Early Chinese History and Taoism

Taoist texts can help us to understand early Chinese history. Taoism was initially different from normal Chinese culture, or Confucianism. Taos believed in celestial masters who supposed to establish a new political structure. One thing found out about the Taos was that they did not use physical objects for worship. This shows that maybe the early Chinese were not able to afford materials to build religious figures in a way to worship them properly. The Taos's writing was a religious canon, which is very hard to decipher.  Taoism was not really recorded yet it shies another aspect of Chinese society.  There is little philological tradition like this in China. The main philological work in Chinese Buddhism, for example, was done by Japanese and Western scholars. They dated the material and produced catalogs. There’s been very little work in Taoism or Chinese religion comparable to the work done on Christianity. For example, you can internally date texts and say this part is earlier than that part. This is common in the Bible, but very uncommon in Chinese texts. This shows that Taoism was not the most popular religion, yet it played an important role in ear,t Chinese culture because of the impacts it had. It's philosophies are still present in our society today and are widely used in many people's lives. 

Is Our World Real?

Today  in class we talked about the simulation theory. This says that we are all living in someone else's or a higher power's universe.  A recent article in scientific America says that there is a 50-50 chance that this is true. So really, we could just be controlled by something else out there. The possibilities are endless. We also  talked about how this relates to our old testament unit that we are studying.  In the Tower of Babel once the people have someone over ridden God he sets the back and confuses their language. Is it possible that when we make a technological advance one day that can prove this theory we will be set back. So what do you think is our world real?

The Holocaust and the Book of Job

Over the last couple of days, we have learned about the Old Testament and the Hebrews in class. Last night, we read the first part of the Book of Job. This is a hit a man named Job. He is very well off and successful until one day, Satan cursed him and he was tortured until he lost his faith in god. He was cursed with sores upon his body and his cattle died. Today, we read a story from the son of a Holocaust survivor. The Holocaust was when Adolf Hitler killed over six million Jews during WWII. In this story, Menachem Daum, the son of Holocausts survivors, tells what it was like for his parents during the hardships and how they stayed faithful to god. In the Book of Job, even when Job is cursed, he still has faith in god and he prayed to get better. In the story of Daum's parents, even when they were taken away, they tried as hard as they could to keep their faith. Even, when it was illegal to pray and be Jewish, they still put on tefillin and said their daily prayers. They are similar because they still had faith in god even in the worst of circumstances. What is different about these two stories is that when Daum's parents stopped praying, they were saved, yet Job was not. Even though it took years for Daum's parents and the Jews to be freed, they were still freed and were given opportunities in the future. Job was cursed and when he lost his faith in God, God lost faith in him. This is how a story of a Holocaust survivor is similar yet different to the Book of Job

The Book of Job

Today in class, we talked about the first part of the Book of Job. In this part of the story, we learn who Job is. He is a man who devotes all of his faith to God. He is very well off. He has a large family that he can support easily and he possesses many animals that help him survive. He was a successful man. That was until one day, God and Satan, the devil, had a conversation about Job. Satan stated, “why does Job fear you for no reason? Why have you blessed him so greatly?” Shortly after this, Job’s servants and cattle are murdered, yet Job still prays to god. Throughout the story, Satan “curses” Job, yet he still keeps his faith in God. That is until he was cursed with sores all over his body causing him great pain. Job cursed the day of his birth and wishes he died during birth. After this, God sees that Job has lost faith in him. This story is similar, yet different to the other stories we read from the Book of Genesis in class. It is similar because God is testing Job to see if he can keep his faith even through the worst of conditions. This also occurred in the story of Abraham and Isaac. In that story, you see Abraham being tested by God when he is told to sacrifice his son. In both stories, God is testing faith in his most trusted people. Although the Book of Job is similar to other stories in Genesis, it is also different. One thing that is different is that in the Book of Job, the “curses” are really aimed towards Job only. In some other stories, the “curses” or “tests” affect other people involved in the story. In the story of Noah, all of his fellow civilians were wiped off the face of the earth. In the story of the Tower of Babel, all of the people were affected because all of their languages got mixed up. This is how the Book of Job is similar, yet different to some of the other stories we studied in the Book of Genesis.