Argue

I had an argument with my roommate who is very religious about the bible... and Heaven. She told me that for me to get into Heaven I had to read a paragraph from the Bible and then my soul would be saved... a dumb insignificant paragraph and then my soul would be saved? Are you kidding me? Then our argument continued on.. I said, "so you are telling me if i read this ill be saved... but if my parents and loved ones dont, then they are damned?" she responded, "Well in Heaven you dont need your loved ones being your parents or friends.. God provides you with everything else you need or want, so ultimately they wont matter".... that made me start crying for some reason... the thought of my family in Hell because they didnt read a paragraph.. or the idea that my loved ones would not be with me for all eternity really got to me...i told her that God has faith and loves all of us, and we do not need a paragraph for our souls to be saved. isnt life about forgiveness like in the story of Jacob and his brothers? They threw him into a pit to die, and in the future (since he lives and becomes prosperous) he shows pity on them and in a sense forgiveness...and they must learn to forgive themselves for their wrongdoings just as God does. Our disagreement was short but has stayed with me.. since she studies the bible religiously she felt she knew a great deal more than me, about the bible, god and most likely life. that is not the case. everyone has a different point of view and a different way of looking at the world, as well as the bible and God. her closed mindedness led me to feel she was ignorant about the unfamiliar, or things she refused to see from another perspective. she moved out shortly after.... i was not sad

Why didn't I finish the Bible?

In all honesty, in large part being lazy, but mainly because I could not bring myself to read the bible out of fear. Fear that I might read pieces/stories from our past, and not be pleased. And I know for a fact those stories exist, because we have talked about them in class... sometimes ignorance is bliss. I was not ready to read a book that people have been pushing on me my whole life... so a big part of it was probably stubbornness as well...

Susana...

The story of Susanna the woman who walked through the garden while two elders the the church watch her and perverse their minds and hearts, is a disturbing one...the woman minding her own business bathing in the garden and the dirty old men watching her...and of course.. the men blamed their lust and desire on her, it was her fault unwittingly of course... men always blame women for their wrongdoings... they tried to claim her infidelity and have her put to death.. but their stories didnt match up.. and she was saved by the Lord and Daniel. the poem by Peter Qunice portrays this story beautifully.

The red-eyed elders, watching, felt

The basses of their beings throb

In witching chords, and their thin blood

Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.

The red-eyed elders leads me to believe them of demonic or evil blood. their eyes and hearts no longer with the lord, have left them evil and strained. The phrase the bases of their beings throb, to me alludes to sexual tensions, and perverse thoughts. their heartstrings being plucked in adoration for Susanna. their hearts wandered from the Lord, but if that werent enough, they also lied, and "intended to do maliciously to thy neighbor, wrongdoings" 1469: Susanna. 

The Cave...

 So since our group projects are coming up, I thought it best to get my butt in gear and read my chapter in Frye... which is the cave. It was intense, and I finished the reading with a headache and utter confusion... but I will try to reiterate what I have just read... Sorry for any headaches I cause.. or confusion.. I just want for everyone else to be as confused as me... Here we go! The cave deals with themes of descent usually pertaining to death and hell (shocking). Frye mentioned that we rise up or climb ladders or towers with the prospect of falling or descending downward (230). The cave to me, appeared to be a place where people have the ability to ascend up again and not be left in darkness like those too far gone (possibly the furnace).  On page 231 there is a quote that reads like this, "Hell is social and individual...a kingdom of the dead." In this descent world, people have no possessions, and once you cross into this world, you are called a shade.  this possession of nothing is known as Katabsis or danse macabre. the thing I found to be most compelling is the idea of dreams, and Freud. even our dreams are considered a lower psyche which is a form of the descent or inner workings of hell.  our dreams extend down into the sub conscious and Frye writes, "Descent to dream worlds go deeper than hell... they go deeper than shallow graves of death". so without even knowing it, every night subconsciously we are descending downward past hell. another theme mentioned is that of Shakespeare. these ghosts are from the depths of hell but refuse to stay there, this notion of the descent and the return, like the ghost in Hamlet.  the descent can also be looked at as a social or political entity. for example, socially Adam was cast out of the garden of eden and Cain was cast out of society for murder. Exile is a form of a downward spiral. another prominent theme is that of repression and then release. sky metaphors became mechanical and alienating, when people used to look to the sky thinking that God was up there looking down upon us. there is a lot, and I mean a lot of talk about William Blake, Frye loves his ideals especially in innocence v. experience.  and children putting the world view in their subconscious. .... I am still attempting to figure the chapter out, and making some progress. But, hopefully this helped a little bit!

 

Jehovah's Witnesses

So one of my good friends is, or rather was a Jehovah's Witness. As a child he attended church  multiple times a week, you are spreading the word of God constantly. (Like Mormons). He told me he knows the Bible pretty well, even though now, he is not active in the religion. He, told me that growing up, they never celebrated holidays, this including Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, Valentines day.. etc. As someone who has grown up celebrating each of these holidays, and never missing a big meal, I found all of this information hard to grasp. And of course, since I had no prior knowledge of him being a Jehovah's witness, I had invited him to join my family and I for Thanksgiving... woops...I asked him, "So what happens if I want to throw you a big birthday party, or give you a Christmas gift?" He looked at me intensely and replied, "Well, you hope that the people closest to you would respect and understand, that I or (we) cannot accept gifts...It is nothing personal, but that is just how we were raised.. didn't make us very popular at sleepover birthday parties..." This concept of not celebrating holidays still blows my mind. but then again, I can see where he is coming from as well.. we don't need these big holidays to celebrate God or giving thanks, we can do these things on a daily basis if we so choose. "We don't need a reason to give gifts to people on specific days, if you want to get someone a gift, get them a gift!"- This I agree with 100%. This talk with him was an intriguing one, it opened a lot of doors for me, and made me curious about the unknown. Until then, at least to my knowledge, I had never met a Jehovah's Witness. Learn something new everyday...

Deck of Cards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCiaxPhtVY

Suffering...

We talked about how God can allow for people both innocent and wicked alike to be punished. the idea of unjust punishment was overwhelming. for example little kids being struck with Polio and dying and having no control, God just allowing for it to happen. In my mind, when i think of unjust punishment, the Holocaust comes into my mind. thousands of innocent people being persecuted for their religion, or even the color of their eyes or hair (not being of the Aryan race). women and children gassed and slaughtered, innocents that put their faith in a higher power who let them die. Suffering is innate. for humans, for some ungodly reason, people are attracted to suffering. think about it, most of the media and movies and some books even have some level of suffering, and people flock to it. Example... Jackass the movie...extreme suffering.. people are going crazy for it. driving on the freeway, and there is an accident, people slow down to witness the accident to see if anyone is injured, dead, or suffering. This type of suffering is cathartic, in that by viewing the supposed carnage of the accident allows the viewer to experience the cleansing effects of suffering without experiencing the physical pains.  its human nature to be curious, but it is sad that suffering in some aspect is an intriguing aspect of life. Music is immensely affected by the bible and some aspects of suffering and emotions. i feel that we have suffering and bad times so that we may appreciate the good times.