My project concerns the genocide wars taking place in northern African regions so I am finding it difficult to have the type of impact my heart desires to have. Many of the genocide was that have taken place in the past have lasted for several years and to my dismay the war presently happening in Darfur will mostly like continue the tradition. There has been so much war and bitterness in Africa I am starting to think the people need a mental change and who knows how long that will take. However I am still actively promoting recovery efforts. As I mentioned earlier I have joined an organization that has been very influential in the movement toward peace and I am contacting them to have a presentation at Xavier in the spring. I believe the presentation will inform people that were otherwise in the dark and may be can start a movement toward raising money to send for recovery efforts. Around Christmas time people normally donate items so that less fortunate American citizens can have a Merry Christmas but I believe it would be great time to receive that can change the lives of people in Africa, this fits into the idea and spirit of Christmas. So in the later weeks I am looking to have a confirmed date with the organization Invisible Children and hopefully with heightened awareness raise money or cloths for victims of the war.
A Deuteronomistic Historian would say deem a king good according to his commitment to God. Deuteronomists believe that kings should be really in tuned with God and follow his guidance, as should his people. They believed that God should be above everything. And through his relationship with God his people would be protected and prosperous. They also believed that the king should be physically in charge of protecting his people. And to be a good king Deuteronomist he should be strong enough to lead his army in battle and wise enough to make sound decisions. Deuteronomists were especially concerned with protecting women with no male figure in the home because women were considered weak. Their ideal king is basically a stereotypical hero who posses strength, intellectual power and favor from some sort of higher power.
Contrary to the beliefs of most American George Bush would probably have been an outstanding candidate. Deuteronomists were more concerned with the king’s power and ability to rule. And these are traits that Bush has definitely adapted. He uses is power to demand his way and enforces his will upon everyone sort of like an evil dictator because even though the United States is a democratic nation it is also ran by the almighty dollar and our president certainly has a lot of pull in that area. Deuteronomist also believed that a king should be well in tuned with God, in this aspect bush would also be a good prospect. In many of his speeches he refers to God and the bible, which in ancient times may be seen as closeness to God. However most see Bush’s so called faith as an excuse to further fuel his own agendas. He pretends to be a concerned Christian who wants to save the lives of the Iraqi people but what about the thousands of American soldiers that have died. That leads me to the idea of protecting weak women which is seen in Bush’s cause and Deuteronomist theory of women, Bush has made it publicly known that he wants to bring democracy to the people of Iraq who have suffered at the hands of their dictators. Basically he is saying that he doesn’t believe they are capable of freeing themselves, which is very similar to the ideal that women are weak and needs the kings’ protection. So I am positive that Bush would be an excellent king in Deuteronomist Historian views. The only reason I would think that the historians would have rejected Bush is on the grounds of evangelism, because in their eyes converting people to Christianity was big deal.
Obviously David’s adulterous incident with Bathsheba was the most deceitful thing that he did because it eventually leads to Uriah’s death. After David impregnated Bathsheba, Uriah refused to sleep with her so David had him abandoned by his army in battle. In modern times David’s lust and fornication is widely accepted. In fact we have entire television shows dedicated to knowing the paternity of a child and who slept with whom. It is often said that the sanctity of marriage has been forgotten but I believe that biblical figures were dealing with many of the same problems years ago. David is a symbol of our destined human flaws. And it is very interesting that women then and now are perceived as dishonest philanders.
The Jerusalem temple was a placed that people revered as God’s house, and was viewed as a place of worship. Solomon built it on the Temple Mount. The temple was destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians and rebuilt thirty years later in 516 BCE; it stayed there until the Romans in 70 CE destroyed it. The temple has yet to be rebuilt and most likely will not be due to the religious inconsistency surrounding the temple sight. However the temple walls still remain there today. The temple was a place where worshippers made animal sacrifices to God. Inside the temple there was the holiness of holy room that contained the Ark of the Covenant that faced toward the east in cosmological order. Twelve gates on the north side, four on the south and two on the east and west surrounded the temple.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 7:50 am and is filed under Class Comments, Week 09: Implementation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.