Philosophy 352 - Faith Statement for Intro to World Religions

Philosophy 352, Introduction to World Religions

Faith Statement

My concern for the Ultimate Concern falls under the beliefs of Christianity. I believe in Jesus Christ and have faith that when I die I will go to heaven. I think everyone no matter what their faith wants to believe in something. It makes life a little easier to have faith in something. Faith is an accomplishment because having faith is knowing that God is real and trusting the Bible. Faith is knowing that something is there when you can't see it. My faith lets me know that I am not alone and that the Lord is always with me. With God on my side then who can be against me. Although he is not seen he is felt by all. This is why it is call the ultimate concern for the ultimate. Everyone feels him. Deep down there is something that allows you to know that there is something bigger there is someone that is in control and gives reason. When you have faith you are entrusting your life's events to that higher power. I guess faith also takes trust. It takes trust to put your life and its well being in Gods hands. I put my faith in God I know that without him I am lost. Those who are new to faith always say that until they found God they felt lost. This is because as humans we are always searching for something to believe in. We want to know where we came from and where it all started. Faith helps drive us and gives meaning, balance and structure to life. Through prayer you talk to God. I personally do not attend Church much. However, when I do attend it I always leave feeling great. I am happy and hearing the word of God in Church makes me feel closer to him. Having the Lord in your life brings happiness. An easy way to find God is to go to Church. I was raised Christian by a Mother who converted from Catholicism and my Father was raised with Christian beliefs. When I was young from preschool to 6th grade I attended a private elementary school. As I got older because I was not always around those who had Christian values it made it harder for me to keep up with the Christian values of my own. I began to hang out with friends and go out and my daily readings of the Bible were less and less. My prayers daily were not so daily but when I remembered. I think it helps to go to Church because it feeds your soul. The more you feed your soul the more it wants to be fed. Prayer is always done at Church and it is through prayer that you talk to God. When you talk to God it brings you closer to him and the closer you get to God the stronger your faith is.

One thing that I agreed with in Hinduism is that the problem with people today is attachment. Attachment to worldly possessions, worldly thoughts and worldly ways. I know I fight with worldly attachments and desire constantly. You see it is simple, we as humans always want what we don't have and what we do have we usually want more of. The problem is caused by desire. We desire what we don't have. When a person sins, it is because we desire things of this world and not of God. We are soul that are inside this vehicle that we know as the body. It is our body that is our vehicle in this world. When we die we do not take the body with us. It is our soul that proceeds to heaven. It is our soul that we look to save from hell. The body wants worldly things. It is hard because people are judged according to what they have or don't have and if they do have it then its how much do they have. When you fall into the trap of the world by only worrying about the body's needs then you have forgotten your soul. Many pay attention to the bodies hunger and do not think of the soul. To me the best soul food is the Bible. The more I feed my souls hunger for the word of God the less my body wants. No matter where I have lived or how well in life I was doing, how much possession I had (food for the body) I always felt as though I was missing something. That something was my soul knowing that if was being deprived of God. I was working long hours always putting my work first and what I was doing wrong is not putting God first. I was only happy after I acknowledged what I was lacking.

I try my best to attend Church because it feels good. I do attend when I can but mostly I try to stay consistent with reading my Bible. Having perfect attendance in Church is not what