No. 1

#1. What factors of your native culture have informed your religious world view? Explain the impact of these factors...

I am indeed a Christian...

I was born in a Christian family and was raised to be a Christian. I also lived in a Korean culture where superstition was present. I was taught by my parents and grand-parents that when going to church, we must be dressed formally. I was taught to bow my head under God and to always be obedient. I always had to offer new money and had to strictly obey the Ten Commandments.

Living almost ten years of my life in Korea, I have accepted its culture. Things were strict and rigid, and I became a self-disciplined child. I also became self-dependent which limited my reliance on God. At this point of my life, I knew who God was and attended church my whole life, but I was merely a Christian. I saw the world as meaningless that we are destined to be who we are and have to live according to our destiny.

Few years later, my life was filled with complexity and I happened to end up in America. I did not know why I was living in America, but I accepted as my destiny. America was a place where things were simple and just. There wasn’t much superstition and violence, but a place of freedom. I could attend church comfortably and be more open minded. I could now be dependent on someone like Jesus. Now I saw the world entirely different that everything has a purpose and meaning, and now I understood why I ended up in America.

My native culture impacted my religious world view by turning me into a fully-fledged Christian. I now understood that God has purpose for everything for each individual and learned that “Destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice and also it is not a thing to be waited for, but a thing to be achieved.”