Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God: "After viewing 'The Nativity Story', analyzing your chosen Christmas carol, and reading Philippians 2:1-7, reflect on the meaning of Christma..."

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born

I have chosen silent night for my Christmas carol. Jesus is described as a 'holy infant' that angels will sing hallelujah for. The scriptures, songs and stories say that he is the savior and king. In the verse i have chosen it emphasizes Jesus's actual birth taking place at that moment and how angels are singing and shepherds 'quake' at the sight. It was necessary for Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the Persian astrologers all to believe in God and to have faith in him. Jesus came to earth as a baby to live exactly like a human so he could interact with us. He wanted to live among the people of this earth as he grew up and God chose this method to deliver Jesus because it shows God is personal.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #8 Islam: Two Perspectives

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #8 Islam: Two Perspectives: "Find where Islamic religious beliefs intersect with current events. Research a Western news source on the story and summarize the article fr..."

Western perspective:http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/New-Yorkers-Sound-off-about-Mosque-Plans-Near-Ground-Zero-98366594.html

Islamic country's perspective:http://www.indonesiafirst.com/2010/08/8780/ground-zero-mosque/

In the Article from the western perspective the main view of the writer is quite negative. Quotes are taken from people saying that they are still 'wounded and our hearts are bleeding' and others also say that the mosque should not be built at all 'It should be a landmark building. It should not be a mosque'. Overall the article is based on saying that the building of the mosque is an offence to 9/11 victims. The article also goes on the say that it is possible that the mosque could be demolished.

In the article from the Islamic's country perspective there is absolutely no negative statement about the building of the mosque. The article only included President Obama's support for the building of the mosque and gave no negative view of the mosque. The rest of the article is just simple details on how the mosque would be built and funded.

Each of these articles addressed the different view points of the country and they are very contrasting.

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7: "Think of an event in your life- past, present or future. You are going to create a commemorative ritual for this event. First, describe the ..."

At the beginning of the year i tried running cross country for the first time. For the first 3 weeks every race we had i had to walk at least one time because i could not push myself. On week 4 I finally ran a race at SFS and i did not walk once. The commemoration for this event would be the same race and people would try not to walk. The event would be finished when the last person crosses the line. The phrase that always helped me carry on running is the crusader cheer that went like, "ah, ah, ah, AH, AH, AHHHHHH, 1, 2,3, CRUSADERS!" and this is what would be cheered on this day.

Greek Play Reflection

The story of Icarus and Daedalus is about a very intelligent man named Daedalus who becomes imprisoned after upsetting the king. Daedalus and his son are locked up in a tower and they must try and find a way to escape. Daedalus discovers that he can build wings out of feathers, wax and thread and so he does and both he and Icarus fly away. During their flight Icarus flies too high and his wings burn so he falls into the sea and dies. Daedalus becomes upset and decides never to fly again.The moral of this story is that if you go too close or expose yourself to the sun you will burn yourself.
This story answers the life mystery of why people cannot make wings and fly. It is because Daedalus stopped creating wings and stopped flying. An important virtue to take away from this story is to always listen to your parents because they have wise words.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

Bongwonsa Temple Nature Walk

I think there are many reason that prompt humans to seek out religion. The main reason people do this i think is to find out why we are here on this earth and what happens after we die. Buddhism started because of "The Buddha" and he reached a state called nirvana where he released all materialistic things in his life. Monks in Buddhism spend their lives seeking out enlightenment and to do this they meditate and worship the Buddha day and night in temples.

In Taoism one of the principles is that nature must be untouched and people must live in harmony with it. One of the practices that Taoists have is Tai-chi and this is one way that they try to achieve a sense of peace. Overall in both these religions and people seek out Nirvana or try to obey Wu-Wei to find the unexplainable questions of life and for some people this is worth dedicating their life to.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

Today i tried to meditate for twenty minutes. I sat myself down on my bed, closed the door and turned off all my music. For the first 5-10 minutes I was really focused and my mind was able to think but after that many other things that I had to do crept into my head like homework and funny things that i talked about with my friends at school today. The last 10 minutes of the meditation i could not focus and eventually my mind just wandered and i started day dreaming. For the short first 10 minutes I was able to retain concentration I realized that I should start treating people equally and try to be nice to everybody. Meditating has been an interesting experience for me but I think it is truly difficult to be in a completely meditative state.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist:

Ghandi was an Indian man who truly followed all the teachings of Hinduism. He was a man who fought for the independence of India and he tried to gain this in a completely nonviolent way and he sacrificed so much of his own health by fasting and he also sacrificed all of his belongings and clothing to show that he could just rely on Indian clothing and still survive. Ghandi shows that non-violence is important in Hinduism when he is fasting during the riots and he would not stop until all the fighting had stopped. Surprisingly the riots had stopped.In the movie when Ghandi is at his ashram and there are protesters shouting 'death to Jinnah' he tells them that he is not only Hindu but Christian, Jewish and Muslim as well. This was a practice of Hinduism that said to accept all other religions.

A quote that Ghandi made that i noticed showed very well how Ghandi lived out his faith is 'A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks; he becomes". I believe that this quote tells us perfectly why Ghandi did what he did. Ghandi believed and thought that by his fasting, by his non-violence and by his speeches that he could become the person to free India from the rule of the British and to unite both Hindus and Muslims. This was displayed throughout the whole movie because Ghandi never lost faith in himself or anybody else but just kept on believing and eventually he became the 'product of his thoughts'

Assignment #3 - Sacred Poetry

Tall rocks in a field of green
Not possible by human means
Made of dolerite and sarsen
Oh how you look splendid with sheen

I come every day to pray with you

Rituals take place for the dead

A circle around us you form

We hope you never get old and lorn

You have many uses for me

Even serving as place to view the stars

I know you can guarantee

I can see the planets within your boundary

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1:
How has religion contributed to your own personal history?

Religion has not been a large impact in my personal history. Both my parents are Christian but when I was growing up I did not go to Church and nobody really explained anything about religion to me. I did start to wonder what everybody was talking about when they mentioned Church or even the Bible. In my house we had pictures of Jesus on the Cross and this was a symbol for Christianity.

After my first couple of visits to Church I understood a little about what happened here and it helped me to think about some of the mysteries and question about life. Since then religion has been important in my life and it has changed the way i act. I have learned to make great decisions and to live morally correct knowing that it shows the type of person who I am. I think that having the opportunity to choose which religion I want to be a part of  is a great way to decide rather than being forced into Christianity or any other religion.