Letter about religion

Religion

16/1-2015

Skogstorpsskolan, Falkenberg, Halland, Sweden

Hello! My name is Filip Andelic, I'm 15 years of age and I live in Sweden! I live in a not so large city on the west coast of Sweden called Falkenberg in the small region of Halland. 

 

Major religions groups in Sweden. 

 The two major religions in Sweden are Christianity and Islam. Christians believe in one God who reveals himself in three persons, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. They believed that The Son has become human as Jesus Christ of Nasareth. The death and the ressurection of Jesus Christ is the center of Christianity. Christianity has got the largest amount of followers in Sweden. Christianity has got three branches and they are The Roman Catholics, The Orthodox Church and The Protestant Churches. Christians are practicing their faith in the church, which is a building were Christians gather together on sundays and they worship God. Islam is the other major religious group and has got the second largest amount of followers in Sweden. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims believe also in one God called Allah in arabic and they believe that Muhammed is God's prophet who told people how to live in a righteous way. Muslims exercise their religion in a mosque. In a mosque, there they pray towards Mecka because Mecka is the holiest city for Muslims. And now I wonder which major religious groups do you have in your country?

During my childhood I went to church a lot of times with my family so the church always is going to be a part of my childhood. I thought the service during the Sundays was very nice and solemn, as well! Some of the ceremonies that the Christianity has got is the baptizm, the wedding and the funeral. To be baptized is when your parents go to church and the parents tell the priest what name they've given their boy/girl and then the priest put some water on the head of the child and then the priest says "In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit you're now belonging to the community of church". Another Christian ceremony is the wedding. The wedding is in church where you promise your partner troth and to live with each until death separates you for the rest of tour life. The funeral is another Christian ceremony and it's arranged when you've died. You're being put underground after your death in a big chest in the churchyard beneath your tomb. Family and friends coming by putting flowers beside the tomb of yours is very common too, it's very usual to see the text "rest in peace" on a tomb, as well!  The tomb is a polished stone and on the polished stone it is written the day, month and year you were born and the day, month, and year you died.

Christian people celebrate festivals such as Easter and Christmas. During Easter Christians commemorate that Jesus died on the cross and resurrected from his burial ground on The Third Day to heaven. Nowadays the Third Day is also called Easter Day. During Easter we also eat plenty of eggs and some other terrific food such as potato gratin, and lamb e.t.c. We paint some eggs during easter and we get sweets from an Easter-egg, as well! Christians celebrate Christmas because Jesus was born in Betlehem approximately year 0 and that a king was born! We mostly celebrate Chirstmas Eve in Sweden which is on the 24th of december. During Christmas we give presents to one another which we open during the evening of Chirstmas Eve when everyone's gathering around the Christmas tree. We devour a lot of nice food such as herring, potato-gratin meatballs e.t.c during Christmas-Eve. And now I'm eager to hear if you have a religion? If yes, do you have any special festivals in you're religion? If yes, what do you do during your festivals and during which time of the year? 

Even if church has influed me during my childhood I'm belonging to the non-religious group and therefore I'm not practicing christianity. Since I'm not perpetrating any religion I don't have any document that tells me how to live but I'm trying my outermost to be a good person and to be generous towards others and not to put myself in the first place. In the future I will see what religion I will have when I get 18 years old or if I will continue to belong to the non-religious group. If you have a religion, are you a religious person who's practicing your religion a lot? But one big ask that still will be stuck in my mind for a long time is: What's the purpose of life? I don't think there's a correct answer to that question and that every person can have their own take of that question. But I wounder: What do you think is the meaning of life and have you achieved the thing you think is the meaning of life? I do myself believe in what science and scientists are saying about the evolution and development of mankind but I do think something else created Big Bang something which cannot be created itself but I don't really know what that is. But the exciting thing about religion is to listen to why muslims, jews, christians, hindus, buddhists e.t.c have chosen to have their particular religion. It's also exciting to what makes people so convinced with that the theory about that their own religion has got the explanation to how the life on Earth emerged and how you should live in a righteous way. And I really think it would be interesting to listen to what your answer is to the following question: What do you think will happen after the death? I don't have any special answer! I don't what is going to happen after death but it's the discuss that question! 

Best regards! 

Mr. Filip Andelic