Religion Vs Religion

Reverend Warren talks about how our bodies are meant for worship. Our bodies are sacred objects and we need to stop belittling ourselves and “instead we must learn the habit of beholding our bodies as a gift” (page 47). We need to care for our bodies because they are a gift from God, and our Father desires us to see ourselves they way He does. During this challenge I want to write truths about Jesus and the body I have been given on sticky notes.

The human body has been coupled with various beliefs for all of history. It has been the centre and representation for questions of ethics, power and sexuality. Works like “Confession” by Linh Dinh have found ways to express these questions further. By focusing on questioning how the body operates in art, Dihn portrays and inquires a whole belief system as to how the body functions and is viewed in society.

Karen Armstrong, author of “Homo Religiosus,” claimed that without the physical rituals and traditions, religion morphed into a belief. Simply put, Armstrong argued that religion requires not only blind faith but also customs and practices that affect one’s physical and mental behaviors. It is through these rituals and taboos that the religions grows and forms, and yet also changes when deemed necessary. Additionally, Armstrong constantly compares religion to different art forms. She does this to convey the message that much like art, one must focus and study religion for lengthy periods of time to be properly understood. However, this connection also suggests that art and religion can perform an analogous role to humankind when required, as they both evolve and change when a society 's infrastructure does. Throughout her essay “Homo Religiosus,” Armstrong focuses on the similar role that both art and religion play in society to discuss her claim that religion is not just a belief, but rather has to do with changes in physical and mental behaviors that in return create change in society and the religion one needs.

With so many religions and the world getting smaller every day, intricacies of a religion can easily be lost and with the taboo of discussing religion and politics in public, often times, these religions only come up when they are under fire. This holds true for Islam more than any other. To the outsider, Muslim traditions can seem strange, such as the call to prayer, but to the billion practitioners worldwide, it’s an invitation to accept Allah as God and Muhammad as his messenger (Prayer). Other, mainly Eastern religions, lose some of their potency in translation to the West. Practices like yoga in the Western world are mainly seen as exercise and a way to unwind but to religious practitioners, yoga literally means “to yoke” life, divinity and reality. The contemplative nature of the practice is lost on the West (Philosophical Hinduism).

One of the big ideas in the Corne’s narrative that would be a foreign concept to many is “Body Prayer through yoga.” In a nutshell, Corne’s says one can use positions of one’s body as a way as an actively pray for others. For example, positioning your hands in an upward position during meditations could be a form of sending prayers God in the heavens. As I reflect on body prayer, I feel it would not be wise to guide school age children in body prayer, but for me personally, I can see how impactful it could be in my life. I am a spiritual person who believes in the power prayer. I believe that God created all things, mind, body and soul, and these three areas could be used

We reflecting the author’s own culture, she like many people in the United States are a blend of many different cultures and ethnicity. By not having one single ethnic culture her family views health traditions based on their religion of Christian Scientist. Being raised in this religion molded views of health promotion, prevention and treatment that influence her health behaviors today. There is a difference of opinion between Christian Science and traditional medical views. “Christian Scientist interpret disease from a spiritual view where medicine interprets disease from a material point of view” (Stoddard, 2010). As a child our family was raised with the belief that good nutrition, physical activity, and the role of positive thinking and mind over matter, would provide health and help us remain strong and healthy. Not having over the counter medications or turning to traditional medicine for simple medical issues was chosen as our families way of viewing illness. Growing up with the view of health and illness as spiritual using techniques such as meditation, prayer and positive thinking, has stayed as a health tradition among our families beliefs and practices to this day. Today modern medicine is looking at the mind as a valuable tool to prepare persons and bodys for wellness and rehabilitation. An example of this would be biofeedback. This is a technique where people are

Conceived in eras of uncertainty and strife, many people weave through the contradictions and inner struggles within communities, while also indulging themselves in the broad concept of redefining themselves just to feel accepted by the society around them. In “Homo religiosus” Karen Armstrong brings out the materialized definition of an “individual” through concepts such as religion, activities like yoga, the artistic features of caves, and most importantly the image of Brahma. The detailed notions placed on each concept yields the reassuring meaning that religion symbolically is a safe harbor, in which individuals can feel comforted and relieved. However the question that always comes up is if an individual is willing to exclude themselves from the harsh realities of society. As the essay progresses, Armstrong 's usage of words such as kenosis—emptying—, junzi—maturity—, and anatta—dethrone—broadens the idea on how an individual’s illusion of an identity can be renewed and reached (14,17). However with the brutish imagery that is brought up throughout the essay a sense of isolation and hopelessness, making for a mood of muted panic and dread questions the truth behind the meaning of a “being”. Yet in the end the idea that there is a world outside the circles of human existence, gets the individual going as they search for something worth living for.

Religion was involved with many things in a person’s life. It affects things like social status, relationships, the economy, culture, and politics. The complex ideas of religion and politics have shaped societies. The Puritans have set their goal to make their society and way of living connected to God in every way, shape, and form. In the seventeenth century this standard to keep God by your side has deeply affected politics and lawmaking, and has even caused some people to be continuously persecuted. From the strength of their religious beliefs stemmed these radical ideas, which deeply affected lives in the 17th century. Though these ideas were a way of life at one point in time, if these ideas were applied to our government today the

(Shelly et al., 2006, p. 83). Another example from this week's reading is: For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church because we are members of his body. “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his

Ritual, for Durkheim, is the fundamental source of the “collective consciousness” that gives people a sense of value and imbeds them within a community (266). These ideas apply to religious ritual, so in parallel structure one could argue that for this secular ritual, the juice itself was sacred to the ritual being carried out. The practice of cleansing alongside others and attending yoga classes in collaboration with the juice, provides a powerful social mechanism that yields social solidarity and strengthens group unity. The collective experience generated by the cleanse is so powerful that it gives the participants a profound sense of connectedness to each other and a deep moral vitality that transforms the way in which they feel about themselves

As a college student, there have been late nights where I have prioritized the care of my mind over my body. As I have contemplated whether it is good to compromise the health of my body for the sake of good grades, I have considered what the importance of the body really is. Studying Theology of the Body has taught me that understanding the physical body is of vital importance because it’s how we understand ourselves fully as the hylomorphic beings God created to be. As Gaudium et Spes 24:3 furthers, in knowing ourselves, we can then be sincere gifts of self, which is what God willed for us to be. JPII also further states that it’s in knowing oneself, body and soul, that one can best understand the goodness of the rest of creation. Additionally,

The Theology of the Body is the term used to describe the teaching of Pope John Paul about the human person and human sexuality given during his Wednesday Catecheses in St. Peter’s Square between September 5, 1979 and November 28, 1984. John Paul II says that these catecheses could be called “Human Love in the Divine Plan” or “The Redemption of the Body and the Sacramentality of Marriage.”

According to this view, the meeting point of these two important elements, is what is called religion. Within religion the world-view and the ethos are melted in a coherent experience, especially in religious act, or ritual. Inside the ritual the world-view becomes evident and real, while, on the other hand, it is possible to experience the indissoluble link with the lines of acceptable conduct and evaluation, because it is

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Since the beginning of Christianity, there has been erratic controversy about the existence of an all-powerful God. There is a good portion of people who are convinced there is not a God with scientific reasoning, and another good portion who base their belief of a God on faith. Those who do not believe in God and those who do are tested by the same question; how did life start? Although both answers are debatable, I believe, undoubtedly, that God is not dead.

Religion-the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or Gods (“Religion”). Religion is a misconception worldwide. It has caused countless issues and arguments. A variety of people perceive things differently. In specific, Muslims (Islamic believers), Christians, and Jews all believe in a God, they all just have a different outlook. The quotes cited provide evidence that these people believe in only one God differently. So how could one know who is the stronger?