Month: April 2018

Why were the Sadducees and the apostles unable to find a way to reconcile their rival opinions?

On By purplefrog01In English 2: Western Literature ILeave a comment

In the book of Acts, there was a conflict between the Sadducees and the apostles.  This conflict was repeated throughout the book of Acts, and they were ultimately unable to reconcile their rival opinions.  Why?

The Sadducees practiced and taught the Mosaic law, while the apostles were preaching the new ways of Christianity.  The apostles were introducing new ways, and reforming old Mosaic law, and this was a threat to the teachings of the Sadducees and priests.

The Sadducees, and other religious officials, were doing everything in their power to prevent the message of Christianity from being spread.  They attempted to arrest and threaten the apostles, so that they could quiet the bearers of the message.  This included the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, and the imprisonment of the disciples; this was a threat to the apostles.

The Sadducees were the group of Jews in charge of maintaining the temple.  The Sadducees appointed new priests, and managed multiple political and religious affairs.  However, as stated in the previous paragraph, they expressed major opposition toward the message spread by the apostles.  They opposed the shift of attention that was happening, from Mosaic law, toward the teachings of Christ spread by apostles.

This issue was not something that could just be taken in council and reconciled, because of the nature of the apostles’ message. The Sadducees and priests believed in ancient Mosaic law, and they were not open to any kind of change or reform.  The apostles, on the other hand, preached in the name of Jesus, who the religious officials had crucified.  It was the religious officials who had persecuted Christ, and prophets before his time.  St. Stephen challenged them with this before they stoned him to death.

The Sadducees had arrested the apostles, twice, and both times, they warned them to stop preaching in the name of Christ. They continued to preach in the name of Christ, and continued to heal and perform miracles.  The apostles were engaging in a transition away from Mosaic law, and religious officials could not come to accept this.

Ultimately, Christian leaders pursued in preaching the message, and Christianity survived this conflict.  However, the religious leaders, primarily the Sadducees, and the apostles were unable to reconcile this conflict.  The Christian leaders, in my opinion, had valid reason to avoid the Sadducees and other religious leaders at all costs.

The religious leaders were the ones persecuting the Christians.  It wasn’t that these people weren’t allowed to join Christianity, Saul, who was a persecutor of Christians was converted and became a very influential Christian leader.  The Sadducees, opposed the teaching and forbade it in the region.  The apostles would not conform to this restriction given to them by the Sadducees.

From the point of view of the Sadducees, they believed in the teachings of the Mosaic laws, and they were not open to the new messages that contradicted, or “updated” their life-long beliefs.  They would not reconcile with the people who spread the message that they believed, was in a sense, contradicting their ancient tradition.

 

Islam from the Koran, and The Procopius portrayal of Justinian.

On By purplefrog01In Western Civilization 1Leave a comment

1) What do you learn about Islam from the Koran selections you read?

The Koran is the collection of speeches given by Muhammad, the founder of Islam.  It is believed by Muslims that Muhammad is not the author of the Koran, but the author was God, Allah, who directly gave the word to Muhammad.  The Koran is divided into chapters, or surahs, the selections provided in the lesson were from surah 1, and surah 47.

In the selections of surah 1,  it is stated that Allah is the sovereign being.  It is straight to the point, it immediately communicates to the reader that Allah is God, who possesses absolute sovereignty.

In surah 47, the author poses that one must believe in, and worship Allah, to attain life.  One that does do the will of Allah, will receive freedom from their sins, and from my understanding, his followers will receive eternal life.  It states that in battle, if a Muslim is confronted with someone who does not believe, the Muslims have the right to kill the non-believers.  It is also stated that those who kill in the name of Allah will essentially be pardoned.  Allah is protector of his followers, and those who do not follow him, do not have protection.

Overall, the message I take from these selections of the Koran, is that Muslims are general peaceful people–mainly among themselves.  They are permitted by Allah to kill people who do not believe in their religion.  The only instances in which they are not peaceful, is when confronted, in a battle atmosphere, with non-believers, or civilizations of non-believers.
2) What kind of person emerges from the Procopius portrayal of Justinian?

Procopius was a Greek-Byzantine historian, who wrote a portrayal of the most well-known Byzantine emperor Justinian (r.527-565).   This is the most accurate account of Justinian that we have today.

He begins by describing the physical characteristics of Justinian, not a bad looking guy.  Then, goes on to describe Justinian’s personality, in which he made him sound like an easy-to-manipulate, dishonest man; a moron.  He describes Justinian as someone that would be difficult to be friends with, he was two-faced, he was deceitful, and he lied.  He was described as too ignorant to fully hear out accusations, and too quick to punish.  This description does not exactly portray him as someone who would be a good, or even decent emperor, however, he did make significant impact.

Upon gaining the office of emperor, he turned a lot of things around.  He changed law codes, he removed old political offices and introduced new ones.  He did however, have good ambitions, and he wanted to recapture and unify Africa, Italy, Spain, Gaul and Britain with a single religion, orthodox Christianity.  He had some successes in this, but he did not achieve all of his goals.

The kind of person that emerges from the Procopius portrayal of Justinian, is somewhat of a crude individual, however, also an individual with goals and ambitions to help serve his people.

 

 

According to Mark’s gospel, what was main issue dividing Jesus from the leaders of Israel?

On By purplefrog01In English 2: Western Literature ILeave a comment

There are four gospels in the New Testament, the shortest of the four, is the gospel of Mark.  In the gospel of Mark, the main issue dividing Christ from the Leaders of Israel,  was a form of envious fear; fear on behalf of the leaders.  The leaders of Israel possessed significant fear of the power and authority Christ had.  Christ rejected the commandments of men, but rather honored and reinforced the commandments of God.  Christ was one of the few individuals, this early in time, that successfully challenged, and threatened the power of the Israelite leaders, and this inspired both envy and fear among them.

Christ had authority over many things of which the leaders of Israel did not have power over. For instance, he had authority over sicknesses, diseases, and demons, he had authority over nature, he possessed the ability to walk on water, etc.  Christ had authority over things that humankind could not possibly imagine having authority over.  This made the Israelite officials fearful.

Because of Christ’s authority, he attracted large crowds of people, many of which who traveled great distance to see him.  The population began to recognize Christ as their leader, rather than the Israelite leaders.  The idea of the leaders losing their authority was a very daunting thought to them.

Christ had the ability to distribute this power, given to him by God the Father, to his disciples.  They were then sent out to perform miracles in Christ’s name, and spread his message.  In the mind of the leaders in the synagogue, Christ was expanding his authority, which rapidly became more of a threat to their own authority.  One of Christ’s main reasons for sending out his disciples was so that his message could be spread to the people in as many regions as possible.  The Israelite leaders saw the teaching’s of Christ as a threat to their society, rather than what it actually was; a purification of their society.

The accusations against him were made mainly because the Israelite leaders felt threatened by his authority.  Christ was undermining their law, with the law of God, and they could see that he was making a substantial impact on the population.  There were multiple efforts to turn him in, but many of them lacked validity.  Even Pontius Pilate could see no offense that was enough to condemn him to persecution for.  In Mark 15:10, the author writes, referring to Pilate, “For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.”

He called thousands of people to repentance and renewed the mosaic laws which they had practiced for ages, specifically the law of divorce.  Again, this inspires fear in the leaders of Israel.  Christ had the authority to renew laws given by Moses, only the Son of God could have power like this, and that contributed to the fear and envy amongst the officials.

There were several different issues that divided Jesus from the leaders of Israel, but the main one is the envious fear possessed by the Israelite leaders.

The Carolingian Renaissance and The Spread of Christianity in England

On By purplefrog01In Western Civilization 1Leave a comment

1) What was the Carolingian Renaissance, and why was it significant?

The Carolingians were a family that ruled the Franks beginning in 751, in the region that is now modern-day France.  Lead by the Carolingians, the Franks accepted orthodox Christianity which built the foundation of a trustworthy alliance between the church and the Franks.  The Carolingians; in particular, Charlemagne, wanted to do something significant, something that would give them a memorable position in European history.  This motivation bore the Carolingian renaissance.

The word “renaissance” actually means a revival, or restoration of a culture.  The aim of the Carolingian renaissance was to restore the culture of Rome, but with a Christian emphasis.  The Frankish government would now carry out tasks, that in previous cultures, the emperor had been responsible.  As a result of this renaissance, there was an outpour of cultural improvement, including aspects of Christianity, literature, art, and the judicial system.

The Carolingian renaissance was significant because it revived the culture of ancient Rome, with an emphasis on Christianity.  It revived many of the characteristics of Roman culture and put them in a position to be preserved and passed down through history.
2) Describe the process by which Christianity was spread in England.

In the early 400’s, Roman troops who were defending Britain, had to be withdrawn to defend their own land against barbaric invasion.  This left the Celts weak, so they hired mercenaries to help them defend their land, among these were the Anglo-Saxons.  The Anglo-Saxons took advantage of this deal by driving the natives to small territory, and keeping lands for themselves.  Due to the Anglo-Saxons taking advantage of them, and being brutal towards them, the Celtic people had no motivation to spread Christianity to these people.  It had to be done by someone else because these people were not willing.

Pope Gregory the Great develops an interest to convert England before he even became pope.  After becoming pope, he arranges missionaries to convert England.  He was assisted by St. Augustine of Canterbury.  Pope Gregory sent 40 monks, lead by Augustine, to King Ethelbert of Kent, who was actually married to a Frankish Catholic.  Augustine spoke to the king about Christ, and the king allows them to spread their message.

Gregory the Great instructed the missionaries and gave them ways to present the message gradually.  And as a result, there were substantial conversions amongst the Anglo-Saxon people.  King Ethelbert, himself, actually converted in 597.

There was still conflict between the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts.  The death of Ethelbert triggered a reaction against Christianity, and this reduced the cooperation of Augustine’s companions, in fact, they wanted to flee.  The Celtic people would not have anything to do with the Anglo-Saxons.  It was a mess.  The Irish monks had to step in, which created more confusion because their way of practicing the Faith was different and unique, which posed more conflict.

In 626, Edwin became king and converts to Catholicism, as a result of marrying a Catholic.  At the defeat of Edwin, the whole idea of missionary work was a disaster.  Then, in 634, Oswald, nephew of Edwin, comes to power.  He had been converted by Irish monks, not the Benedictines sent from Rome.  The confusion between the two groups of Christians, was cleared in the Synod of Whitby in 664, where the Irish-Benedictine interaction bore the  Northumbrian renaissance, and the issues were settled.

 

Factors that Delay Reproduction of a Plant and How They are Actually Helpful to the Plant Species.

On By purplefrog01In BiologyLeave a comment

A perfectly healthy seed may not germinate for a long time; months, or possibly even years.  There are multiple factors that determine the timing of germiantion.  Through the beginning of the life cycle of a plant; the period between pollination to germination, there are several factors that essentially slow down, or delay the reproduction process of a plant.  Most of these factors, that slow or delay the process, are actually helpful to the plant species.

How do these delaying factors actually help the seed?  Seed germination requirements essentially help the seed grow under ideal conditions.  The seed does not usually germinate until the conditions meet the requirements.

One of the biggest factors that delays seed germination is season.  There are different plant species that can thrive in the different seasons throughout the year, however, one given plant species that thrives in spring may not be able to survive through winter. This factor slows the germination of a seed, and if the seed somehow germinates anyway, the chance of survival is low.  The limitations of the seasons are ultimately beneficial to the plant species.

Another significant germination-delaying factor is food/water supply.  If there is not enough nutrition in the environment, the plant will struggle, and may not survive, thus this is an important limiting factor.  Germination should not happen if there is not a stable food supply.  If there is lack of water in the environment, like nutrition, the plant has a low risk of survival.  However, unlike nutrition, too much water can also be harmful to the plant species and can effect the timing of germination.

These are a small few of the many factors that delay or slow down the germination of a seed, there are many more factors that play an equally important role.