Journal 6

Journal 6
I believe that everything that has occurred in history has been influenced by religion in some shape or form. Everything that has occurred in history is not necessarily done in the name of religion but somehow God has played a role. For example in the Crusades was war between Christians. The Holocaust was persecution of Jews. The current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, although they are not wars against a certain religion, often times religion is mentioned. These are just a few examples of how human history is holy.
When I look back at history one thing that stands out to me as sacred is the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages was a time when the Christian church played a major role in the culture of Eastern and Western Europe. Christianity was dividing at this time in the different countries (Hopfe & Woodward 2009). It is obvious that this is an even that the humans encountered God, depending on how each individual encountered God he or she would stand up for a different view. During this time, people like John Calvin and Martin Luther stood up for their beliefs. The two men would try to get their point across to their fellow Christians. Luther is founder of the Protestant Reformation and
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Calvin helped Reform the Church (Hopfe & Woodward 2009). This event is a perfect example of how God is present in history.
In my personal life events that I believe are sacred and holy are the birth of my baby sister. My mother was seven months pregnant when her feet were getting very swollen. No one was home; my father was on a business trip. I was ten years old at this time. I was busy playing on my XBOX in the basement. My mom called my name and told me she was not feeling well and I should call my aunt. I called my aunt so she could come over.
When she came over she looked at my mom’s feet and they were so big that she could not put on her shoes. My mom and aunt were worried about the baby, we immediately took her to the hospital. When my mom got to the hospital the doctor said if we had reached the hospital five minutes later my sister would not have made it. There was not oxygen going to the baby and it was causing medical problems with my mom.
My sister was born one hour later and she was two pounds. She was premature; her lungs had still not developed completely. She could fit in the palm of your hand. After three months at the hospital, she came home. My baby sister is a happy, healthy teenager now. That was one of the scariest things I have been through and I view that as truly a holy and sacred moment in my life.

Journal m

Growing up my family traveled a lot during the summer time. Every summer we would visit my uncle and his family in France. Since I would go every summer I started to make friends with the local children. Besides spending time with my cousins I made friends with a boy name Joseph. Joseph would come spend time with my cousins and I, I would also go to his house and spend time with him and his brothers. Joseph was Jewish. Joseph and I would play every day except for Fridays. I didn’t know why he couldn’t play on Friday’s until he explained Sabbath to me. Sabbath is a day of relaxation for Jews. After a six-day workweek, Jews put aside all things of everyday life, spend time together, and relax. It is a day to recharge to be able to start the new workweek again (Hopfe & Woodward 2009). He told me that on Friday’s he had to spend time with his family, it was a time where all his aunts, uncles, and cousins would come to over to eat. It is similar to the way Friday is seen in Muslim countries. As a kid I didn’t think it was important, I actually thought it wasn’t a good thing because it took away from our play time.
When I became a teenager and started getting older, I started to realize the importance of Joseph spending time with his family. Now I know that Friday spending time with family in

Judaism, is known as Sabbath. It is a day to relax from the busy work week. It is a great idea because in the twenty first century we live extremely busy lives. We rarely have time to see family and friends because everyone is always so busy with everyday life.
I notice that even myself I am usually too busy to see my parents and siblings. I spend my days at university, studying for my classes, and see friends for a short period of time. Each person in family has their own schedule it is hard to coordinate family time. My father said that no matter what we have to spend at least one day a week together. Now every Sunday we spend time together. On the days that I do spend time with family, eating dinner together I feel that I am very relaxed. Also, it gives me something relaxing to look forward too. It is such a simple thing, yet it has such an enormous effect.
During family time I able to appreciate my family, it is truly a gift. My parents were the ones that gave me life; I believe that I should be able to show my appreciation by spending a few hours a week with them. My father is always very appreciative when his children come home to spend time together. My father always Thanks God that we have the opportunity to spend time together. It is a true blessing and I believe that whether you are Jewish or not you should have a day of relaxation.
I notice that not all my friends are able to have a day to spend with family and relax. In order to have a day of relaxation does not mean it is always spending time with family. Not everyone is fortunate to have a close family. The thing that I learned from joseph and realize is very important is in this busy life, no matter what is going on, it is very important to set aside a

day to relax and enjoy life. Once a person is able to relax then they will be more efficient in their everyday life.

Charolotte Bronte: Pilate's Wife Dream

The “Pilate’s Wife’s Dream,” is originally taken from the Pilate’s wife’s dream in the Bible in which the wife tries to stop her husband from killing Jesus. So the theme is purely religious represented in looking for the way to God and for affirmation of faith as appears in the final stanza. The technique of the poem is the internal monologue. Bronte is using internal monologue by using a speaker who speaks to himself.
There are many critics who commented on Bronte’s poem. For example, Thais Morgan said that Charlotte Bronte was not fully aware of the original story in the Bible and so there was wrong adaptation of the original dream in the poem (205). In addition Cornelia Pearsil argued that Bronte was not successful in her poetry in general and in this poem in particular. She added that in this poem Bronte was extremely romantic and sensible, and her main aim was to emphasis the negative fate of Pilate (18).
However, it seems that both Brown and Froula exaggerated the criticism of the author. Bronte was aware of the Bible and her other works show this. The deviation from the original story is meant to emphasize the theme she wanted to put. In addition, Bronte was successful both as a novelist and as poet. As Angel Leighton asserts, Bronte was an influential poet in the nineteenth-century, especially as she enhanced the use of the technique of internal monologue in poetry (87).