Week 7

The thing I disagreed with this weeks reading is the very first line of Chapter 7 in Jesus.

I truly believe that Jesus is a teacher. Although it is correct, he more so installs wisdom in all of us, isn't that what a teacher is supposed to do? Starting off with no religious background, reading the Bible throughout the semester has brought more awareness into my life. When I read 1 Cor. 13:3, it really hit me. The Bible and the teachings of Christ is so relatable and has so much knowledge that needs to be discovered. I believe that that's what a teacher does. They bring out the confusion and shows clarity through the difficult times. He is a teacher, inspiring others to seek their inner souls for the answer and building the trust with his followers (students) to establish that relationship to allow people like me to look up to him and seek him for knowledge. I truly believe that Jesus Christ is an amazing servant and leading leader. Very much like Lao Tsu, Jesus leads in a way where he doesn't get in the way of one's life. He is there as support without really knowing he's there. He serves us by showing us the way, providing good for us that we can pick up as well as writing his ideas into text allows more followers to be embraced with his knowledge. He is an inspiration, more so a teacher. He teaches others the importance of being divine and living a life with meaning.

Week 6

Reading Mark from the bible made me change my view about the bible in general.

Prior to this reading, I had never read the bible before. At first when I opened it, I was uncertain of what the parables were talking about. As I continued to read, it started to make sense in that the parables were as a whole telling the story of Jesus' life. I had heard bits and pieces of Jesus' life and some of his beliefs, but reading this myself gave me a better understanding of who Jesus was and what he actually did. After reading the bible, I learned that Jesus was given a gift to be a one of the Gods or represent God, whomever he/she may be. Jesus had the ability, or mystical power, to fix problems or make people more ideal. He had so much power and people followed him because he had this insane ability to cure illness and diseases. Jesus' ability to heal others and his willingness to do so like in Mark 1:17.29 shows that he has love for all people and the care to heal.

A parable that struck me was Mark 2:13.17. It states, "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn't come to call righteous people, but sinners". This verse was powerful to me because it showed that Jesus accepted the sinners and that he was there to help them, to relieve their sins. He loves them regardless, which shows how powerful and loving he is. The commandments he proposed in Mark 9:49.5 was interesting to me as well because I had never read them before. I had always been aware of these commandments, I have never seen them in the context of the bible until now. I found this really interesting and now I am able to understand what it originates from.

Overall the experience of reading the bible for the first time was an eye opener and that I am and will be able to understand the practices of Catholics and Christians through reading the bible for myself.

Week 5

The part I found most interesting was that Jesus was never intended to be resembled as God.

The book Jesus continually referred to God as "your God" and the parable Luke 6.36 says "your father". If Jesus is to be interpreted as God then the word "your" would not be necessary in the book or the parable. The word "your" signifies that God is different to all people; like stated in the passage of "The Color Purple". It is really interesting to me because I could never referred to the higher power that I believed in as "God". I do believe in a higher power but I can't refer to him or her as God. It was all explained to me when the book stated that Jesus is signified as God. Jesus states that for Jesus, God walked on real life. And all these verses in the Bible may be interpreted in many ways.

I believe in a higher power but it is not Jesus. I believe that it is our responsibility to pay our respects to our ancestors that have deceased and have been to battle and war for our life that we have today. Jesus is mystical to me but I know that one before, my ancestors actually did walk this Earth. It is our duty to make this world a better place for those who have passed on and left what we have today. It is our duty to share love and show the world what we, today, are capable of. Though I believe in a higher power, it is not Jesus. But from this chapter, I guess I can refer to my ideal higher power as God because "God" isn't just Jesus, it's whomever our interpretation or imagination allows him to be. He is MY Father, he is MY God.

Week 4

The most interesting thing I got from this reading was that the Bible is up for interpretation.

With the part about taking the metaphors in the Bible not literally was very interesting to me. I know some verses in the Bible and what it teaches but I feel like whomever wrote the Bible left it up for the people to interpret the meanings on our own. In this way, though there may be misunderstandings, those misunderstandings are truth to some. I know that the Bible does not support the change of the definition of homosexuals, and so I've heard that homosexuals are supposedly going to hell. But also, I know that God teaches to love everyone and all different types of people. This idea is very contradictory. But, this is what the chapter in the book was talking about. That it's not going to make sense to take everything in the Bible literally. To me, its interpretation is that God loves all people and though homosexuals may be classified as a different "type" of people (although homosexuals are people as well), God expressed his or her love to them. So I cannot say that homosexuals will go to hell, because to me that's not expressing love. I'm not going to take the text of the Bible literally, instead going to interpret it in the ways that I believe my beliefs may express.