In spite of how annoyed I was at the Tao Te Ching, it is better than reading the Bible. Yes, we are once again reading the King James Bible. Oh, have mercy! Speaking of mercy…
One of the things I hated the most about the Old Testament was how God was portrayed, that mean, selfish, angry, jealous, and vengeful fellow that was mentioned. I figured that since this is the New Testament this is not going to be a problem anymore, right? Wrong! He is still up in His pedestal for being the Almighty, although it is a little subdued. One of the things that showed me this is this part from the text: 'And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.' (Gospel According to St. Luke 1:50)
Luke is kind of narrating the story of Jesus, but I was very surprised at how little importance- none, actually- they gave to his birth. You always hear the story of the night Jesus was born, Christmas told very intricately, as though everyone knew the most minimal detail by heart. Well, they don't know. I just realized that I actually like the fact that he didn't dwell on his birth, it is actually not that important for the story. It does say in this part: '(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)' (Gospel According to St. Luke 2:23) This I find strange, because it never happened before yet it was a holy law when it did happen, and I am now thinking about the physical possibility of that. (Plus, there is a winking smiley face in the quote! He he)
In the next chapter we encounter a genealogy of Jesus' family. I know what you're thinking, No! Not that again! I thought so too but Luke was smart and put a twist to it, after naming about a hundred old, dead men (no offense), he ends the chapter with 'which was the son of God.' (Gospel According to St. Luke 3:38) That was awesome! I was expecting a boring narration of Jesus' family but instead it showed a direct- not so direct but let's ignore that fact- link from God to Jesus. He proved that Jesus is, in fact, God's son.
I find it somehow sad how Jesus and all the characters in the Bible seem to move about from place to place, from family to family, from woman to woman. They have no place 'they can call home'. It sounds cliché but if you think about it it's true. This leads me to feel sad, or rather think that humans as a whole are disappointing. Jesus is traveling through cities to preach his beliefs and nobody listens to him at first. They only start to pay attention when he performs miracles and cures and takes evil spirits out of people right in front of them. It's like that saying: I won't believe it until I see it. It is like we have no faith in anything that we can't prove, and that is very depressing.
In chapter four we have a special guest, the devil. I know, what the hell (pardon the pun) is he doing in the middle of the Bible- again? He's apparently just dropping in for a chat with Jesus. It's amazing how these people just sit down and try to teach their sworn enemy the ways of the Lord without even batting an eyelash! They could both destroy each other right then and there and they aren't even worried.
So the devil tries to lure Jesus to the bad side but Jesus, very unconvincingly or passionlessly might I add, answers: 'It is written' that I should not, 'It is written' that you should not tempt the Lord like that, 'It is written' that you should not only eat bread. What I get from this is that if it wasn't written then he, the Son of God, might actually considering following the devil.
Towards the end of chapter five Jesus is asked why he socializes with the sick, the poor, and the sinners. I find that totally classist, as if they are saying that just because someone is less fortunate, nobody different than them can be with them. But Jesus answers, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' (Gospel According to St. Luke 5:32) This statement is totally modest and we can see that Jesus really cares about everyone, which is for once the image I actually had of him.
This person doesn’t really make the blog entry concise but then again, she doesn’t have to since it is in informal register. Using modern slang and informal saying, this person makes the point in what she’s trying to say. Now, I do see how she could shorten the sentences to make them go straight to the point. But that would defeat the purpose of giving opinions. She does however extend the sentences that could be shortened.
ReplyDeleteThis is a concise entry although towards the end it gets a little wordy. The content doesn’t repeat itself yet it does have some word repetition. Also, she uses “them” several times in the last paragraph which could be avoided and changed into other words. There are few run-on sentences which helps the entry be more concise.
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