Samuel 16-End

There are many things that I liked about this first book book of Samuel. To start off, I would like to share a quote that God said to Samuel in Chapter 16 while they were looking for the new king: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on owtward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.". For many reasons, this quote explains exactly what is going on in the world today. It is the natural habit of humans to be superficial when what really matters is in the inside. The bible said that all of Jesse's older sons had an incredible appearence, but Samuel ended up choosing the youngest of them all, David, to be king.

The second lesson I learned was when Goliath, a giant monster, threatened to kill the Iraelites. David, the smallest of all brothers, was able to kill him with a rock and a slingshot while everyone ran away in fear. This story shows us that mind will always triumph over muscle, as proved by David. This is how us, weak humans, have control over the rest of the animals like lions or goriallas who are several times stronger than we are.

Last of all, I enjoyed the fact that Saul's jealousy of David never got him what he wanted. No matter how much he tried to kill him, David would always come out winning. In the end, he escapes with the help of Saul's daughter and son. This proves that although vengeance might seem like a good idea at first, it will only end up making the problem bigger. Think it out first, there is more than just one solution to your problem.

exodus 1-11

Everyone knows Moses as practically a hero, the person who freed the Jews from cruelty in Egypt. This man made miracles, caused plagues, and was even able to control the phoroah himself. Moses is one of the best known biblical characters toeday because of his exciting story and incredible accomplishments. The question though, is why? Why did God choose him out of all the other respectable men at the time? No one would have expected a man like Moses to do what he did, and for many reasons. First of all, he was a stutterer, a sign of insecurity and fear. Second, he wasn't the bravest man for having escaped and hidden from the Pharaoh. Last, it took Moses a long time to get his mind straight and accept God's offer. Whoever knew this man well, would think he was a coward and a traitor. God of course, viewed him in a very distinct way. One of the acts that most defined him was when he saved a Jew who was getting beat up by Egypcians. After running away for his life, he immediately made himself useful by working for a man who became his future father in law. This proved Moses to be humble, loyal, and with potential to do good. Just the type of man God needed for the task.

Exodus 11-40

This is the scond part of the story of Moses. After accomplishing the task of freeing the Jews from Egypt, he establishes something extremely important to millions of people today. These are the ten commandments, a ¨guideline¨ to everyone who call themselves Christians.

Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other Gods but me.
You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
Respect your father and mother.
You must not kill.
You must not commit adultery.
You must not steal.
You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Supposedly, every good Christian should follow these rules since they are the pillars of the religion. Unfortunately, out of all other religions, Christianity is one who is least respectful to it´s laws. It´s all just laziness, nobody wants to go to church and nobody wants to follow the rules of God. Christians should use Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and any other religion as an example, who take their beliefs seriously. I´m not saying that every Christian is like this, there are still millions who are loyal, but it´s not enough.

Genesis 11-28

These 17 chapters in the Genesis were basically the story of Abraham. Many people are familiar with it, where this well known biblical character has a conversation with God and establishes many principals. What surprises me the most though, is how Abraham is probably the only religious figure that is respected by three major religions in this world. Christianity, Muslim, and Judaism all have a connection with this man in one way or another.

I say this because Abraham was the man who initiated many traditions of these three different religions, such as the Jewish and Muslim tradition of circumcision. Many Jews know him best as a grandfather whose grandson Jacob actually founded Israel, but Muslims know him as one of the most important prophets. He appears in all three books of the Bible, Torah, and the Koran. Jesus mentions Abraham in the Gospels, but it was Paul who concentrated more on him. He did it primarily through Abraham's original response to God's Call and through the old man's faith. Islam concluded that God chooses his people on grounds of commitment rather than lineage, meaning that Abraham's only true followers are true believers, or Muslims. The Koran´s version of the story is a bit different from the Bible and Torah, but in all of them Abraham is a figure to look up at.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003355-6,00.html

Franklin Delano Roosevelt-Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

This entire paragraph consists of hasty generalizations, where president F.D.R jumps into conclusions about the Japanese governments plans.


The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Here, we can find alot of pathos, becuase the president states alot of facts which have to do with emotion.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

The main fallacy here is post hoc, ergo propter hoc. This this fallacy assumes that first because of the first thing, the second thing happened. It occurs after F.D.R states all of Japans attacks, he makes a conclusion because of them.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

In the first sentence, F.D.R uses logos to show gut and character by stating his high rank in the army.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

The entire paragraph is filled with hasty generalizations about victory and danger.


I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.




http://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm

Genesis 5-11

These six chapters were basically the story of Noah´s ark. I think most of us know how it goes, God created a flood and told Noah and his family to build an ark and escape with a pair of every animal in the world. What interests me though is why God decided to create this flood. According to the Genesis, he wasn´t pleased with human´s and disliked their impurity. Because Noah was so noble and and warm hearted, God chose him to live over the rest and guide life in a new journey while everyone else died in a flood. This has to have a relationship with real life. It must have been a point in history where humans stopped thinking in one way and began a whole new mentalllity. I doubt many people would think that God actually killed everyone on earth except for the one person who´s soul was clean. I don´t beleieve that we are doing any better nowadays then we were doing back then. Who knows if the bible will repeat itself and another ¨flood¨ will occur, maybe not how it says in Noah´s Ark, but in a way in which we least expect.

Genesis 1-5

I remember this story from our summer reading book Ishmael. It told us all about the creation of the earth in seven days, followed by the birth of humans humans with Adam and all of his descendants. What interested me the most though, was the part about the forbidden tree. God allowed Adam and his wife to eat from any tree in forest except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent though, convinced the humans to get one of it´s fruits. In that moment, they opened their eyes and became conscious of right and wrong. For example, they noticed their nudity at once and covered themselves up, but I believe it goes way beyond that. If Adam and Eve had never taken that fruit, then people would have lived through the history of earth just as another one of God´s unconscious creatures. The forbidden fruit represents the factor which separates us from the rests, It´s what proves the reason why humans are so successful but at the same time selfish and destructive. The apple made us think we have the power to tell good from evil, something no other creature has, making it our gift and even more our curse. Who knows if the apple only tricked into thinking that we were brought into the light, when all along we´ve been living in the dark.

The Three Myths 16

Nisus and Scylla

Minos, king of Crete, went into war with Nisus, king of Megara. Scylla was the daughter of Nisus but fell in love with Minos. She ends up escaping from the city, into enemy territory and surrendering to the king of Crete. Minos though, ends up fearing the woman and escaping the island. In this myth, Scylla shows that her love for man is more than her love towards her country. She chose to betray her dad and the city she belonged to for the king of the enemy. (A very similar situation occurs with Troy, when Paris steals the beautiful Helen from Mycenae). Love could probably make me do some pretty crazy stuff, but nothing will ever make me do something like Scylla did, or at least I hope so. At the end though, Minos leaves and the war ends.This is good because her selfish act ended up saving her country, but she ended up loosing the love of her life.

Component Fallacies

Pipe Dreams


IN a time when we endlessly scrutinize the ingredients of our food and insist on pesticide-free peaches, why are we still mixing carcinogens into our children’s lemonade? From herbicides to arsenic, the Environmental Protection Agency has set standards for 80 different chemicals, specifying how much of each should be allowed in our drinking water. Yet no regulations exist for thousands of other contaminants that make their way into our drinking water.

I think that the first sentence is a straw man argument because it overstates and exaggerates. I´m not sure, but the question in in the same sentence might begin a circular reason. The last fallacy is in the final sentence, which commits a hasty generalization because the writer already jumps into a conclusion.


These unregulated contaminants include industrial byproducts, agricultural chemicals, drugs and even most of the toxic compounds that are formed when we add chlorine for disinfection. The combined effect of these contaminants has never been evaluated.


Again, the author exaggerates and makes a straw man argument. He ends the paragraph with a false cause, showing a cause and effect relationship.

There is nothing we ingest in greater quantities than water. In light of this, here’s a radical concept. Our drinking water should be water. Nothing more. Paradoxically, the best way to make that happen is to purify less of it. Here’s why. The technology exists to remove all of these chemicals from our water. But the E.P.A. balks at insisting on the elimination of all hazardous chemicals and microbes from the 10 trillion gallons of water we use every year because the cost would be so great.


In this paragraph, they answer the question asking why we should we purify less water while the real question is why do we keep mixing pesticides into the water we drink. This fallacy is called an irrelevant conclusion. Lastly, and for the third time, the author used straw man arguments. Maybe, we can conclude that this is simply the style that the writer always uses in his work. Instead of a fallacy, it could also be considered a style.






http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03morris.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

The Three Myths 15

Cadmus

This myth was about Cadmus, a prince of Phoenicia, sent by his father to look for his sister Europa who had been taken away by jupiter. Unable to find her, he consults an oracle which tells him to build the city of Thebes. When he reaches the land, his men go out in search for water, unfortunately they find a cave guarded by a ferocious snake and they all get killed. Cadmus goes to avenge their death a kills the snake. He goes back and builds the city, but the gods curse him though, for having killed their serpent, and all of Cadmus´s decendents perished unhappily. So he left Thebes with his wife and said said that if the snake meant so much to the gods, then to turn him into one. So they transformed Cadmus and his wife into serpents. The myth has a very awkward development. Cadmus sets out to find his sister but ends up killing a snake, building Thebes, and being turned into a serpent. There is a quote that I believe fits this situation, ¨Life is what happens while you´re busy making plans for something else.¨. All this time, Cadmus thought that his main goalm in life was to go out on a search for his sister, but while that was happening, a whole bunch of new, unexpected things occured. Those events were the ones which eventually made up his entire life. This surprisingly happens to many people, other than cadmus. They spend most of their life´s looking, or waiting for something, when really, what they were looking for was what they living the entire time.

The Three Myths 14

Dyrope

This myth was about a woman called Dyrope, who one day, takes a walk in the woods with her sister and her child. She accidentally rips a flower off of its stem. She did not know though, that it was a nymph who had shape shifted into it. As a punishment, Dyrope was turned into a tree and separated from her family forever. This myth makes me think that the Greeks and Romans must have been big environmentalists. Unlike us, they should have respected nature, nurture it, and let it live freely. It may have been of fear of having the same faith as Dyrope, but soon we´ll also have that same fear. When human´s see that nature is slowly disappearing, then we´ll be afraid of loosing the resources that keep us alive. Soon, the myth will represent us much more.

Venus and Adonis

While reading this myth, I found a very interesting quote: ¨Be brave towards the timid,¨ she said ¨Courage against the courageous is not safe.¨ (P. 53). I hate to agree with this, but I also believe that it´s braver and more admirable to confront someone just as or even more courageous than you are. In my opinion, a coward would be the type who challenges a person, and knows he/she is inferior or more timid. I remember hearing somewhere that courage is not the absence of fear, it is that presence of fear yet the will to go on. The two quotes completely contradict themselves, but I choose to stand more on the side which states that courage only comes with fear. If you are not afraid of your challenge, then how can you be brave while confronting it?

Apollo and Hyacinthus

Hyacinthus was a good friend of Apollo. The myth states that one day, they were playing a game of quoits together. Apollo throws the discus filled with strength and skill, but when Hyacinthus when over to catch it, it hit his head and he died. The God felt so bad that he even wrote a song in memory of his friend. There is not much to say about this story. I believe it´s bad enough to loose a friend, but to be his killer too would be too much to take. Maybe the myth is just trying to tell that with a stupid and silly mistake, you can end up loosing a friend. Maybe not like Apollo did, but by doing things that a real friend wouldn´t do. Take care of those close to you, because any day, you can end up loosing them.