Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God: "After viewing 'The Nativity Story', analyzing your chosen Christmas carol, and reading Philippians 2:1-7, reflect on the meaning of Christma..."

Silent Night, Holy Night

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

“Silent Night, Holy Night,” is the song that I chose for Christmas carol. In this song, the first part of the lyric explains the scene where Mary is close to the baby Jesus while other people like Joseph, shepherds, three men surrounding them. Then it goes on saying that Jesus is from the holy heaven, and saying that Jesus is the Saviour, who would sacrifice and help others for good. As the song finishes, it says that Jesus is the 'son of God'.

In both the movie The Nativity Story and the Philippians 2:1-7, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and Persian astrologers all plays important parts. Mary, obviously, is important because she gave birth to baby Jesus. Joseph, even though he is not the father of Jesus, helped Mary by protecting her and taking her safely to the Bethlehem. The shepherds also played a big role in the story because they were the witness to see the baby to be born and they were symbolizing the poor, which shows that Jesus would help them. Lastly, the 3 Persian astrologers gave Jesus three gifts- gold, myrrh, and frankincense.

God can be explained as scarification, love, and passionate. I think God chose to sent Jesus in human form down to earth to show human beings that God is always with all. Also i believe that God wanted to show his love and care for people.

Kelvin's MRE Blog: Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoratio...

Kelvin's MRE Blog: Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoratio...: "Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7: 'Think of an event in your life- past, present or future. You are going ..."'

The first article that I chose is about the reactions of the U.S. people to the "Koran Burning". The Koran Burning is what it reads, the burning of Koran books. The U.S. church decided to burn the Korans on the 9/11 anniversary, saying "Islam is religion of the devil." The U.S. reactions is devided, either supporting or disobeying. However, most of the Chirstians and many other believers agreed with burning the Koran. Only few parts of people disagreed with it. Also, some of the professionals warned the church about having a great impact after it spreads.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/seealso/2010/09/us_reaction_to_pastors.html

On the other hand, the article that I found about the reactions of Afghanistan to the Koran burning was very serious. They protested the burning plan, torched U.S. flags, and started to have a little conflicts between them. Afghans also stated that "if the Koran is burned, then it would be the beginning of destruction of America." Like this sign, the Afghanistan took this event as a important problem and acted fiercely.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100909/ap_on_re_as/quran_burning_reaction

These two articles show both similarities and differences, but mostly differences. The Christians and Muslims both think of each other as evil during Jones' Koran burning. Also, they both started to distrust, threat, and warned each other.

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7: "Think of an event in your life- past, present or future. You are going to create a commemorative ritual for this event. First, describe the ..."

The most important event in my life that I would likely to commemorate is my (high school)graduation day. There are two reasons for this. First of all, it is because graduation happens only once in my life, and it gives people new start as becoming an adult. The other reason is because then I would have to leave South Korea, the place that I lived in most of my life, and hopefully leaving to the State. On that day, I would look at SFS at first, then I would stay at my home city- Suwon- during the last day that I stay before leaving.

The quote I would like to make for this special day is:

"You will start a new fresh life, gaining more responsibility and freedom. You shall know how to act upon your people around you. Now as an adult, you will open the door to a new world."

The Morality of Greek Myths- Reflection #6

http://www.warlandia.it/asp/articoli.asp?action=mostra&ID=522
Chimera- Pegasus, the Winged Horse

     The main character in the story Pegasus, the Winged Horse is named Bellerophon. He is a noble and trustworthy man who goes through hard times after he meets Anteia. After the long journey, King Lobates send Bellerophone to kill the monster Chimera, so that he will lose to the ugly beast and get killed. However, with Minerva's help he gets to fight as riding the Pegasus. Since Bellerophone got more advantages then Chimera because he was riding on the winged horse, he gets the victory and receives numerous of reward. As he enjoys everyone's respect for him, he thought of himself as one of the Gods and overacted by stating he's got the ultimate power. However, the god Jupiter sees this disrespectful man and strucks Bellerophone with thunder and ends in tragic.

     This story contains countless numbers of morals, and there are two main ones that I came up of. But to sum up, the main moral is that always respect the Gods and never look same or down on them. This is shown in the story clearly at the end. In the beginning Bellerophone was a loyal young man who was modest and did right things every time. However, after he won the monster and earned a wife and lived in a nice surrounding, he still wanted to join the gods at the Olympus. This disrespectful action causes his miserable ending and gives disappointment to the readers for totally changed personality comparing beginning and the end.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk: "After visiting the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist, answer this question: What is it about creation,..."

After looking at the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa, I got to know why people spend their time trying to look for their religion. Although there are numerous of reasons, I think that the basic reason is to "understand the world better". Since it is now 21st century, the technologies are highly developed and it is very helpful for people to find new discoveries. However, there are still many mysteries that scientist cannot answer. Instead, the answers can be found in the religions depending on which you believe in. For example, the two most common questions that every people come up with at least once in their life is "Where do people go after death?" and "How was human being formed or created?" These questions cannot be answered by using technology or anything else except for religions. Such as, if you believe in Buddhism, then it means that what you are believing in is 'reincarnation'. Also Christians believe that the Earth, human beings, and any other living and nonliving things are created by God based on the Bible. Anyways, I think religion is also just a myth in my opinion because I am an atheist. However, this is only in my perspective, and everyone have their own thinking about the relationships between religion and mysteries.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

On Saturday afternoon, I did my meditation in my bed room. During the meditation, numerous of things came into my mind. At first, I just sat in my chair with nothing in mind. Then my back started to hurt, so I begun to think about the next week of the school. Like, the tests and quizzes I have to study for, assignments that are due the next week, and all other school related stuff. However, that couldn't fill in the whole time because there was still about ten minutes left. So I then tried to think of something, and I got to think back of my memories. All things about schools, friends back in America and in Korea, my family, vacations, my favorite time, the time when I barely died etc. After all the flashbacks, it already passed 20 minutes, and as I stood up, I felt my back aching. Now I realized that it is actually very hard to concentrate and actually sit somewhere quietly with your mind blanked. But still, I think it is a nice idea to have a time where you can be in silence without any distractions for about half an hour.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist: "In class, your small groups went over movie questions about the content in Gandhi. You should know who each of the main characters are and t..."

As a lot of people know, in the movie “Gandhi”, Gandhi’s idea of Hinduism was basically based on peace, equality, and sacrifice. Even in desperate situations, Gandhi chooses all the nonviolence in the movie. He never uses violence in the movie even in a fight. Equality is shown by his decisions that were made, to make everything fair for everyone. For example, in the movie Gandhi chooses to travel in 3rd class, saying as if he prefers to be fair and equal. Lastly, Gandhi shows sacrifice many times in the movie. For example, he sacrifices his marriage, son, religion, and himself, by saying he is always ready to sacrifice whenever he needs to. Gandhi’s ideas and values influenced numerous of people.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS.” said Gandhi. I think this quote really shows how Gandhi lived out his faith, because of several reasons. As I mentioned before, Gandhi is a no violence person, who is trying to understand others and love others. In the movie, when Gandhi is in a struggle, he tries to solve it peacefully. This prove that this faith leads Gandhi to a person who he is.