Intro to the New Church Doctrines Journal #15

[Image Description: "FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO. -JOSHUA 1:9" in center-aligned white letters on a black letter board with beige wooden bordering. The letter board is also laying on a gray blanket as the background.]


CONTENT WARNING: The religious/spiritual opinions on this blog post are mine based on my own experiences and do not reflect the opinions and experiences of everyone. Commentaries published on my First Former Buddy Club President influencer page represent diverse viewpoints. If you would like to submit a commentary, please contact me for more information. All perspectives and experiences are welcome here.


In my first trimester at Bryn Athyn College, I was required to take a religion course along with eventually some other religion courses since it is a religious school. Bryn Athyn practices the New Church religion of Swedenborg so the required religion course that I took this trimester was Intro to the New Church Doctrines. For the class, one of the required assignments was to write daily journals based on readings from "You Can Believe!: An Introduction to the New Christianity" written by Grant Schnarr (The author was actually my professor for the class! He is a minister in the church!) and we students had to apply what we read to our lives. So, since some of the content mentioned in this short essay that I wrote is related to the content that I post on my disability advocacy influencer page, I have decided to upload it is a blog post. Here is Journal #15.


Prompt: "'What do I see that I didn't see before this course?'. In other words, journal about what you discovered/learned in this class this term."

    The Intro to the New Church Doctrines course that I took this in my first trimester at Bryn Athyn College has had a major influence in my education and life. There are a variety of things that I have learned about religion and spirituality in this class.

    The things that I have learned in this class are more about the New Church religion, more about the Christianity religion overall, and more about spirituality. The class has also built my abilities to think philosophically deeper about the connection between religion and life. In addition, the course has been helping me along my healing journey. When I made plans to transfer to Bryn Athyn College, I had a strong sense that the school's spirituality would play a major role in my healing journey; this was due to how uplifting the New Church religion is along with the character of most people within the school and this prediction definitely came true. The majority of people who practice the New Church religion and in the Bryn Athyn community appear to be very inclusive of all or most diverse communities and take kindness very seriously. The lectures and content learned in this religion class overall are also very uplifting and inspirational. I enjoy how the assignments are connected to the students' own lives in order to attempt to comprehend the information easily and make it more engaging. The assigned philosophical, religious readings are uplifting too and have inspired me to read the Bible as another part of my healing journey.

    In addition to the things that I have learned, as a former Catholic, I have been interested in converting to the New Church religion. The Intro to the New Church Doctrines religion class has really increased my inspired interest to want to join the New Church religion even more.




If you haven't already read my past blog posts of the essays that I wrote in my Intro to the New Church Doctrines religion class at school, you might also enjoy and gain a better understanding of the New Church religion by reading:





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