Monday, September 30, 2019

Journey to Christianity Essay

The preference for a religion or any sense of spirituality is a personal choice and digression. The option either not to actively participate in one’s religion’s rituals, traditions, and customs or do the otherwise, maybe even stay neutral, is still of personal consideration. Nothing or no one can truly and essentially mediate with these affairs unless allowed to do so by the said practitioner of beliefs and doer of such saintly conviction. For me, Christianity has been the choice of religion, and the personal spirituality gained from trusting it brings one’s mind, soul, and spirit in truly an almost enlightened state. Truth is every religion’s destination point and the journey to and through Christianity is one which continues and grows with each passing day. Journey to Christianity The discernment on religion and spirituality is one of the greater existential and even transcendental issues of human existence. Moreover, the concept of a greater being, or sometimes even beings, have been constructed into almost gloriously confusing and still remarkably mysterious belief systems which seemingly condemn the evil and venerate the good. But one thing holds true, pure, and private, no matter what: every individual is given that personal right to choose whatever it is that he or she wants to believe in or not—to condemn and venerate, or not. Christianity, a monotheistic faith, centers on strong belief system which only holds a One Higher and Greater Being to be God and His Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah—the Chosen One who stands as the prophesized-man’s key to salvation. All certainty, knowledge, and wisdom are believed written in the Holy Bible, which content is also believed to be beyond contestation. But before everything else is settled in both my religious and spiritual points of view, the journey is one which should continue and develop day by day by day. My journey began as a child. Like mostly everybody else, any form of belief, opinion and sense of culture begins at home and in school. As I did remember, it was in a simple arithmetic math class and a church sermon that I tried to make the correlations in between. I tried to make sense of things in such an early age. In class, we did simple arithmetic exercises which tested our accuracy in basic addition and subtraction. Then, as I remembered the weekend before, the priest from the church had mentioned the concept of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) — this snatched my attention from the class’s activities and carried on through the rest of the day. I thought to myself, how could three things be formed into one, if by plain law of mathematics one plus one equals two, then it also suggest that one plus one plus one cannot equate to one? In some way, even at an early age, I thought of things this way and looked for the interconnectivity among things, people, and events. Such matters stimulated my own process of trying to better learn the how’s and why’s of Christianity, and moreover about life and everything else in it. I tried my best not to accept everything as there are and were — this was my journey’s most definitive moment, for it spurred the essence of life—to search for something greater, to live with purpose and meaning. Such interest and zest carried on as years passed; it was a quest. A series of continuing investigations within myself, things around me, and with the people I knew, know, and came to know all played crucial roles in my own discernment of deity, concept a of Greater being, and everything else in between. Understanding the way they thought and perceived life contributed in my own personal process of thinking, in my decision making developments, and in my belief in both the earthly and divine elements. But amidst the enduring efforts, there was a gap which would never be answered, and the notion of not knowing would only be the somewhat and only agonizing conclusion. Even considering the long, comprehensive history of man and life and of various disciplines and sciences as only part of one speck in the whole universe, there is no way of actually and absolutely finding out the truth about God and all else that comes with it. Hence, there is faith. Faith is that intangible emotion of believing in something, someone—despite and in spite of all and any circumstance. This is the very essence of Christianity to accept as true—to love and to be a believer amidst temptation, sin, and what is wrong. Even though, at the end of it all, it is still a matter of personal choice, I chose Christianity because this is what fills and completes the gaps between my philosophical and spiritual trenches. No matter how far I would begin to discern, whether or not there is a God, whether or not there is salvation, it all brings me back to faith. All its teachings serve as a guide. All its lessons serve as a channel of reference. The journey to and through Christianity is one which has not been concluded, for it must be a long lasting process. Only in its conclusion will one find truth.

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