I did not have a religious upbringing, excluding the few half-hearted attempts at taking my sister and I to church and the local church preschool, my parents largely left us to ourselves when it came to religion. My preschool experience was soured by the concerned teachers who wrongly assumed that I was drawing devils on my papers, when in fact, they were obviously vampires. My grandma cried when my parents did not baptize me, and my grandpa has called more than once, worried that I did not “know Jesus.” Regardless, religion has always been an interest of mine, probably because it is something so foreign and unknown. I have been to plenty of church services with friends after sleep overs, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, even one of those churches that speak in tongues. My parents never let me stay over there again. In “The Year of Living Biblically,” by Jacobs, a similarly agnostic man, attempts to gain some sort of insight by living a year of his life according to the Bible. He …show more content…
Growing up in the south, I am very familiar with the classic “bible-banging, ultra-conservative, hardcore Christian.” Jacobs visiting one of the megachurches was very interesting to me, since I have grown up surrounded by them. Tennessee has the most megachurches per capita in the United States, and there were two right down the road from me in my small town. When Jacobs was describing his experience in a megachurch, I recalled many similar experiences I have had. First Baptist Concord is practically its own town, complete with a school, preschool, shopping center, and amphitheater like worship hall. Cokesbury Methodist Church was so big it had two buildings for worship, on either side of the street. Jacobs visited Jerry Falwell’s megachurch in Virginia, and while the churches back home are not as extreme, they still have the same message and idea about “soul winning”
In the poem “What Are Years,” written by Marianne Moore there are two poetic devices being used in order to convey the meaning of the poem. Through the use of different figures of speech and unique forms, she discusses the different life stages a person experiences.
Beyond the Bible, written by Howard Marshall, is a compilation of essays that seek to propose a biblically sound way to move from biblical text to doctrine and application. Marshall believes that if one is going to move “beyond the bible,” they must do so “biblically.” A concern for Marshall is also how to properly apply scripture to controversial matters in the church today. The book includes more than just Marshall’s work, but essays written by Kevin Vanhoozer and Stanley Porter as well, which backs the idea that hermeneutics should be a discussion, not a solo speech.
William C. Plachers’ article, “Is the Bible True?” explores deeper into the subject of the Bible and if it content it contains is credible information. Through Plachers’ statement, “We need to understand the genre to understand a text. Reading a text literally is not always reading it faithfully,” we are able to reach the idea that the Bible is in fact true, but it all depends on how the individual interprets the text.
Southland Christian Church, one of several worship centers in the United States that has earned the moniker “Six Flags over Jesus,” is Lexington’s largest megachurch. With a weekly attendance of 8,000 people and an operating budget that supports a staff of over eighty members, Southland far exceeds most U.S. congregations in terms of financial resources and social clout. In recent years, popular and scholarly studies have attempted to situate the megachurch movement within a broad cultural context. Although the majority of these analyses dispute the precise definition of a megachurch, most distinguish these multiplex sanctuaries from smaller worship communities by using the same criteria—i.e. weekly attendance, campus acreage, annual budget, etc.—that megachurches themselves draw on to represent their own success. [2] However, the essence of a megachurch is not its large buildings, but rather the theology of consumption that informs its programming.[3] In this way, a megachurch ethos has infiltrated even the smallest congregations in the United States and has helped to solidify Christianity’s inextricable connection to consumer capitalism. To those who see megachurches as symptomatic of a flawed Christianity, market-minded church growth confounds one of the faith’s oldest dualities, the contradiction of living in the world without conforming to its ways, as Paul puts it in Romans 12. Megachurches at once reject “the world” and participate in it by seeking to win the lost and wow the consumer at the same time.
In the book “The Art of Biblical Narrative” by Robert Alter, there is one chapter (Chapter 3) titled “Biblical Type-Scenes and the Uses of Convention” (Alter 47). Alter describes several different stories (but similar in some ways) in the Old Testament that can be difficult to interpret in today’s culture. Alter describes how reading any book (more specifically the Bible), requires use of conventions, which he describes as “… an elaborate set of tacit agreements between artist and audience about the ordering of the art work is at all times the enabling context in which the complex communication of art occurs” (Alter 47). In other words, an agreement of how the writing is done; it can be pretty complex as well. He states that there are stories in the Bible that have the same stories of narrative, but there are different characters, they often are told several times in the Bible. Alter uses several of examples, like how patriarch is driven by famine; or where someone is found and is invited to eat with them, or a betrothal (engagement) near a well/body
One day in grade five, I decided to find myself. Most people are not "lost" when they are eleven years old, but in my own naïve, inexperienced world, I needed a change. My teacher was the indirect cause of this awakening. She was Jewish and opened our closed WASP-y minds to a whole new world of Judaism. We explored the Jewish holidays, learned about the Holocaust, and watched Fiddler on the Roof. This brief yet fascinating view into the world of another religion captured my attention and compelled me to investigate further. I hungrily searched for books on Judaism and bombarded my teacher and my two classmates who were half-Jewish with questions. I decided, after careful (or so I thought) deliberations, that I wanted to convert to Judaism. I did not (and still do not) know why Judaism intrigued me so. Perhaps their high degree of suffering as a people seemed romantic to me. On the other hand, maybe it had to do with the fact that my religion (as my more Roman friends are quick to point out) does not seem to have any clear and decisive beliefs. It could have been the fact that Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and are still waiting for the Messiah to appear, which seemed to be a good reason as to why there was so much wrong with the world. Whatever it was, it drew me in and launched me into a world of discovery and discouragement.
Kallistos Ware’s article, “How to Read the Bible”, explains the necessary components of reading the Bible. He explained that Saint Tikhon’s perspective of the Bible is that God’s Word is love letter to His people, a conversation between God and man (Ware, 1). He also expressed the Moscow statement where the Bible helps us to obey God when we hear the message, receive it, and interpret it in order to apply it to our lives (Ware, 1). As a result, Ware combines these two ideas with four important concepts about reading the Bible: the reading is obedient, ecclesial, Christ-centered, and personal (Ware, 1). Ware describes obedience as listening to God’s voice in order to receive the message with an open heart. In addition, the reading of Scriptures
In the article “Reading the Bible and Articulating a Worldview” Michael Goheen suggests that we need to understand and read the Bible as one, large story. In the article, Goheen states “When the Bible is broken up in this way there is no comprehensive, and narrative to withstand the power of the comprehensive, humanist narrative that shapes our culture” (Goheen 7-8). In my opinion, I agree with Michael Goheen when he suggests the Bible is to be read as one, large story. When you read the Bible from this point of view, you have a better possibility of gaining more from the Word. When non-Christians read the Bible as one story, they have a better understanding of what they’re reading. When I read the Bible as one story and being a Christian I
I come from a small family whose members include my immediate family. Like most Haitian-American living in my region, religion is a fundamental part of my upbringing. I was practically raised in a church and attended church three times a week as a child. Members of my church acted as parents to me and my sister and disciplined me with my mother consent. They played an active role in my upbringing and shaped my norms and taught me was considered appropriate and inappropriate. For example, I was taught to kiss adults and elders on the cheek when saying hello. I was told that I couldn’t address adults by their first name, and most importantly I was taught to always bite my tongue and always respect my
By the time I was 16, I had lost faith in the Bible, and in turn, I had lost faith in the Catholic church. Reading the Bible led me to become an agnostic. And now, while I can understand why so many people turn to religion, I view religion as hindrance in our development as a society.
As time went on and I grew up, I started to understand the principles of my faith more clearly. With more understanding came with more questions. It seemed to be that the more I thought about my faith, the more questions I had. I started to really think about my faith and analyze the reasons behind why I believed during my mid-teens. I had trouble understanding religious concepts such as heaven and hell. Why would anyone condemn someone not to a place of eternal, ...
Personally, I’ve never labeled myself as religious but I’ve been a part of a youth group since the fifth grade. Then again, I only joined and stayed a part of it for the simple facts of making friends and free food. While those are not the best reasons to stay a part of a religious organization, they worked for me because it’s what led
Currently, I do not identify as being religious. I am not sure what I believe, so generally I try to stay away from religious conversations because they make me uncomfortable. I was raised Baptist and went to church every Sunday and Wednesday until I was around 14. Also, when I was around 18, I attempted to convert to Catholicism because of who I was dating at the time, however once we separated, I stopped my conversion. I will turn 26 next month and for this service learning project, I decided to attend a Sunday church service.
People have never asked me what my spiritual life story is, but for as long as I can remember it’s what I always knew. Spiritually, I know what I believe and my views on certain topics, but I know I could grow a lot. As long as I can remember, I went to church every Sunday for the past eighteen years. Out of the eighteen years I went to Church, fifteen of them was with the Presbyterian church and three years were with the Solid Rock Church. I was a church baby which means I grew up going to church every Sunday no matter the circumstances because that is what my family did. My Parents’ told me what they believed and taught me about what I should believe. They told me where their beliefs arose from and how the word of God is in the Holy Bible. But as a family, we didn’t sit down and read scripture or randomly pray, it just wasn’t something we did. As I grew up, I knew going to church and
As it was when I was born and still to this day, I was brought to Church every Sunday. As an infant and a child, I did not understand the true meaning of this. I thought it was just a day I was force to wear “uncomfortable” clothes and told to be quite (even though I rarely did). I was like most other children, as are some teenagers, I did not want to go to Church. I would run, play sick or try to do anything I could to not attend Church. For this misunderstanding, I only can credit that to my ignorance of my faith. If you were not dying in my house you was presumed to go to Church even if you was not apart on our family. I remember one instance when I slept by a friend’s house and his family, unfortunately, was not a regular participant in Church (I think I knew this). My mother came and picked me up that morning to go to Church. I remember this moment in my life because it showed how strong my family was and will always be in Faith.