Monday, April 16, 2012
The Paradigm of American Christianity
I have become increasingly aware of how little the Christians around me actually know anything about religion. Most of them can name a few other religious groups, such as Jews and Muslims, but how many know that 'Sikhism', 'Juche', and 'Baha'i' even exist? I know that I didn't! Lately I have been wanting to become more culturally aware, but what's sad is that I have not even completely read the religious text of my own faith, the Bible! I have likely read more of it than many Christians, but there are so many that have read the whole thing multiple times, and members of other religions seem to have their's memorized! Though this could just be a misconception of my ignorance. I have a new desire to understand what my religion is supposed to stand for and how/why it exists, but not only this I want to understand other religions and what connections they all have with each other. I would love to become aware of all the current world religions, but there are so many! So for now I am going to look at the big ones and work my way down to the more obscure. If anyone wants me to research a specific kind, feel free to comment and tell me. I will do my best to stay unbiased and restrain from inputting my own opinions. If no suggestions come, I will start with the most obvious, Christianity, though the number of sects will take some time to sort through. And so the journey begins!
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A great way to do this research is to take a religion class at your college (it depends on where you go, but some colleges, like mine, actually require it). You'll likely learn all kinds of religions.
ReplyDeleteA good thing to remind yourself of while you study other religions is why you're a Christian. And what sets Christianity apart is grace. All other faiths rely on works, on the self, to save them. We rely on a savior. We have a God who became a man and suffered for us, died for us, and conquered death. No other religion has that. So while a lot of religions have a lot in common, (morals, etc.), remember that there is no one like our one true God. Just something to keep in mind, because studying other religions can be dangerous: it opens the door for the devil to come into your mind and lie to you; make you believe things that aren't true. It's very good to become culturally aware and to understand other people and what they believe, but throughout your research, cling to what you know is true.
AMEN to that! No religion like Christianity because no other religion is true! I took a college religion class. And yes, you must be strong in your faith when you study other religions in depth. You have to KNOW why christianity is true, before other religions make you second guess. For me, studying other religions grounded me farther into my faith, because now I am better prepared to explain why Christianity is the truth.
ReplyDeleteYes Maryann, those are very good points, and I will definitely be careful. Though I do personally believe that my faith is right, I also do not want to say that it is 'the truth' because technically there is no way to prove that it is. This may concern some to think that their religion cannot be proven, but it does not bother me because I have learned that we cannot prove anything, not even the most fundamental laws of physics. There will always be a possibility that gravity is not real, even though all the experiments on it has 'proven it true.' It seems that thinking like this for me makes it easier to believe in God/Jesus somehow, I do not really understand why. Hope this makes sense, thanks for the comments:)
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