Flock Is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries

As I started reading this article and I read that John Renken, a pastor in Memphis Tennessee said, “Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you." I didn't think to much of this at first. I thought well this sounds like a normal things that a pastor would say to his congregation. But when I continued on to the next line and read how one of the members of the congregation had gotten in a fight and had John Renken encouraging him to fight I thought this is strange. This congregation along with other in the area took John Renken's words literally. To represent Jesus. I don't understand this. I don't understand how these people think that through violence they are doing what Jesus wants them to do. The article said that the members of this congregation thought that Jesus had to fight for what he wanted and what he believed in so that they should do the same. These fights aren't only taking place among one congregation. This idea of violence for Jesus has spread. We don't read stories or bible versus about Jesus beating men up to accomplish his goals. He preached about forgiveness and was said to be a healer but I don't believe he was violent. I could be wrong, I have not read the whole bible. I have my own views on Jesus and Christianity, but I don't think Jesus would want others being violent in order to live the way he did. As I wrote in my previous blog post I think that violence is never the answer, especially when trying to get close to God. In fact I think in order to get close to God or Jesus you must perform acts of peace and kindness.

 In this article a pastor in South Mountain Community Church in Draper Utah said, “You have a lot of troubled young men who grew up without fathers, and they’re wandering and they’re hopeless and they’re lousy dads themselves and they’re just lost,” I think this means that these boys growing up without there fathers want to make a conscious effort not to be like them, and maybe by an act of violence they can do this. If you are  violent and not scared to fight for what you want, maybe they think that it makes the fighting worthwhile. I understand fighting for what you believe in and working hard to get what you want, but I just don't agree with using violence to get there.

Christianity

In class we have been reading different parables. The good samaritan parable was the most interesting to me. We read that a man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was beaten and robbed and left on the side of the road leaving him half dead. First a priest passed the man and when he saw him he passed him and continued to walk without helping the man. A Levite then passed the man and did the same. Then a good Samaritan passed the man as he traveled and helped the man. He brought the man to an inn and helped him get better.
I think this struck me the most because it made me think of current situations. How could two men pass the man and see that he was hurt yet not doing anything to help him? We read and hear stories today about the same kind of things happening. Some stories are of men not helping other men and some are stories of amazing people have performed wonderful acts of kindness. When I started thinking about this parable, I started thinking about how this ties into Christianity and all other religions. I think that a huge part of being a good Christian, Jew or Muslim is being kind to others. In Christianity it is important to not only go to church and pray, celebrate the Christian holiday but also perform those acts of kindness. In Judaism it is important to celebrate Yom Kippur and repent for your sins but also to help those in need. I know that not all people will agree, but I think that serving others is one of the most important things in any religion. Without being kind to others I think that it is hard to accomplish any other part of a religion.

Islam-Movie from class

Last class we watched a video about the hajj. The video started by showing us four different people who had decided to take part in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world. Hajj is also the fifth pillar of Islam. A Muslim is supposed to carry out this religious duty at least once in their lifetime. The Hajj is a demonstration of the Muslim peoples devotion to God.
In the video a lady who had been raised Catholic converted when she got older and became Muslim. She talked about how she found her real devotion in this religion and that she was ready to take go on the pilgrimage. It was interesting to listen to what she had to say about her devotion and the struggles that she faced throughout her journey. You could tell that it was an emotional time for her, as it is for most, but to me she didn't seem as connected to her religion as she said she was. I know it is a little thing to notice, but I noticed she was wearing makeup throughout the video. This surprised me because many people who spoke made it clear that this was a time to not care about your looks. It was no time for wearing makeup, jewelry or nice clothes. The hajj is meant to be a time where everyone is equal and everyone has the same purpose for taking this journey.
The lady also spoke about how it was difficult for her because she was from America but was still Muslim. She said that people gave her a hard time about that and I think that it took a lot of courage on her end to not let it discourage her.
In general the Hajj seems like a wonderful things for Muslims who want to go through this journey. From the video it sounds like an incredibly hard things to do. It sounds strenuous and very emotional. When I was watching I kept thinking to myself, I could never do this. I have my way of showing devotion and Muslims if they choose have this way of showing there devotion. I just can't imagine being among a crowd of thousands and thousand of people from all over the world, walking days and days stopping at different points along the way. I think what got to me the most was watching as everyone made it to the mountain, and when they climbed up sat down and prayed. Watching everyone's faces, seeing people cry and laugh and smile was wonderful. Even though I wasn't in Mecca with all of these people it gave me a little bit of an idea of how this much this pilgrimage means to Muslims.

Field Trip

After visiting the mosque on Friday I had learned some things I hadn't know before hand. It was also really nice getting so sit in on a service and see how Muslims worship instead of just watching movies and hearing the prayers in class. As I was sitting in the service I tried to follow the sermon but had a hard time hearing everything. I also enjoyed listening to the sermon and prayers said in Arabic. After the sermon prayers were said. Besides getting to talk to the man after the service (can't remember his name) I loved watching the prayers being said. After the service someone in the class asked why do you down on the ground when praying? The answer was simple, they go onto the floor while praying so that you are only thinking about God. When praying Muslims don't want to think about there work, the people around them, or any problems they may be having. The purpose of prayer is to pray to God and only think about God at that moment. I think this is a wonderful idea and before going to the Mosque didn't know this about prayer. When the man that we spoke to after the service asked us what we thought about how the men sit and front and women behind them I thought to myself that I did not like this. Just like in orthodox Judaism where women and men sit separately, I have never liked the idea of this. I think that it is only proper for families to sit with each other while praying, after all being surrounded by the people you love most I think is a good way to pray. This is how I felt until the man told us how the reason that men and women are mostly divided is also for a reason of being totally focused on prayer. The idea of sitting separately doesn't seem to bother me as much anymore. While I was watching the service I noticed that during prayer it seem that the men were participating more. It could have just been my imagination, but I could see that both men and women were going onto the ground while praying but I could only hear the voices of the men.

Islam

In class we read and discussed judgment day, the ethical behaviors of it. It is believed to be God's final assessment of humanity. On judgment day a persons life long path of life, mistakes and the good things you have done in life are judged. It is like God has a book of all of the events. The exact time when these events will occur is unknown, however there are said to be major and minor signs which are to occur is unknown, but there sins that occur near the time of the end time (Qiyamah). Judgment day sounds scary to me. I don't know if I would want to spend my whole life having to think about this list that God keeps of the good and bad I have done in my life, but at the same time I think it might make the world a better place. If you think about doing something bad and then realize that God is judging you, if it keeps you from doing this immoral thing than it might be beneficial to have something like judgment day.

We also read about heaven and hell. I think about heaven and hell from what I have learned from synagogue and the church that I used to attend at my Episcopalian school. In synagogue and the religion classes I have taken they teach us that we as Jews don't go to hell only to heaven. We don't believe in hell. In church they would talk about going to heaven or hell according to if you were a good or bad person in life. If you committed many sins you go to hell. When talking about heaven (mostly) and hell in class for the Islamic religion we learned that heaven is very indulgent. Heaven is also know as Paradise. There are different levels of this paradise. I believe that the different levels come from what kind of person you were on earth. Judgment day determines this.

Muslims believe in heaven as part of their faith. We read about heaven in class. We read about how once a Muslim reaches heaven or paradise this is where they will stay. We read about the abundance of wealth and beauty. When reading about this I had to ask myself would I want my heaven to be like this? Or do I even believe in this kind of heaven?

This past week my brother had a friend die suddenly. Out of frustration and confusion I was asking my mom why would this ever happen to such a young boy? At the same time I was asking her what was going to happen to him now that he was gone. Of course my mom knowing nothing more about heaven than I do simply said, "he will go to heaven, I don't know what that means but he is in heaven now. I like to think that my brothers friend is in a wonderful heaven where he has everything that he desires.

I don't know if I want heaven to be like the descriptions we read about in class. I think that once you die, money, sex and material objects just aren't that important anymore. I think heaven should be a simple, comfortable place to go after living a long wonderful life.

Islam

The religion of Islam is the religion committed to God and his prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was orphaned at a young age and was raised by his uncle. When Muhammad got older he went into a career in trading. He married a wealthy widow who was said to be the love of his life, but he married other women throughout his life. Khadijah the women that he married had faith in her husband and when Muhammad had his first revelation and thought he was going crazy, his wife told him that he wasn’t. God was telling Muhammad to convert people and he felt like it was his duty to respond to God. Mohammed is said to have received his revelations over a period of 23 years from the angel Gabriel who was relaying the word of God. What I wonder is what would it be like to have God talk to you? I think I would think I was going crazy if I heard a voice in my head telling me to do something.

The Koran is the religion’s book of revelation, meditated by the prophet. The word Islam means “submission to God”. Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable. The Koran is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language. Muslims believe that the Koran is guidance and moral direction for mankind.

We read the call to prayer in class the other day and that got me to start thinking about what it would be like to be a practicing Muslim. The call to prayer is said multiple times a day and one of the times is very early in the morning. I can’t imagine waking up so early in the morning to pray. The call to prayer is only one of the traditions in the Muslim religion, but even though I can’t imagine taking part in this I also believe that having such strong faith would be an amazing thing. While we were reading in class it also sounded a lot like Hebrew to me, and I know that Muslims and people who practice Judaism have some of the same beliefs. It will be interesting to learn more about the Islam religion and then compare Judaism to it.

Confucianism

When looking at the five bonds in the power-point that was presented in class I thought it was interesting but I don't understand all of it. Filial piety means to be good to one's parents, to take care of one's parents. To not be rebellious in or out side of the home, to respect and support your elders, children are only supposed to eat after there parents have eaten. To me this does not make much sense, in my own life I eat with my family every night. To show love to your parents and show sorrow for their sickness and death. After a parent has died children are expected to mourn the loss of there parent for three years. This consists of living a more simple life for three years and sacrificing the old ways you lived. Filial piety is considered a big part of Chinese culture. It is talked about in many stories.

       The Five Bonds:

• Ruler to Ruled
• Father to Son
• Husband to Wife
• Elder Brother to Younger Brother
• Friend to Friend

In each one of these five bonds specific duties are given to different people in these relationships. Duties were also given to the dead. Respect for your elders was highly looked upon with the exception of a friend to friend relationship. Filial piety is now built into the law. Children have the responsbility to take care of there parents. 
I have talked a lot about children and parents relationships with each other, but I am still confused on the relationship between husband and wife as well as friend to friend. As far as ruler to ruled goes, to me it sounds like the same relationship between father to son, but I could be wrong. The Ruler being the parent and the ruled being the child.