My Religious Belief System Essay

My religious belief system is embedded in Christianity. I was born into a family who worshiped as Methodist and I am still Methodist. Growing up my mother not only sent us to church, she went with us along with my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. Even though my father did not attend church often, he believed in God and supported my mother’s desire to have her children in church. The neighborhood I grew up in consisted of a great deal of my mother’s family and everyone served at the same church, right there in the community. My religious beliefs, directed my life in the sense of keeping my family close, taking my children to church, and teaching them the right way. I remember before my baptism, my pastor explained to me the importance of being baptized and partaking in communion. The first time I accepted communion at the age of 12, I felt like I was receiving a part of Jesus in my body as protection against anything and everything. Later, I learned the real reason for communion is repentance and the need for forgiveness. My nurturing from church became an ethical path growing up. Without this direction in my life, a number of things I have experienced would probably cause me to detour too another way of thinking and doing things. My definition of a religious belief system is believe in God, involving yourself in worship and praise services and comprehending and living by a standard outlined by the word of God. In addition to that my beliefs tie in with the definition stated above. I am a Christian and with that being said, I believe in God and his son Jesus Christ. I truly believe Christ is our Lord and Savior who came into existence because of our sins and for that reason, I believe Christ died after he was crucified on the cross and 3 days later, he rose with all power over everything in heavens and earth. I believe Christ died for the sins of the entire world so that every living being may have life and live it more abundantly and when the time comes for our bodies to return to dust or dirt then our souls will join him in heaven if we believe he is Lord. From what I read and from what I am constantly learning from the Bible, I grasp what is required of me as an individual and as a Christian in association with my conduct, meaning the way I behave toward others, and so forth. The Bible is an excellent guideline of what God expects us to do. By now, it seems obvious what I believe and it appears to be apparent that my belief system is absolutely a religious belief system. I pray constantly without ceasing for my children, my entire family and everyone I consider crucial to me. After analyzing my belief system, I grew into different facets of my religious belief system through phases of my life. For example, I knew several prayers at a young age but I did not understand how crucial prayer was concerning my religious beliefs. I recall as a young girl being on my knees along beside my grandmother saying my prayers. I remember her teaching one prayer for night and one for the mornings. Even as a teenager, I realized some of the proper characteristics of my belief system but being young in mind I did not always adhere to that belief. I always knew deep inside because of what my belief is that some things I will not do. I do not consider myself a saint and I have made some terrible decisions but not to the point where I ignored my conscious which convicts us. Now that I have reached adulthood and I have experienced other things like marriage, having children, and coping with tragedies the significance of my belief system advanced and I know today I am almost whole. The benefits and disadvantages of acquiring my belief system are a distant stretch. The benefits of my religious belief system is knowing God always watches over me in spite of my faults and the ungodly decisions I have made in my life, I know he will always look after me and never leave me and that is a enormous benefit. One disadvantage to my belief system is any individual may easily disobey laws we find ordained throughout the scriptures. For example, I concur lying about another individual or one may even consider this gossip about other people is not a pleasant thing to do. I loathed a liar, when I know someone is telling a lie that bothers me. I hear people gossiping all the time and it seems to be an easy task. This is just one example but not a small one not in God’s eyesight. However, it exemplifies the point. Numerous things can violate God’s word whether you meant to be â€Å"disobedient† or not to the laws, it still considered a violation. The observable disadvantage is, unless you are perfect you are going to sin against God’s word because no one is perfect but the Father. In reality, a portion of my belief system is the entire concept of believing that each of us was born in an imperfect world and everyone will sin at some point in our lives. Once more, we see the reason we have Jesus. I know he died for our sins to save us and God is a forgiving God. The role of tradition in my religious belief system is tremendous. Sometimes I reminisce over things I did as a child like waiting on Santa and not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve. I evidently was not thinking about the truth, this particular holiday was about the birth of Christ at that time. Later on, my children went through this identical custom every year. On the other hand, this tradition means a great deal more to me now. Every year during this time, I give gifts to my children, grandchildren and other family but the most important thing is I attend church for praise and worship. I participate with my church family presenting gifts and food to different people who are alone at Christmas and for those confined to the nursing home and no one to spend time with them. Another tradition my family started was to invite someone less fortunate than we are for dinner and family fun. I remember when my children and I were at a point of just feeling alone and destitute, but the joy I felt when someone helped me is the kind of feeling I wanted to pass on to someone else especially during this time of the year. In addition to that I realize as an individual, I must be mindful of others and his or hers religious beliefs or religious practices. The society we exist in today is a mixture of different cultures and ethnicity and at any given moment, my next-door neighbor could be a Mexican or someone from India as well as a Christian. To be attentive of the beliefs of others is truly the most humane thing to do. I have respect for other people and whatever religion one might choose to par take in. I make an effort not to get into a dispute with people over religion or their religious beliefs because of the sensitivity of the subject. My contemplation is that I value other people’s religion enough not to bring it up. My belief system has molded me and transformed my mine to different way of thinking. My religious belief has advanced and developed over the years. Unique circumstances have caused me to become intelligent, sturdy and more thoughtful. My religious beliefs are continually increasing and to be truthful like me in this quest of improving my life and my education many obstacles come testing me. Sometimes I find myself with some deep-seated views surrounding certain individuals and circumstances. In remembering the past events in my life my belief system, my religious belief system has kept me committed to whom and what I have become.