Monday, April 30th

Today we started off with prayer by Courtney and Kyara. They prayed about the end of the month, school year, and all of our stresses we may have. Next, we got two packets, one called  "Christianity in View" that has comparisons between Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The second one was about the history of Orthodoxy.

The next thing we did was watch a video clip of a talk about life on Oprah by a speaker who had only a couple months to live. His main points were:

-Brick walls are there for a reason
-People vs. Things (material items)
-Tigger vs. Eeyore (enthusiastic about life, or complaining)
-Work/Play well with others
-Apologizing
-Show Gratitude
-Don't complain/work harder
-He spoke about this for his three kids

The last thing we talked about was summing up what Eschatology is. It is the study of the last things (heaven, hell, purgatory, Kingdom of God, etc.) "Death will not have the final word" means the legacy of people on Earth will live on. It is not an ending place- everything Christianity stands for is for life after death. "One who has hope lives differently" means if you live your life for a purpose, you will be focused and have a different attitude. If you know something is coming you will act a certain way. Revelation 21:4 means Gods conquers all things evil in Heaven. There will be complete and total justice where God has what he intended in the beginning to be. Faith vs. Works is about salvation. Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism believe these two are important but are not a one time deal- it is an ongoing process. Protestantism believes you must have faith.

Tuesday, April 17th

Today we started talking about Christianity. We discussed the three main questions about faith: What is the Sacred? Where are we going? What should we do? We brainstormed and wrote on our piece of paper everything we knew, and then wrote them on the whiteboard. After reading, we discussed the main ideas of Christianity and what we had written. Then we were given two handouts: one about Thomas Aquinas Five Proofs and Pascal's Wager.

Each cirumlectio group was assigned a proof to read over and explain to the rest of the class. Our's was the last: the Intelligent Designer. This said that many things lack intelligence and therefore must have been directed by something intelligent so the world must have had an intelligent designer which is God.

1. First Mover: there must have been a first mover to have caused other things to move- God
2. First Cause: there must have been a first cause because other things are caused- God
3. Necessary Being: not everthing is contingent, so there is a necessary being- God
4. Greatest Being: some things are greater than others, so there must be a greater degree of greatness- God
5. Intelligent Designer: look above

Pascal's Wager, from Pensees, talks about his rationale for why everyone should believe in God and why they will have a certainty of gain.

Thursday, March 29th

Today we read an article called "Man's Search for Meaning." We discussed with a group what the three phases were: the period following his admission, the period when he is well entrenched in camp routine, and the period following his release and liberation. This article is about a man in a concentration camp talking about the symptoms of the phases and how a man is affected by the concentration camps. The first phase brings shock and delusion- he thinks he is going to be fine. The second phase brings a "necessary mechanism for self defense." It deals with apathy; they begin to only care about their own survival and become detached. The third phase deals with the psychology of the prisoner who has been released. They desire to regain their humanity. This is from "Experiences in a Concentration Camp." Viktor Frankl spent his time in Auschwitz as a prisoner. My group was surprised that other prisoners were working crematoriums jobs and when they also received them from the train. The "delusion of reprieve" is clinging to false hope that they will survive when they are about to die. Some prisoners were supplied with liquor because they were friends with the S.S. and had access to it. Frankl says the mental agony was worse than physical pain because they were occasionally beaten but were in constant fear of being killed. Frankl experienced love with his wife- love is ultimate goal for man. The released prisoners wanted to eat a lot and talk about their experiences and Frankl "became human again" meaning he was able to feel again.

The next thing we did was break off into groups and  listen to the Elie Wiesel speech. He is a Holocaust survivor who gave this speech on April 12, 1999 hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Elie was deported in the summer of 1944 to Auschwitz in occupied Poland. Wiesel was liberated by American troops in April 1945 and moved to Paris, became a journalist, then later settled in New York. He has written over 40 books including Night, a chronicle of his Holocaust experience.

Class of April 23rd

To be completed...This post serves as a placeholder showing that Jimmy is aware of the fact that he should have written a post for this day already.