Self-Practice

There are several different branches of Christianity. They range from Catholicism to Methodists to Adventists and many more. However, Julia does not fit directly into any of the branches of Christianity. Rather, she a Christian in the broader sense meaning many of her ideas of belief are deep rooted throughout the different branches. I would argue Julia expresses more self-selective practices reflecting general practices of Christianity in America. Her story includes many early Christian influences. By looking at different historical practices within the Christian community, we can better understand her experiences.

One historical practice of Christians is baptism.

"The New Testament implies that the custom of baptizing those who were converted to the Christian faith was derived from John the Baptist, but the source of his own practice is uncertain. Some scholars have argued that it was based on the ablutions of the Jewish Essene community at Qumran, but these were repeated washings related to the need for constant ritual purity and do not seem to have included an initiatory baptism. Others have suggested that John was influenced by the practice of baptizing new converts to Judaism, but there is some doubt whether this was being done in his time or whether it was only adopted at a later date. A third possibility is that it arose out of the Israelite traditions of ritual purification and/or of prophetic symbolism, which had spoken of God's people being cleansed with pure water in preparation for the advent of the messianic age."[1]

Although the origin of baptism is not clear, when further interviewed Julia mentioned it was a practice she did not necessarily agree or disagree with but she does not practice it herself. She breaks away from this early ritual in that she does not believe a pastor can hold the same weight as Jesus himself. She said her spirit has been baptized but a pastor dipping her in water would not add to or take away from the personal relationship she has with her savior.

There are different approaches to developing a personal relationship with God, which is also another common practice among Christians. One way is by engaging in song and dance. "When they become warm the beating ceases, and they begin to dance and jump, clapping their hands and shouting at the top of their voices until at length all idea of melody and metro is lost, and it becomes a riotous rather than a religious assembly."[2] "Rejoicing in the Lord is really what it is all about," said Julia. Praising has a deep-rooted past that goes as far back as Native American rituals with spirit dancing and African American music and dance. Julia follows these old traditions in a similar way by worshipping on Sunday's during service and on her own time.

One last ritual that she follows is Eucharist, which was seen with early Catholicism. It is one of their seven sacraments. Although she beliefs in the ritual of Communion, she disagrees with the manner in which Catholics receive the bread and wine. "Provide three days of prayers to be said before receiving Communion and three afterward--- it was a rare enough event that essentially dedicating and entire week to reflecting on it did not seem excessive--- and such mediations could be adapted when one was receiving the sacrament only spiritually."[3] In the manner she receives Communion, her pastor says you should never feel guilty about coming up and taking the bread and wine but with Catholicism that is much different. This shows us the change of belief over time and also the different ideologies within the branches of Christianity. With this example, the practice has the same ideas in that the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine his blood but much different philosophies on who should and should not be able to receive it.

All of these cultuses are practiced within the Christian culture. However, some are more associated with more specific branches of Christianity, for example Catholicism or Baptism. For this reason, it is justifiable for why Julia choses to classify herself as solely a Christian instead of being more specific as to which category of Christianity describes her beliefs best and in consequence is selective in which practices she feels best suits her beliefs.

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[1] Paul F. Bradshaw, “Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice” (Collegeville, Minnesota), 2.

[2] Richard Wallaschek, “Primitive Music: An Inquiry Into The Origin And Development Of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances, And Pantomimes Of Savage Races” (London, 1893), 13.

[3] James M O’Toole, “The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America” (United States of America), 30. 

The Deep Roots of Racism

Fire in the Bones goes through the history of oppression of Africans and African Americans along with the role religion plays into oppression, for example, it was tough for a black man to be ordained a preacher. It also discusses how rituals in Catholicism played a vital role in many beliefs while Protestantism made subtle contributions to religion among African Americans.

African Americans have a long history of being rejected and degraded. For this reason blacks chose to look at themselves as the chosen ones to make light of their oppressors and this history of discrimination. One quote that stuck out to me was the mention that, "The crucial factor linking the two traditions was a conviction that authentic worship required an observable experience of the divine presence." Meaning, its never enough to solely speak of God, you have to feel his presence manifest within you. This is done through prayer, singing, dancing and preaching. It’s an emotional ecstasy as described by Raboteau. In this way they are filled with the Holy Ghost. With this worship, the human (African Americans in this case) becomes an icon of God, contrasting their current state of the oppressed. African Americans accepted this suffering and slavery because they saw themselves in Christ; they were suffering servants like He was. In this sense sorrow became joy and death became life; it bought happiness to a less favorable situation.

Questions:

Is it logical for African Americans to have this mindset that they were the chosen ones to be oppressed and therefore accept their roles making light out of their subjugation? Would that be the same justification for other oppressed groups of people as well? If not, what other ideologies could they have used to reason with being slaves discriminated against and oppressed? Would you say that idea of being the chosen ones to be oppressed is outdated or still exists today? If so, in what ways and if not, why not?

Connecting with issues today:

The tragic story of Trayvon Martin is a contemporary story reflecting the ideas not of religion persay but of racism, which is deeply rooted in African American history. The black community along with others started protesting, rallying, holding candlelight vigils, and coming together collectively as a community to see what to do following the tragedy. This is an example of bringing joy to a sorrow situation, which is a common practice for black people. Many people came together and are still coming together to try to make something positive out of a negative situation.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/15/al-sharpton-plans-national-day-action-trayvon-mart/

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23700247/oakland-trayvon-martin-verdict-spurs-students-families-action

Reincarnation Though Trials & Tribulation

Childhood Innocence:

Christianity, it was the religion Julia was born into and chose to believe. Partially growing up amongst said religion, she attended Sunday school regularly at a church in her small hometown. She loved bible study on Wednesday’s. She even participated in Vacation Bible Study[1] during the summers. She always brought in an abundant amount of friends to VBS and became one of the group leaders of the program when she got older. Julia loved surrounding herself with people who loved the Lord as much as she. These types of things are ordinary cultuses[2] within her religion: attending church on Sundays, Bible study on Wednesdays, communion on the first Sunday and so forth.

Some of her main beliefs include obeying the Ten Commandments, always forgiving whether or not you feel you had been wronged, treating people the way you want to be treated, and always repenting. She doesn’t believe in divorce because marriage is a union/promise made with God. Certain aspects of her beliefs fall under ordinary religion[3] while others meet the criteria of extraordinary religion[4]. For example, she stands firm by the belief that if she follows her God and obeys His commandments, she will have a place in Heaven and her spiritual form will live forever. 

There were inconsistencies with her church attendance during her adolescent years. It wasn’t that she had become disinterested; it was that her family just stopped attending consistently. By default she did as well. There were times she would call up one of her friends whose family was heavily invested in the church and ask if she could go with them to service. However, that venture was short-lived. Church had become fairly absent from her daily existence. Oftentimes she would attempt the 365 Bible challenge: a special type of Bible that broke up books and verses to read each day for a year in order to complete the sacred text. She viewed reading the Bible as necessary to become closer to God. Also, it was her only form of learning about Him since church had fallen from her life. The only problem was she never stuck to it.

High School Woes:

Upon starting high school, the role religion played in her life started to change once again. Her sister had begun dating a boy who invited Julia’s sister to church with him. She accepted his offer and following service that morning, Julia’s sister invited the entire family to attend the next week. They accepted. It was a new environment, very strange from what she was accustomed to; nevertheless, it was reminiscent of home. She had grown up in a predominately white church and the one her sister had taken her to was predominately black. It was much livelier, cheerful, and family-oriented.

At this point in her life, Julia had begun dating a boy who she openly explored different sexual activities with, except for the act of sex itself. However, after she began to attend church again, Julia started to feel as if she was sinning anytime she engaged in sexual activity seeing that it was premarital. She felt as if she was breaking the written code[5]. She explained this to her boyfriend and he respected her beliefs.

College Breakdown:

Julia became happy at this church and attended service religiously. She felt a newfound sense of community[6] with a new group of kind, dedicated individuals; they became her second family. Three years later, Julia went away to college. Upon entering this new stage Julia sought to keep religion and her religion-based moral code as part of her life, but failed on multiple occasions. She attended church once in awhile with friends but it became a similar situation as with her first church home; it just did not feel like where she belonged. Julia stopped attending church altogether and simultaneously begun to feel as if she was losing some of her values. She started partying on the weekends, getting drunk, and becoming sexually promiscuous. She looked at her behavior as perpetually destructive[7] but felt there was no way to stop it. At this point in her life prayer was obsolete, church was nonexistent, and Bible study went unattended. The day she got pregnant became the turning point in her life.

She cried and cried and begged of an answer from her Heavenly Father. Was it punishment for her behavior? She couldn’t face telling her parents, family or community what she viewed as a mistake. For this reason, Julia decided to have an abortion. Again, defying the moral code she once held so firmly. After following through with the abortion Julia felt there was no way God would ever love her again because she took away a life. Despite this mindset, she remembered one teaching that was always instilled growing up; God will always forgive your sins, He died for them.

A few months later Julia still had not found a family-like church, so instead she began attending a weekly bible study with a new community of dedicated individuals. Through them Julia found a religious family once again, and not long after, she found a church family. There were times when Julia felt as if she was regressing, but never entirely back to the reckless lifestyle she once lived. It was a struggle at first to give up the worldly things she was so invested in, but the more she attended to church, started reading her Bible, and engaging in daily prayers, the easier it became to remember her values. Most of all it also became clearer what she truly wanted out of life and what life meant, the creeds[8]. Today Julia considers herself a newborn Christian; restorative religion took place in her life[9].

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[1] A week long program during the summer for the youth to become closer to God, shortened form is VBS

[2] Albanese 8. Rituals to act out the understandings expressed in creeds and codes

[3] Albanese 5. Religion that is more or less synonymous with culture. It shows people how to live well within boundaries

[4] Albanese 5. The religion that helps people transcend, or move beyond, their everyday culture and concerns

[5] Albanese 7. Rules that govern everyday behavior

[6] Albanese 9. Groups of people either formally or informally bound together by the creed, code, and cultus they share

[7] Albanese 10. Negating life as most people understand it

[8] Albanese 7. Explanations about the meaning of human life

[9] Albanese 10. Works to bring back a sense of order and safety, of tranquility and peace, when these seem eroded