Blog Post #4: Prayer

1. What are new things that you learned about prayer from this unit? Be specific.

Throughout this unit, I learned a lot about prayer and the different ways to pray. First of all, their is not a single way to pray, but many options. Silent prayer, lectio divina, written prayer, recited prayer, and meditation are all ways of praying. Prior to this unit, I did not realize prayer could be done in a casual way. Now I understand, any person can use any available time to pray for the people for the people who they love/who need prayers. In addition, prayer can benefit everyone, even people who are at the top of their religion. Jesus made time in his life to pray, he needed prayer to be courageous and gain strength to go through his daily life. I also learned the steps to prayer, ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). This shows that prayer can benefit any person. Overall, I learned how prayer can be done in any situation, and how it has helped many people.

2. Can you see yourself implementing any new prayer practices?

I have begun implementing prayer into my life with the 21-day gratitude challenge. Not only do I state something I’m grateful for at this time, but I think of the people who need love and support. This is my way of stating my intentions. Intentions are something I would like to make more time in my life to acknowledge. From now on, I would like to implement prayer into my daily life more often. After taking a moment to state something I am grateful for, I will partake in 60 seconds of meditation. This will allow me to pray for everything in the world, and reflect on my day. I think implementing this prayer practice in my life will allow me to expand my gratitude for the world around me.

3. What were the main messages you got from the movie The Case for Christ?

From the movie, I was able to grasp the importance religion holds to some people. Religion gave Leslie support in times of need, just as it gives ordinary people support in hard times. Not only this but in the movie Lee challenged aspects of Catholicism. Thus showing, people challenge aspects of religion in daily life, it is not certain for everyone. People want proof for ideas in order to believe in them, yet faith may never be provable, which is a main message in the movie. Faith is something that one must take a chance to believe in. Differing opinions on this can break apart relationships, such as the relationship between Leslie and Lee. No matter the ideas proven or unproven about faith, people will have distinct opinions about what they believe in.

4. What new things did you take away about yourself from this unit, perhaps from Lectio Divina, the Gratitude class, the meditation, or the movie?

Throughout this unit, I was able to do a lot of self-reflecting. There is so much in my life to be grateful for. Through the “50 things I’m grateful for” activity I was able to see all the things/people I have in my life that mean so much to me. In addition, the meditation period allowed more time for reflection of how lucky I am to live the life I have. I’ve grown up in an amazing family and have always been surrounded by friends who can make me laugh. Overall, this unit allowed me to look back on my life and realize how lucky I am.

Multimedia Source:

This picture is how I am growing to feel every day. With the 21 day grateful challenge I am able to realize that today, and everyday, I have something to be grateful for.

Source: Elder, Cindi. “Grateful Signs!” Pinterest, 23 Feb. 2017, www.pinterest.com/pin/140807925830975633/.

Blog Post #3: The 4 Gospel Writers

1. Throughout the presentations, I learned a lot about the four different writers of the Gospel. First off, each writer wrote to a different group of people (Mark-Gentiles, Matthew- Jewish and Christian communities, Luke- Jesus' followers, John-Christians/Disciples). The original language of all four Gospels is Greek. In addition, the Gospels were written in different time periods, each time period reflected the writer's knowledge about Jesus. Mark and John wrote their Gospels before 70 AD, they both were considered eye witnesses of Jesus. On the other hand, Luke and Matthew wrote around the 80/90s, making them second hand sources. Luke and Mark's Gospels have inspiration from the other two writers since they were not their to witness Jesus themselves. The writers each had a purpose in their writing as well. Mark and Luke chronicled the order of events in Jesus' lifetime. Overall, each presentation taught me a lot about the Gospels.

2.  The Gospel readings from class showed the same story written by different authors (Mark, Matthew, Luke, John). Each Gospel followed the same basic story and ended with a closing line about Jesus. Although the closing messages weren't the same in every story, they showed how the Jesus appeared to the author. Matthews Gospel is heavily inspired by Mark's Gospel. The two men agreed that the revolutionaries mocked and abused Jesus. Luke and John's Gospels were very detailed oriented and both with with the closing line "it is finished." The Gospel's all hold similar stories within them. 

3. Although in the readings, the Gospel are telling the same story, each author interpreted the story differently. Luke's Gospel mentions the blood and water that flowed out of Jesus' body, none of the other Gospels mention this. In addition, Luke's Gospel mentions Jesus is the Son of God by mentioning the Old Testament. The other Gospels do this is a more direct manner. In Matthew's Gospel he mentions that during Jesus' crucifixion, the tombs were open. The other Gospel do not go in depth on this topic. Being that the Gospels weren't all written in the same time period with the same background knowledge, it makes sense that the writing's each follow a slightly different storyline. 

4. I would prefer to read Mark's Gospel. I would most likely believe a first hand source, rather than a second hand source that gathered information from other places. This left me with two options, Mark or John. The reason I chose John's Gospel is because is most closely aligns with the other Gospel's, making it believable. Where as, John's story has many details not stated in the other Gospels, making it possible that these details were made up. In addition, his purpose was to order the events from Jesus' life which I would want to know more about. The one reason Mark's Gospel would be hard for me to read, is because it is meant for people who are unfamiliar with the Jewish religion. I have grown up learning a lot about Judiasim. In total, Mark's Gospel would be the best option for me.

Multimedia Source: 

This video explains the reasoning behind each of the Gospels. It explains why we have four, instead of just one. In addition, it is very information about each of the authors. Overall, this video is a good source to learn about the Gospel and it's writers.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggIXPM8syhI