What Dictates Your Faith?

This is a paper I wrote and submitted for my sociology class, I have not made any changes except adding the verses to scriptures I referenced and the challenge I added at the end of my paper. O and also this intro was not part of my assignment that would be odd.

I want to preference my paper with the fact that I am a devout Christian, with strong belief in Jesus Christ as both my savior and Lord. I say that to clarify that the knowledge of the power of observation has not weakened my faith, rather it enlightened me to a phenomenon of a growing and dividing subculture to the one Christ put into institution over two thousand years ago. It is written in the Christian doctrine the bible “build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s son” [Ephesians 4:13]. Paul, the writer of Ephesians, where I got this verse, makes clear that we who claim Christ must build each other up to complete the goal we have of being united as one body in faith and knowledge of God. Now this goal was set out to the body of believers who took on the name “Christians” over sixty generations ago, and it seems as if there are more subcultures within the body of Christ than ever. There is the subcultural of Baptist, Catholic, Protestant, those who believe in predestination and those who believe in freewill. There is also the subculture of those who believe you can’t drink and others that think you must drink in remembrance of the Lord, other subgroups can’t go to the movies, still other sets think it doesn’t matter what you do. The list goes on and on of different subcultures within the revolutionary cultural that Jesus set up based on love, love for the God and for your neighbors [Mathew: 36-39]. I feel as if it is necessary to make another clarification at this time: I do not find these subcultures, in and of themselves, the problem. Subcultures can be a thriving drive behind the culture growing as a whole. Take for example the college subculture in America, in many ways it is unique and different from the American cultural as a whole. This college subculture is formed closer by factors unique to college students, like interests, but mainly because they are all in the same place in life. In this way subcultures are great to form community and fellowship. God does not work in generic formulas, so I believe there should be many different kinds of churches to reach God’s many different kinds of beloved children. On the other hand, subcultures can also be counterproductive to the culture in which it is a subversion of, by being detrimental to that culture’s goals. This can be especially devastating when the subculture causes division among what used to be one, to form two or three new but smaller separate cultures. As I have stated earlier the main objective and goal of the culture of following Christ is to Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor, and it is also written that “everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" [Philippians 3:8]. Both of these ideas came from the truth that Christians claim to believe in. All this knowledge that I have just laid out leads me to make the assumption that a good many Christians let the society, and different subcultures they belong to, dictate their relationship with the one true God. Christianity is not an elitist club, it is a needed handout given freely and undeservingly.

Challenge to think about.

Where are your deepest convictions? Are they in proving you’re right about how you think about Christ, or how your denomination is the best, or is it in the endless pursuit of perfectly loving and living as Christ did. Or is it in something that isn’t your faith, like a game, school, friends or family?

I mentioned in my paper how the college subculture is different and unique from the rest of the cultural it is a part of. Are we, as Christians, different from this world we are a part of as Christ calls us to be? [John 17:14-19]I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.