Faith-based

The core of my faith shapes my friendships because I choose friends based on the way they act and the morals they possess. People can be allowed in my inner circle of friends if they have the same morals. The way I conduct choosing my friends is based on how they act and speak. While I do not like to judge people, I do think choosing bad friends can potentially lead to a feeling of…

Kierkegaard’s Leap of Faith. Soren Kierkegaard definitely has opened my eyes to what it truly means to take a “leap of faith.” This is one of the hardest things anyone will ever do in their life, and I can personally testify to that. According to Kierkegaard a leap of faith requires a commitment to oneself that lacks logic, proof, and reason. Studying Kierkegaard’s concept on faith showed me that there is a definite difference between believing in something and having faith in something.…

religions that I had never encountered before, and these contradicted my prior knowledge of religion. JW von Goethe once said, “we know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases”. Exposure increased my knowledge of other faiths, but this increase also meant more doubts, more questions. For example, how can there be this many religious divisions, despite, there being only one God? Every religion envisions life in different light with different rules to live by, but…

Tyler Ingalls is a youth pastor based in New Era, Michigan. Before this, he was my youth pastor intern at my hometown church, Central Wesleyan Church, in Holland, Michigan. He is a huge reason of where my faith is today and my biggest spiritual mentor and leader. He has really pushed my faith and continues to do so on a day-to-day basis. He seeks the Lord with all his heart, so I was really interested in his perspective of “who is Jesus” to this spiritual giant of mine. After asking him this…

religion can have negative effects on a community. Having a community in which a person is forced to abide by certain laws and standards based on religious code takes away the freedom given when being able to choose our faith. Some see many positives in a religious based law code in society, whether it be in our communities or in schools, but I feel that forcing a faith based code on a person can have countless drawbacks. Societies focus immensely on their theocratic law codes,…

The First Amendment, which guarantees the free exercise of religion, is a broad tenet which provides individuals with the inherent right to lead a life of faith and to act in a manner that faith prescribes and abstain from behaviors that faith prohibits. The freedom to live according to the dictates of one’s own conscience comes with the obligation to protect that freedom for oneself and all other individuals. Classical liberalism holds that individuals have inherent rights that are inalienable…

In a nation that pledges allegiance to itself under god, religion is bound to become a factor in the politics that govern it. Religion did not start to be integrated into public affairs until the mid 1980s. It was at this time that abortion and other personal issues began to emerge into the political spectrum. By incorporating aspects of the moral being into government decisions, coalitions were formed to unite for certain issues. Due to the increased combination of religion and partisanship,…

very data we get as from a type of knowledge in any case. If we somehow managed to take a gander at this from a metaphysical perspective, we can see that adding ontology and epistemology into faith (not including rationale and logic) gives a viewpoint concerning understanding religious philosophy, along with faith itself. All of what I have stated so far is of course debatable. Additionally, comprehensive of an arrangement of morals, insightful or philosophical thought would likewise rely on a…

Believing in the existence of God is often moral and not believing in the existence of God is immoral. Individuals that hold faith in atheism, agnosticism, irreligion or religious skepticism are the most hated groups. Religious groups admit atheism is immoral, however I believe atheism is not immoral. It is okay to be an atheist and not believe in the existence of God, but it is not okay to be an atheist and shame religions, their spirituality, and their values. Just like it is okay to be a…

are science and faith. Science and faith are not two mutually exclusive applications, but have two defining roles to play in an individual’s life and society as a whole. Ferguson explains that science is the explanation of how the world works and how these natural phenomena come to exist. However, faith is the why of certain aspects of life and the reconciliation process of hardships and struggles. One example of this is that science can only explain how a child dies early, but faith is what…