Reflection
1512 words by ntran3
Looking back at the beginning of the semester, my impression of the class was a lot different than what I had expect it to be. It was truly a wonderful experience. I learned a lot from everything from the projects to the blogs. Theology was way more than the Bible in this class. It was not just about theology but also communicating with others, explaining myself and understand concepts. These things are things you will take with you in your daily life and future experiences. Another thing that was improved by taking this class was my writing skills. WOW did we have to write! But the most important idea that I grasp from this class is to help others and to improve the world in any way you possibly can. It has been a wonderful experience and I would not take it back because the concepts that I have learned from this class will lead me to a better future. Going into this class was not what I expect it to be. Biblical studies help you understand more of what is written in the Bible and why it is there. And trust me, you might be proven wrong, I was. The Bible was not written for the purpose it is used for today. The Bible is like another one of your history books that contained events of the past. Notice that I did not say facts. I did not say so because the Bible has been rewritten so many times that there are slight changes in the Bible and we can not truly define what is fact and what has been altered. It has also been handwritten which may cause for details to be left out. I got a chance to learn more about the authors and the reasoning behind why each wrote the stories they did. I realize the impact of how life would have been if the Bible was not written. Stories told would just be like a fairy tale along with Peter Pan and Robin Hook. There is not a such thing as THE Bible either because of the altering. All the Bibles today used within each religion is slightly different from one another. Another thing was that I thought that the Sabbath day was always Sunday but when reading the Bible it was stated that it was the “seventh day” which is Saturday. The Church later changed it to Sunday which is why Saturday is no longer known as the Sabbath day. Many of the churches that broke apart from the Church—Christian—just followed the tradition and had the Sabbath day on Sunday as well. When reading the Bible one should keep in mind that everything said in the Bible should not be taking literally. There are some things that can be questioned. Many scholars believe that the shorter writing is the original writing and also that that less detailed writing is also the original. Details were probably added on later so that the people that read the Bible would have a better vision of what the Bible was describing. Because we had to blog 1500 words every week about the lectures/discussions/ readings and project, it gave us the opportunity to write more. This probably something we probably wouldn’t have done if Dr. Homan did not make us do so. Doing this for 15 weeks really helps you learn how to communicate with people especially when you are trying to prove a point. It also helps you learn to explain things. This also forces you to understand all the concepts that were taught in class. At first I did not understand the point of this project but I do now. Many careers that you are going to pursue will require you to communicate either by writing or orally. By having to do so for this class, it gave us the opportunity to practice something we probably wouldn’t have done on our own. It kept us practicing something we will need for our careers. The last thing about this class is that this class helps you improve the world. Because part of the class is to perform a project that would improve the world, it helped you become a better person. My project helped me understand how fortunate I was to have the life I do and live the way I do. I did not realize how some people lived until the day I started my project. Many people die and starve to death while here I am wasting food. It taught me to be more thoughtful of others and to not take my life for granted. But most importantly, it taught me to help the ones who need it the most. It is not about blogging about it on a site to show people how righteous you are; it is doing it for human kind. More than anything, this project was for me. I am not here to brag about how well I did on my project but I did it for me. I did not think of it this way at the beginning but I do now. Doing something isn’t about bragging about it, it is about doing it for yourself and for your neighbor. That is what life is about. Biblical studies was a truly good experience. It was worth taking. When I first walked into the class the first thing I thought was that I knew everything I needed to know about the Bible and the other was that this would be an extremely boring class. Well trust me, Dr. Homan makes it worth while and worth taking. It makes it a lot more interesting that what I could have imagine. I thought that I would be bored out of my mind, and honestly several times I was (it was probably cause I couldn’t focus due to lack of sleep, STUDY STUDY STUDY) but others times he added a little excitement to all that he teaches which makes it worth sitting in class to learn about. Trust me, he knows what he is talking about too! So this isn’t one of those professors that read from the Module (no offense to those who do! You are wonderful too). He tells you from the top of his head and that is what you need to have in a professor. The best part of class was the fact that Dr. Homan made the class more interesting with his jokes and the way he taught. The worse part was these blogs. I understand that this helped us communicate and improve our writing skills but man it was just doing them! I do not know how the other theology professors are teaching but if they have the same teaching style as Dr. Homan then yes. He taught us many things within this course. It was not just about theology but about doing what is right. With the projects and blogs, it helped me realize a lot. Hopefully everyone else did too. This does deal with my field of study. I am studying pre-pharmacy and it pharmacy is all about helping people. Anything in the medical field is about helping people! With this in mind, this course has helped me learn a lot especially with the project. I learn that there are more people in need in this world. So next time when I complain about something I need I will have in mind that there are people out in this world that truly needs help. It is also that I learn to be considerate with things. Like the stories that were in ACts of the Apostle. Because more and more people were coming for the movement that they were having, many started to sell their properties to help the newcomers survive. Of course today, the chance of that happening is one in a millionth but I learn that I live a good life and there are people out there who do not. When I see a person who needs help, I will be more considerate and try the best I can in to help with what they need. There are so many people out there that do not even have the necessities that are required to live and this makes me feel extremely forunate to have the things I do. But most importantly, it makes me feel grateful that I have the opportunity to help those that needed help. It will be hard to bring the world out of poverty but yet it doesn’t hurt to try either. I know the world will never rid it of poverty but I know that it can be reduced and that is what is important. Doing what you can to help and that is what I will do from now on is do what I can and pray for what I can not.
After writing over 20000 words in this blog I now believe that theology is no joke. Not in Dr. Homan class at least.