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!

All is calm, all is bright

’Round yon virgin mother and Child,

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace!

Sleep in heavenly peace!

Silent night! Holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight!

Glories stream from heaven afar,

Heavenly hosts sing, “Alleluia!”

Christ the Savior is born!

Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light!

Radiant beams from Thy holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!

The song "Silent Night" is about the moment of the birth of Jesus and it describes the Jesus as the Saviour of all people from the heaven. The birth of Jesus is emphasized in the song by the phrase 'Son of God, love’s pure light!' and it shows how the birth of Jesus was significant.

Many people was involved in the birth of Jesus Christ.  Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, was pregnant with a son of the God.  Joseph, the husband of Mary, was very shocked and felt hopeless, but he still took care of Mary until she was giving birth at Bethlehem.  He protected her through the journey to Bethlehem.  Right after the Jesus was born, the first group of people who saw him was shepherds, which is the symbol of the poor people or lower class people.  This describes how Jesus was born for all people whether they are rich or poor. Then, three Persian astrologers, also known as three wise men, came to Jesus and gave him three gifts after following a star which they believe was a sign the King of the Jews had been born.  The bearing gifts were gold, myrrh, and frankincense.

Jesus, born as a baby or human being, comes to earth to save the people from their desires and sins.  If Jesus' story is true, I believe God chose this method of coming to his creation because as a human form, people would be easily inspired by him and since he was a human being, it would impact people how they were supposed to live without doing any sinful actions.  Also, people would be more familiar to "God" because they could see him and feel more related.  In conclusion, moral teachings and spread of Christianity were the two important reasons why Jesus chose to come to people as a human form.

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..."

Americans Perspective:

According to the article,the US government plans to set fire to copies of the Muslim holy books on the day of terrorist attacks, in order to express the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. They think burning Qurans is less civillised than drone attacks on civilian populations. This can be also viewed as hostility towards Muslims.

Islamic Country's Perspective:
This act is a huge controversy to Islamic nations because Quran is their holy book to their religion, which always impacts their people in every life style. The counter article criticizes a paster who plans to burn the Qur'an as "the average IQ likely drops to the Stone Age".

Conclusion:
In conclusion, we can see the differentiation of religious beliefs between these two nations by the concept of burning Qur'an. US thinks burning Qur'an is less dangerous than drone attacks on civilian populations. However, this is no better for Islamic nations because burning Qur'an is every inappropriate to them religiously and morally.


http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2010/09/201091112152289695.html
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/editorial/2010/09/08/15283071.html

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 ..."

First day of attending SFS is something to commemorate in my life. It was my first time transferring to other school since elementary year. Also, SFS is my third language-speaking school, which totally changed my views and cultures throughout my life. My mine started to westernize year by year and I got to see the difference between my previous life time and now. This event will last from beginning of every first day of school (8:00am) to end of the first day of school (3:00pm).

During this commemoration, I would like to say "Forget about old days, and have a fresh restart. This will be my turning point of my life." every hour until the school is over. Also, I will not use any of other languages but English since my purpose of going to SFS was to learn English in the first place.    In order to remember this commemoration, I will go around the campus and try to think about my past first days of  school in SFS.

The Morality of Greek Myths- Reflection #6

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Bellerophon.html

     Once upon a time, there was a prince of Corinth named Bellerophon.  He was exiled from this country due to his accident - killed his own brother.  He came to the Kingdom of Argos, ruled by King Proetus, for purification.  While he was there, he got kicked out of Kingdom of Argos because of Queen Anteia, who planned to let him be the next of her lover but failed.  After that, he was sent to Kingdom of Lycia, where Proetus's father-in-law, Iobates, ruled as king.  Then, he requested Bellerophon to kill the great monster, Chimaera.  Bellerophon, who got supported by goddess Minerva, bravely killed the monster with Pegasus, a horse with two giant wings, and was greatly honored by king.  However, as Bellerophon's fame grew, he felt that, with Pegasus, he could fly up to Mount Olympus, where gods live.  Jupiter saw his approaching and hurled down a thunderbolt and toppled him off from Pegasus.  He spent the rest of his life wandering aimlessly until he died.  Pegasus, though, was continued to fly until he reached the heavens.

     There are some morals in this story.  First of all, one of the main morals is loyalty.  Even though Gods in Greek mythology have human characteristics, they still want to be respected by human creatures.  In other words, they want loyalty from humans.  Jupiter acts as an authority who must maintain order when no one else can.  Second of all, the story tells not to seek out more than what you need.  Bellerophon is a complex hero.  He seems to be close to godlike status, but he is still a human being.  Despite his position, he decides to fly up to Mount Olympus, which is a wrong choice.  Jupiter puts him back to his place at the end of the tale, which answers the question of what separates humans from gods.  Because of his ambitions, he loses favor with the gods at the end.  Last but not least, one interesting element in this tale is the hospitality.  Neither of kings are unable to punish Bellerophon although he deserves one.  This is because they all concern hospitality toward Bellerophon, plus, they feel that they cannot judge Bellerophon's sin since they are all humans.  They believe only gods can order or judge Bellerophon since the purpose of visiting their kingdoms is for purifying his sin.  The tale of Bellerophon concerns a recurring theme in Greek mythology: hospitality is essential to win or keep divine favor.

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

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk: "After visiting the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist, answer this question: What is it about creation,..."

While I was walking to Bongwonsa temple with my friends, I realized that people could possibly seek out religions to find truth and faith of their lives. Even though science in nowadays are largely advanced and many things can be proven by science or historical facts, there are still some factors that even science or historical facts cannot establish like, “what is a spirit, and how do you know if you have a good spirit or not?” As people initiate asking these kinds of questions, they try to find out the answer by spending their lives seeking and practicing regions instead of science. For example, Buddhism is an eastern religion that teaches the understanding of meaning of life and having a proper spirit. The meaning of a spirit by Buddhism is the part of a person that includes their mind, feelings and character rather than their body.  Buddhism states that people should set their minds, feelings, and characters correctly if they want to have a good spirit.  As a result, believers start adapting the teachings and practice them by accepting the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. People sit down and meditate to feel their spirits and enlighten themselves by emptying their minds.  Having a positive thinking is also their one of ways to clear their spirits and attain Nirvana.  Their ultimate goal is to serve well until they reach Nirvana, where people believe that they will reincarnate into a better status. Just like this, religions sometime provide concepts and ideas of having a good spirit and serving as a better person.

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..."

After I read the assignment on the blog, I started wondering around my house and hesitating where I thought I could spend 20 minutes in a silent meditation without any disturbance. Finally, I decided my room was the most suitable place for it, so I sat on my bed and initiated a silent meditation. In the beginning, I was very excited about this because it was the unique experience that I had never undergone before. The first came in my mind was the founder of the Buddhism, Siddartha Gautama. I thought about how he meditated everyday, while this was my first time in my entire life. I didn't understand the point of sitting still and meditaing, but now I kind of understand why he would want to do this. This is because you can clear your mind and calm yourself through meditation. Next, It made me to think back of my past life and realized me how I could do better next time. For 20 minutes, I wanted to meditate like one of buddists. I wanted to know how I would feel as a "buddhist" because this is their special activity where none of Christians, Hindu, or other religious people do every day. However, there were some factors that  distracted me after 10 minutes. My cell phone kept reminding me that I got a message, which attempted me stop from what I was doing and check what was it about. Also, the smell of food that my mom was making bothered me from empting my mind because it made me to think about what food she was making. Still in general, I was able to attain "right thoughts", "right minfulness", and "right concentration" because I focused on improving myself and becoming a better person most of the time without any concerns.  At the end of 20 minutes of meditaion, I felt really clam and relaxed, which helped me to focus more on completing my homework.  I think I should meditate often, especially when I am having a hard time because it refreshes my mind and straightens me which way to I should go and where I am supposed to me.

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

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist: "In class, your small groups went over movie questions about the content in Gandhi. You should know who each of the main characters are and t..."

Ghandi's life was illustrated the best of modern Hinduism. Even though he was educated in England and he was not a Brahmin or a Kshatryia, he still was a systematic religious thinker. He influenced the whole country through the practice of Ahimsa, the non-harming of living beings. His development of philiosophy and practice of non-violent resistance were Gandhi's ideas of Hinduism. For example, when he opposed the idea of new Pass Law, he got beaten up by the English police officers. However, he did not fight back and just stayed calm because of his belief and faith of Hinduism. Instead, he did some actions that indirectly affect the colonists' economy, such as burning the clothes that were made by English people, buying only indian products,and etc. Futhermore, Ghandi was trying to stop the british monoploy by producing own salt, non-violently of course. However, their factories got banished by the English people again. Ghandi resisted the dominace of English people by letting indian workers to enter the factories that were blocked by soldiers. Ghandi's actions of "protest" were always done by non-violence.

Throughout these famous quotes of Mohandas Ghandi, one that seemed the most relevent to him and his faith was "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind". What Ghandi was trying to teach was that if you try to revenge every time your enemy hurts you, then you will be ended up bad. That was why Ghandi always preferred non-violence because he knew people in India would end up really bad, or even worse. For example, in the movie when Ghandi saw the chaos between Muslim and Hindu, he tried to stop it by fisting. Once again, he never used violence for whatever action he was taking.