Christianity

English 102 Brittany Daigle Dr. Trahan 09/11/2011 Brittany Daigle Dr. Trahan English 102 09/16/2011 Christianity Religions, or belief systems, are perhaps the strongest force in society. Christianity is the main religion in America, and is what American morals are surrounded by; even though our founding fathers clearly stated, “As the Government of the United Stated of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”. (Article 11, the Treaty of Tripoli) Christianity has influenced American culture for years. Most people will view Christianity in modern society as positive, but there are revolutionists that view religion as a whole as negative and can ruin our society. Christianity is a teaching based on the life and teaching of Jesus, which is located in the New Testament. “Christianity is Monotheist, which believe in one God” (Wormer 35). Most Christians believe that God is one eternal being who exists as three distinct, eternal, and invisible persons: “the Father, the Son, which is Jesus, and the Holy Spirit” (Wormer 33). They believe that God loved the Earth, so he sent his son, Jesus, to sacrifice himself for the sins of Mankind. The teachings of Christianity start early and continue throughout a person’s life. It usually starts a very young age by bringing the child to church or to Sunday school. Most Christians start teaching their children the stories of the bible, and how what one acts will affect them in the afterlife. Most Christians believe in being baptized at an early age so you can be cleansed of all sins. In the Christian religion, even if you have lived a life of sin, so long as you repent in the end, you will be saved and given eternal life. This is not so in other religions. Such religions as Hinduism for instance do not believe this. For everything you do wrong you will be punished. “Christianity is slowly evolving and trying to become even more appealing to society, there are still many downfalls” (Hinson 185). Today’s society is steadily evolving and the views on how the Universe works today is a total different story on how people thought it worked back then. Science is starting to explain things that religion uses to explain on how the Universe works. People are getting more educated and becoming more indifferent on the teachings of Genius in the bible. Genius tells us that the Earth was made in seven days and it only a several thousand years old, and that humans were one of the first on the earth. Science has told us different through fossils and carbon dating. One can see why professors who teach evolution can be irritated by religion because it contradicts the teaching of science. The bible talks about slaves, which in today’s society is not a way of life and is cruel. Some Christians will say that homosexual is an abomination and they are damned by quoting a Leviticus quote from the bible, but will not read the rest of Leviticus and you will al so that pork or any unclean animal is an abomination too. It seems that some people from this religion like to pick and chose what sin is greater by pulling out some quotes from the bible and ignoring others (Froehlich 81). If one watches the news, they can clearly see people displaying hate in the name of religion. The Westboro Baptists church will go to funerals of homosexuals and hold a sign up that says “God hates fags” because that is there interpretation of what the bible is teaching. This is what they said about their beliefs, “First, our goal is to preach the Word of God to this crooked and perverse generation. By our words, some will repent. By our words, some will be condemned. Whether they hear, or whether they forbear, they will know a prophet has been among them. It is the solemn job of a believing Christian to preach the Gospel to every creature, and warn him or her to flee from the wrath to come. "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!"(I Corinthians 9:16). Second, our goal is to glorify God by declaring His whole counsel to everyone. Third, we hope that by our preaching some will be saved. As Jude said, on some have compassion, making a difference, but others save with fear.”(http://www.godhatesfags.com/faq.html#Goal) This type of teaching is not good for American society and people with logic can clearly see their misinterpretations of the bible. There are many flaws with today’s Christianity and one can clearly see it as they watch the news. For the past couple of years we have watched as numerous Catholic priests convicted of child molestation. Recently there were accusations that the Catholic pope has covered up numerous child molestation cases. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/pope-sexual-abuse-lawrence-murphy_n_512483.html) This has done damage on the Catholic community. People are afraid to leave there children alone with someone who preaches in what they believe. The Catholics believe that a priest should be celibate, while protestant pastors can marry and have children, which may be able to be one of the reasons why there are so few cases of child molestation with protestant pastors. Even though there many negative portrayals on Christianity in America there are good, that came out of this religion. Natural disasters happen all the time in America, this Christian church always helped in aiding people in such disasters. The moral base of Christianity is to treat every human being fairly. Christianity has influenced America since it first entered with the pilgrims. Some influences are negative while others can be looked at as positive. Religion is always going to be a part of human beings way of life; it gives them some sort of reassurance that this is not the end when you die. Work Cited Wormer, Jan L. Morality and Ethnics in Early Christianity. New York, New York: Fortress Pr, 1987. 144. Hinson, Glenn E. Understandings of the Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1986. 128. Froehlich, Karlfried. Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church. Fortress Press, 1980.144. God Hates Fags. Westboro Baptists Church 1955-2011. 11 September 2011. http://www.godhatesfags.com/wbcinfo/aboutwbc.html The Treaty of Tripoli. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 13 Sepetember 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tripoli Colin Cormier. Personal Interview. 11 September 2011.