Easter! (Why we celebrate it and more)
1123 words by gabby19
I am so glad that Dr. Homan let us combine these three blogs into one. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to write them all separately. I have a pretty good idea that they probably would not be done, I am just lazy like that. There are too many words. So anyway on to the blog!
Thanks everyone for you encouragement and support. I am glad that you all think I have done at least something with my project. I was afraid that all my work would have gotten in the way. I hope my friends will spread along the message just like I did to them. I do hope that my project can be furthered along next semester. I even hope to possibly get in on wellness week, if they have one next year. I am not totally sure, but I will look into it.
My project is coming along fairly nicely if I do say so myself. Like in week 9, I have not done all the things I wanted to do, but I am getting there. I have decided to copy the quick I got from my dorm during HIV/AIDs awareness week and test my friends on what they know. The answers are on the back, so they can see how much they really know about this disease. That might bring it home about what kind of information you are not getting.
As of what my project has done to improve the world, I have to think about it. I would like to say it helped young people get more informed about the issue of HIV and STDs and that might lower the number of new cases we see each year. I know little me will not accomplish that but if I can get more people involved the word can spread. We might start see less people contracting these diseases and dying from AIDs each year. I know there have been medications developed to help extend the life of an AIDs infected person, but not getting it in the first place might do a lot of good.
The differences between source and textual criticism are somewhat hard to find. If you first look at them they seem to be similar. However, textual criticism is the study of manuscripts to see which one is older. Take for example to Vulgate and the Leningrad Codex. In textual criticism they were both looked at to determine that the codex was older. In source criticism they are trying to establish which source was used by the author in order to compound a certain text.
The story Tobit is ultimately about a man named Tobit, his son Tobias, and a woman named Sarah. The problem with Sarah is that every time she gets married a demon comes along and kills her husband on their wedding night. After losing seven husbands to this demon she prays for death. Tobit lives in a place farther away from Sarah. The problem with Tobit is that after sleeping outside one day a bird poops in his eye and he goes blind. This puts a strain on his marriage and he starts to pray for death. Tobias is sent away by his father to get some money he left in another town. Tobias takes a companion who unknowingly to him is the angel Raphael. On his journey Raphael kills a giant fish that attacks Tobias and they cut out its heart, liver and gall bladder. When they arrive in the town Raphael tells Tobias about Sarah. They get married and upon the instruction of Raphael burn the live and gall bladder. This keeps the demon away. When Tobias returns home Raphael then instructs him to use the gall bladder to cure his father’s eyes. I think the main message of this story is to never give up hope and that god will always send help when you need it.
The Macabees were a group of people led by a man named Judah Macabee. He along with his army led a successful revolt against Antiochus II. Antiochus had issued a decree that forbad all Jewish religious practices. After winning they entered Jerusalem and ritually cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem. They then reestablished the traditional Jewish worship there. The story of Hanukah comes from this rebellion.
I think that Jesus was very counter cultural. His views went against all the ones the people wanted in a messiah. He did fit two of the criteria that the people were looking for; he was a descendent of David and was born in Bethlehem. It is the third criteria, however, that made him so different. The people wanted a messiah who would be like a judge in fight the Romans. Jesus did not want anything to do with that. One of his main messages was ‘love thy enemy’. The people did not want a pacifist, they wanted some one to fight for them and Jesus was not that person. I do not think my project is counter cultural in any way. In the last couple of years mainstream America has caught on to the fact that STDs and AIDs are becoming a major problem. Now if I were in say, the 70s and 80s when the AIDs virus was first discovered I do not think that people would listen to me. It was after all dubbed the ‘gay man’s virus’ and “normal” people did not think they could get it. Thank god we hit the new millennium.
Jesus was crucified for one reason; the Romans did not like him. As soon as Jesus stepped his toe into Jerusalem he was watched like a hawk. They wanted to find any reason to arrest him. They did not like him saying that he was the son of God or that he was the king of the Jews, so they wanted him gone. It also did not help Jesus that he had a traitor in his midst by the name of Judas Iscariot. Judas sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. They finally arrested Jesus when overturned a money table in the temple, I am guessing that was a crime (go figure). After going through to trials Jesus was then sentenced to death via crucifixion. His wrists and ankles where nailed to the cross and he had a sign on it that read ‘Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews’. The crucifying was done to send a message to everyone that the Romans were unstoppable. And after that we all know the story. That’s why we celebrate Easter! But that was a real horrible way to die.