Rites of passage in the Christian church.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

ABDULLAH ELGAYAR 10N R.E COURSEWORK

PART 1

INTRODUCTION

In this assignment, I shall be writing about rites of passage in the Christian church.

The word ‘rite ‘ means religious ceremony, the word ‘ passage ‘ means going to one stage of your life to another stage in your life.

In Christianity there are five main stages in life marked by rituals, which are:

Infant baptism or
Believers Baptism
Confirmation
Marriage
Death

Next I shall be writing about what Jesus taught about Divorce and how might his teaching on divorce influence and effect the marriage of Christian believers in their daily lives.

BAPTISM

This event usually takes place before the child is one year old, but there is no limit. Christians believe that life is a gift from God, so it is important for the child to become a Christian as soon as possible.

The ceremony takes place in the church. There is a font at the entrance of the church; this is the ritual take place as a symbol to represent the door to new life.

The priest or vicar would perform the ritual. The child will be sprinkled three times with the holy water and blessed in the name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit. The parents promise to bring up the child as a Christian.

Some Christian churches try to keep to the New Testament idea of baptism. They believe that adults should be baptized, because they are aware of what they are doing and the faith they are steeping into, so are committed. The person who wants to be baptized walks into baptismal pool, which is usually at the front of most Baptist churches. The person usually wears white clothes to show a sign of purity. They promise to follow the teaching of Jesus and to participate in the church.

The person must be at least 12 years old and therefore able to make a testimony to say why they chose to believe in Jesus and why they wish to be a Christian.

Christians believe that it is important to be baptized because Jesus was baptized himself and they believe when you are baptized you erase all your sins and become a pure Christian and also Jesus also commanded his disciples to baptize all nations.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church Chrismation takes place after baptism. The baby is given to the priest or bishop, were he puts special oils of chrism marking on different parts of the baby’s body in the sign of a cross.

The priest touches the baby’s forehead first then the eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hand then his feet. As he touches each part he says “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This means the child is now ready to grow as an active member of the church. Sometimes this ceremony is used for people who have been baptized into another Christian denomination become Eastern Orthodox later. This is a form of welcome.

The child will attend the Orthodox Christian Sunday service where they talk about the bread and wine as the body of Jesus Christ.

DEATH

Christians believe that death is not the end of life, but the start in a new life that will be full of happiness and last forever. This is the whole purpose of death to start a better life.

Funerals should be seen as a sad event for the people left behind. Death ritual for burying someone is a mark to show that they were here and to help those who are left behind to understand the passing away their loved ones.

Many Christians believe that when a person dies their body dies, but not their soul. They believe that the soul lives on forever.

This vision varies from different Christians. But they all agree that it is a wonderful experience.

Also some Christians believe, that if you want this to happen you must have done the main points which are:

You have had faith in God.
You have tried to live a good life.
You have followed the Christian rules.

These are all proposes of death.

In the ritual the body is taken to a funeral director or undertaker, they prepare for the burial. The body is put in a coffin, families and friends will visit the chapel of rest, to say goodbye and remember the person.

At the beginning of the century the coffin was usually kept in the persons home, until the funeral, but now a days this is very rare.

The coffin is taken to the church, were a service takes place. The coffin is placed in front of the altar throughout the service. During the service, ...

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These are all proposes of death.

At the beginning of the century the coffin was usually kept in the persons home, until the funeral, but now a days this is very rare.

The coffin is taken to the church, were a service takes place. The coffin is placed in front of the altar throughout the service. During the service, hymns are sung and people talk about their experiences with the died person.

After the service the vicar accompanies the coffin to the cemetery and the body is buried.

A different ritual happens in the Orthodox Church. The body is displaced .A cloth is wrapped around the body or underneath the body while on display. Bits of the Bible are read out and the priest makes the sign of the cross on the dead person’s chest with oil. Then in wine and then in ashes.

The priest then talks about the person’s life and what they were like. Finally the person is buried.

At an orthodox funeral special mourners (people who attend a funeral) are employed to encourage those there to cry, as it is believed to get rid of most of the peoples grief.

When the coffin is slowly lowered into the grave the priest throws a handful of soil onto the coffin. He then says a prayer, which is a symbol that the person is going to go to heaven. Some people will also throw a handful of soil.

At the funeral the people wear dark colored clothes, to show their sadness. Flowers are given as a symbol of the persons life, as they die, but bloom gain as a symbol that the person shall have an after life. In the Orthodox Church the close relatives are given candles to lead them to Christ and lighten their hearts. These are symbols of death and a new life.

PART 2

DIVORCE

“God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be made one with his wife and the two shall become one flesh. It follows they are no longer individuals: they one flesh….”

Jesus said: God made the world, for male and female to join together and be married then have children. The children would grow up and become adults, and then they would leave their parents and get married. When they get married they are no longer individuals; they are now one family which should not be broken.

“ Man must not separate… what God has joined together”

Jesus says: When a man and women get married they should not get separated (divorced)

“ Moses gave permission to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard (you were so hard to teach)….”

Jesus is saying: Moses gave in to the people because he couldn’t control them so he told them that they could get divorced because they don’t follow Gods teaching, and their hearts are too hard.

“ But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another women commits adultery.”

Jesus is saying: If you divorce your wife because she committed adultery, you would not be punished, but if you divorce her for any other reason and then remarry you are then committing adultery.

“ A man who divorces his wife and marries another women commits adultery against his wife. In the same way, a women who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery.”

Jesus is telling his disciples: That God wants no one to get divorced. The couple should promise to each other that they are going to get married and not get divorced.

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND DIVORCE

Just about all the Christians agree that:

God’s plan for human beings was monogamy.
People should think very careful about when and who to marry.
A person should only get married if they can truthfully make the promises in the marriage service.

The person fully intends to remain married to the other person for all their life.

The Church of England rules about divorce and remarriage, is that a couple can get divorced “…for marital unfaithfulness….”, or any other serious reason, like cruelty to children.

The partners can be remarried to any other person in a registry office and also have a service of blessing in the church. But some priests, who permit the service, allow divorced people to remarry in their church, but this is unofficial. The Church of England follow Jesse’s saying ““ But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another women commits adultery.”

In the Methodist church they believe that a couple can be divorced, if their marriage has no hope in being together, this means that the couple can get divorced for any suitable reason. Also the partners can be remarried in the Methodist church after being divorced. This Christian group which stress the work of the Holy Spirit in each individual. Believe if the marriage has no chance of caring on and the partners can’t stand each other any longer. Then there is no point keeping the marriage if there is no spiritual link between them. Then they can be divorced and remarry.

The Roman Catholic Church does bot approve of any couple being divorced. A couple can live separately, but can’t get divorced because marriage is a life long commitment. The Roman Catholics follow Jesse’s saying “God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be made one with his wife, the two shall become one flesh. It follows they are no longer individuals: they one flesh….”And “ Man must not separate… what God has joined together”

They believe marriage is a sacred ceremony where God is present and active. When a couple have sexual intercourse the two become one person in the eyes of God.

They follow Paul’s words “For married people I have a command which is not own but the lords: a wife must not live her husband, but if does she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband and a husband must not divorce his wife”. As they follow this means Christians can be separated but not divorced. But in the Roman Catholic Church it is possible for a marriage to be ‘annulled’ which is when a marriage never took place in God’s eyes. The reasons which could make a marriage be ‘annulled’ are:

One of the partners can’t have sexual intercourse (impotence)
One partner is shown to be mentally ill, and didn’t now what they were doing when thy got married.
One partner was forced to be married.
The women were pregnant at the time of marriage and her husband was not the father.

When a marriage is annulled the partners could get married again.

These rules about Christian marriage are based on God’s original plan for the time of creation.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, they believe marriage is a life long commitment, but it can break down. If it does and there is no hope in the marriage, then a divorce can be made and each partner can remarry in the church. Also they might be asked to attend a service in church, where they express their sorrow over their part in the ending of the previous marriage. Divorce is seen as a serious step, but it shouldn’t be allowed to permanently damage a person’s life.

DIVORCE LAWS AND THEIR INFLUENCE

Jesse’s teaching was not very clear; the people didn’t follow his teaching as they were meant to do. Which eventually led Moses and other disciples to change Jesus’s teaching to suit them.

“Divorce should not be allowed under any circumstances: the married couple must remain married until one of them dies.” Cf.. The Roman Catholic Church based on what Jesus said: mark 10: 6-9 and 11-12.

The couples problems may get better or worse. The couples may try to get along with each other, as the church doesn’t allow them to get divorced. If there is no hope for their marriage and separating makes the children suffer. So the only alternative is that the couple leave the church and join another one or none at all.

“Divorce can only be allowed when one partner commits adultery.” Cf.. Jesus in Mathew 19:8-9.

The couple’s problems may be that one of them is having an affair, so the church would let them get divorced. Members of the church might want a divorce, but for a different reason, which the church would not allow. So one of the partners would go a have an affair so they can get divorced.

“Divorce can be allowed for serious problems (e.g. adultery, violence, desertion, cruelty to children, etc.).” The couple problems may be one of these listed, so there would be no problem in getting a divorce. Or they might commit one of these, so they can get divorced.

“Divorce can be allowed for any reason if one or both partners want a divorced.”

The couples should try harder to get on together, The partners may go and see a member of the church to sort out their problems. But if things don’t work out they can get divorced and their problems would be solved, in all situations

PART 3

SHOULD THE CHURCHES PERFORM THE RITES ONLY FOR CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS

Before Jesus died he told his disciples to baptize “all nations”. He could have been implying that to non-Christians too. Also Jesus allowed Luke to be a follower, although he was a Greek and Jesus told John to baptize him and at that time Jesus was a Jew. Which makes be believe that Jesus wanted non-Christians to be baptized, as Jesus would have probably preferred non-Christians to be baptized, then leaving them not. Jesus allowed lots of different types of people become Christians, it didn’t matter to him if they were from a different culture.

Non-Christians might won’t their new baby to be christened, this may be because they wont God to be with him/her, if there is a God, they might think it would give the baby good luck and to them their child is special, so the like him to known in the church.

The vicar or priest might not wish non-Christians to baptize because of certain reasons. If a couple wanted their baby to be baptized the ministers would ask them a few questions. The questions could be like:

If they do not believe in God why do they want Gods blessing?
Have they got a good reason to want their baby to be baptized?
If they believe in God but are lapsed believers? And if so what changes would be made?

Who would bring up the child as a Christian?

The ministers would then have to decide if the child should be baptized. They may allow it only if the couple promise to become Christian or attend church regularly or if they have someone who will be responsible of the upbringing of the child as a Christian.

I think non-Christians should be baptized, which may then lead them in becoming a good Christian. Also if Avery non-Christian had to go through all that trouble to get their child baptized, most won’t bother.

Adult baptism is different; the person is old enough to decide what they want to do. If they want to become a Christian then it is not a problem.

Someone who decides they want to become a Christian and attend classes to learn about Christianity. Would have probably been baptized, but not necessarily. The only main reason someone would want to be confirmed is that they believe in God.

The vicar would first need to have the parents consent if the child is still less than 16 years old. Then the vicar would ask a few questions and if the person is serious about confirmation, the would let him.

I think if a non-Christian wont’s to be confirmed and shows a lot of interest in the subject then he should be allowed, but if it is for him /her to be with their friends, then no.

Lots of non-believers would love to have their marriage in the church. This is because they like to have a traditional wedding with all the commercial, material, visual trimmings. Which makes it a nice interesting romantic photograph to show the younger generation. They like hearing the organ play and the bride walks through the church with a lovely white dress and beautiful bridesmaids behind.

Also God will be there to give his blessing to the whole thing.
Different churches have different rules, some churches say if one of the couple is not a Christian then things are cut out from the wedding like music and flowers

The eastern Orthodox says one of the couple must be eastern Orthodox if they want to get married in the church. The same is done in the Roman Catholic Church.

Churches might not want one Christian to be married in the church because, one thing is that they do not believe in God and anther thing is that they lie to each other by making hypocritical promises. Which are meaning less. Also non-Christians might not take the ritual seriously.

I agree with the church that non-Christians should not be allowed to get married in the church because the church would end up like a playground. Couples would get married then divorce each other because they didn’t release that there are so many responsibilities to do.

There is mainly one reason why non-Christians want to have a Christian funeral. The reason is that when a non-Christians knows they are going to die soon, they start to have second thoughts. “ What if there is a God and a place called hell?”

They then seek for God for forgiveness and hope for peace. They then start to think that by having a Christian funeral God will forgive them for their sins.

The church believes that if a non-believer has no faith in God then what is the point of having a Christian funeral, thinking God would forgive them for their sins and if they become Christian before they die, so God can forgive them. Then God won’t forgive them because they had all their life to think about life after death.

If a family were Christian apart from one and wanted that person to have a Christian funeral, although they are a non-Christian. Then it should not be allowed because that person didn’t believe in God, so why should they want God to forgive them when they refused him during their life.

If a Christian commits suicide, then they would not have a Christian funeral because they have committed a mortal sin, so are then treated like a non-Christian.

I think that a non-Christian shouldn’t have a Christian funeral because they had plenty of time in their life to think about death and if there is a God or not. But I also think that a non-Christian who is legally a minor should be given a Christian funeral, if the parent want so because the child didn’t get the chance to become a Christian.

There are lots of situations which non-Christians should have a Christian funeral like if they wrote in their will or the rest of the family are Christian and want the person to have a Christian funeral.

I believe that whether a person gets a Christian funeral or not, God will judge them equally, at judgement day.