8/29/04

Progress
My progress in this class is so far can be said to be moving slowly but surely. The syllabus and course commitments are very demanding. Dr. Homan has set some very high standards for his students. I just hope that I am able to keep up and meet these standards. So far I have finished the reading assignments for week one, have explored blackboard, viewed course commitments, and registered to blog. However, I am only at three hundred eighty three words in my blog (as of 4:00 p.m. Saturday), and I haven’t even started the reading assignment for week two. The good thing about it is I have only fully answered the first question in week one’s blog questions so I have a lot more questions to answer, which will hopefully give me the two thousand word count I need. If not this progress report should pick up the slack.
As far as my change the world project I’m not really sure what it will be. More then likely it will have something to do with kids, because I love to work with them, and also because the sate that they are in, just within this city, is really a problem. The education system is horrible in New Orleans, so I hear. Which is why I think I will do a project dealing with helping illiterate children, because I know there is a verse in the bible that says without knowledge they perish, or at least I think there is (just not to sure of where it is, maybe you could help me with that). Right now the only solution that I have been able to come up with is to contact a local school and set up a tutoring program for the students or something. Of course this is not a very original plan, but I am still in the thinking process of this project.

Yesterday I attended my first theology class and I am terrified. I already had a few doubts and fears about the subject before; but now that I have actually attended a class and seen the syllabus, I have gone from having a few doubts and fears to just complete and utter shock, alarm, dismay, fright, and any other word that can be used to describe how I feel, completely horrified. The thought of having to blog two thousand words every week, write three five page papers, and read at least sixty pages for each class sends a horrible chill down my spine. The reading and the papers actually aren’t that bad I guess. I mean that’s what college is all about right? But when you ask me to come up with TWO THOUSAND WORDS EVERY WEEK along with the papers and reading that’s when you cross the line. Since you insist on the blogs being two thousand words maybe you could make it a biweekly thing instead of every week; or at least make it just one thousand words every week (which is still a lot of work). Of course this is just a suggestion. I am not telling you this to increase your popularity among the students, because I know you really don’t care about that. However I do know that you care about making the world a better place and that cant happen if you have class full of stressed out students; because stressed out students lead to angry and even suicidal students (I’m not making this up) and I know you do not want to be the cause of that. So please take my suggestions into consideration before it’s too late. (I hope you have a since of humor, although suicide is not a funny matter.)
However, in the mist of all this horror I found the information of the first lecture to be very interesting. The lesson on Lamentations 586 B.C.E. was very interesting. I already knew of the Babylonian capture of Israel but I had no idea that it was so violent and severe. A long time ago the choir at my church sang a song that went “By the waters of Babylon where we sat down and there we wept as we remember Zion. Where the wicked carried us away to captivity required us to sing our song. How can we sing our holy song in a strange land?” (Which is also a verse in the bible). This led me to believe that the Babylonians just nonviolently took Israel captive and carried them away to another land. I was not aware that there was so much violence and bloodshed during this take over. When Dr. Homan spoke of Babylonians sticking poles through the Israelites bodies, chopping off body parts, and the massive graves, I was very surprised.
Before August 24, 2004 I looked at taking theology as a way to better expand my knowledge of the contents of the Bible and learn some facts about it that I never knew. This class seems like it will do that as well as afflict me with much pain, suffering, stress, and many sleepless nights. Now that I have been to two classes so far I expect to learn a great amount of information about the bible. I expect to learn new details of familiar stories that I never knew (like the story of the Babylonian conquest) along with interesting facts about the bible itself (like its origin and many authors). Also I expect to improve my writing and reading skills. Like the old sayings say practice makes perfect, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. After this class (if I make it through) I will be a perfect and stronger writer, because I will be getting a whole lot of practice.
I am taking a theology course because it is a requirement for my major. Introduction to biblical studies was my choice of theology because the bible is a major component of the Christian religion of which I am apart. Although it is a major part of my religion I do not know all that there is to know about. In fact I know less than what I thought. I seem to be learning something new about it each class and I have only been to two so far. So hopefully by the end of this semester I will have a better understanding of the things that I know already and learn of things that I have never heard of.
To me the bible is a book with many purposes. It contains the guidelines for Christian life. The bible is a book of inspiration. Also it is a Christian’s weapon when hardships rise against them. I go to the bible when I am feeling down or like I am approaching defeat. After the first day of class I debated whether or not to stay in this class. The standards and demands of this class just seemed impossible for me to handle; but I remembered a verse in the bible, Philippians 4:13 (KJV), which states, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” So of course I decided to stay in the class, and now I am here writing this blog (lord give me strength and a lot of it!!!).
The study of the bible is very important. Many religions are centered around the bible or some deviation of it. It is a very important book in which many people base their day-to-day conduct on. So it is very important that it is written in a way in which people of today can conveniently read and understand. When the many books of the bible were written they were on long scrolls in the Hebrew language. In fact only certain people were able to read the bible back when it was created. Now that people have researched the bible it is available in many different forms, which makes it easier for a lot of different people to read. Even though it has been translated and converted into different versions it is still important to study the bible. There are so many things in the bible that cannot be understood by just reading it, they require deep study. Also there are many false prophets and teachings and if you do not know what the bible actually says you will fall for anything.
Ever since I could remember I have been in some bodies church. So I have had plenty of encounters with the bible. However, I must say I don’t think they will be anything like the ones I am going to have in this class. I have been an active member of Ebenezer Baptist Church ever since I was seven years old. In those many years I have been and still am a member of the adult and youth choir. I was a faithful student and the secretary of the Sunday school and participated in so many different activities that I can’t even name them all. So there have been several instances where I used the bible. In Sunday school I had to read and study the bible quite often. I learned many things about the people and events in the bible. I even looked a little into Revelations. For two years in a row I participated in an oratorical contest in which I had to use the bible to write a speech on “What Is It To Love”. I also taught a Sunday school class over the summer, which required me to study the bible as well. At one point I knew all the books of the bible but now I get kind of fuzzy around Ephesians. So I guess I can say that I know a little bit about the bible but I am no expert. There are some stories that I know well some I know a little about and some I don’t know at all. Hopefully by the end of this semester I will know them all.
I have read the course commitment and feel that I am capable of fulfilling these commitments. However it is going to be very hard. I know for sure that I will respect my peers and instructor, and follow the cell phone and academic honesty rules. I will try my hardest to abide by the other rules but I can’t say for sure that can do it every day of this semester. I will make a very big effort to attend every class on time and participate in class discussions but I can not promise that this will happen every class. There may be days when I am not feeling well or my karate class, which is right before theology, may run a little over which may cause me to not be on time or not make it to class. Also due to the large amount of energy karate requires I will probably be a little tired in class, which will effect my participation in class. Don’t think that I will be sleeping in the class (on purpose) because that is very disrespectful. I am just saying that I may not be the liveliest person in the class or the best person to call on when seeking an answer from the class (not because I‘m not prepared, but because I‘m tired). Of course there is just a probability that this will happen and hopefully it wont occur but I figure it would be that I informed you of my situation so you wont hold it against me.
Well I believe I have covered each question under week one’s blog and I hope as the semester progresses it will become easier to write these because I found this to be very difficult and very time consuming. I love the lord but I don’t think I’ll be able to say the same about this theology class, but then again they say miracles do happen. I don’t think there will ever be a time when I will enjoy or find this easy to do but maybe it will one day grow on me (yeah right!!) I guess that is all until next time.

I thought I posted this late Saturday night but I do not see anything stating that I did. So here it is again just to be on the safe, and technically it is not late because I was finished and tried to post it Saturday. However if it did go through ignore this statement.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2004 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Project Progress, Week 01: Background. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.