Maternal Filicide

In class lately we have been reading the play Medea. In this play, the main character medea goes through a breakup with her husband. She risked everything for her husband and now he has left her. In order to take revenge she plots on killing her husbands new bride, and their two sons. The killing of Medea's own children is called maternal filicide. In particular, "spouse revenge" filicide. This type of filicide is where the mother kills her children in order to get revenge on her spouse. Maternal filicide call also be derived from mental illness. Such as voice in someone's head, or the inability to take care of ones children. Either way medea is contemplating this horrible act. At this point we are not sure what she will do to her children.

Taoism

Taoism is the philosophy/religion that was created in ancient china. The best analogy to taoism is a flowing river. You may try to resist the river and climb upstream but eventually you flow in the same direction. In life, you are always meant to arrive at a certain point, you can resist that or let it happen. Taoist texts help us to deepen the understanding of anchient china by showing us their mindset. They believed in a great after life, so no matter what happened in life everyone would arrive at the same afterlife, with or without resistance. This is interesting because it is similar to the phrase "Go with the flow."

Is Our World Real?

Today in class we questioned whether or not the world we live in is real. Recently there was a conference in new york city with some of the most knowledgeable scientists. They arrived at the conclusion that there is a 50/50 chance that we are living in a virtual reality. I am unsure if i agree with this hypothesis. It is really scary to think that today might just be a figment of someone's imagination. At the same time i want to believe that the world is just as i always thought it was.

Faith

Today i read about a holocaust views article. In this article there was a very interesting perspective. It showed how a mans parents, who both survived the holocaust, had very different view on faith. The mother, resented what god had done and demanded justice, while the father believed in the greater good. He believed that us humans could not possibly understand gods ways. This is very similar to a biblical story we read. The book of Job. It is the same kind of test of faith. I don't think i would have been able to keep my faith after such a tragic experience. I agree with what somebody said in the article. That it is a miracle that some people survived Auschwitz and still have faith in god.

The Book of Job

Today in class we looked at a different bible story not from genesis. This was the book of Job. Mr. Reiff pronounced it "Jobe" which rhymed with probe. Oh well i'll just say it how it looks. In this story satan and god make a bet. This is the first time i have ever read, or heard about satan and god openly conversing, seems kinda odd. The bet they make is whether or not Job will stay pious even without out all of materialistic items, or even his health. This is very similar to the other stories we learned about because god is testing how much the people love him and have faith. This is a little different however because the person being tested, job, is actually being physically hurt, through disease and torture. I found this story pretty disturbing but quite interesting. This question keeps arising in my mind. If god is all knowing, then why does he constantly feel the need to test his followers faiths?Doesn't that seem odd?

Highschool

So far, the best thing about highschool is definitely lunch. Before highschool, lunch was horrible. We would sit down for half an hour and then play outside for ten minutes. And don't even get me started on the food. The same cardboard food everyweek. But not anymore, in highschool we can do whatever we want. Its an open campus and going outside for lunch is awesome, i have an awesome variety of lunch foods from pizza to chinese food. However the worst thing about highschool is definitely the amount of time i end up spending at school. Yesterday i was at school from 8 in the morning to 9 at night. I didn't go home once. School ended at 3, then i had a volley ball game until 6:30, then homework until 7, and then jazz band from 7 to 9. The amount of time i spend at school is insane, but at least im tired enough at night that i fall asleep in minutes.

Indirect Characterization of God *Bible Spoiler Alert*

Today in class we made a mind map about the indirect characterization of god. In doing this i realized a few things. one of which is that god is really powerful, if he is unhappy, he just thinks about something and its done. He wiped all life off of the face of the earth faster then i could blink, that's some serious power. Another thing i found really suprising was how god was portrayed. I expected god to be an almighty being that knew everything and controlled everything. Instead he is portrayed as human like. He has emotions just like humans, he feels angry guilty and more. He feels angry when the people of earth are not obeying his commands and worshipping him. However he also feels guilty when he realizes what he has done, so he makes a covenant with Noah's family never to flood the earth like he did. Another thing i found interesting was how god felt in debt to noah, so when noah wanted to punish his son canaan god kind of obeyed him. He made canaan in to noah's son's slave.

After reading the first three chapters of Genesis I think I understand the answer to mr. Reiff's question. Who's fault is it that Adam and Eve were kicked out of heaven? I believe that it was gods fault for two reasons. One, because he tempted Adam and Eve by telling them that this trees fruit was wonderful, and gave knowledge, but they cannot eat it. God clearly wants them to eat it. Two, God was the one who created the snake, and if he created the snake to be so tricky he should have known this would happen. Also God is supposed to be all knowing, so he would know this was going to happen. Overall I think it is gods fault, and he wanted Adam and Eve to be kicked out of Eden. The reason for this was I think because he didn't want Adam and Eve to become as powerful as he is from eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge.

Flood Story

The flood story I learned about was from China. It started in the same way as the Sumerian flood story, with the gods being angry at people for their misbehavior. The gods then flooded the earth. However the Chinese people were not told to build a boat, instead they lived high in the mountains, fighting against wild animals for resources. Finally the people grew tired, so a man named gun went to heaven and stole the growing earth. This would make land and stop the flood. But the gods caught him and punished him by killing him with fire. But his body did not decay, from his body came his son, yu, a horned dragon. The gods were afraid of yu and finally gave up the growing earth. This flood lasted 22 years. This story was similar to the story of utna pishti yet very different. It lasted 22 years, there was no boat, and no single person was chosen to survive. The stories were similar because both groups of gods were mad at the people, both stories had a savior, and both stories involved a fight for survival. These stories were both clearly very similar, however very different.

Source; Talkorigins.org

Pilot

What do I think of this blog? I think it sucks. I'm just kidding. It actually seems like a pretty good idea. I like the idea that I now have a global audience, but I definitely don't think I would have created this blog if it wasn't an assignment from my English teacher mr. Reiff. My names Nick Terbancea, I go to the Roslyn High School, I play sports everyday, whether it's volleyball, tennis, or basketball, and I am being held against my will to write this blog. I better get a hundred on this.