Family Faith: Does Your Family Know Olodumare?

Family Faith:  Faith is having inner strength and confidence based on your trust in a higher power. It's also based upon your direct experience. When you try something new, unknown, or even dangerous, you need a certain amount of faith. It takes faith to board a plane to fly. You need faith in the pilots, co-pilots, the engine and electrical system, the compass, and all of the airplane’s instruments. When you face challenges that seem impossible, but are inevitable, you need faith. The following activity reminds you that faith helps you reach your goals and that you will benefit from keeping faith central to all aspects of your life.

ACTIVITIES

Complete the following:

1. What religion did you practice in your childhood? 
2. what religion did your parents practice in their childhoods? What about your grandparents and great grandparents ?
3. How were your ancestors introduced to the religion they passed down? Was it imposed upon them through conquest or did they choose it freely? 
4. What religion or faith did your ancestors originally practice? 

In Orisa Lifestyle, the Creator is called Olodumare. Some people are of the opinion that Olodumare is synonymous with God, G-d, Allah, Brahma and other cultural expressions of the Supreme being. This is what anthropologists call parallelism. It is an effective way to talk ABOUT theological principles, like Olodumare. But, when you wish to communicate DIRECTLY with Olodumare, you cannot use the Bible, Quran or the Sutras. If you want to know the origin and nature of Olodumare, you cannot refer to the laws of physics, the periodic table or history books. Of course, our faith in Olodumare is grounded in personal experience. But our experiences are contextualized by the sacred texts of Ifa, which is the definitive source of the theology of Orisa Lifestyle. To learn more about Olodumare, enroll in the Fundamentals of Orisa Lifestyle. 

Discuss these questions with your family: 

• Discuss some people (who you know or have heard about) who have demonstrated their faith. These are people who have shown an inner strength based on their trust in a higher power or cause. Discuss the good qualities of these people.

• What problems did these faithful people overcome to follow or practice their beliefs? What challenges might you face in doing your duty to Olodumare? Who can help you with these challenges?
  
• Talk with your family about what they believe is their duty to Olodumare. 
• Give two ideas on how you can practice or demonstrate your religious beliefs. Choose one and do it.
• Find out how you can help your religious fellowship. 

COMPETENCIES

• • Know. What is "faith"? 
  • Commit.  What are some things you can do to strengthen your faith?
  • Practice.  Select one thing that from the Commitment that you can practice consistently.  

This is one of hundreds of lessons you will find at the Orisa Lifestyle Academy's Member Site. 

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