You Big Bully!

God is such a big bully; and sort of a hipocrit. He said "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."Gen.3:3 But once Adam and Eve do what they were told not to, he kicks them out of the garden of Eden. "And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? " Job 1: 9 This states that he frowns upon the giving into evil, letting yourself be seducted. But how can he say this when he got seducted himself?

"Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." Job 1 :9-11 He gives into the idea of Satan: to torture Job. God, wanting to prove his point, took all he had away from him. Satan wasn't convinced. "And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. " Job 1 :2-7

How amusing! Kick a man when he's down! That's what we all need! I think that God was blinded by the rivalry, the relentless urge to be right. Maybe it's because we need recognition, someone to tell us that we're doing a good job. We feel threatened when someone contradics us, we get on the defensive and start a little "battle" with our opponent. It's not worth the extra oomph. But there is no true rivalry there... (in the text) Maybe I do understand this need to be right.

Ok, so this is what I don't understand: We're not supposed to give in to evil (that was created by god by the way/represended by Satan) but he can? That's simply too unfair! He was defied by Satan, in other words seducted, and compromised his values. I still don't understand how in the bible there are so may contradictions, or at least inequality due to the amount of power. How can we praise such a big bully? He picks on some of us to the point that it becomes torture, a survival game. God,
PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR SIZE

New Ideas: Are They Really?

"These challenges are all of governments making; but the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and failed policies of Gorge W. Bush."Barack Obama's acceptance speech in the National Democratic Convention of 2088 capured so many people's hearts and minds and lead them to think of thim as The Candidate. Pursuing the problem concerning the current governing situation, he proposed a very strong point regarding the present/future. "We are here because we love this country too much to the next four years be like the last eight." Because of the proposition being so strong people start chanting "Eight is enough!"

He uses very well Rhetoric, the manipulation of people's fellings and thoughts to get them to agree with you. For example, at one point he talks about John McCain is a former-American Troop therefore making him an American Hero.m This gets us (the spectators) thinking that he has a clean campaign. Although, he later talks about how McCain supports Bush in 90% of the cases. He also quotes Mccain, "We've become " a nation of whiners"."

Teamwork. Supposedly the United States promotes it but apperently doesn't apply it. That they've created an Ownership Society which means that if you're, "Born into Poverty? Pull yourself by your own bootstraps even if you don't have boots. You're on your own." Notice how all through this speech you see Forensic Rhetoric; Using blame and afterward proposing ideas for the future which would make it Deliberative Rhetoric, of choice.

Our inability to see our opponent in a good way has prevented us from seeing all of us as one. We point out some details thay may not be true that drive our opponent to the ground. "The ides that people cannot dissagree without challenging eachothers character, and eachothers patriotism." "So I've got news for you John McCain: We all put our country first." Though we may have different opinions with regard to situations we all have a "sense of Common Purpose."
"We may not agree on abortion. But surely we can agree on reducing the nubre of unwanted pregnancies in this country." Why fight against eachother when we both want the same thing for the overall greater-good?

My point of view regarding the ultilization of rhetoric is that it is corrupt. Clever, but corrupt. It's like publicity: you do something according to the reactions that you will get. Basically you fix a target and manipulate them to try to get them to agree with you. I see that this is a crucial strategic move for campaigns but maybe there is another way. You see him using all types of Rhetoric: pathos, logos, ethos, forensic, deliberative and demonstrative. Pathos: when he talks about his mother lying in bead talkind to the insurance companies. Logos: when he talks about the reasons for the economic slump. Ethos: about his father from Kenya and his mother from Kansas. I thought it was very interesting how he targeted some of the audience such as ecologists, troops, patriots, less-fortunate people, srudents, parents and the overall population.

Giving the people what they want, what they want to hear. Standing up for them when McCain called them whiners. Making promises to"fix" the tax problems, the ones in Iraq with the troops. "As president, as president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. " FAcing and proposing solutions for not only a nation-wide problem but a world-wide problem. We all know about these issues but don't know how to solve them. He is a hero. He will "rescue us"(Very well-written speech)

Overall Obama knows what he is doing. He is winning over the mionds and hearts of all americans.

Contradictions

There is no homework posted and I was hoping for an opportunity to talk about this.

So this is the problem: in the old testament it states that the "law" is "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot... Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (Ex. 21:23-25) right? In other words, you have the right to get even. For example, you get robbed and catch the robber, you cut off his hand. (I think this is completely savage by the way.) Here comes the problem. In the new testament it states, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." as said by Jesus.

So how did we get from being so barbaric to being such pacifists? From this law of retribution(eye for eye) to having so much respect for everyone that you help them in some way. Having this contradiction, I don't understand how the Jews and Christians say they have something concrete as beliefs. Or have a foundation strong enough to be so popular. So common throughout the world.

I understand that as time passes, some things have to change. But what is the final decision? What is the verdict? What do they believe? How do participants in the religion justify one thing, if the bible says both?

A Baby's Life

Unfair. "And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. 11: Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12: But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13: And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: "Ex. 1 Because the thought that it might be possible that they might turn on him, the king makes then do horrible things; the Istrealites became slaves of a beautiful country.

I find it incredible that someone can feel so threatened it leads them to do indescribable things unto other people. I mean, the killing of the male offspring of said Isrealites. It's almost like modern-day abortion. The only true literal difference is that these Egyptians had no knowledge on how to do this before birth so the "murdering" part (as some would say) is much more evident.

When a little girl, or a young lady, gets pregnant under dreadful circumstaces (ex: rape) there are many different opinions to what she should do. A personal point of view towards abortion is not what I'm looking for. What I'm trying to get at is the pressure that she feels. To raise a child with possibly no job because she is underaged or she has a job, but simply can't support it.

This baby at some point becomes a threat. A threat to her way of life, to her resposibilities, to her psychological faith, her reputation. At some point they choose to abort to in a way secure safety to all those threats and insecurities. To vanish them. In a way, the king of Egypt could be considered a pregnant woman.

Understandings

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." After being on an arc, we started to change ideas of what we used to have. We got so used to seeing humans every day, we forgot about what we used to believe and the other god's creatures. God got jealous so ,"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city."

Why is is that we try to blame everything on someone else? We can never believe that it is our fault. I mean, the missunderstanding is because of the difference of languages. It has to be because of someone elses mess-up. We can never be at fault. Not only us a human race but us as individuals. We also strive to have the power that's whay we strive for money. These papers give us the intoxicating power. We saught this power creating the babel tower. A tower so high that put us close to a level of god. Therefore in a way we get a littlo of his power.

The tower of babel is a sign of racism. The beggining of all prejudice . Because of not being able to understand eachother, conflicts arose. Maybe that's why Hitler tried to "purify" the human race. To go back to the original meaning of the bible. To end all conflict, trying to create a eutopia. Maybe, jus maybe, he thought that if all humans were the same, that thre'd be no further conflict between them. Although I think that in some degree, he knew that this was imposible. Maybe on a physical level it could be accomplished, but on a psychological level by no means could we all be the same.

Swiftly

The touch of something so beloved,
define his mere existence;
Making something of what he loved,
with genuine persistence.
A stroke being so angelic,
but yet charged with so much power,
something being so physic
yet having the grace of a flower.

Curiosity Killed The Cat

Eve's moment of weakness defines the fate of all humanity from there on forth. I think that there was this creation of the knowledge tree as a test to see if the most recent/powerful creation could resist temptation. Because there was no temptation at the beggining the serpant was sent in. "Nothing tastes as sweet as what I can't have"(For you I will by Teddy Geiger) This situation, of the havig acces to something that isn't supposed to be touched or used is presented throughout greek mythology. For example when Venus says to Adonis ,"Beware how you expose yourself to danger and put my happiness to risk." and Adonis does it anyways. It's hard to explain but we are all familiar with the feeling after you do something that you aren't supposed to. It gives you adrelnaline, an edge. Although, as we all know, there are consecuences.

In Pandora's Box, this is obvious. Because of her need to defy the the rules, she unleashed bad things unto the world that later led to war and other unfotunate events. This can be connected to Gen.3 where Adam and Eve eat of the forbitten fruit. The text states that the following generations had to undergo the consequences. Although Pandora's Box is one explanation for what has happened to the world Adam and Eve could be Another.

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." From this time forth this moment there was no comfort zone betweeen two naked bodies to the point in which you can just walk around in your natural coat. This indirectly leading to prejudice and creating ideas of how some things or ideas or situations should be portrayed. This corruption of the original, innocent human. By eating the forbidden fruit, Eve for ever paved our path to be commited to be driven by our wants and not by our needs.
I wonder, if there was a flood(new beggining), why are we still cosrrupt?

Not Quite

King James.... He had a good goal, admirable even, but an incredibly defficient solution. I mean, it's almost impossible for a group of say 30-40 perople to agree, much less a whole country! Ok, maybe agree isn't the right word, maybe you could use be at peace with one belief. It's hard to get through to people that srtongly believe in something and you are proposing something that is contradictory or changes it slightly. For this reason (as we all know) he decided to translate the bible to get the "true meaning" and end with the constant disagreement that was tearing the country in half creating many troubles.
Because translation is such a challenging task because you have to change it on an abstact level and then on a literal ideas get mixed inbetween. In this process, like any other , things are going through your mind and what you think interfers in some way what you're saying. therefore chnges the outcome.
Going back on track, if two don't believe the same thing they need to learn to let be. Of course James' original plan didn't work. Having everyone think the same thing about their god/religion. Overall his idea was valid, but was a recipe for disaster. In general people are closed-minded so won't give in.

Love is Funny Business

The original meaning of platonic love is not the one we have for it today. In english,it is when there is only friendship when you want it o go further. In spanish it is an impossible love. Neither of these is accurate.

According to ______'s peice____, platonic love is a step on our way to diviness(Is that even a word?) , to heaven. He states that we have become humans because we have been smart enough to understand the presence of something so godly. Others who couldn't achieve this goal have become animals or something of less intellect. In order to get to heaven, we must grow wings. In this process, some fall off the beaten path therefore end up un "hell" The most important part of this journey is the growing of wings. This happens when you fall in love. When you recognize this godly feature in someone else and as a result see them extraordinarily beautiful. As you fall further in love with the person, your wings grow more and more. Although, there is a twist to all of this, you have two sides, the one that is good, respectful, and sees and consentrates on the beauty, and the other that is controlled by carnal desires. ______ represents them as two horses and a charriotsman. One horse black and the other white.
Foot-note: Here when he reffers to god (in this case when I refer to heaven or any religious figure) deals with enlightenment. Heaven=philosophy/absolute knowledge. Godly figure=beauty/ the desire to learn.. the ability to ask yourself, why?
In conclusion we are to go unto the divinity of knowledge to be able to grow.

Teenagers, Hard To Deal With

In dealing with students on the high-school level - that is, the second, third, and fourth year of high school - we must b*** in mind that to some degree they are at a difficult psychological stage, generally called adolescence. Students at this level are likely to be confused mentally, to be subject to involuntary distractions and romantic dreaminess. They are basically timid or self-conscious, they lack frankness and are usually very sensitive but hate to admit it. They are motivated either by great ambition, probably out of all proportion to their capabilities, or by extreme laziness caused by the fear of not succeeding or attaining their objectives. Fundamentally they want to be kept busy but they refuse to admit it. They are frequently the victims of earlier poor training, and this makes every effort doubly hard. They are usually willing to work, but they hate to work without obtaining the results they think they should obtain. Their critical faculties are beginning to develop and they are critical of their instructors and of the materials they are given to learn. They are beginning to feel the pressure of time; and although they seldom say so, they really want to be consulted and given an opportunity to direct their own affairs, but they need considerable guidance.

Score: 212/215

The Power

Wow, where to start! The Catholic Chruch has always been intolerant about the different aspects of people and have tried to overpower other religions in order to make the others like theirs. Beacuse they had the "common vote" they had over incredible power