LITR 4231 Early American Literature 2012 Student Midterm Samples 3. Web Highlights: Review at least 3 posts from course website's Model Assignments (4-6 paragraphs)

Lauren Weatherly

Knowledge is Power; Diversifying Your Beliefs

          Many people born and raised in the US believe in some doctrine of the Christian Faith. We all went to Bible School as children, heard all about how God created the world and mankind, and we may even take a few of those stories with us into adulthood. It is odd to me, however, that even though our county is so diverse in culture and belief systems that we do not typically hear about any other versions of say, how the world was created, until we reach our teens. By this time in our adult progression, any new information that comes into the mix is often written off as “wrong” or “too different from my own belief to be true.” It is then that we tend to refer to these beliefs held dear and true by other cultures as simply stories. This notion plagues me as how can we possibly be one hundred percent certain that anything is true at all? This is where the power of knowledge comes into play.

          As a Christian, what is written in the Bible is what you believe as truth. Some people refer to the stories as metaphors and lessons on how one can lead a fruitful and harmonious life while others take a more literal sense from scripture. It is the latter group of people I find myself having a hard time interacting with. Literalists claim to have such an extensive knowledge that what they believe is right and true because it is written in the Bible, but it is interesting to discover that the majority of people who have a Christian background in this sense do not, in fact, know as much as they claim. Robbyn Smith writes of the biblical literacy of teens in her essay the “Common Currency of Western Culture:”

Though most teens, according to the study, recognize the ‘basic meaning of widely used Judeo-Christian terms such as Easter, Adam and Eve, and The Good Samaritan,’ many lack a working knowledge of their significance rendering the teenagers biblically illiterate. Since almost 2\3 of the teens could not identify Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” meaningful allusions may be missed.

Though most people may have a general knowledge of the Bible and its contents, many of those same people seem to misplace the important information surrounding the intent of the stories. I am not by any means trying to say that the stories in the Bible did or did not actually occur, but my point is that one must look between the lines as well as the text to discern what is to be taken away from the lesson. To possess knowledge is a fantastic thing, but becomes useless if you never figure out your own method of application.

Thankfully being a literature major, most of my peers and people I interact with on a day to day basis have their own firm beliefs, but do not completely negate the beliefs of someone else simply because the belief is different. Although I do occasionally run into the person who is set in their own mindset, and even though they do not completely write off the other belief, they refer to it as simply “fictional.” For instance, in Shae Turner’s research post on “Origin and Creation Stories” she remarks on the fictional elements and refers to them as being fictional time and time again simply because they seem a little too far-fetched for her to believe to be truth. She does counter herself a bit, however, when she states that “with all that was said about the way these stories seem imaginary, individuals who are not Christians or don’t believe the words from the Bible could perceive Genesis as fictional, whereas I for instance know it to be real, because I was raised on knowing about God and how he made earth and mankind.” She does accept the fact that different people have their own points of view that may not completely align with her own, thus putting her a step ahead of Bible literalists in working her knowledge of the world to accept that different people think and believe different things. This notion is not wrong, and she accepts that as fact. She is firm in her beliefs while at the same time accepts that what she believes may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as the Iroquois creation stories as a bit far-fetched for her to accept as possible truth. In this case, knowledge is power in understanding the diversity of the human mind and accepting that while we are all people fundamentally, we each have our own mind and the free will to choose our own beliefs.

The system in which I believe to be in myself is one is who is on a constant quest for the truth. Who are we? Where did we come from? Who is God? All are questions that compel me on a daily basis and probably will drive me every day for the rest of my natural life. I do have my own belief systems in place, but that is not to say that my beliefs do not evolve with my mentality. In Nicole Bippen’s research post entitled “The Search for Truth” I commend her on asking the big question of “Where the Christian God comes from.” She was raised Christian with the creation story of Genesis, but simply being told “this is how it is” was not enough of an answer for her. It was her own drive to discover the truth that restored her faith in her beliefs:

So that answered my question of where did this force come from so I went back and looked at the Mythological texts and Native American texts.  I discovered that this answer only filled in the blanks for Christianity but not necessarily the others.  Dejected, I wondered if I had asked the wrong question or if maybe there was no answer to this.  After contemplating for awhile, I realized that I already had the answer and had it all along: faith.  We all have to take these gray areas on faith alone.

She admits that the research she performed did not provide as many answers to a different faith from her own, but she does not negate the truth of them simply because a lack of information on one belief system and an abundance on another. She simply came to the conclusion that every religion has some sort of faith. It is through faith that we accept the answers we cannot find. We have to make up our own minds at times and this is no easy task. The right thing to do is to ask questions, do your own research, and make up your own mind about what you believe. This is knowledge working through the process of learning and personal application. Never just accept something as truth because someone else says so. If you do not feel right about the supposed facts, then find out for yourself what you should believe. The power lies in our own hands to govern how we live our lives.

          There are many types of people in this world, and it is a fact that not everyone will get along. The battle of a dominant religion, or who is right and who wrong, is a war that has been raging since the dawn of time and will continue to spark and flare until probably the end of this world. The truth is that people are as diverse as their beliefs. It is not up to us as individuals to point the finger, but it should be our mission to try and understand each other. To have a closed mind is like having a loaded gun in your pocket; one wrong word by someone who differs in faith and someone is likely to get shot. To become a more unified nation, we must exercise the greatest gift that was bestowed upon us, our minds. We must seek knowledge and learn to apply it to our everyday lives. We must use the knowledge we gain as a tool to understand each other and progress forward as a civilization. Finally, we must always seek knowledge in truth as we see fit for our own understanding. We are, for the most part, and intelligent race, and therefore must utilize all our resources to evolve as a more progressive and unified people.