So I have been working on this research project for most of this semester about religious experiences and it has thrown me a bit of a curve ball this past week.
Initially the expectation was that what we experience in our lives will make a difference in what we believe, our values, and how we interpret the world around us. One piece of that massive jigsaw puzzle is our relationships. For example, say you have a friend that you call. In one case you just leave messages for them and they never call back. In the second case you call your friend and they do return the call, even if it is when they want to. You would be more certain about your relationship in the second case as opposed to the first.
This was the basic idea of my project. I had data on people that had an 'experience' with God where He directly interacted with them. I also had data on how certain people were that they would go to heaven. Surely there would be a difference between the people that God did not directly interact with and those that he did in how certain those people are that they would go to heaven - after all, they have proof that he likes them!
Alas, this is not the case as I found out this week. The opposite isn't necessarily the case either. There is just no relationship between the two. I tried everything possible to no avail. Here is what is interesting though - the most consistent predictor in the bunch was church attendance. That is, people that attend church more are also more certain that they will get into heaven. Although this may seem relatively uninteresting, I think it is really interesting.
This means that merely being in church more makes a big difference in how certain people are of getting into heaven (22% more confident, per increased level of attendance!). I think a big part of this is the content, specifically the music, people are exposed to while there. One researcher says that the type of music in the church will shape the frame from which people make sense of their world. Another says that each time a community sings together, they recreate their identity anew, "carrying the past forward into the present." So in a very real way churches' members are collectively creating a reality and frame of reference that they then take out into the world with them.
Worship content stuff is probably going to be the focus of my summer research project, so maybe I'll have more to say later... or maybe I won't bore you (all) with more of that.
6 comments:
VERY interesting. I'm looking forward to your summer research. thanks for sharing!
Oooh, you wanted to say y'all, I KNOW it! (Is that how you spell y'all? I'm from Colorado and don't know those things...) P.S. I don't think it is a boring subject at all.
haha, at first i did say ya'll and then took it out because that would imply that multiple people read this blog. not entirely sure that is always true! (I have thought it is ya'll - but I am merely a transplant... even though I used it before coming here)
Hannah - I will post more at some point!
Krista, I think you're right about the spelling since it is a conjunction of you all, then the apostrophe should be where the letters are removed, thus y'all. I'm just a transient transplant too though ...
I can offer the definitive answer. It's "ya'll", not "y'all". Always cut the second word in the conjunction (e.g., can't, won't, didn't).
ps. i better start going to church more often.
The grammar rules hold true...I was just confused on what the conjunction was. Per urban dictionary..."Often incorrectly attributed to the contraction of "you + all," the word actually originated from the fusing of "ya + all.""
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