So, its been a while since you last read a sensible and noteworthy blogpost on my blog(not including the Theology and History papers)and I am afraid that you will have to wait a little while longer because I am using this post(hahaha!) for a much needed record of the books I have read(or perused) since January in no order. Enjoy!
Free Reading:
The Blue Castle By LM Montgomery
Third Girl By Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot's Christmas By Agatha Christie
Funerals Are Fatal By Agatha Christie
Murder At the Vicarage By Agatha Christie
Peril At The End House By Agatha Christie
Postern Of Fate By Agatha Christie
Sleeping Murder By Agatha Christie
Murder With Mirrors By Agatha Christie
Ten Little Indians By Agatha Christie
Elephant's Can Remember By Agatha Christie
At Bertram's Hotel By Agatha Christie
Death on The Nile By Agatha Christie
A Pocket Full of Rye By Agatha Christie
Strong Poison By Dorothy L Sayers
Gaudy Night By Dorothy L Sayers
Busman's Honeymoon By Dorothy L Sayers
Nine Tailors By Dorothy L Sayers
Have His Carcass By Dorothy L Sayers
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson
Betsy, Tacy And Tib(series) By Maud Hart Lovelace
The Light Princess By George MacDonald
Showboat By Edna Ferber
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Emma By Jane Austen
Vicar of Wakefield By Oliver Goldsmith
Nooks and Crannies By Jessica Lawson
A Girl from Yamhill By Beverly Cleary
Stalky & Co. By Rudyard Kipling
Hot Water By PG Wodehouse
Jeeves Omnibus By PG Wodehouse
Kirstin Lavansdatter
The Enchanted Castle By E. Nesbit
Five Children And It By E. Nesbit
Mother Teresa of Calcutta By Fr. Leo Maasburg
Watership Down
Everything That Rises Must Converge And Other Stories By Flannery O' Connor
Wise Blood By Flannery O'Connor
The Violent Bear It Away By Flannery O' Connor
Anne Frank's Diary
Joan of Arc By Mark Twain
Tuck Everlasting By Natalie Babbit
The Little White Horse By Elizabeth Gouge
Put Out More Flags By Evelyn Waugh
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency By Alexander McCall Smith
Freshman Year:
The Complete Works of Plato
The Iliad By Homer
The Odyssey By Homer
The Histories By Herodotus
History of the Peloponnesian War By Thucdidyes
Animal Farm By George Orwell
After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning By Dr. Ian Wilmut
As you can see, a gross amount of mysteries, a sprinkling of Greek History and Literature, and a bit of Comedy.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Monday, June 26, 2017
Never Before Seen Photos
Last summer seems like yesterday. Those were the good old days, sniff sniff. Time to make more memories! This July, besides visiting with our beloved family, we will be traveling to Idaho for a Steubenville University Reunion. And we(as in our Dad)will be fixing up a house on Main Street. Abel has already christened it, "Junk House". See ya round!
Monday, June 12, 2017
Semester 1 History
Part Three. Essay.
Pericles said early in the war, "My own opinion is that when the whole state is on the right course it is a better thing for each separate individual than when private interests are satisfied, but the state as a whole is going downhill." Is Pericles correct, or not? Explain. Use the United States' present position or history to defend your case.
Pericles is correct. He is dissatisfied with the state leader’s favoritism of individuals and what comes out of preferential treatment of the separate person. The right course to take would be to search the relevant needs of the country and make a decision which will be for the benefit of all the people. But who determines the needs of the country? Why is an individual’s views favored over others?
The foundational understanding of what is best for society has been lost. If we each disagree what is best for society, how are we to make decisions for the whole? Pericles is correct if society has a unified understanding of the common good.
Instead, the government determines what is best for themselves. And this false act has influenced the legalization of abortion, gay-rights, and euthanasia. The US government will only listen to a select few who are considered of the important class. No thought or respect is given to the people of lower standards who lack proper housing, clean water, and cleanliness. They deem the right of the public to be of highest importance but they only pay attention to themselves and their appearance to other countries. This self-indulgence is also shown in the past presidential elections. The people, as a whole, do not really have a say in the decision of a new president. It is decided primarily on the social merits and virtues of the candidate. The candidates appeal to the people by saying they will build up the country and make it a better place. They are not meaning they will listen to the needs of the citizens, instead they are meaning another campaign to stop ISIS, or to put a tax on foreign goods. Thousands of lives have been lost because of self-indulgence. Not only through abortion but also because of wars and terrorist attacks. I think that the reason the individuals needs are favored over others is because most of the time, the person will bring up an issue which is far more ‘pleasing to the ear’ than that of the citizen’s problems.
Roe vs. Wade(1973) was the US Supreme Courts decision on the issue of abortion. It was decided with another case arguing the same topic Doe vs. Bolton. The court decided that a woman had the right to choose up until the third trimester when an abortion was prohibited. The history of abortion laws in the United States goes back to the year 1821, when the act of abortion was criminalized in Connecticut. Justice Harry Blackmum noted that abortion was even common in Greek and Roman times. Abortion, providing woman with a choice to choose, was one of the first issues to separate the people of the US, and surrounding countries. Roe v. Wade disregards what is best for the individual because of the child. This is one of the many ways society is grossly self-centered.
It is a private interest that society is not going downhill. First of all, as soon as we reach the age of reason, we are able to differentiate from right or wrong. There are many people who confuse right and wrong with what they would like. In this way, moral understandings are not unified. People think that what is good for you is indulgence and in reality the only thing we can determine is what is best for society. Second, who really believes the act of abortion is right? Not only does it kill the baby, it hurts the woman and hurts society as a whole. The basis of a mother’s existence is to nurture life. Not all woman know what they are doing. Either they were taught as a child that abortion was the right choice, or they were mislead and thought it was an escape from unhappiness. This concept applies to the act of euthanasia, or mercy killing. Some people want to escape all the chaos and unrest of the world. How can our country become unified if so many people want to escape it?
This disunity makes us all weaker. If we all would work together, we could become strong and fearless, but instead we are afraid to say things.
There is even disunity within the Catholic Church. We can see that, especially this year of 2017, when four cardinals criticized Pope Francis I encyclical, Amoris Latetia. Individuals created an opinion that fortified invisible barriers between Catholics.
Pericles worried about a city-state, we have to worry about a nation which has no sense of unity.
Semester 1 Theology
Semester 1 Exam Part Three. Essay. (12 pages) How is Jesus the crown and fulfillment of the Old Testament?
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus perfectly explains his mission in one sentence, “Don’t think I came to destroy the law, or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy but to fulfill.” The Old Covenant of the Jews held many prophecies that a savior would come in the full power and glory of God. Naturally, they were blinded by the word ‘Glory’, and thought that this savior would be recognized by all as a heavenly king and great leader who would lead them before the Romans with all authority of the One above. Indeed, he would not be of human nature if he was to be the son of God. Therefore when Jesus came, they were shocked and angry. God wouldn’t send them a poor carpenter’s son for a leader....would He? But if they had only looked deeper into the scriptures, the true form of the Messiah would be revealed. The Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament hold all the answers as to the divine nature and the power of the Messiah. They prophesy the life of Christ as we know it because Jesus fulfilled them during the course of his life.
1. He would exist before time. This is shown in Psalm 10225:27. The Messiah would be eternal and his reign would be everlasting
2. God would come down in human form according to Jeremiah 235:6 where he would be both God and man.
3. The Only Son of God. God would have a son(Proverbs 30:4) and the Messiah would be the son of God(Psalm 2:7)
4. Through Genealogy. In Genesis 9:26, The Messiah would be a descendent of Shem, Abraham(Gen 12:13), Isaac(Genesis 17:19), Jacob(Gen 28:14), Judah(Gen 49:10), Boaz and Ruth(Ruth 4:1217), Jesse(Isaiah 11:1), David(2 Samuel 7:1213) and David’s son Nathan(2 Samuel 7:16)...
His coming was also prophesied by Daniel who predicted the Messiah's birth 5 centuries before it came to pass. The Old Testament also calls to mind the characteristics of the Savior. In the book of Deuteronomy, He would be a prophet like Moses. He would be a priest and King according to Zechariah 6:1213. He would come in the spirit of Elijah, He would become the Prince of Peace and the Wonderful Counselor(Isaiah). All these things came to pass in the 33 years of Christ’s life. He spoke with a message of Grace(Psalm 45:2) in Luke 4:22 when the people all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words which came from his lips. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus goes over the scriptures with the two disciples therefore displaying his knowledge and wisdom of the Word of God.
Jesus was sent into the World to fulfill all these things which had puzzled the Jews for centuries. He gave his life for their wellbeing. In the end some realized this. When they said, “He saved others, why can’t he save himself?” they were admitting that they thought he was the son of God but did not want to believe it. They got rid of him because they were afraid that this man was the Messiah. A man like themselves was not what they figured the Messiah would be. They were only thinking of a heavenly king that would save them from all the worry and problems of their earthly life. Even today, the Jews look forward to the coming of their messiah, even though Jesus fulfilled his work on Earth, was killed, and rose again to be one with the Father as the scriptures foretold.
In conclusion, I would like to bring to mind a few verses from Luke Chapter 4 in which the devil is tempting Jesus in the desert to go against the will of God. And the devil said to him: ‘If you are the son of God, say to this stone that it be made of bread. And Jesus answered: It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
Jesus is implying that He was brought to earth because of the word of God, that he might fulfill it. Jesus is indeed the crown and fulfillment of the Old Testament in that he fulfilled every prophecy and every charge made about him.
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