Jenny Cheung, Pd 2, 12/21/2020, Day A

 Jenny Cheung, Pd 2, 12/20/2020, Day A

Reading & Learning

Write about your thoughts regarding the most current reading.

Right now, our topic revolves around religion, specifically Christianity. I have never read the Bible nor am very knowledgable about it as well. As an atheist, I have an outside perspective on Christianity because of the high percentage of religious people in the US, which is kind of like looking into a window from outside a house. Reading excerpts from religious texts gives a different insight on the thought processes of Christians. While these excerpts don't give the whole picture, they are interesting in how they portray the apocalypse as the downfall of humanity (specifically the heritics/atheists) in the Book of Revelations. It is a bit confusing without the context of what triggered the end of the world and how life will continue after it but the scene is awe-inducing when describing the monsters (4 horsemen of the apocalypse) and the hell rained down upon Earth (the angels blowing the trumpets). The use of the word "Lamb" is also interesting because the Lamb is Jesus Christ who will lead the true believers to safety considering the connotations of the word. Lamb are the young of sheep which are constantly metaphors to describe people who follow and not lead and serves to demonstrate how words have different meanings that shift over time (i.e, awesome). 

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

Learning not just about the Book of Revelations but also the Book of Job, it really does give a new context and light on the morals and values of Christians but also how the values of Christianity have shifted over time (or just in the ways people interpret the religious texts). It can give valuable insight on current events and gives a different perspective. Through a new perspective, you can understand people through a deeper level and connect with them. For example, learning about the Book of Job and the deeper connection people have with their faith allows me to understand more about why people can have such a deep attachment to it. Job never curses out God after having horrible things happen to him in a test to shake his faith and fails to understand why it happened to him. God's answer is to speak to him in a storm and tell him that he will never understand what he does because God is omnipotent and the creator of wonderous things that humans will never know of. This satifies Job and he goes on to have a fufilling life where all his material goods are restored by twicefold. I don't have this deep connection to my faith but through this reading it has helped me understand why some people's faiths are unshakeable and what exactly they believe in. 

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

The morals and lessons taught in these books are commonplace as religious allegories and allusions are featured heavily in contemporary times. Learning about the source material serves to give a deeper understanding to these allegories and allusions and shine a different light on them. Also, (although this is a very niche problem) it is almost ironic to see evangelical Christians give their takes on the election results because of how they almost weaponize their faith to protest election results and how they promise an apocalypse almost like the one described in the Book of Job due to the new president-elect. While just a small population of people, there has been always been a very loud minority of people who interpret original readings to fit their own views in order to weaponize their faith or to use it for the betterment of people.