Reflection #9

O Come, All Ye Faithful
is the song I have chosen
In the scripture it says that Jesus is equal to God, but in a form of a bondservant. In the song I have chosen, Jesus is known as Christ the Lord

Come and Behold him, Born the king of Angels
This is a verse from the lyrics of the carol. It states that the Jesus is born and he is the king of Angels and that we should behold him.

Mary- was the birthmother of Jesus and was a virgin
Joseph- Mary's husband who accepted to take care of Mary who is carrying the child of God
The shepards- witnessed the birth of Christ. Shows resemblence of Shepards-Sheep, Jesus-People
Persian Astrologers- they traveled a long way to witness the son of God as a baby. They trusted their instincts and followed the star which led to Jesus.

What type of God comes to earth as a baby?
A God who wants to know if the people are able to belive in a God in a human form

Why, if Jesus' story is true, would God choose this method of coming to His creation?
To check if the people can trust God's word when it is coming directly from God, but of one who is in human form

Islam: Two Perspectives

There were two different articles about facebook. One, from the muslim point of view and one from the other users. The news from the New York Times is about a facebook group that is about Islam being a fake religion. About, muslims reacting to seriously to there cause. The other article was from a site called Islam Online, this news also talks about what the facebook users are saying about Islam and also shows the seriousness of this. Both are about the same things, but one is more supportive and one is more aggresive toward the issue. It both includes facebook and the users who misuse this social networking site. The article from New York Times says a response from the managers of facebook about this outrage by the muslims toward facebook. He said that "The custom of protecting freedom of speech allows people to address belief systems in the harshest terms". In Islam Online it talks about the naive depiction by the Western media makes it easy for "freedom of expression" and says some interviews from muslims about facebook. 

Personal Commemeration

My personal commemeration that Ive chosen is the 2010 psalms lock-in. Every year pslams has a lock-in where the people will do various activities and praise God. It was my first time doing such thingthat I have to open up to other people. I usually try to stay out of things like the lock-in because Ive always thought that its just a simple waste of time because I thought I would of had much more fun spending my time at home. We did some activities to get to know each other, say something good about each other and also have a time to talk to others in a group in seriousness.
During this commemeration I would forget about everything else and just have a enjoying time with others and keeping me just within the group, not using any electronics.

Reflection #6

The Sword of Damocles

                         http://www.myartprints.co.uk/a/felix-auvray/the-sword-of-damocles-1.html

There are three courtiers who served the king, Dionicius. Of the three courtiers, one who is named Damocles was most "king admiring". The king gave Damocles the chance to be a king for one day and be treated like one. But not so long later he realizes that there is a sword above his head hanged by a string which might fall on him any moment.
The moral of the this whole story can probably be shown in just one sentence. It is to show that being rich and powerful among others has a risk and can be very frightening.
I think this myth is for the people who are not much in power or neither rich. It is for them to not want to desire for too many things and that they are ways to be happy just the way they are.

Reflection to Bongwonsa Temple Nature Hike

During the nature walk I realized that it made me feel very refreshing. I think this is the most important part about nature is that it can make you feel very comfortable and also that it helps you be calm. It had been a long time since I ever hiked on a mountian, it felt really good. I always thought there wasn't much to Taoism. After the nature hiked i realized many things that i didnt expect. Before I heard the buddhist explaining all those beliefs and what he belive in. Ive always thought of nature is only a bunch of trees and water on land. The buddhist explained many different Buddahs and because i was privledged enough to translate what he said. I thought I was able to learn a lot more and better. From all i learned from the buddhist I realized that it gave hope to people, gave them right thoughts, and also brought justice to them so that people who did good will live a well next life.

Budhist Meditation Reflection

During 20 minutes of meditating in my bedroom, I had a hard time focusing in the first 5 minutes. After the first five minutes which i felt blank-minded I started to have a serious thought. I thought hard about what i wanted to be when i grew up. I always had a hard time thinking about what i'd like to do if i grew older, due to the constant disturbance of my surroundings. But as i continued to meditate i was thinking and it came to me that I should think about the present and worry about the future later. One other thing that I realized is the nature around us. I was able to hear the sound of leaves in my background and my dog barking and also the sound of the pet birds my sister has. What I usually get disturbed by looked differently and it also made me think about the noises they make and made me think why are they making the noises. Overall, the silent meditation helped me realize things that I never usually tend to think about, and how comforting it can be rather than distracting.

Reflection to Ghandi Movie

Before I watched the movie I thought that there is nothing special about the man Ghandi. As i was watching the movie I noticed that Ghandi was just another man who was determined to change the lifestyle of his race.
He was greatly determined to make his people united and get independance from the British. I never thought a man can have such great determination, such has him fasting for a huge amount of time. He was willing to put his life in stake for the Indians and for the people to be able to unite and become one even though their differences in religion. It really felt abnormal for a man to do all that. It helped me to realize that even a man, not a god, can do all of that.