Who am I as a Bible reader?
My family and the community where I grew in have played a big role in making who I am today. The norms and tradition which my family cultivates and community instilled in me has made me value competence, honesty, care, kindness, and patience, and taking care of my loved ones. By the time I was born, Christianity was already a dominant religion and everybody in my family including my extended family was a Christian. But long years ago, my forefathers were not Christians. They knew nothing about the Bible nor Christ. They believed in supernatural powers which are called in Swahili language as “Miungu” meaning “gods.” These gods were seen as the governor of the universe. They sustain this world and keeps everything he made in …show more content…
In 1400, missionaries arrived in Central Africa on the invitation of King Nzinga of Kongo tribe. The missionaries took this opportunity to introduce Christianity and the Bible. The missionaries challenged the beliefs of my forefathers as evil and maintain that only the Bible has enough information for anyone who needs to know and understand the creator. Thus, my forefathers left what they believed and embraced this new religion: Christianity. Now we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But the question remains where we are as readers of the Bible? Where am I as a reader of the Bible? How has my ethnicity, gender, and community priorities and church influenced the way I read the Bible? Utilizing on Jennifer Bird’s book “Permission Granted” this paper responds to my perceptive looking at the concepts of
My family and the community where I grew in have played a big role in making who I am today. The norms and tradition which my family cultivates and community instilled in me has made me value competence, honesty, care, kindness, and patience, and taking care of my loved ones. By the time I was born, Christianity was already a dominant religion and everybody in my family including my extended family was a Christian. But long years ago, my forefathers were not Christians. They knew nothing about the Bible nor Christ. They believed in supernatural powers which are called in Swahili language as “Miungu” meaning “gods.” These gods were seen as the governor of the universe. They sustain this world and keeps everything he made in …show more content…
In 1400, missionaries arrived in Central Africa on the invitation of King Nzinga of Kongo tribe. The missionaries took this opportunity to introduce Christianity and the Bible. The missionaries challenged the beliefs of my forefathers as evil and maintain that only the Bible has enough information for anyone who needs to know and understand the creator. Thus, my forefathers left what they believed and embraced this new religion: Christianity. Now we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But the question remains where we are as readers of the Bible? Where am I as a reader of the Bible? How has my ethnicity, gender, and community priorities and church influenced the way I read the Bible? Utilizing on Jennifer Bird’s book “Permission Granted” this paper responds to my perceptive looking at the concepts of