A few years ago my sister (who is 12 years older than I am) started to explore christianity, which seemed to have came out of the blue. We did not grow up in a christian home, and were not even really exposed to much of it (school, friends, community) since we grew up in a mostly jewish area. We were exposed to buddhism since my mom studied it for many years, quasi-practiced it, and was involved in some buddhist organizations and still is to this day. Referring back to my thread about external and internal religion, it seems that even though my sister did not grow up with internal religion, she become religious after surrounding herself with external religion.
I believe it was a korean ex boyfriend she had who first introduced her to christianity (many koreans are christian if you didn't know that already). She broke up with this boyfriend because he ended up being a jerk, but the religion stayed with her. I should say that around this time she was studying to become a lawyer and perhaps she was in law school already by now. Between then (6, 7 years ago)and recent years, her christianity went from nothing to full on christian, and what I consider "more religious" than the average christian person. She is very involved in church events, goes to church often (although is more lax about it these days) and has become friends with several "church friends." I saw her go through a phase where she took things too literally and at face value, but then a phase where her religion matured. In her maturing I think it has become internal, but I feel like it's still very much on the external side. I sometimes question (like I did in my post about external vs internal) whether she could still be religious if she did not have the bible, did not have a church to go to, church friends, pastors, etc. She seems to very much need the external reference for her own judgements.
Some other interesting things to throw into the mix…She is now a layer at the Bronx DA's office (crime in the bronx is very high). After her promotion she has been dealing with life and death situations every day. She has to look at evidence that consists of photos of crime scenes. She has people come crying to her saying that someone will kill them. She has a lot of stuff to deal with. I should, perhaps, also mention that she is an ESTJ.
What baffles me is how she can emerge herself so completely into christianity at the age of 26 (at the time) without any previous exposure to christianity. Is is internal religious foundation there? Also on the occasion she speaks about religion I have come to notice that it seems to be acting as a form of of her Ni. She needs to always have an external reference to compare what her own feelings are. I know this has to do with her personality type being ESTJ, but this way of viewing the world is just so foreign to me. Especially because almost all my other family members are introverts. Although she does seem to have reached a point where her internal religion has been realized, I still feel like she DEPENDS on the external as the foundation. Because of this, I have the feeling that in many years her religion will fade away. I could be wrong, but it's just a feeling.
external vs internal religion: http://forums.infjs.com/showthread.php?t=12058
EDIT: In addition, I would by lying if I said that I supported her religious views, and that I felt as if religion has helped her and the people in her life. I have no problem with people being religious, but this difference in opinion has only drawn us apart on some things, and made some areas of discussion touchy. I don't mean to sound demeaning, but when she speaks about religion (and she does mostly in a external way) she may as well be talking about santa clause to me. On the other hand I'm sure when I'm explaining some of my thoughts on things to her, (my Ni) it may seem like I'm simply strapping wings to my arms, and jumping off a cliff with my eyes closed and hoping for the best. I understand the difference in thinking, but when it's your sister, who you're very close, in a family of introverts, it just seems strange!
I believe it was a korean ex boyfriend she had who first introduced her to christianity (many koreans are christian if you didn't know that already). She broke up with this boyfriend because he ended up being a jerk, but the religion stayed with her. I should say that around this time she was studying to become a lawyer and perhaps she was in law school already by now. Between then (6, 7 years ago)and recent years, her christianity went from nothing to full on christian, and what I consider "more religious" than the average christian person. She is very involved in church events, goes to church often (although is more lax about it these days) and has become friends with several "church friends." I saw her go through a phase where she took things too literally and at face value, but then a phase where her religion matured. In her maturing I think it has become internal, but I feel like it's still very much on the external side. I sometimes question (like I did in my post about external vs internal) whether she could still be religious if she did not have the bible, did not have a church to go to, church friends, pastors, etc. She seems to very much need the external reference for her own judgements.
Some other interesting things to throw into the mix…She is now a layer at the Bronx DA's office (crime in the bronx is very high). After her promotion she has been dealing with life and death situations every day. She has to look at evidence that consists of photos of crime scenes. She has people come crying to her saying that someone will kill them. She has a lot of stuff to deal with. I should, perhaps, also mention that she is an ESTJ.
What baffles me is how she can emerge herself so completely into christianity at the age of 26 (at the time) without any previous exposure to christianity. Is is internal religious foundation there? Also on the occasion she speaks about religion I have come to notice that it seems to be acting as a form of of her Ni. She needs to always have an external reference to compare what her own feelings are. I know this has to do with her personality type being ESTJ, but this way of viewing the world is just so foreign to me. Especially because almost all my other family members are introverts. Although she does seem to have reached a point where her internal religion has been realized, I still feel like she DEPENDS on the external as the foundation. Because of this, I have the feeling that in many years her religion will fade away. I could be wrong, but it's just a feeling.
external vs internal religion: http://forums.infjs.com/showthread.php?t=12058
EDIT: In addition, I would by lying if I said that I supported her religious views, and that I felt as if religion has helped her and the people in her life. I have no problem with people being religious, but this difference in opinion has only drawn us apart on some things, and made some areas of discussion touchy. I don't mean to sound demeaning, but when she speaks about religion (and she does mostly in a external way) she may as well be talking about santa clause to me. On the other hand I'm sure when I'm explaining some of my thoughts on things to her, (my Ni) it may seem like I'm simply strapping wings to my arms, and jumping off a cliff with my eyes closed and hoping for the best. I understand the difference in thinking, but when it's your sister, who you're very close, in a family of introverts, it just seems strange!
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