tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784324.post110614253245736984..comments2023-03-30T04:58:30.209-04:00Comments on No More Adventures in Deutschland: Keeping the FaithHetohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612718952171823654noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784324.post-1106207392978767562005-01-20T02:49:00.000-05:002005-01-20T02:49:00.000-05:00Thanks Jess! Hog blog space all you want :) To a...Thanks Jess! Hog blog space all you want :) To answer your questions: a)if I cannot find their contact info here, then I will definitely get it from you. They were all Good People (I keep using that phrase!) and would like to stay in touch with some of them. b) I don't discount Steffi, but I know she is busy. Plus, it's easier to be 'woe is me' (even if I don't feel that way) by acting like I have NO friends WHATsoever, lol. and c) thanks for the insight! I'm still not sure (clearly) about my own beliefs, but I appreciate you sharing yours :)Hetohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06612718952171823654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784324.post-1106160638648658292005-01-19T13:50:00.000-05:002005-01-19T13:50:00.000-05:00Ooh... and c.) I have to answer the religion quest...Ooh... and c.) I have to answer the religion question, since I am one of those church-y people myself, and since you asked an interesting question. Why do you (i.e. why does one) believe in something?<br /><br />I have seen a lot of people believe in God for a lot of different reasons. For one friend, for example, she grew up going to Sunday school and being taught about Jesus and things, and just never saw any reason to doubt it. Maybe that is the easiest route, but there is not much you can do about it. Another friend grew up not going to church at all but always was sort of curious what goes on there, so she started going to church in college and asking lots of questions and just slowly felt at home there. One friend has a Jewish mother and a Lutheran father and he went to church/synagogue with both of them when he was growing up, until it got to the point where it was uncomfortable to be both and so he chose one (Lutheran, because there was a cute girl in the confirmation class). Another friend is the son of two pastors and decided early on he hated the church, so he didn't have anything to do with it for a while but then something was missing so he went back and is now happy about it.<br /><br />For me, I grew up sort-of Catholic (a Christmas and Easter Catholic, except I also went to Catholic school, which didn't neceessarily have any effect on my FAITH). When I went to college I was looking for community, and found the campus ministry that way. They were simply the people offering the best activities, and they were nice people to boot. Faith came later, and sort of surprised me. I think music might have been a big factor too. Plus, I was at a Lutheran school where I had to take a couple of religion classes, which put me in contact with some really intriguing questions about the bible and what I believed, and then I just kind of figured out that what the Lutheran church believes felt right to me (or at least righter than the other stuff I had seen), so I stuck it out. <br /><br />I think that it goes both ways: you practice a religion because you believe in it, but some of the believing comes from the doing, too. Like, you go to church every Sunday (or, ahem, most of the time anyway), and you start to piece together this story that people are telling, and start to understand how it might fit into your life. I would say that it is definitely not necessary to believe something in particular in order to go to a church. That is where you are supposed to learn these stories, and they can't very well expect that you figure it out on your own. :-) <br /><br />Now I am hogging blog space, so I will stop (but hey, this is my vocation, I have thought about this a lot!...) :-)Jessicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16305624913501853898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784324.post-1106159273706414152005-01-19T13:27:00.000-05:002005-01-19T13:27:00.000-05:00a.) If you are serious about wanting their contact...a.) If you are serious about wanting their contact info, then you know where to find it. (Me!)<br />b.) Why are you discounting Steffi? She exists!Jessicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16305624913501853898noreply@blogger.com