The Word of God
The First EPC or Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Kent, WA gave me a primary insight to the Christian religion. Growing up Jewish I never had many opportunities to experience a different religion other than day to day exposure. However, my next door neighbors whom I have grown up with my entire life are devout Christians. Being uninterested in religion as it is I never questioned them about their religion or went to their church in the past. Feeling like a complete outsider not from appearance but from belief’s and morals. I didn’t attend a mosque or some other temple, most Evangelical Presbyterian are predominantly white like myself. I camouflaged myself with Mitchel and T (My neighbors) and other Churchgoers. I felt going …show more content…
I believed that most churches followed the same gospel as others. After learning what EPC meant I quickly realized what I had missed. Christianity has thousands of denominations within the region and Evangelical Presbyterians is just 1. Listening carefully to what the pastor said and the true meaning of what was being spoken helped me understand their beliefs system more. I wanted to really engage and understand why religion is so important to my friends and others. “They wanted to form a Church that took seriously the Bible, the theology of the historic confessions of the faith, and the evangelical fervor of the founders of American Presbyterianism.” (EPC), this is the doctrine from the official Evangelical Presbyterian Church website. The church was formed because they felt the Evangelical church was heading into a liberal direction. The core values of the type of Christianity help paint a picture for what I actually experienced at First EPC. The value of spreading and living by the word of God was the theme of the sermon. Emphasis on following the rules scripted in the Bible were prevalent to me before attending the church. I noticed how strict my friends had it and that they went to church twice a week every week and never missed a day. It seems that their entire lifestyle is shaped around how the church wants its congregates to live. The culture around the church is open …show more content…
The emotional safety net for people of all ages. Positive or Negative, religion offers a refuge for those looking for answers. I know personally that I am confused sometimes and I don’t know why and not having someone or something to talk to makes it even tougher. Religion of any kind offers us a place where we can let it out and have God deal with it. By placing the burden in someone else’s hands it equates to relief. Structure also derives from consistent religious practice. Calling the church, a second house seems right to me, many people go 2 times a week sometimes more. By consistently hearing the same messages of how to live your life and how to act to others, it creates an everyday lifestyle. The other teenagers at First EPC all showed signs of this. Asking all of them the same questions the answers were similar. The question such as have you had sex? (not until marriage) Do you smoke or drink? (No.) Are you allowed to date? (Not until __old) Can you miss church for the Seahawks game? (No.) All had the same answers. Looking at the structure of First EPC itself has similarities with a lot of Mega Churches. “While some attach a threshold to the number of attenders a megachurch contains—1,500 regular attenders is a popular threshold14—it is sufficient to say that these are the very largest of the large.” (Eagle 591) while First EPC isn’t quite that many congregates their main sanctuary can hold ~1000 people.
The First EPC or Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Kent, WA gave me a primary insight to the Christian religion. Growing up Jewish I never had many opportunities to experience a different religion other than day to day exposure. However, my next door neighbors whom I have grown up with my entire life are devout Christians. Being uninterested in religion as it is I never questioned them about their religion or went to their church in the past. Feeling like a complete outsider not from appearance but from belief’s and morals. I didn’t attend a mosque or some other temple, most Evangelical Presbyterian are predominantly white like myself. I camouflaged myself with Mitchel and T (My neighbors) and other Churchgoers. I felt going …show more content…
I believed that most churches followed the same gospel as others. After learning what EPC meant I quickly realized what I had missed. Christianity has thousands of denominations within the region and Evangelical Presbyterians is just 1. Listening carefully to what the pastor said and the true meaning of what was being spoken helped me understand their beliefs system more. I wanted to really engage and understand why religion is so important to my friends and others. “They wanted to form a Church that took seriously the Bible, the theology of the historic confessions of the faith, and the evangelical fervor of the founders of American Presbyterianism.” (EPC), this is the doctrine from the official Evangelical Presbyterian Church website. The church was formed because they felt the Evangelical church was heading into a liberal direction. The core values of the type of Christianity help paint a picture for what I actually experienced at First EPC. The value of spreading and living by the word of God was the theme of the sermon. Emphasis on following the rules scripted in the Bible were prevalent to me before attending the church. I noticed how strict my friends had it and that they went to church twice a week every week and never missed a day. It seems that their entire lifestyle is shaped around how the church wants its congregates to live. The culture around the church is open …show more content…
The emotional safety net for people of all ages. Positive or Negative, religion offers a refuge for those looking for answers. I know personally that I am confused sometimes and I don’t know why and not having someone or something to talk to makes it even tougher. Religion of any kind offers us a place where we can let it out and have God deal with it. By placing the burden in someone else’s hands it equates to relief. Structure also derives from consistent religious practice. Calling the church, a second house seems right to me, many people go 2 times a week sometimes more. By consistently hearing the same messages of how to live your life and how to act to others, it creates an everyday lifestyle. The other teenagers at First EPC all showed signs of this. Asking all of them the same questions the answers were similar. The question such as have you had sex? (not until marriage) Do you smoke or drink? (No.) Are you allowed to date? (Not until __old) Can you miss church for the Seahawks game? (No.) All had the same answers. Looking at the structure of First EPC itself has similarities with a lot of Mega Churches. “While some attach a threshold to the number of attenders a megachurch contains—1,500 regular attenders is a popular threshold14—it is sufficient to say that these are the very largest of the large.” (Eagle 591) while First EPC isn’t quite that many congregates their main sanctuary can hold ~1000 people.