Religion entails a set of individual beliefs and cultural systems regarding practices and behaviors that ranges from sacred things, supernatural being and divine nature of a particular human culture. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, forms of folk region as well as Buddhism are all popular and largest religions existing in the world. Growth on the other hand means a progressive change on an individual’s behavior, character or beliefs. This report seeks to analyze how religion has played a major part on people’s daily growth either spiritually, psychologically, mentally or even physically. Using J.P Palmer’s book, “let your life speak” and Scott peck’s book, “the road less travelled” I reflect my personal growth in religion.
It is evident in the book “let your life speak” that through prayer in faith, God is able to answer my requests and wants. This is growth since the Lord is out there to listen to my wants (Palmer 17). Offering prayers to the Almighty God in a truthful and humble way makes me grow in spiritualism and religion. God loves His children and He want us to come before Him and praise His Holy name. It is a great development in knowing the ways of the Lord and trusting in Him that all our sorrows and troubles do not exist anymore. It is equally clear that Palmer states categorically that we should obey the word of God when we hear it and respond to it. Through my religion, the word of God is the most powerful instrument and when it is preached then it should be taken amicably. This is a step in growing in faith and following the true ways of the Lord (Palmer 42). We are deeply required to work together with God in creating our own identity, destiny and life.
By striving to create our future with the Lord, it is seen that we are growing in the religion we believe in (Palmer 54). It is prudent to note that forces in our surrounding dictates our actions whether positive or negative hence influencing on either positive growth or negative development. He argues that religion teaches that we should in peace amongst ourselves thereby promoting growth within our society (Palmer 10). God calls His people and through this, an individual chooses to deliver Christ’s good news to the people while avoiding destructors. This is equally a form of growth as discussed in this book (Palmer 11). Religion teaches us about inner self values such as kindness, forgiveness and patience. Such values are taught in Christian based schools and vocational trainings among the Christians. It gives individuals best chance to grow knowing the Godly given values. My religion teaches me that this is growing with Christ Jesus (Palmer 21). The book equally highlights that we should listen with our bodies. When we learn how to listen to what the Lord wants us to do then it shows that we have grown in our religion (Palmer 43).
According to the book, ‘the road less travelled’ it is seen that an atheist who is a successful industrial engineer, Stewart, develops a serious depression and attempts to die many times. He argues that he do not believe in God and religion but believes in science which has things he can see and touch (Peck 187). In his belief, Stewart assures himself that God do not exist and his existence is not defined and know. He has grown a mentality on his religion and mocks the Christianity belief in God. This book explores that culture is the main factor that determines the development among many people (Peck 189). All the world races would likely believe that God is in their image and likeness. The culture that we mainly follow is that associated to our families. I followed beliefs and ideas of my parents. They took to me to church where I automatically became a believer in God and Jesus Christ as supernatural being. Growing spiritually is a journey out of microcosm into macrocosm (Peck 195). Therefore, it means that to acquire more knowledge, we must get rid of old perception and create a fresh way of viewing things. We rely mostly on secondhand information from people about our religion. Particularly, I have never come up with my religion since I have believed in what my close associates believes in (Peck 197). It is therefore important to note that our beliefs determines how we grow in the religion for example, Stewart believes God do not exist hence he becomes an atheist. On the contrary, I believe God exists in human lives and he provides us with everything include the air we breathe. He is the breath of life.
Conclusion
Growth and religion plays a very significant role in people’s lives. Religion gives us the insights and beliefs about a certain culture and some kind of sacred being while growth focuses on improvements in our ways of doing things. As evidenced in the books, “the road less travelled” by Scott Peck and “let your life speak” by J.P Palmer, my individual reflections on religion as well as growth are aspects of human induced cultures overtime.
Works Cited
Palmer, Parker J. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.
Jossey-Bass, 1999.
Peck, M. Scott. The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth. Simon and Schuster, 2002.
