Taoism Responses

1. Where Taoism remains much different from other religions is that, in the early stages of the religion, they did not work to spread their faith to other people. Other faiths, Christianity and Islam come to mind; spend much of their efforts on mission trips to spread the word of their faith to new territories (The Crusades could be thought of as just a very long and violent mission trip).

2. The Tao, for me, is not Taoism’s version of a God, but rather their recognition that there is a force greater than us in this universe, which could be the universe itself. They do recognize that there is a certain order to the world that we see demonstrated in nature that exists without human intervention, and they take this to be a reason for us to believe that there is a way to the universe that does not revolve around us.

3. I always am amused whenever I see a running class on “how to run with proper chi”, because chi is simply the way your body was designed to move. The Taoists simply attached a name to it, but chi in the western world is simply attempting to live as healthy as a lifestyle as possible.

4. No, I don’t believe that anything magical or mystic can be man created – if it is really so magical, then how can a human control it? If there is such a thing as miracles, they don’t come from man and cannot be harnessed by them, because then they would just be a resource and not a true miracle.

5. The literal translation of Wu Wei is “without action.” To me, this means that one cannot actively pursue Wu Wei and one’s Chi and find it – you will find it without finding it. It might not make a lot of sense, but the more you search for it the harder it will be to find; it must come naturally and without much thought or pressure.

6. Yin and Yang are the opposites in found in every living and nonliving thing that creates a balance in this world. To define masculine as the positive and feminine as the negative is, I think, simply a reflection of the time when Taoism was founded and that those who decided to follow Lao Tzu likely lived in a male dominated society and wanted to present themselves as a positive influence. This likely deterred women from taking up Taoism, and I honestly believe it would be ok to describe the negative and positive traits as just that, and not have to assign masculinity or feminism to either.

7. One’s background and perspectives will affect what is right and wrong in every life; there are no set good or evil actions, and every good action will have some negative to it and every negative action will have some positive to it.

8. In a running book, that I read once, a description of how training and progression was made. I can’t quote the book exactly, but it read something like: “most people think that training and progress is a straight line up. I like to think of it as a never ending spiral; some parts will bring you down only to bring you even farther than you were before. Sometimes you’ll train your butt off and not make progress, and other times you will do hardly anything and make progress.” I think the same concept applies to life. Sometimes you will be moving backwards, sometimes you will be moving forwards, but you will always be moving, and the goal is to finish more forward than when you started.

9. No, Taoism is the most “chillaxed” religion that I know of.

Three New Testament Excerpts

1. Matthew 5:1-18
      This passage, at its most basic interpretation, is an explanation of Jesus Christ to his disciples that all those types of people who may not necessarily be recognized as important or significant in society are those who, as they live good lives, will be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven (afterlife).
      It is essential to the religion in that is a highly repeated verse that is a guide for Christians in how they should attempt to live their lives and the traits that they should try to be like: poor in spirity, mourn, meek, thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, etc.

2. Matthew 6:9-16
      This passage is a key prayer in the faith of Christianity. In the Catholic Church, it is recited every mass before receiving the Eucharist. This is a prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins and to give the congregation their body of the Christ.

3. Romans 3:9-31
      The passage discusses the differences between Jews and Christians, and uses the words uncircumcised and circumcised to compare them. It also speaks about how all men are full of sin and can only be judged by God, who knows no sin and created those with sin in his image, and cannot be judged under their own law because it came from the minds of those who sin. It also preaches about Jesus Christ exulting all of their sins and how those who believe will be justified by his grace and saved.
      This serves as a justification to Christians for their religion and their differences from Jews and Greeks, and also justified their "boasting" of their faith by saying that "it is excluded." This gives Christians confidence to spread the Good News.

Field Trip Reflection

The first stop on our trip was at the Islamic Center of Raleigh. The Center serves not only as a worship site for Muslims, but also as a learning center for children up to the 8^th grade. We were given a warm welcome by the leaders of the center, and given a background on the faith of Islam and they were explicit about how the general population of preaches and practices a loving and peaceful lifestyle, and open mindedness, while the media tends to focus on the negative use of religion to justify actions of crime. We were also given a demonstration of the passion of the children in their memorization of the Quran with several children reciting chapters from the holy text, and also two children gave a presentation to our group beforehand.

Our next stop was a Buddhist temple. We were given a tour of part of the center by two nuns of the faith, and were given a 40 minute information session on the faith that included history and explanation of certain beliefs, including the Dalai Llama. While we ran out of time, we were still able to see some important features of the temple, such as the suppa.

The second to last stop was the Hindu temple. The temple was under construction while we were there, but the parts that had already been constructed were very beautiful and articulate. Our tour guide led us into the temple, and gave us background stories and information on the religion and showed us the priest performing a ritual and other rituals being performed. The tour guide was very friendly and attempted to answer all of our questions and provide the best experience possible.

Our last stop was the synagogue of Judaism. We were spoken to by a rabbi and he was very energetic. I particularly enjoyed him explaining how Jews are not aggressive in the spreading of their beliefs (maybe due to their historical persecution and attempting to avoid reasons to be persecuted and hated), but will explain and attempt to prove others wrong. My fascination with Judaism is the difference in translations between the Torah and Bible and Quran, and their justification and argument against the other two texts. 

Christianity Beliefs and Rituals

Ten Basic Facts and Beliefs of Christianity

1.       Followers of the Christian religion base their beliefs on the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ.

2.       Christians believe in one God that created heaven, earth, and the universe.

3.       The belief in one God originated with the Jewish religion.

4.       Christians believe Jesus Christ is the "Messiah" or savior of the world. They also believe that Christ is the son of God.

5.       Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin at the time of conception, and Joseph, her husband. Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and told she would conceive a son, though she was not yet married and a virgin and he would be the Messiah.

6.       Jesus was crucified on a cross. His death made salvation and forgiveness of sins possible for all.

7.       On the third day after his crucifixion, Jesus Christ arose from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is celebrated on Easter, which is considered Christianity's most important holiday.

8.       After Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, God's presence remained on earth in the form of the Holy Spirit to be a comforter to all.

9.       Salvation can only be obtained by believing that Jesus was sent by God to forgive the sins of every human, and to confess those sins to him.

1-   Interpretations of the Bible and the practices of each church vary by denomination, but the belief in one God and Jesus as the Messiah is central to all Christians.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/world/christianity-fast-facts/

Christians participate in several rituals, the most important of these being the Seven Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist/Communion, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Anointing of the Sick. One ritual that is not a Sacrament is attending mass/service every Sunday, on the “Day of Rest” that originated from the story of Creation in the Book Genesis in the Bible, as well on certain Christian Holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, or Holy Saint Days, depending on the denomination of Christianity. The weeks and months leading up to Christmas, known as Advent, and the 40 days leading up to Easter, known as Lent, are very important in Christianity. During Lent, it is a common practice to sacrifice something unnecessary from their lives to mirror the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made in his fasting in the desert. It is also a common practice to not eat meat on Fridays and to fast from the evening on Good Friday to Easter morning.  On the day of Easter, Christians celebrate the forgiveness of all Sins and wrongdoings because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Christians recite either prewritten or personal prayers to God, their form of communication to, but not with God. They can discuss wrongdoings in their life, ask for guidance or strength, or simply express their belief and thankfulness for God in these prayers.

Some forms of Christianity, especially Catholics, believe in Saints, or people in history who demonstrated that they were holy, and the church recognizes that these people lived such a good and strong life in faith and good deeds that they must be in heaven. More on the process of the recognition of saints can be found here.

 At every mass, the celebration of the Eucharist is performed as a Sacrament, where the events and sayings of Jesus at the Last Supper, the last meal he had before his crucifixion, are remembered and bread and wine are distributed to the congregation. Again, depending on the denomination these are sometimes believed to actually have transformed into the blood and flesh of Christ during the ceremony, or simply be a symbolic representation of them. The first time a person receives the Eucharist is known as “First Communion” and it is common to celebrate this.

Depending on the denomination, most Christians will be entered into their faith as a small child through Baptism. In this ceremony, the child’s parents likely confirm their beliefs for them, while later in life the child can choose to go through a process called Confirmation to confirm their faith as an adult in the church.

The forgiveness of one’s sins is dependent on one’s personal relationship and expression of sorrow to God, however one can go through a Sacrament to help in this process known as Reconciliation, where one confesses their sins to an ordained member of the church and recites prayers to God.

One can become confirmed as a clergy of the Church through a process called Holy Orders, where one is ordained as a bishop, priest, or deacon.

In some Christian Churches, marriage is believed to only be allowed once and divorce results in one no longer being welcome in the church. Marriage in Christianity is only defined as between one man and one woman. In death, if the death is expected, one can undergo the “Anointing of the Sick”, essentially a confirmation of one’s faith in death and a comfort in the reminder that one has heaven waiting for them after death. Of the seven sacraments, (Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist/Communion, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Anointing of the Sick) the only ones a Christian can receive more than once are Reconciliation, Eucharist, and the Anointing of the Sick. This again depends on the denomination, but it is a common belief. 

Source: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=63

Quran by Heart

I was absent for this assignment. Should I make it up?
Or will I be excused?

Islam for Idiots

I just did these all together

Islam for Idiots 

Chapter Two

Chapter two explains that Muslims have surrendered to Allah and that Islam means to surrender yourself to Allah. Humans were the only species to choose to have free will, while every other species has already submitted to Allah but do not have the free will that humans do. Humans also have a trait called Fitrah, which is how we separate our human way of living from the animal way of life and instincts Also, Muhammad claims that every human is a Muslim, but we are brought up differently because of our parents or community in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and other religions.

Chapter Three

 The focus of this chapter is the act and forgiveness of sin, and the afterlife of Muslims, as well as the spiritual develop of Muslims. Muslims believe that there are three stages of development in faith; seeking pleasure, seeking answers, and following God. In birth, no one is guilty of sin, unlike Christianity’s Original Sin, but the animal desires and influences of others lead Muslims away from their Fitrah, which was explained in Chapter Two. Muslims believe that they should have faith in God and be sincere when asking for forgiveness for sins, and they believe that a final Judgement Day will result in the forgiveness of sins and granting of entrance to Paradise, or the purging of the soul in Hell for a period of time. The only time a soul would need to be eternally damned to Hell is if they had a black/stained soul that was beyond recovery.

Chapter Four

Because we can’t comprehend Allah and his ways and knowing, we should not depict him. This also applies to the prophets that he has sent, as we can’t understand Allah’s motivations and do not know how Allah would want these prophets to be depicted. No one has ever seen Allah, although Moses was the closest prophet when he received the Ten Commandments. We have no form of Allah available to us that we, as mere humans, would understand, yet Muslims know that Allah is one with no divisions (like the Holy Trinity) and no other representatives. In all humans, there is a Shaytan that is attempting to draw us away from Allah. Allah is neither a male, or a female, despite constantly being referred to as “Him” or “He”. 

Rituals Assignment

What are the purposes of specific rituals?

Theme: Evaluate the spiritual importance that each has for the believer.


Muslims must surrender to the existence of God, and a follower of the Islamic faith must pray everyday to show dedication to God, a ritual known as Salet. Prayer is performed at particular times during the day and has many personal meanings for each person. This practice demonstrates their acknowledgement of the one true Allah, or God. A common form of prayer is asking for guidance or help from God in their life, and this brings the follower closer to God.

Followers can also grow in their faith by completing a pilgrimage to Mecca, known as following one of the 5 pillars. This pilgrimage is also called the Hajj, usually performed between the eight and twelfth days during Dhu al- Hijja-. The act of completing, or even attempting, a pilgrimage shows how they have faith in Iman, God, and as well as participation in the Muslim community knows as Umma.

http://www.whyislam.org/


Theme: How does prayer shape the daily life of Muslims?

Prayer


Muslims are required to pray at least 5 times a day towards Mecca, signifying reverence towards Mohammad, but many will often pray more than 5 to deepen their spiritual connection with Allah. The time of the required prayers are at dawn, noon, mid afternoon, sunset, and night. Islam followers pray to ask Allah for guidance in the hardships or predicaments that they face in life, named jihad,  as well as to reiterate their belief in the one true God, Allah. Rites of passage and prayer relate to each other because are often made when a Muslim asks for a child to be born and to bless a marriage with strength. Prayer is a major aspect of the Islamic faith to keep a strong relationship with Allah.

http://www.islamicity.com


Theme: What aspects of prayer are aimed at Allah and what aspects are aimed at Muhammad?


Mawlid al-Nabi

This ritual began as the writing of poems to honor Muhammad, beginning with the Arabs, who were known for their linguistic skills. The date that this ritual is performed is the Islam’s date of Muhammad’s birth. Although the actual date is unknown, this is similar to the Christian holiday Christmas. While his birthday is celebrated, this holiday also focuses on the revealing of the message of Allah to Muhammad, known as risalah. This ritual celebrates his life as a whole and the accomplishments and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

http://www.islamicity.com


How determines if a practice is a religious holiday or simply a community-specific way to worship?

Theme: Determine the difference among Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi rituals that are driven by both similar and differing doctrines.


Islam has two main denominations, the Shia and Sunni, that both base their faith on the Quran. However, these religions differ in the prayers that they recite and the rituals that they perform for worship. The prayer styles of these religions are different in that the Sunni are very strict in their prayer, adhering to the 5 times a day rule and are encouraged to pray more. The Shia do not follow this rule strictly, and believe that prayer should be on your own time and self-motivated in order to gain further strength in one’s personal relationship with Allah.

http://www.islamicity.com


How does a community form/change around rituals?

Theme: How are specific rituals linked to a foundational figure?

Ramadan

The ritual of Ramadan is celebrated each year in the religion of Islam for approximately one month between June and July. During Ramadan, Muslims fast during the day, also known as sawm, from sunrise to sunset. This mimics the story in the Quran that Muhammad would take his family into the countryside to meditate and fast during Ramadan. Now, the ritual is meant to serve as a way to become closer to Allah through sacrifice of earthly needs and desires in honor of Allah and Muhammad.

www.islamicity.com

Are rituals based on the foundational figures or are they based on the higher power of a religion?