4 November 2009
Group 4 Introductions
Our faiths in God began for all of us in our early years. Each of us was raised in homes with the church as its center, each leading us through Sunday school and Confirmation. In our youth, we discovered life in the church included a life lived for God. We were given opportunity to question and discern at life with God. Our families and our church lead us in our faith journey.
Education has been a great source in giving exposure to other religions. Collegecourses and group discussions regarding different faiths help us to better understand the world around us.
One of us went outside the comfort of our homes and spent a semester in Thailand.It was here she learned of the Buddhist traditions, taking time in retreat with the monks. She was also able to teach the people of Thailand of her life in the United States, as well informing them of her own faith life. In sharing our faith to those who are open and in discernment allows for us to really know what we believe and why.
Whether talking to our young children, teaching in Sunday school or youth group, or going to far away lands, God has called us to share the promise of His Love through Jesus Christ. We feel blessed and honored to be our Lord’s messengers.
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6 November 2009 at 1:57 pm
I think it shows in each of our groups’ introductions that it is important to start faith formation at a young age. It doesn’t mean that you can’t find faith as an adult, but I think it when we are exposed to it from a young age it becomes a guide for us. That is so cool that one of you spent a semester in Thailand. Outside of my education classes, I most looking forward to learning about other religions and seeing what we have in common and what’s different when it comes to our faith and beliefs.
6 November 2009 at 2:31 pm
Hello group four,
I found it interesting that all of your group had a strong center of faith in your homes and connection to the church. I also appreciate the acknowlegdement of the questioning and discerning life with God as part of your faith development. I believe when I have struggled the most, is when God was active in forming faith.
Rebecca
6 November 2009 at 4:30 pm
Education can really help to provide exposure to other religions. The experience in Thialand sounds like good opportunity to teach and to learn…often times these experiences help us to become further grounded in our own traditions and beliefs, yet at the same time they seem to expand our heart so that we may come to see and understand different religions.
6 November 2009 at 4:49 pm
In group 1 most of our learning of other religions/denominations has been through experience either by attending or talking with someone of that faith. I have learned far more through experience than I have through class. I do have two exceptions to that though. In sixth grade and in 10th grade world history my teachers brought in quite a few speakers so that we’d be exposed to most of the worlds major religions.
It helped to understand, but I felt it wasn’t as good as talking to my Islamic classmate, who probably felt alienated for being the only one in my Middle School. I kind of felt I didn’t learn much until I interacted with someone in that faith in a way that we didn’t ignore the issue. I kind of felt separated from what we were learning which reminds me of the reading we did this week.
I’m glad that one in your group was able to go to Thailand and learn Buddhist tradition. It sounds like she learned as well as taught which I feel is a sign that learning took place. I’ve only left the country once, so most of my experiences from other countries are from foreign exchange students and some naturalized citizens that work with me at IBM. One of my best experiences was in college when I met a woman from Brunei that was a Hindu. I think I learned more from her in the few conversations we had about Hinduism than I did in any of the classes I took in High School.
6 November 2009 at 10:15 pm
How would you compare the importance of education to experience in learning about other religions? It seems that the more powerful approach is experience as one group member’s visit to Thailand proved.
6 November 2009 at 10:26 pm
In response to frchyn – first I believe it’s very important to have a firm grounding of your own faith and how it “fits” into the world; from that grounding one can and should learn about other faiths/religions/cultures so we can have a better understanding of each other’s diversities and offerings to society. I think this is an integral step if we are to ever see peace throughout our own country and around the world. It’s one step at a time – and by a member of Group 4 visiting Thailand and learning the Buddhist tradition I think she will provide a valuable insight into how some may view Christianity – and how we can positive experience of working and living with people of other cultures/religions.
8 November 2009 at 2:41 pm
hessma says...
Mary Hess writes… Keep these questions in mind as we begin to move through our readings in the next few weeks! Learning — and thus learning in/about religion, ie. religious education — takes place in multiple ways and myriad contexts. So asking a question like “how would you compare the important of education to experience in learning” makes it seem like education might be separate from experience, but in fact all learning has some element of experience to it. Perhaps what you meant was what might be the difference between structured teaching events and unstructured experiences? In any event, keep asking! We’ll be talking about this more in the weeks to come.
9 November 2009 at 10:36 am
I’d be interesting in hearing how the religious climate of Thailand may have affected or changed that woman’s thoughts or ideas about message and how it should be give or played out. Studying abroad really does change your understanding of the world and your faith formation.