How Traumatic Experience Affects a Persons Faith - Research Paper Example

How traumatic experience affects a person’s faith Introduction Faith can be defined as a strong conviction or strong belief in something in which there might be no solid proof and it total devotion or trust. Faith is the essential element of Christian life. Undoubtedly, truth is said to be discernible in that by using rules of logic, people are in a position to express his or her actions. Faith is an authentically human behavior which does not go against the dignity of man. In human matters, people tend to trust what others say. Therefore, one is only inclined to trust in God whom he believes he shares an inside communion. Faith is determined to seek understanding in that a person should want a more in-depth knowledge of revelation of God. The person who is the believer perceives the totality of plans of God and the union of manifested truths in God. Thus, people believe so as to comprehend or understand and that as a person, I understand the better to believe. When people get themselves in danger, it is normal that the feeling of fear, horror or hopelessness overcome them. These events are known as traumatic experiences. Some of traumatic experiences include being involved in a terrible accident or physically assaulted. Intricacy of the associations between religious faith or beliefs and traumatic experience may affect the person’s conviction particularly if the person meets post trauma disorder. On the other hand, some victims of trauma do not change their religious beliefs since they looked to religion or high power as the one constant and in control of their lives and that the only element of the world that they have can trust, offers inner strength and support to face chaos. Explain the first piece of literature, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This work explains how traumatic experience had an impact in a negative way to the persons faith, which he ended up losing In the first literature, it explains how traumatic experience impacted negatively on a person faith in that people in Puritan New England believed that human beings only existed in state of depravity apart from those who were born in state of grace. In young Goodman, Hawthorne follows a young man’s journey into thorough self scrutiny which led into loss of trust or faith. On his journey, Goodman heard the voice of his wife scream, upon calling the name of his wife, not one answered. Young Goodman Brown can be referred to as an allegory about the realization of depravity and evil as human nature. In this sense, Hawthorne depicted the true nature of puritan society by trying to distinguish between the appearance of Puritans and their real identities. The journey of Young Goodman vividly shows how traumatic experience can negatively change a person faith in the sense that, his journey in the forest is compared to every person in society takes to recognize their faith and evil. People before they undergo certain experiences tend to have strong power in divine power with the perception that they can assist them in difficult situations. This shows innocence of people before they experienced such traumas that tormented their life. Upon experiencing trauma, people tend to change their beliefs with the conviction that the higher powers do not exist. This shows corruptibility through the change of people’s faith from pure good human nature to the realization of the possible evil within all humans. For instance, the Goodman trusted in the goodness of his father and grandfather but as he progresses via his journey he realizes that each of these people are linked to old man who represents the devil. People usually are born pure, good and faithful who show their devotion to God as Goodman did. When people are faced with problems, they usually cling to faith as a justification to ward off or resist evil. In the story, the devil is well portrayed as an ordinary person to imply that every person in society has the capacity for evil. The story shows that the devil is in itself created as personification of all worst parts of humanity. Brown after his experience in the forest is condemned by his temptation when he decided to take the staff in order to accelerate his travel. This in real sense shows his loss of innocence towards curiosity and temptations instead of sticking to his true virtues of innocence and goodness. Additionally, the pink ribbon in the story represented purity and innocence. But while in the Forest, Goodman started to doubt the purity and innocence of people in society, therefore, this experience presents whether it was real or not. People in society change negatively change their faith or trust after experiencing certain events in their lives which in turn change negatively change their perception towards God and society. The puritan society was depicted as pure and good, but after the journey, Young Goodman discovered that humanity was in state of depravity as an illustration of puritan hypocrisy. After his experience, Youngman Goodman ended up losing his faith that he initially held about his society. Explain the Second piece of literature, Narrative of the Captivity (The Sovereignty and Goodness of God) by Mary Rowlandson. This work explains the positive impact of faith during a traumatic experience and how she was able to get through it because of her faith. Native Americans attacked Lancaster whereby Mary and her children were captured. In the incident, her daughter was killed. Her experience was violent and shocking in that she saw bodies of men split on the streets; houses were up in flames, children and mothers were crying helplessly. Mar cried and prayed to God to help them get out of the situation. Rowlandson was a real Puritan who believed in incidents like Indian attacks. They viewed themselves as new Israel and creators of new society whose purpose was to depict the true picture of Christian life. Between her kidnapping and return to Lancaster, Mary experienced major transformations in her life. Rowlandson managed to survive the disaster because of her power to believe in God and by her total submission to Gods plans. In this sense, the war and her trials illustrated the manner in which the new Zion was bound to fail in its mission but God just graciously forgave them. Her experiences in the war made her learn to sympathize and understand with her enemies and Native Americans. Through the story of her captivity, it is clear that Rowlandson relied upon her Puritan faith and quoting bible verses in order to reinforce her depictions of the dichotomies of the world such as retribution and punishment, light and darkness, evil and good. This literature shows that faith can positive influences a person even after going through bad experience. For instance, during her capture and all those events, she kept on fighting for more courage and she could open the bible and pray to God to encourage her. This depicts her puritan faith and that puritans trusted in grace of God and that his providence shaped the events of this world. Rowlandson feared the new world in that all the captives were forced to encounter new and strange environments and they had to adapt to it. Despite them being subjected to hard life, they stack to the Puritan faith, which believed will rescue since it was their only hope. Rowlandson faith helped her get through the hard experience. In her belief she was not sure how practical it was for the colonists to pass through the wilderness and depart from their homes. With this faith, it rendered her uncomfortable about how far the Indians would travel out headed towards the west. Rowlandson described her experience as repulsive, dreadful and deadly. However, she late adapted in that she was able to look for food and tolerate Indian daily affairs. Rowlandson experience shows how dreadful and traumatic experience can positively change a person beliefs by restoring hope and encouraging people since it is believed that the higher power are in control of the situation. Because of her strong conviction towards God, Rowlandson was able to get through the situation in that she was eventually set free. The two literatures show that traumatic experience affects people differently. For instance, in the first literature, Goodman was forced to change his beliefs about the puritan society after his journey. Initially, he knew that the puritan society was pure and good but after his experience; he came to trust that the society was inhuman and bad. On the other hand, Rowlandson experience in the new world strengthened her faith in that she believed that only through God, she would be released from captivity. In addition, she believed that God was the only provider thus sticking to the puritan’s beliefs. Similarly, the two literatures show that when a person has faith towards something, it can either positively or negatively change his entire life forever. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. New York: Kindle Books, 2011. Print. Rowlandson, Mary. Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration: The sovereignty and Goodness of God. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2002. Print. Read More