3-28 Juanita and Andrew

2 Replies

Andrew did a good job at bring the physical settings of the Bible to life for us. He had his handouts and was able to give us a visual  map that helped as he  explained. The different region and there climates was something. The climate was so hot when these events happened in the bible. There was not a lot of rain. No wounder the people kept crying to Moses for water along with a lot of other things. The fact that the story in the bible still happened in spite of the climate is really something.

Juanita presented on the ancient near eastern literature and how the author of  this book is trying really hard to prove his points. The author wants to show how the near east  stories is very similar to the bible and that the bible could not be writing without other help from the foregor that was living around them. This chapter talks about how it is going to dismiss the truth to help show the things that the author believes and has found from research.

Mark’s Timothy

3 Replies

This is by far the most entertaining presentation simply because Mark is knowledgeable but still jokes around. I hope that others found what he said as the end as enjoyable as I did when he said: WHO CARES? JUST FOCUS ON THE MESSAGE, NOT WHO WROTE IT. Classic. This is the only presentation not done in powerpoint. I appreciate that.

Katie, Mohamad, & Olivia

2 Replies

Katie’s Zephaniah
Powerpoint describes the day of doom. Saved if restoraton of faith was achieved. Also that if you did not beieve in god, which makes it not your god, how can you be punished.

Mohamad’s Zechariah
8 visions were presented in powerpoint slides.

Olivia’s Malachi
Cool presentation.

4/20/12

1 Reply

Andrew’s Hosea
This powerpoint presentation only had 4 slides. Hosea represented god. Gomer represented Israel, where she is evil and sinful. His three children had weird names like “Not Loved” and “Unloved.” Like that’s going to mak them into good productive humans.

Anne’s Amos
Powerpoint presentation showed that their were visions by Amos which were locusts, shower of fire, plumb line, basket of fruit, and the destruction of Israel. Also showed that gpod won’t stand for social injustices.

Kia’s Jonah
Powerpoint and presentation was overall good because it was relaxed and funny. Discussions of god being the bully or parent is interesting.

4/18/12

1 Reply

Nicolette’s Micah
I was shocked that this presentation had no visual. The presenter said that Micah was “preacher of truth.” It ws during times of Judah. It was for world peace and that individuals can lead to world peace. There were lack of trust amongst people. People whom believed in god were forgiven if they sinned. I thought that it was pretty much BS. So if a person sinned…killed…did all the bad things in the world, it doesn’t matter because they would be forgiven and gotten away with it. I found it funny just like I find people in jail that all of a sudden has “found god” and who carries around a bible all day after, and is considered a “changed man.”

Redgina’s Esther
Powerpoint presentation showed that Mordecair had letters signed by the king to permit Jews to be protected and to kill anyone that assaulted them. This led to what is now Passover. Interesting info about how to protect one, you have to kill another, or allowed to kill another.

Katherine A’s Proverbs
Powerpoint presentation showed that the purpose of proverbs was to teach wisdom to the audience. Wisdom is personified as a woman which is also known as “Lady Wisdom.” The presentation was very nice. I liked that it had all the characters on a list and also a breakdown of the chapters with brief summary for each chapter as well as the interpretations for each chapter.

Thomas M’s Lamentation
“The Boring Stuff” powepoint had a theme of “Of god, why?”

Nick A’s Daniel
Powerpoint presentation had only pictures and no writing as presenter lectured about the slides. We learned that Daniel was a dream interpreter. There were several dreams that were interpreted by people that I don’t even know they were able to interpret them. Were they psychoanalysts or psychologists??? I’m majoring in Psych, so this question is very important to me. Well the overall presentation explained that the story was to give hope to people.

4/13/12

1 Reply

Michelle’s Women & the Bible
This was a very short presentation and I honestly didn’t even have the chance to write any notess down and this is also due to the low vocal delivery.

Redgina’s Name of Israel’s God
I also had a difficult time hearing. But I was alert when it was mentioned that Yahweh’s name was originally unpronounceable. Very interesting. Why not? The same strange reason why people could not “see” him wiithout dying.

Nick P’s 1st Chronicle
Nick showed YouTube videos and had a powerpoint presentation. Showed Jewish is the best religion. I enjoyed the YouTube stories, but would of appreciated an original piece. I worked hard on mine and thought it was an easy way out showing work someone else did and showing it for others as your own work.

4/11/12

1 Reply

Waleska’s Text of the Bible
She discussed how the word passed down was not always the same. Also that religion evolved this the New Testament evolved.

Bernise’s Translation of the Bible
I found Bernise’s presentation to b very detailed and very informative. She had so much to share that she HAD to talk fast! But nontheless, there were much discussed: Everyone though that their versionn was from god. There were many translations. Paraphrase were use instead of direct translation. The most interesting thing said was that there were no bible for societies or people that did not have a translated version… Which makes me wonder, how about people that can’t read?

Hannah’s Ruth
Ruth was a few positive female figures/matriarchy present in the bible. Ruth was to make David look glorified and it was a prologue to David. It also gave a message of the importance of family. Good to hear that women are not portrayed as evil and whores like many other females are perceived in the book.

4/9/12

Leave a reply

Elisa’s Joshua
Presentation discussed how Akon gets stoned for disobeying everything God says. How come the others do not get stoned for doing the same? Does God have favors? Why is this not problematic?
Other things discussed were God being a matchmaker for Christians. Also that Jews needs to renew faith because of their laxation. They built an altar to renew convenant…but is that not idoltry?

4/25 Short Books

Leave a reply

Ephisians – Bernice

The Episians were written by the apostle Paul. During the time, Ephesus was in a bad economic state, so Paul goes there on a missionary trip, and gets thrown in jail because the Jews didnt like what he was saying. His teachings were to remind the ephisians of their commitment they have with god and remind them of his teachings. Paul wanted to make sure they werent sinning and to make sure who their god was, because they were making idols. I felt that this book was very interesting, because the Jews are seen as the villians in this context. From my knowledge, the only other place where the Jews are seen in a similar way is in the book of John.

1st and 2nd Timothy – Mark

These were letters from paul to timothy, about how the church should be run and how a good christian should behave. 1st Timothy seeks to establish how a good christian leaders and a good christian should behave. In addition, it also tells how we should pray more and how the bishops and deacons should behave. In 2nd Timothy, Paul is in Jail abandoned by most of his followers. He tells timothy how he should spread the word of christ, and that it doesnt matter who you are or where you come from, because god has a use for you.

A lot of people believe that Paul actually had nothing to do with the lettes and that they were written after his death. Even if that is the case, he teachings still matter and we should continue to take them to heart, because they are good teachings.

1 & 2 Peter – Shawn

These are the last 2 letter as meant of a last wish from peter to paul to quell non believers and to say that the second coming will come. They were written to keep people to their good values and to say how wives should treat their husbands. In 1 & 2 peter, it is the first time where satan is actually mentioned. In addition, there is also the mention of fallen angels. Though Shawn said that this was the first time where satan is referred to, I would like to point out that God also speaks with the devil/satan in the book of Job. Whether or not god actually says the name “satan,” god does speak with the devil.

Corinthians – Michelle

the purpose of this book was to answer a letter from the Corinthians to Paul, questioning his authority. It pointed out problems in the church and how it condemns sexual immorality and says that you may eat food dedicated to false idols, as long as it doesnt harm another christian. Though I am all for the freedom to do what you wish, I am a bit confused by this. Isnt the whole point of any religion that you strictly believe in their god? Even if eating food dedicated to an idol may not harm anyone, it does go against the entire idea of believing in one god. I did like the fact that it also said in this book that each person has a given talent and that they all contribute to christianity and have something to offer. I thought that this was a nice touch to add, and gives a sense of community.

4/20 short books

1 Reply

Hosea, A prophetic Book – Andrew

Hosea is the first of 12 minor prophetic books. Unlike many of the other books we have looked at, I found it very interesting that Hosea is actually the author of this one. God tells Hosea that he wants to destroy israel, so he asks them to repent. This has been seen over and over in the Bible, and can be referred back to sues presentation on the cycle of sin. What is different about this case is that god eventually has compassion and decided that he will not destroy them. I found this to be very interesting, because it is almost as if God is learning from his mistakes, sucha s when he destroyed sodom and the world with the flood.

Jonah – Kia

I thought it was interesting how most of the other prophetic books focused on israel and Judah, but the book of Jonah only focuses on a prophet who is sent to the assyrians in nenevah. In addition, while most of the other names in the bible are very strong, Jonah, meaning dove, is unlike the others. In this book, God asks Jonah to make a prophecy in Nenevah, but Jonah refuses. This is unlike anythign we have seen before in the bible. Instead of arguing with God, or just agreeing, Jonah flat out says no. In response, the lord throws jonah into the belly of a whale, where jonah repents and finally preaches gods word in nenevah. Overall, the message from this story is that when god sends you to do something, you do it, because if you dont, you could become fish food.

Amos – Anne

Amos is the first of the prophetic books. It begins with god promising to revoke punishments for the transgressions of a bunch of nations. God declares that samaria is corrupt and will be surrounded and defeated by enemies. The women of samaria will also be punished for social injustice and arrogance. Amos then has a bunch of visions in which god is destructive. When Amos tells God to stop, God actually does! Unlike Abraham, who had to argue continuously with god, Amos was able to get god  to not bring locusts upon the crops and not bring a shower of fire. However, when god orders a total destruction of israel, he does not stop, but instead says that after the jews have been exiled, he will promise to restore david’s kingdom.