l .. respond 100 words H u m a n i t i e s

MLA 250 words +
One of the challenges often found in the practice of any religion is one of authenticity. This is especially true in the contemporary Christian church as there is an ever-growing desire by many young Americans to live authentically, and Christians too, want to experience an “authentic Christian life” and faith. How would you describe an authentic Christian life and faith, based on what you’ve learned of the fundamentals of the religion? How best, do you think (based on research) can Christians express real authenticity or how can it be found by practicing the Christian faith?

Respond 100 words +

Authentic is defined as, “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.” Who can really say what being an Authentic Christian is? In my opinion, no one but God can. When you look online at the many articles of what being an “Authentic Christian” is, I found not one article that had exactly the same opinion. For something to be authentic it takes on the persons understanding of the religion. The main thing I would see as being authentic would have to be for someone to be Christ like, accepting Jesus died for our sins and raised from the dead, and having a personal relationship with God. Even then, who are we to determine what a truly authentic Christian life is? Ephesians 4:22-24 says it good in my opinion, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” However, based on the fundamentals of the Christian faith being authentic would be, belief in Christ, practicing worship, and observing sacraments (dependent of the denomination). These are the central beliefs of the Christian faith and it would be important to believe and focus on these subjects to be authentic.

Growing up I’ve heard of this “denomination” but never understood The Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Really the only thing I kind of knew about them was regarding polygamy. I was surprised to learn that they in fact do not practice polygamy. This was practiced in the early days of the church. Examples were used such as King David and Solomon (for reasoning to do it) who had multiple wives. However, this practice was discontinued in 1890. I was very surprised to learn that this denomination is “fourth largest Christian church in America, with 6.7 million adherents in this country.” My understanding of the church is that it is their goal to be as similar to Christs original Church and bring it into modern times. They also believe “Christ’s Atonement allows humankind to be saved from their sins and return to live with God and their families forever,” and “Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the Son of our loving Heavenly Father.” I would say that this denomination has differing views due to trying to bring the original church of Christ to the modern era and why it has similarities to what is the Christian faith now.

Resources

1. What do Latter-day Saints Believe? (2014, October 13). Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/l..

respond 100 words +

Hello Everyone,

I believe that living an authentic Christian life can be a lot more challenging than one may first believe it to be. On one side, it is easy to figure out what it takes to live an authentic Christian life as it is all written out in the Bible. The New Testament lays out new guidelines/insights and marks a new covenant with the teachings of Jesus Christ (Lesson 6). Knowing is the easy part but putting that knowledge into practice is where things get more difficult. One theme that could be found throughout the New Testament, specifically the Four Gospels and Jesus’ teachings, is hypocrisy. We learned this week that Jesus did not focus His time here on earth by condemning or challenging what rabbis were teaching, rather He challenged flawed interpretations and the hypocrisy of those who taught (Lesson 6). I think that a major part of living an authentic Christian life is overcoming hypocrisy. It is in alignment with having integrity or doing the right thing even when no one is around to see you do it (Suan). Again, this is not always an easy task. It is not just about saying or doing the right thing but also thinking and believing the right things as well. If someone has good or righteous intentions when trying to help someone, the outcome will most likely also be good and righteous. However, if someone is only pretending to have righteous intentions because they know what people want to see, then they are not being authentic and most likely hypocritical. The lack of authenticity could lead to sin or sinful actions and behaviors (Suan). Thanks for reading!

Kara

I used this article when trying to get a better understanding of this topic and found it very helpful: How Can I Truly Live an Authentic Christian Life? By Tan Chew Suan

Works Cited:

AMU/APU RELS20. Lesson 6: Christianity. 2020. Web. https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/arts-and-humanities-common/Universal/RELS/201/elf/lesson-6/elf_index.html

Suan, Tan Chew. How Can I Truly Live an Authentic Christian Life? 11 May 2018. Web. https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/arts-and-humanities-common/Universal/RELS/201/elf/lesson-6/elf_index.html