Religious Service 1

Jared Muir
RELS 2300
Shannon Atkinson
5 December 2015
Religious Service
For my second religious paper I decided to attend a Presbyterian
Church. I have learned about Christian type beliefs due to the fact that Utah
is a Mormon culture. Although the Presbyterian beliefs and the Mormon
beliefs are not the same they are similar. I personally am not religious and
follow no belief and since the American culture falls mainly under the
Christian beliefs I thought it might be a good idea to learn more about it. For
my focus I decided upon the Trinity, which is the main difference between
the LDS beliefs and the Christian beliefs.
I attended the Presbyterian Church located downtown. It was a large
sanctuary and was quite beautiful. It has many paintings on the inside and is
significantly larger than a Mormon Church. As I walked into the building it
actually felt quite strange. I dont know if it was just me but I got a weird
feeling off of it. This was when I went in on my own to speak with someone

Religious Service 2

about when the services were (which of course was on Sunday). I noticed
behind me a superbly large organ, to me it was quite fascinating.
During the service I came a little underdressed for the occasion in my
belief. It was an interesting service and one I enjoyed. What stood out to me
the most was their childrens choir. With the acoustics of the church it
sounded extremely beautiful as it echoed throughout the building. I enjoyed
the service but nothing was too much out of my comfort zone , such as I
didnt experience what I wanted. Due to that I wish that I wouldve attended
a Hindu religious service or even a Buddhist service.
I spoke with someone who had the title of Deacon. Although he was
not a priest he was right below that title or near to it. I found him by having
the opportunity to sit next to him. After the service I asked him where I can
find someone I can talk to about the Church, and he told me that he could. I
told explained to him I needed someone with a title (no offence to him) and
thats when he told me who he was, Josh or Joshua was his name. He was
glad to help me out and when I knew that his title had meaning I was happy
to learn from him. I asked him about the Trinity and explained to him my
focus within religious studies. He was able to tell me the eternalness of

Religious Service 3

them, what they represent, and how they are involved in our lives; the rest I
found on my own.
Now, what is the Trinity? It is the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The father of the Trinity is the god in which we cannot see, the god outside of
time itself. The son of the Trinity is Jesus Christ. Jesus is a part of the Trinity
due to the fact that Christians and the Presbyterians state that he is just a
human life form of god. He is essentially god in a physical being and who we
ourselves should strive to be. Lastly there is the Holy Ghost who is actually a
person. The Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit is, who was promised to the
Apostles by Jesus, a deity that would come down after his crucifixion.
The Christian god is comprised of the Trinity. He is a being of pure
spirit and loves all of his creations. He is all powerful and all knowing, yet
there are problems as to why all of that has its disbeliefs; that is not our
focus though. Even though their god is outside of time itself he has a
personality and is able to establish relationships according to their bible.
They call their god father, as taught by Jesus, to state that he is the creator
of all and shows his authority.

Religious Service 4

Jesus Christ is stated to be the human manifestation of god. If god or

the father was able to be human then Jesus is how he would be. Jesus leads
the example of how humanity should act. He is the messiah for the
Christians but is denying by the Jewish and the Muslims as the messiah. The
Jewish deny him as their savior due to Jesus not setting up a kingdom for the
Jewish to rejoice. In the Christian belief he did do just that with the Churches
and will return in his second coming to set up a physical kingdom . The
Muslims do not deny Jesuss existents but they believe Muhamad is their
savior rather than Jesus himself.
The Holy Spirit is an eternal being right along with Jesus and the
Father. In the bible he is represented as an actual person with emotion and
intelligence. The Holy Spirit is the deity which does the works of god. He was
involved in creation, he was involved with the conception of Christ, he was
the one who wrote the bible, he convicts the unsaved, and he is the one who
regenerates believers. Although he is a person he is also a god, the
Christians believe he is in your life whether you are Christian or not.
There are religions who think the Christian church believes in three
gods due to the Trinity concept. The Muslim faith states that Allah is their
one true god and the Jewish faith states that The Lord our God is one Lord,

Religious Service 5

whereas the Christians have the three. If you look deeper into the Trinity you
can see the Athanasian Creed. We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity
in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the
Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But
the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal
in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.
Muslim and Jewish faiths will both reject this idea due to the fact that
the three are separate individuals, or so thats how they see it. What they do
not focus upon is the fact that although they are physically separate they are
just the manifestations of the god outside of time itself. Both the Muslims
and the Jews do not deny that Jesus was a being, but they deny him as the
chosen one or a god. There can only be one true god; the Christians only
believe he is the manifestation of god.
I personally think that the Trinity has a possibility of being true unlike
what the Muslims and the Jewish believe. Take a starfish for example, if you
cut of one of their limbs what then happens? It grows. Therefore this second
starfish which comes from the first original is only a manifestation of the
first, but is now its own being. Now take the Christian belief in the Father,

Religious Service 6

the Son, and the Holy Ghost; they are just manifestations of the original (the
original being the father). If you see it to where the Father took his spirit from
himself and created another with it then you can see how this might be
possible.
I enjoyed my experience with the Presbyterian Church. I did find it
quite creepy when I went in on my own to a large and empty building. Other
than that and when I wasnt alone for the service I found it quite beautiful.
The Church was beautifully designed with their art and it was a pleasure to
listen to the childrens choir. As I talked with Josh I noticed he had a good
spirit about teaching me and seemed to enjoy sharing about his Church .
I find the Trinity as an interesting concept. I chose this because I find
many things about it beautiful and I knew beyond the religious belief that it
can stand for many other things. I think that their belief of three in one is
something that can be valid and with the starfish conception I showed how it
can be true. I am happy that they didnt make me feel uncomfortable at the
church but at the same time I wish I did something a little different such as
visiting a Hindu religion or a Buddhist religion. This service was overall a
great experience.
Works Used
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/today/trinity/

Religious Service 7

http://www.theopedia.com/holy-spirit
http://www.gotquestions.org/Athanasian-creed.html
http://www.religionfacts.com/trinitarian-monotheism
http://www.bible-teaching-about.com/theholyspirit.html