On January 25, 1963, the world was blessed with an extraordinary child who will provide gifts of strength and love to all he touches. This miraculous creature is none other than my father, Jemeamlouis Phillipaiya. He was born at Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Jaffna, Sri Lanka and he lived there for his whole life before deciding to move to Canada in 1990. As a child he mainly helped his family with the farm and housework, along with focusing on his studies. In his free time, he would fly kites and play soccer with his friends. My father is best described as a mischievous and kind child with a great deal of love and passion. He has been a truck driver for the past 22 years, after migrating to Canada, but over the years he had worked for many different …show more content…
I am a proud Roman Catholic which is seen through my weekly altar serving at my church, Our Lady of Airways. My service to the church is how I express my belief with God and contribution to the community. My daily prayer with the Lord before I go to sleep keeps my bond strong with Him. During my prayer, I reflect the decisions I had made throughout my day whether exceptional or evil. I give grace for the strength He provided me and to grant me the power to change for the better. Furthermore, I communicate with God and explain about Him with my non-Catholic friends. They often confuse Roman Catholic with Christianity, but I would clarify that they both overlap, and I also answer their other questions willingly which often involve Christmas or Easter. I love God but what I am uneasy with is that the Catholic Church and I have different perspectives on the LGBTQ+ community. I believe that we all have to love each other, and be able to accept one another, but the Catholic church in many ways have been against the community. This influenced a handful of my friends to be against the community because they believe God made Adam and Eve with the image of God in mind. Their opinion is based on the idea that man and women should only be together and have intercourse for reproduction only, but I feel one can live their life with whomever they love, and we should not judge them for their lifestyle. I feel I could also be more active in my life for my faith. Even though I attend mass regularly, a part of my youth group, and pray daily, I feel I am not satisfied. I want to improve my faith by being a part of organizations and understand my faith better. Overall, even though I do not agree with certain opinions of the church, I believe God loves every one of us which is why I am content with my
When choosing a religious service I was very limited on my choices so I was intrigued to go back to my roots and try the Catholic denomination. This denomination is the one that is most prevalent in my community and also in my social circle as well. Since I have actually been to a Catholic church as a child I thought I knew what to expect but I was shocked at how naive I was to the subject. My preconceived ideas and thoughts were that there would be a lot of getting down on your knees then back up again then saying your Hail Mary’s with not much depth to a service. Also growing up with a social group that was full of Catholics you would always hear of confession so that was something I was particularly dreading for the fact that I did not quite understand the concept and believe in it. This did not take place however which was a sigh of relief on my part cause I was not ready for that big of a leap from my own comfort zone.
For years the Catholic church has not accepted the idea of homosexuality in the church, not until recently has the Vatican and many other Catholic denominations accepted homosexuality. In this quote from Pope Francis he explains that only God is to judge someone on the kind of person they are not on their sexual orientation. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge? We shouldn't marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society.” (Pope Francis) Just this quote is a huge leap forward for the Catholic church and their modernization.
I serve to Jesus every day by taking time out my day to help others. When my classmates or friends are struggling with something I try to assist them
What is religion? Each person’s definition of religion is different. Each person’s faith is different. This is a question that has been asked for centuries, and regardless of the answer given there is no right or wrong answer. Religion can be defined as a group of people who have shared beliefs who feel their life has purpose or meaning. This feeling or belief that their life has meaning can come from outside of themselves, as well as within. Taking this one step further, these shared beliefs put into action in the form of worship, can be easily identified because they happen regularly. It can be said the Primal religions were in fact not religions. Some may argue Confucianism is not a religion. Others may say Taoism is not a religion. However, one argument can be made. All three of these “religions” share “features.” Huston Smith, author of World’s Religions, says “six features of religion appear so regularly as to suggest that their seeds are in the human makeup.” These six features discussed in World’s Religions are as follows: authority, ritual, explanation, tradition, grace, and mystery (World’s, Page 67). First is authority, Smith argues religion is so complex that people will need assistance or guidance from those held in a higher light, or of a higher authority. Next is ritual, which can be happy (a wedding) or sad (a funeral), rituals are shared between people of the same religion in many forms as a sign of common beliefs. Following rituals, some explanation is required. Many of a religion’s followers ask for explanations, some ask, “What is my purpose in life?” Others may ask, “Who is God?” Depending on one’s religion, the questions or
Every Sunday at six in the morning in my entire life I was always told to believe that the church is one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic. One of the traditional beliefs that was passed down to me from the church and my family, is that I must serve and love GOD from Jesus Christ to gain access to heaven. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who teaches us through the word of the Church, which is why am always accompanied by my family to attend church. the entire right side of the church is occupied by my extended family. My family and I follow Gods ten commandments, especially to “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and “You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18). And then there’s the views of Homosexuality, the church “The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage and the social acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex relationships, but teaches that homosexual persons deserve respect, justice and pastoral care” (http://www.americancatholic.org/News/Homosexuality/default.asp). Because am catholic, my views on gays is that is wrong, which is why my sexual orientation is heterosexual. In high school, I had two friends that were gay. I remember thinking how wrong it was because "marriage
"[I]t seems appropriate to understand sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual) as a deep-seated dimension of one's personality and to recognize its relative stability in a person. Generally, homosexual orientation is experienced as a given, not as something freely chosen. By itself, therefore, a homosexual orientation cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose. The teachings of the Church make it clear that the fundamental human rights of homosexual persons must be defended and that all of us must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice, oppression, or violence against them"(Pastoral).
Ideologies creates a sense of community, purpose and order. Similarly, I find that my religion provides me with the conceptual frameworks in which to ground my life. My life revolves around my Islamic commitments, even school and work is set around my Islamic timetable. So to me, Islam is not just about praying, fasting and so on. Yet, it’s also about my moral conduct, the education that I seek and my worldly actions. Growing up in a community that practices an Islamic lifestyle and culture has convinced me that Islam is one of the exceptional religions which stress the development of the positive moral and ethical. I was taught to live peacefully, help each other and also tolerate with other religions. Not only that, Islam also governs all facets of my life such as moral, spiritual, physical, intellectual, social and economic via the Quran and the Hadith. I also learnt the true values of my faith which is Islam is not only for the Muslim world, it is to be practiced wherever I am.
The Catholic Church’s View on Homosexuality For centuries the Catholic Church has stood firm in its belief that homosexuality is wrong because it goes against natural law and is condemned by the Bible. The Catholic Church relies heavily on the Bible in order to support its stance.
I am a Christian and I believe in the Holy trinity: God, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Homosexuality has been shamefully denounced in Catholic religion over time ever since St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas’ ideas shaped the views of the Catholic church. Today these religious teachings express how homosexuality is not in any way, part of God’s plan for marriage and family instead it is seen as sinfully going against Natural Law. Catholics lack the realization that people’s sexual desires do not in any biological way, shape or form change a person’s overall morals determining if they should be scrutinized or accepted. Catholic homosexuality beliefs are demandingly strict and tend to over criticize basic religious intentions of love and acceptance. Homosexual participants are deserving of support, faith and love despite what
One of the toughest topics for me to talk about is religion. To me, religion feels more like following then just living. Spirituality allows one to live without fear of being punished or sinned. Equally important. Spirituality allows one to be who they want to be without feeling judged.
The Problem of Definition of Religion The study of religion is problematic. There are so many dimensions to religion (belief, practice, experience, knowledge and consequences) that it is impossible to provide a conclusive definition. Most sociologists do not believe in God. Functionalist views on Religion -------------------------------
Most people think that the Church is against gay relationships, this is not true, what the Church is against is sexual activity between gay people. This is because sex between the same sexes is not procreative and therefore it cannot create
Religion is the one element of life that has connected the races and societies of the world for hundreds of years. It has given meaning to lives that may seem otherwise hopeless. Religion has provided for a universal language and culture among those who believe in a higher power. The spirit or being receiving the worship and praise may not be the same, but the practices are usually similar and serve the same purpose--to give direction, insight, courage, and a divine connection.
The definition of religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods(Merriam-Webster). After this semester I have come to realize that religion is a much more advanced, complicated, and personal definition. Religion can’t be defined in one word or one term because there is a lot that religion entails. There really is no concrete answer of what religion is and the definition varies among different groups of people and individuals.