Throughout centuries, humans have expressed different perspectives toward a single idea. The subject of religion invites challenging discussions from skeptical minds because religion is diversely interpreted based on personal faith. The authoress sets her novel in a fictional town, Cold Sassy, where religion plays a predominant role in people’s lives. Through Will Tweedy’s narration she explores the religious opinions of the town’s most prominent citizen Rucker Blakeslee, Will’s grandpa. Although Blakeslee spent his whole life in a religiously conservative town, he has a radical approach toward religious concepts such as predestination, suicide, funerals, faith, and God’s will, thus forcing him to challenge the traditional views of organized religion.
Granted that according to Will, the Southern Presbyterians believe that “what is to be is to be,” this belief on predestination becomes evident when Cretia and Looly, a covey of Presbyterian ladies, visit Will after his survival in the train- trestle incident and begin to express their predestination, saying that God spared Will because it was not his time to die, and it was God’s will that this boy should be alive. This expression makes Will puzzle with a question: is he alive because of God’s will? When he puts forth this question to his Grandpa, Rucker Blakeslee, Rucker replies Will that God gave him a brain that he could use wisely; therefore, he lied down betwixt the tracks to save himself. Eager to know more about predestination and God’s will, Will further asks his Grandpa whether it was God’s will that Bluford Jackson should die of Tetanus. On hearing Will’s question, Rucker explains that Bluford’s carelessness while bursting crackers was not God’s fault in anywa...
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... up in Hell for committing suicide, he replied that many people in the world have committed worse sins that God needs to attend to. He also conceded that Camp was not hateful or evil as those people. So, his lecture concludes saying that God would not refuse Camp into heaven because he unhappily chose suicide as an unavoidable option. (334)
In all the above religious concepts, Grandpa has always contradicted his views with the organized religion of Cold Sassy. Grandpa’s reason for this contradiction is that Grandpa likes to hear about the loving, caring and forgiving God, instead of hearing about a threatening Lord from the preachers in his town. He also discloses to Miss Love that the only reason he went to church was to please his first wife, Miss Mattie Lou. This disclosure means that Grandpa did not ever agree with the traditional beliefs of his town.
Cold Sassy Tree In life, people look for direction. Everyone in the world needs a helping hand. Some people turn to one another while others turn to forces, which are of great power. People turn to great forces such as God. There are many people who live according to the rules of God, out of the bible or whatever book they consider holy. So therefore, these people are directed in leading a better life. In the brilliant novel Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, Grandpa is such a person. Whenever Grandpa faces an obstacle, he turns to God.
Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing
Evans, C. Stephen. Critical Dialog in Philosophy of Religion. 1985. Downers Grove, IL. InterVarsity Press. Taken from Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
There is so much mystified confusion surrounding the will of God in today’s society. It is evident in the ways that people use the term that views about it differ widely; there is even contradiction in two things the same person might say. It is because of the recommendation of my pastor and others that I decided to read The Will of God, written by Leslie D. Weatherhead.
As children, we are often told stories, some of which may have practical value in the sense of providing young minds with lessons and morals for the future, whereas some stories create a notion of creativity and imagination in the child. In Karen Armstrong’s piece, “Homo Religiosus”, a discussion of something similar to the topic of storytelling could translate to the realm of religion. Armstrong defines religion as a, “matter of doing rather than thinking” (17) which she describes using an example in which adolescent boys in ancient religions, who were not given the time to “find themselves” but rather forced into hunting animals which ultimately prepares these boys to be able to die for their people, were made into men by the process of doing.
For centuries religion has played a huge role in the black community. From slavery to freedom, religion has help black folk deal with their anger, pain, oppression, sadness, fear, and dread. Recognizing the said importance of religion in the black community, Black poets and writers like Phillis Wheatley and Richard Wright, use religion as an important motif in their literature. Wheatley uses religion as a way to convince her mostly white audience of how religious conversion validates the humanity of herself and others. Wright on the other hand, uses religion in order to demonstrate how religion, as uplifting as it is can fail the black community. Thinking through, both Wheatley and Wright’s writings it becomes apparent that religion is so complex,
All in all, Neal Shusterman has written a riveting book that can be brought to light through different lenses. When looking at it through the socio-economic lens, one can see how those with power should choose how they use their power wisely. With the psychological lens, the book can be used to effectively support the fact that everyone acts differently due to the things they know and have learned. Lastly, with the spiritual lens, the book really leads up to the idea that religion is a choice best made for oneself, and no one else. Lenses help to show different aspects of a book that people don’t always notice.
There are many branches and different understandings of the Christian faith. Some believe that Jesus is not the son of God, some honor and pray to the Virgin Mary, and some branches of Christianity will go as far as diminishing certain things from their lives to honor God. The American society’s view on religion have changed drastically over the years. The small percentage of North Americans are some of the only types of people that have been staying true to their religious beliefs; that being the Amish. Although the Amish hold such a small percentage in North America, (an estimated 250,784 people identify themselves as Amish in the United States and in Ontario) (Gannon, 2012), they have been one of the numerous religions that encounter negative energy from the outside world. Some of the main stereotypes about the Amish include that they are non-materialistic, very simple, they have no connection to the real world and that they are extremely strict. Although some of these stereotypes are true, it is always wrong to make false assumptions about another group of people. The purpose of this report is to clear all the assumptions made about the Amish. The Amish religion will be further dissected in this report through the understanding of the history, experience of the sacred, sacred writing, beliefs, morality, symbols and traditions and the family and gender roles of this religion.
Twain shows that there can be moral confusion in a society. Cohen Ralph said, "... in Huckleberry Finn, by which the characters arrive at the most profound moral decisions." Twain has shown that it is more important for Huck to live his life freely rather than to be closed in by religion.
In life, people crave guidance. At some point, everyone needs a helping hand. Some people turn to one another, while other turn to great forces of power, such as God. Many people live accordingly to the rules of God, and in turn are directed in leading a better life. In the brilliant novel Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, Grandpa Blakeslee is such a person. Whenever Grandpa faces an obstacle, he turns to God.
will is making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances such as fate or divine
...be taken to the extent of life or death due to the importance religion has in one’s life. The use of secrets to protect harmful truths or opposing powers that create harm the prestige of a religion is also a common action that is believed to be necessary to keep balance within a community. The constant influential attributes that religion possess can dictate the actions that somebody with perform. It is viewed solely as a positive system that creates peace between beings, however religion obtains negative factors that also negatively influence believers. People tend to turn to religion as the answer for the unknown as well as allowing it to dictate the majority of aspects in a human’s life. This prevents people from deciding their own unique path in life and disabling them from further educating themselves about available answers to questions they are unaware of.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Throughout time, readers have learned many different lessons from their favourite books. In The Chrysalids, John Wyndam used his story to teach his readers valuable, lifelong lessons. He makes it evident to his readers that prejudging certain people is not right. Also, he relates how change is possible, but hard to achieve. More specifically, religion often influences one’s point of view. John Wyndam’s, The Chrysalids was written with a purpose that teaches his readers about discrimination, about how change is possible, and how religion often influences one’s point of view.
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars