David. It is all about David.

Here comes David, the perfect one. The one that has such an big heart that can mourn for the someone that was trying to kill him, as shown in The Second Book of Samuel 1: 12, “And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.” Moreover, he not only has such a big capacity in his heart, he is really loyal to God. David killed the so called alien, to show how much respect he has towards Him by killing the man that finished off the sufferance of Saul.
By making produce so many children of humans God has made a complex society. He is causing all the problems and fighting between people. Was this what God wanted? Or is this the consequence of wanting a creature that was made out of his likeness. I think God just lost control over humans since the day Adam and Eve ate the fruit of knowledge.

Humans Seek For Mystery.

Humans have always been attracted to those of who has a strength we don’t have. Whether the strength that person or creature has is used for good or bad. Why are we enticed by so many things that we don’t have and will never have? This aspect of humans is shown in Job 41:33, “Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.” Why is it that we always seek for the things we have never experienced? I believe this only happens to humans, which has made us be greedier, because animals such as zebras and lions make a perfect natural life-cycle. Maybe the reason why humans seek for things we can’t reach is because we have this tendency of wanting to explore. (I think we can see this in our human history of conquering.) And if we loose the “thing” to explore, we loose the energy of enthusiasm or the reason to ‘live’. (Because we tend to act from logic. Why were we born? For what? What is our mission? Etc.) So, maybe that is why we look for areas we will never reach, in order to let our fire keep on burning until we die.
Well, maybe my guess is right because I think the reason why many people believe in god is to have an explanation about the things we don’t know yet. Such as the born of life.

Elihu, Is a Master of Convincing People.

Picture from: http://oneyearbibleimages.com/elihu.jpg


For this reading response, let me try to analyze the roles of the characters in Job. All of them are organized in a way to persuade the readers about the absolute authority of God. First of all, Job. His character tells us that pretending to be “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1), is not enough to gain wisdom from God. Showing all the process of questioning, doubting and complaining towards God prepares the setting for one of the most important character, Elihu. The three friends of Job also help set up the stage for Elihu. By giving variation to the reaction towards the punishment of Job, the author succeeds to evoke many types of readers.
Finally, Elihu, the character that is so young but knows so much about God. He is the key character, I believe. By listing only the great things God has done to humans, like mentioned in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Elihu proves how God is so different from us, humans, who are ignorant. (However, this line is not precisely correct. God didn’t give us the understanding. Humans have stolen it from God against his will.) Also Elihu only mentions the terrible consequences when one is “ignorant”. He also uses pathos, for example in Job 33:13, “Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.” He makes the actions of Job as the most terrible and mean thing you can do. He makes Job seem that he is the most annoying person who lacks the gracefulness towards God. Even if he was just punished because he was randomly chosen by Satan to prove his point.

Freewill doesn't exist. I believe.

One of the abilities that debate requires is public speech. In theory, we learned that a good speech requires flexibility, stability, volume, content and strategy. But it was a totally different experience to actually make it into action. By observing the people speak, I was able to learn some things for my next turn.

1. Eye contact
2. Not rush when speaking
3. Good volume is a when it doesn’t echo that much that makes your ear uncomfortable but it does expand so that the people in the back can hear you.
4. Be comfortable with what you are talking. Read as less as possible.
5. Even if you don’t believe what you are saying, say it with confidence.
6. When giving a example, it is convincing when you give a daily example that you know about.





Well, at the end of the debate about freewill, I was fully convinced that freewill doesn’t exist.

Job, the first one who questioned God.

Picture from: http://www.wga.hu/art/b/blake/09job.jpg


Job”, has introduced us one of the QUESTions that we learned at the beginning of the course, “why does injustice exist?” I saw this question from Job 7:20, “I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself.” According to the passage, Job was chosen to be tested, because GOD wanted to make sure that what Satan was saying was not true. In other words, injustice was born out of the doubtfulness of the GOD towards human beings. He wanted to test the humans and Job was chosen because that was who Satan mentioned to prove his point. But the direct cause of his sufferings is mostly because of the anxiety of God.

It was a long long long reading.

Picture from: http://www.seanet.com/~realistic/mosesten.jpg

One of the great differences in Exodus 3-20 and Genesis 1-34, is the attitude of GOD. In Exodus, God is trying to control His people with fear, by showing His supernatural powers and authorities through Moses and Aaron. The God himself makes the heart of Pharaoh hardened as mentioned in several chapters including 7. By making him disobey Him, LORD God is able to show examples to the people what happens when one goes against the God. All kind of disasters can come, such as mentioned in Exodus 8:2, “if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:”

There is also a difference in the punishments Gad has done from Genesis and Exodus. In Exodus, the pain comes in more gradually, and effectively, leaving some creepy sensations about the happening. In comparison, the punishments in Genesis are instant and scarcely noticed by the people who get punished. For example, the town that was vanished by God, they couldn’t even notice the pain since it happened so fast and so sudden. But in Exodus, the people who get chastised, they get to see the whole process slowly. A positive way of thinking at it, is that the people in Exodus, get a second chance after some more suffering.

It was a long, long, chapter.

Reading through 27- 34

After men and women ate the fruit of knowledge, and obtained the knowledge of good and evil, the world became more complex. The knowledge given to the humans is just like giving dynamite to a baby. They don’t know how to use it, but they have it. What it has produced is a world full of complex problems. For example in Genesis 27: 36, “And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?” Or in Genesis 29: 30-32:
“[30] And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
[31] And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
[32] And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.”
The complexity of the relationships between people, even caused the born of killers due to emotional reasons, as mentioned in Genesis 34: 25, “And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.”
Finally, due to the amount of mistakes and problems happening on Earth, the word “sin” has appeared in the bible for the first time in Chapter 31: 36, “And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?”