One of the main features of a Baptist church is the pulpit. The word is there main focal point. They preach for about 30-40 minutes and have bible readings. In a Roman Catholic Church they read from the gospel and preach for about 10 minutes. This will take place in the pulpit or on the lecturn. Baptist churches are more a pulpit centred worship whereas Roman Catholics are Liturgical worshippers. Roman Catholic Church is a universal church it always has the same readings throughout the year. But in a Baptist church the minister chooses his own readings and prayers for the week.
There is also a baptistry in a Baptist church. It contains a tank filled with water. This tells us that the people don’t get baptised as babies but when they are older. They themselves choose whether to be baptised and welcomed into the family of God. It is a symbolism of dying and rising with Christ. In a Roman Catholic Church there is a font, this shows that babies or young children get baptised and the parents make the choice whether or not their child is entered into God’s family.
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As a Christian it is important to go to Church. They go to church to learn from the word and receive the Eucharist. In a Roman Catholic Church when they receive the Eucharist they re-enact the Last Supper which makes them remember and thank Jesus for his sacrifice. They too offer themselves but as a sacrifice to God in thanks and praise. They receive the Eucharist to celebrate their faith and to celebrate a life offered to God and lived in love. They renew the covenant when they receive the Eucharist. This means they believe in God, accept his commandments and follow Christ by being Christ to others by serving them and loving them. At the end of the Mass the priest says “Go out to love and serve the lord,” they are not to ignore this, it is a celebration of their faith and it affects everything they say, do and think throughout the week. They also receive the Eucharist to be in the presence of God and to be united with Christ and others; they are called the family of God.
The word part of Mass is the main focus for the Baptists and Roman Catholics. They believe Gods word is the truth. He speaks to them as a community, the people of God. He guides them and helps them when they need help. When they listen to God’s word, The Holy Spirit acts on their hearts. It is their food to nourish their souls and it helps them grow in faith and become mature Christians. It even affects the way they live as they aim to spread gods’ word, heal the sick and bring justice and peace to the world.
They can spread Gods word in different ways. They could stand on the street corner shouting about it and saying how wonderful he is or they could show God’s word through their own example i.e. By the way they treat each other with respect, care and love and the way they serve each other.
They can help heal by loving and serving the sick i.e. visiting a friend or relative when they are sick and help do their ironing and housework. That way they don’t have to worry about doing it when they are better, it gives them a bit of relief. They can also heal by giving money to charity and helping those less fortunate than themselves. To those who are starving in Africa they could give them food and shelter.
Helping bring peace and justice to the world is a lot harder. They must be committed to acting justly themselves and by making injustices know to world, eventually it might grow and maybe countries will settle their differences.
Their inspiration is the Bible and it leads them in the right direction. It helps them understand the right and wrong ways of life and leads them to do what is right. It gives them phrases that they live by “love is patient love is kind; love is not jealous or conceited or proud…”1Corinthians 13:4-8. This tells them that when they love they shouldn’t’t be hateful at the same time, it hints that they should love their enemies and it tells them love is perfect.
All Christians need to take part in the worship as well as following and spreading the word. They should go to mass at least once a week to worship, as worship was commanded by God in the 3rd Commandment. It is part of life. They need to know what is going on in the Mass and become part of the worship.
In a Baptist church they focus more on the bible centered worship so they use it as inspiration and let it guide them. They are very similar to the Roman Catholic just not as strong with the bond between the Eucharist, Christ and the rest of the world.
Christianity has a strong impact on their lives but if they accept it then they have to do it.
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Jesus believes in helping those less fortunate than ourselves. “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me……” Matt 35-46. He explains that helping others in any way is helping Christ. Loving others in any way is loving Christ. Jesus expects us to help the people in need. He wants us to treat them as we would treat him. I think we should be less selfish and think about others rather than ourselves and our needs. We are all part of Gods family so we should treat each other the same. This means having the same amount of food and living in the same way. The money spent on building and maintaining special places of worship could help build shelter for the 3rd world countries and could help give them healthy meals and water.
In the “Our Father” it mentions “give us this day our daily bread” Which is the same as saying give our daily offering to those who need it more. Instead of just saying these words we need to act on them, actually give our daily offering to the 3rd world. The “Our Father” also mentions “Thy kingdom come” This is about Gods kingdom coming to us. A kingdom of peace and justice. This is what we pray for. It doesn’t contain people with too much or building new places of worship when others are starving but all of us living equally with no pain or suffering. In the bible it tells us “Love God- Love your neighbour” It explains that loving and serving others is in fact loving and worshipping God. It is an act of love for him.
However we do need to have places of worship and they do need to be kept in good condition. But do they need to be ornate and beautiful? Well I believe it doesn’t matter how fancy the place of worship is because if you truly are going to worship God then you could be anywhere as long as you have the basic requirements. The place of worship could be kept plain and simple. If there is a problem with the place i.e. a hole in the roof or a leak, then they should be repaired as soon as possible so they don’t get worse and cause more problems. We do need different worship places for different denominations as the practice is different, so money would have to be spent on building those. However they don’t need to be so big and fancy.
I think that spending the money on alleviating poverty would be better because we are going into Gods world and helping others. It shows that we care about the other people suffering in our family (Gods family) and it shows we are one whole, even if they live in a different part of the world.