Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Faith Reflection Meme from Lo-Fi Tribe

1. List three words that describe your faith.

Connection, strength, and wisdom through knowledge

2. Describe one belief about which you are very certain and one belief with which you struggle.

I believe that everything is connected either directly or indirectly. One thing that I really struggle with is the idea of religion as Truth. I believe that that there are many ideas and interpretations of what could be the truth but it is difficult to wade through all the information with the loud shouts of “This is the truth and you must believe as I believe!” It is one of the reasons I consider myself more spiritual than religious.

3. What is your mission in life?

To learn through the study and knowledge of texts of religious and social importance to determine how our social order came to be and relate it to the now and how we can learn and grow from the past.

4. Describe one thing that interferes with you authentically living out your faith.

I would have to say that what interferes the most is that most people are frightened to step forward and state what they truly believe. People are afraid that that they will targeted for harassment if they step forward. I am no exception to this as I, too, hide most of my beliefs. I just recently found out that a friend of mine shares similar beliefs but we were both too afraid to mention those beliefs until I mentioned something regarding religions, including paganism, during a conversation several weeks ago.

5. What is your favorite story from the Hebrew Scriptures? Why?

As this is not the faith that I was raised in, I don’t know many of the stories coming from the Hebrew Scriptures.

6. What is your favorite New Testament story? Why?

Again, as this is not the faith that I was raised in, I don’t know many of the stories coming from the New Testament.

7. Describe a meaningful action you took because of your faith.

I started this blog as a way to connect my knowledge to my practice and as a way to remember what I have learned and how I have grown throughout the years.

8. Does your faith differ from that of your parents? If so, how?

Even though I wasn’t raised Christian, my Mom considers herself Christian. I chose not to follow that faith due to some unfortunate circumstances that happened during my impressionable teenage years. If those experiences had not happened, I’m not sure what path that my life would have taken.

9. Who or what was most important in the development of your faith.

My reading. I was an avid reader from a young age and continue to be so today. Through my readings of ideas of the past (and the present) I learned to question what was taken to be the “Truth” and consider the path that had brought it around to becoming the “Truth.” I also learned that in different areas of the world, people considered other things to be true and because of this, we need to consider all information in the formation of our own realities and know our reasoning behind or decisions regarding our faith.

10. Pass it on! Tag at least two other religious/faith bloggers.

As I am just starting up again, and I am not sure who is reading this blog anymore, I tag anyone who is interested in completing this. Be sure to post a comment to let me know if you posted this meme!


This meme was taken from Lo-Fi Tribe.

1 comment:

S. Nichole said...

Thanks Shawn!

LOL - yeah it would be fairly silly to tag you since you started it!

I have say that a few of the questions really got me to think about the why and how of my system of belief. I realize that I still have a lot of ground to cover in that area. It will be a lifetime journey. :)