Author: mmead

Today in class we talked about a multitude of things held within the bible. Primarily slavery, the ten commandments, and Our classes Commandments. The first of which I would like to talk about is slavery within the bible. As said in class Moses freed the slaves of Egypt and lead them to safety where eventually he brought forth the ten commandments. This was something that historically was left out of the bibles sold to slaves as they did not want slaves to believe that slavery was wrong, they didn’t want them to revolt and run away. I did not know this prior to class and found it very interesting. In addition to this one of the ten commandments we had talked about in class was “You shall not have any gods before me”. This was very controversial for your class as there was a vast difference in opinions. However I am in agreence with it. I say this because it grants a foundation on which no other rules can take its place. No one else can come along and try and change things up. The ten commandment are moral compasses people should follow to live a prosperous life.

After reading Genesis 19 and Judges 19, I was surprised. I had heard this story before in Sunday school, However I was only told the prettier version. Many if not all sacred texts have some type of violence and gruesome details. Typically those stores are sugar coated. However after reading the stories and going over it in class it was very interesting to see these things. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah really is a great example of the brutality that a part of the bible entails. I was in disbelief as I noticed a multitude of things.  Lot had just met these men and while the other men of the city are outside requesting Lot let them go so they can do things to them he offers up his “virgin daughters”. It was concerning to see Lot offer up his own blood, his own kin to help two strangers. But after you see the wrath that God took out on these people and it puts you in a little bit of disbelief. God punished these people not for their hospitality but because of stuff that Lot had heard and seen been done over time. I don’t believe it was just directly related to the attempted rape or current savagery but the decay of the people over time.

I really learned a lot about the Butler library Lib guides. This section was very beneficial as we went into excessive details. Personally I have had librarians come into or Zoom in some of my classes however, none had gone into as much detail and showed us the important things like in class today. These techniques and shortcuts will help everyones papers and research in the upcoming months. I greatly appreciated the time that was taken to show us these.

The reading for today was Adrian Thatchers The Savage Text. The most intriguing thing I came across was the role of Children in the bible. The most notable was the story of sacrificing Issac that we had previously talked about in class. Adrian brings up the significance of this by stating “may require a stiff drink just to get through it. God tests Abraham’s obedience by telling him to kill his son Isaac”(84). In the end this task is not completed as an angle stops Abraham and congratulates him for being so obedient. However I find it scary that someone would carry through with this. I must emphasize Issac was Abraham’s son and he was willing to sacrifice him to God. I can only imagine how many children were sacrificed in the name of God.

Today in class we had talked about a wide variety of things. These being rape, abuse, slavery, infertility and the relations with the  stories of Abraham, and conception of time.  In class we had talked about the stories of Abraham. The one we spend the most time on was Genesis 11 the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. This story covers the rape, abuse, infertility, and slavery aspect we spent the majority of class on.  The briefest of summaries is, Abraham’s wife Sarah was infernal, so she made her slave Sarah conceive a baby with Abraham. This caused many things to occur. Because of these circumstances Hagar and Sarah were constantly angry with one another. However she had only begun to hate Sarah only once she was pregnant with Abrahams baby. As we discussed this may have allowed Hagar to feel more entitled as she was now baring Sarah’s husbands child. This is very similar to the show the Handmaids Tale which we had also talked talked about in class. However until now I had not realized or put all the dots together. In this case I have begun to see that the story of Abraham is what the entire show is essentially based upon and grown off of with a futuristic twist.  Seeing this really made me appreciate the writers more and I can only image the amount of people who do not realize the correlation like I had previously.

Today in class we talked about Genesis 2 and 3 and the story of Adam and Eve. This class discussion was very interesting as we had once again talked about the “forbidden fruit” and mans desire to question authority.  We talked about the fruit as a big red button and that is exactly what it was. It was something Adam and Ever were specifically told not to touch but did so anyways. Being honest I would do specifically what my parents told me not to do because I knew what was best for myself and it was whatever they were keeping me away from.  However I did not sin in doing so. God realized that they made a mistake. God is all knowing, wise, and powerful he realized that humans weren’t perfect and realized this flaw should not be corrected as it teaches us a lesson the vast majority of the times we question our authority.

In Genesis 6-11 there are 2 different flood sties and the video with Dexter Callender describes the differences well and the reading definitely shows it. Dexter brings up the idea of myth within the bible. He mentions that it is in the flood story that we hear of this. It is because the two of every animal and all man coming from Noah, He mentions Noahs eternal life and the birds. The thing that also throws people off is it raining for forty days and nights causing the flood. I find it very interesting how there are obvious differences told within the same story. This might lead one to believe it to be hear say. I am not sure how these stories have been so altered or where the two stories got woven together but it makes it clear that somethings might have been lost over time or even added for flare of the story.

the reading “BABYLONIAN EPIC OF CREATION” differs from the christian creation story in many ways. First of which is there being multiple Gods. Within the Babylonian faith in the creation there are multiple gods, Mummu, and Tiamat, Anshar and Kishar. We also talked about in class one of the biggest critiques of the Christian faith with creation is Where did god come from? this is different within the Babylonian faith as the creators came from the water. which also leads us into possibly one of the biggest differences that being the creation of the world. In Genesis 1 you are able to see how God crafted not only our world but our entire universe. You see how God spent time forming the world the first 3 days, and the last 3 days God filled what he had formed. However in the Babylonian text we are just to realize that the world existed. From the readings we are bale to see drastic differences as the ones I have pointed out however they all come back to a divine being or beings meaning that the religious aspect and belief remains the same. This world is too perfect to be pure luck. This was all done by a divine being.

In class we talked about Genesis. Genesis is the first book in the bible and one that many might think they know it. However after talking in class a few things came up that caught my attention. One of the topics being that of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. The other being translations of the bible. In class we talked about how In Genesis 3 it never mentions an apple, however if you google “Adam and Eve” and click on images the first ten images will show that Adam and Eve are holding Apples. I think it is depicted as an apple to simplify it from a “forbidden fruit”. However this is also apart of the mandela effect as many people in class (me included) said “apple” when asked. Could this also be apart at one time a translation error? This gets into the second key point of class and that being things lost in translation or even changing the wording to make it grammatically correct. Could it have been changed from forbidden fruit to apple at some point in time? The reason I am saying this is because when we looked at the different types of bible we noticed that the idea and meaning was the same but the wording was different. If anyone would like to respond and give your idea it would be greatly appreciated.

I would consider Michael W. Holmes to be a very successful and credible source when it comes to biblical studies. As a current professor at Bethel University and former Chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies. it is clear to see that he is well-sourced and informed regarding this subject area. He has a Ph.D in Theological seminary from Princeton University and specializes in the New Testament. “His primary research interests are New Testament textual criticism and the Apostolic Fathers (a collection of early Christian writings)” (Bethel University). Holmes has had a very extensive career and has plenty of publications to back up his work.

Another Credible source I have found is John Barton. He is a priest but also the former Chair of Theology also know as “The Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture” at Oxford University. He has been involved in many publications has many other credible sources backing him and travels to different universities to give his speeches on Biblical studies.

This lesson has taught me that many sources are available but until you research the authors they have no credibility. The credibility that you might be searching for is that of these men. However, it is also good to play devil’s advocate in order to interperate the whole idea.

Hi, my name is Maxamillian Mead and I am a sophomore here at Butler. I am a double major in both Accounting and Finance. I am from Louisville Kentucky. I am taking this course in order to fulfill my TI requirement and to have a better understanding of my faith.

I would say the Bible is a collection of stories and first hand accounts of Jesus, his disciples and the word of God. The Bible is a great place where many people get their ethical and spiritual views because of this I would say that the Bible is a great source of guidance for many people. The bible Bible can answer many life questions and give guidance during tough times.

I know a little about the history of the Bible. I know that it was stories passed down for generations until eventually these stories were written down and compiled. I know the Old testament and the Torah are the same and show a connection between the Christian and Jewish faith.

When I researched “What is the Bible?” many articles, websites, and videos came up 831,000,000 results came up. Of all of these results not all of the sources are reliable and can be trusted. There are many bias sources when it comes to this topic. However as we talked about in class I would choose a reliable sources by researching the author and their background and go from there.