanning back over two-thousand years. Some might say that its history might go back even farther to include the history of Judaism because there are prophets in Hebrew scripture who foretold the coming of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the Messiah that God promised the Jewish people. This paper discusses how Christianity influences our society today, some of its history along with some of our beliefs. However, it is impossible to tell the complete history of Christianity in just one essay because for all two thousand years it has been in existence, there are literally thousands of things to talk about. The construction of our religious buildings, the Crusades, how the Protestant Reformation branched it out into what it is today, any of these things can and have been made into essays, books, and even movies on their own. That being said, it will touch on each of the questions which were asked in the assignment and will add a bit more depth on a few other things which are considered very important to the history of Christianity.