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College Student of University of Phoenix Introduction The church itself is not too unlike other churches in the community, aesthetically it has a warm, inviting appeal to it, not too small, but off fair size. Reinhold does not agree with the American versions of the Pentecost, and does not attend a Pentecostal church here In the U. S. When I finally met Ray, I was impressed with his abilities as welder and saw that he had mechanical ablest that were overlooked by his previous supervisor because of the language barrier.
I decided that I would reasonably work with him to further evaluate his skills. It was during this period that I discovered that he was not Just a welder but an accomplished mechanic as well. I asked him why he was not being paid as a mechanic, and through my broken Spanish and his broken English I found an amazing story. One night while we were working, the subject of some of the things that Ray found to be different In America as compared to Honduras came up, one thing was the fact that you could walk up to a faucet, turn the handle and you could be sure that water would come out.
Another as the way that the religions are practiced here. He told me that he was of the Pentecostal faith and he was disappointed in the way the church was different here. How so, I inquired? “Well, in Honduras, we do not watch movies, or go to parties, or dance. The women do not cut their hair, and the men do not grow their hair long. The women wear long dresses to cover their legs, and men wear long sleeves to cover their arms”. That would explain why he wears long sleeves when It Is 104 degrees outside, I thought to myself. “Here in America, it is different, you know, contrary”.
Yes, I suppose the cultures are different, so it would make sense that the ways that religions are practiced are going to be different, I replied, trying to avoid a lengthy debate on religions as I have been trained to do growing up in a not very religious family. I quickly returned the conversation back to the tasks at hand, and we talked about repairing equipment. I then found out that Ray had his own machine shop back In Honduras, and knew full well how to diagnose and repair machines. In fact, he had a degree in mechanical engineering.
I decided that he would no longer be a fabricator, and gave him a promotion to mechanic status which gave him a raise of $5. 00 per hour. He was being discriminated against because of the language barrier, and he did not even know it because the money he made here in a week would take him at least a month to make back home. I had not thought too much about Ray’s religious back ground again until about a year and a half later when I wound up taking this class and saw the requirements for the final project, it was then that I knew that Ray would be able to help me with the project.
I asked him weeks ago if it loud be k for me to ask him a few simple questions about his religion, and he agreed. I had no idea what I was going to discover about my friend. I ask him if I could visit his Pentecostal church with him one Sunday, he told me that here in America he does not go to the Pentecostal church because of the differences of his comfortable at a Baptist church that he had found, and likes to go to worship.
I interviewed Ray by asking him a series of questions that were predetermined in Appendix B weeks earlier, (had I known what I found out after the interview, my questions would have all been different and probably more substantive). These are the 10 questions that I had chosen to ask as per Appendix B: Could you describe for what life was like as a child in a Pentecostal family? A: I was not born into a Pentecostal family. My family practiced Catholicism. I was a wild young man who had no feelings for others until I was 17 years old. It was then that I went to the Pentecostal church for the very first time.
When I had heard the words of the pastor, I felt a burning inside of my heart that I had never felt before; it was as if all the pain was leaving my heart, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from me. I felt free and knew that I must learn more. In Judaism, Moses was raised in the Pharaohs Palace and had the polytheistic religions of the Egyptians instilled in him as he grew up. It was not until he had fled Egypt and God spoke to him that he knew what would be his true calling. As you grew older, was there anything about the teachings of the Pentecostal that you disagreed with?
A: Yes, the Bible clearly states the rules of being a true Christian, the Church would say that you can change the rules to fit situations; the Bible says that this is not right. The church says all you have to do is believe the words, the Bible says that you must not only believe the words, but live them. In the beginning of Judaism, the Jewish people had made a covenant, or contract with God, and Moses had given them Gods commandments to follow for that contract, but as time went by, the Jewish people kept making changes to the teachings of the Elders to suit their own In what ways has the Religion helped to shape your life?
A: To interpretations. Try to be a religious person is a miracle in itself, button be as the Bible teaches us to be is a way of life. In Judaism, the Torah teaches the Jewish people a way of life to follow to be happy and free, those who follow it seem to be content, but those who do not agree with the ways of the Torah seem to have a lot of conversations with God trying to convince him to change his end of the contract, and do not seem to be happy with their lives. What challenges, if any, did you have as a youth practicing this religion?
A: Like I said before, at 17 1 went to the Pentecostal church and heard the preacher for the first time, the words affected my heart, and created in me a desire to change my life. When I heard the words, I felt like a great fire was burning from within me, I had to make a decision; follow the preacher’s words, or follow the Bible’s teachings. Ray told me that there were three changes that were important, and they have changed him completely. I was told to write them down as they were very important, and interdependent on each other.
Without one you cannot truly achieve the others; a- The way he thought, b- The way that he felt things; such as patience and acceptance of others, c- The way he acts as a person. Jesus teaches these things, and to truly be reborn, one must practice these hanger. In Judaism, if someone had to convert to the Religion, the changes that they must go through have got be extremely difficult because traditionally, prayers are recited on waking and at bedtime. In addition, three prayer services are chanted daily in a synagogue by men if there is a Minoan (quorum of ten).
Women their household responsibilities, and partly because of the belief that women have a more intuitive sense of spirituality. Jews are also expected to give thanks continually. One should recite a hundred benedictions to God every day. To this ND, there is a blessing to be said every time one takes a drink of water. There is even a blessing to be recited after using the toilet. (Fisher, 2005) How do you think your parents feel about you and your brother living here in America?
A: My parents are both very pro- America, it was always in America this and America that. They are happy that we have this opportunity. In Judaism, the Jewish people have always tried to keep their faith and practices when they were forced to live in another land, but always seemed to run into anti- Semitism whenever they tried to integrate into that lands society. Fisher, 2005) Do you know of any other religions that may be somewhat similar to the Pentecostal faith that you were raised with?
A: There are three different Pentecost; American born in California 100 years ago, The Fanatical, or Traditionalist, and the Contemporaries who want to make changes to create a new Pentecost for the modern times. I think that maybe the Baptists with the Ana-Baptists, the Mennonites who allow some change, and the Amiss who do not allow change. In Judaism, there were different offshoots of their Religion that are different Religions altogether, like the Islamic, and the Christian. Would you recommend the Pentecostal Religion to someone of a different faith?
A: No, it could be a big mistake because it is a life choice that each person must make to do or not. Judaism is something that one is usually born into, one could convert from a different Religion, but they must meet certain What important holidays and traditions do Pentecostal people requirements. Observe? A: Ray looked puzzled for a minute and seemed to not understand the question, so I repeated it and suggested Christmas and Easter, he lit up again and responded: “We celebrate the same religious holidays as everyone else, but fervently, we use the days for worship and not for commercialism and gift giving.