The Sacred Divine
I believe the Divine sacred is something more powerful than anything on earth.
Not necessarily in a physical sense but more in a spiritual. I feel that the youth of today, more than any other time in the world's history, needs to know something about what their parents and ancestors have found in religion. As we look at today's youth we see a decline in good Christian values or in a better sense the falling away from the good life Jesus has taught us. I remember when was a little boy my father always made me attend every funeral that happened to family or friends, even if I didn't know them. I remember always asking my father if the deceased went to heaven or hell? My father would always tell me if the deceased was a member of the church, followed the ten commandments, and followed the good life taught to us by Jesus, he was enrolled for heaven. If the deceased had never went to church, broke some of the ten commandments, and did not follow the good life, he was consigned to hell. Myself as a six-year- old I never wanted to go to hell. I remember what my Sunday school teachers told of this place where you live in a a fiery pit always in pain. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound like fun to me. I began from then on being the best person I could, I never missed church on Sundays, and to the best of my ability tried to live the life Jesus has paved for us. This is by far the most religious experience, that I have ever experienced in my life. I never found myself so part of a religion, that I was so Christian that I was going to live my life in such a way that I was going to heaven. In my judgment there has never been a time in the history of the world when men and women were so eager to find a religion or religious truth. They seem to be looking for something they should have found in their childhood, like I did. I realized that at an early age what the good life was and in knowing that I could live my life accordingly. My relation to the universe is, for me, an all important affair.
I can make no attempt to teach everyone the way that I have realized when I was
going to heaven, you've got a few good stories to tell when you get there. On top of all
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.
I grew up in a church much like most children in Louisiana. As I became older I began to worry. The church taught that homosexuality is an abomination, and that I would burn in hell forever. Well, I panicked, such as any child who questions their sexuality would. Being the
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.
my life the best it could be, and also knowing that it could come true, and
`My mother hadn't let us come to his funeral because we were only children then, and he had died in hospital, so the graveyard and even his death seemed unreal to me.`
step for me, and yes, it is scary, but I know that God has me in the palm of his
children to experience the absence of a father as I experienced it. These values of my life are the ones that are guiding my behaviors in my decision making.
...all life even those who choose to reject him. I need to live in such a way that if today was the last day I had to live, I know I have done Christ’s work and brought others to Christ. Till his return, I believe it is my duty to spread the word and to do my part for God.
At my church, one had to be in seventh grade to attend our youth group service. I could not wait to going into junior high so I could hang out with the teenagers and talk about actual teen issues and how The Bible tells us to handle them. The summer before seventh grade our church had new
My life, arise and enter into the pattern and purpose of God, in the name of Jesus
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.
Each of you here had your own relationship with my Dad, each of you has your own set of memories and your own word picture that describes this man. I don’t presume to know the man that you knew. But I hope that, in this eulogy that I offer, you will recognise some part of the man that we all knew, the man that is no longer amongst us, the man who will never be gone until all of us here have passed.
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.