Precious Marie A.

Pileo STEAM 12

CFFS 4 January 9, 2019

MY FAITH AND OTHER RELIGIONS

Living life with a covenant with God is more like giving reassurance to yourself that a
brighter future is ahead of you. However, we all live in a world where all of the things are
temporary and nothing is perfect. As human beings, we experience worldly things like pain,
anger, anxiety, depressed, breakdowns and many more. We don’t have the full authority to
control everything and get what we all want. Nevertheless, the Lord gave us the choices whether
to be just passive or to live with ambitions and goals to achieve. We are formed to be firm in our
faith and in the things that we believe in, living it out in the different aspects of our lives. We
work hard by making sure that we are able to believe. This requires having full faith and trust in
the Lord who has already won the victory for us.

As one of this subject’s requirements, I went to a church that is not my religion. Last
year, I attended a worship service in Silliman Protestant Church and I noticed a lot of differences
and similarities between Catholic and Protestant. That time, I wasn’t able to take pictures since
my phone ran out of battery. The first thing that I’ve noticed is that the Protestant church does
not have statues and images of holy being unlike the Roman Catholic. Another thing is that
Protestants do not do the sign of the cross which is being practiced in many religions. The songs
that they have been using are praise songs which are jolly in nature. In addition, Roman
Catholics have a lot of written papers and documents compared to the Protestants and in the
Roman Catholic Church, priests are not allowed to enter marriage, but the pastors in the
protestant church are allowed.

In order to be faithful, allow yourself to be grateful for everything you have. As I was
riding the bus going to Dumaguete City, I remembered this homework and it has led me to a
deep reflection. There was this time that I was sitting near the window beside an old woman
bringing a sealed box with her grandson. The little boy asked his lola to buy him a new pair of
shoes. His lola smiled to him and said: “if they can sell all of the homemade Polvorons with
them.” I thought I was the only one who heard them talking to each other, but there was this guy
who approached the old woman. He gave her a bill and told her to buy the little boy a new pair of
shoes. The old woman was overwhelmed and thanked him for what he gave. Little did I know
that it was the little boy’s birthday as the old woman told me that she was planning to buy him a
simple cake as her surprise for her grandson. That simple scenario deepened my faith in an
unexpected way. That guy is a testament that there are still some people who have kind hearts
with a willingness to help other people without asking for acknowledgement. I found hope then
and there that if the majority of people would be like the guy in the bus, the world wouldn’t be
this complicated. Then, slowly by slowly, the world will abandon its selfishness. This comes
from our distinct desire to deepen the living out of our faith for the love and service for others.
But before I end this journal, I want to leave it with my life verse from 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t
let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in
speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

… And this week I have kept going back to these 2 different churches in my quest for building
and living up a life of Faith… Till next time.