Christianity- Pilgrimage
R.E Christianity Course work- Pilgrimage(A) Describe a visit to a Christian place of pilgrimage, explaining its importance to believers. Lourdes, in the south of France is one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe. It was in Lourdes, in the year of 1858, when a fourteen year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have has a series of visions where the Virgin Mary appeared in the grotto of Massbielle. She predicted that a spring of water would rise from the grotto floor, soon enough a spring appeared, and due to its connection with the Virgin Mary it was considered and reported to have healing properties. Both the church and the predicted spring from then on became international pilgrimage sites. Around 2,000,000 people visit Lourdes every year, mostly they are Roman Catholic, this is because the Roman Catholic church encourages Christians to go on pilgrimage, also the sites have a strong connection with the Virgin Mary, who is looked upon as a Saint, for she gave birth to Jesus Christ. However the protestant’s don’t look upon the subject of pilgrimage as it being very important, they believe it is instead better to help people who are in need. Some Roman Catholics go on pilgrimage in search of a cure for a . . .
This is for most of the sites are closely related to stories which talk of saints. The Bible commands, instead, that one must love God and your neighbour. So many go on pilgrimage to be close to God, in some cases people travel to holy places such as Jerusalem to express their love for God. Pilgrimage, for many, reawakens, deepens and confirms the central insights of faith, as a way of discovering who one really is. Some pilgrims go on pilgrimage to get close to such relics as the ‘splinters of the cross’, in the middle ages such relics were believed to pardon your sins. When going on pilgrimage, money is wasted, time also, this too can be spent in helping the needy. Foremost, that they want to be close to God, even though he is omnipresent, it is believed that some places are especially holy and sacred. They believe that they must be lowered into the water (into the spring, which Lady Bernadette foresaw,) to be healed, many pilgrims assist the diseased in doing this. Authority in Christianity stems either from the Bible, from the church or finally from you. Experiences such as going on pilgrimage means the pilgrim meets other new people who have the same beliefs as him/her, not only is this a religious gathering, but almost a social one too. The church has many ideas of whether Pilgrimage is necessary, Roman Catholics encourage Christians to go on pilgrimage however Protestants have an opposite view, that Christians should help others instead, this is because Protestants don’t regard the pilgrimage sites to be as holy as the Roman Catholics do. ‘Actions make faith’, Pilgrimage should be about helping others, if both are fulfilled when on pilgrimage, then it is definitely a very important journey to take. The spiritual side of the pilgrimage would clear the mind and soul, and help the pilgrim understand more about the religion and life as a whole. (C) ‘There are more important things for a Christian to do than go on Pilgrimage’ In my opinion I agree with this statement entirely. Many believe however that this journey is not necessary, that money spent on pilgrimage can be spent elsewhere in helping people- money can be given to charities.
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Acceptance Essays
