The Bible TI251 Fall 2020

During Tuesday’s class, we talked about Paul and James. I learned a lot of new things that I previously did not know. First, Paul and James disagree on a lot of things. They use “faith” and “works” in different ways. James believes more I good actions while Paul focuses on following the rules and the law. I think it is clear that Paul and James are talking past each other. Neither of them offers a counterargument of each other’s points and only focusing on their side/opinion. It is also clear the influence of Jesus’ teaching on both of them. One last thing I found interesting is the difference in time Paul spends on Genesis. I feel as though this proves Paul was not telling the truth. In my opinion, liars tend to come up with more complex, detailed stories in order to prove their side. I feel like its more clear when it’s shorter because they aren’t thinking about someone doubting them. Secondly, Dr. McGrath talked about Bone boxes which honestly blew my mind. The idea of these is crazy. A year after someone dies you collect their bones and put it in a box? This sounds very traumatizing to me and I can’t believe people used to do this. I don’t think it was a tradition for very long and I understand as to why.

It is interesting to talk about how the beast is an allusion to the past. I had not read the book of Revelation, so it was interesting to read about the interpretations of it. It is interesting to read about Jacqueline Hidalgo’s ideas on the book of Revelation. She talks about how it really is a critique and interest in the Roman empire. It was interesting to discuss in class how the book is thought to be about the anti-Christ for some people. There is a weird stigma around the book, and it makes sense why. Most people think the book of Revelation is about the end of humanity, so they are scared by the book.

Revelation has this stigma of a powerful and sometimes scary book of the Bible that people see as a prophecy. People have formed conspiracies about an anti-Christ based on the number 666. I think that this is very interesting because we want to make the world revolve around us. By conspiring about people in the present day who could be the anti-Christ and start the ending of known humanity, it upholds that we are very self-centered. The author of Revelation wrote to the people of their time, not to the current population on Earth. They made it understandable to all people so everyone would be able to realize the message that was being written.

I was born on June 6th, 2002. I have grown up all my life with people saying to me things like: ” good thing you weren’t born four years later,” or “anything special happen on your birthday in 2006? Because that would be weird.” At that time, I didn’t know what about a number could be so ominous. Then grew up and realized that there was number called “The number of the Beast.”

Most people know that the number of the beast is 666. This number is supposed to signify the antichrist, but also allows for people to make connections with the number anywhere they can. Throughout history, there have been many attempts to connect the number with different Roman emperors, world leaders, and dictators. However, as many people have discovered, it is easy to morph this number into a lot of different names, dates, and even places.

Whether or not you believe in this sort of thing, you can’t deny that people have been obsessed with this number for a long time. There have been many calculations as to whom the number might refer to, or if the “beast” has even walked among us. In Revelation, Daniel mentioned the coming of the rapture, as well as the “beast”. Since the rapture has yet to come, there is a possibility that the “beast” is still yet to come, but I guess time will tell.

Today we talked about the symbolism of the mark of the beast and apocalyptic events described in Revelations. There’s a bunch of science fiction around the apocalypse, and the Fallout series and Blade Runner stand out to me in the context of the Bible. When (or if) the apocalypse happens, the believers of Jesus Christ with be saved from the torment of the world while the rest of humanity will be left behind to fight, survive, and suffer without a savior. The Fallout games are set in a post-apocalyptic nuclear war in 2177 to 2287 (depending on the specific game in the franchise you play, the year can vary). Specifically, in Fallout 4 you play as a veteran who escapes into a nuclear fallout shelter as the bombs are dropped a few miles from his home. The shelters that house the remainder of humanity are mostly used as human experimentation facilities, and your fallout shelter cryogenically froze humans to see how long they could survive in that state. You wake up 210 years later to the post-apocalyptic world. With a biblical lens, you could look at the nuclear bombs dropping as the kingdom of heaven opening to save the believers, while the rest get left behind. Those who remain live in a brutal and terrible reality. Blade Runner can be viewed in a similar way; it’s a dystopian future where life is bleak, and corporations have more control over culture and laws than the government. The reality of this fictional story could be viewed as the kingdom of heaven having already saved its believers, and what we see on screen is the people being left behind to suffer.

The mark of the beast was an interesting discussion, because I love deep diving into the internet to find the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there, and unfortunately you don’t have to dive that deep to find them. Going over the Bill Gates and Barney are the antichrist conspiracies was very entertaining and shows how biblical interpretation and texts can be used in destructive and unhelpful ways.

I think that it was important for historians and archaeologists to find some physical evidence that Jesus could have walked the Earth. While this piece still has many unanswered questions, I believe that it will help historians understand what might be left behind to prove the existence of Jesus. I had never heard of this discovery before, and think it is interesting to see the different cultural practices from the past. Since it is extremely hard to find evidence and definitively say that it was from one specific era and shows evidence for the existence of stories that we hear, finding these breakthrough pieces help paint a clearer picture of what the past was like. In the instance of James, Jesus’ brother, I think that it is important that we understand what type of person that we think that he was and how he might have followed and practiced religion. Especially, when looking for evidence of Jesus.

I found the topic of Jesus’s siblings and family to be one of the most entertaining of the semester. It’s so odd to think about being one of Jesus’s brothers or sisters. You’d literally be living in the shadow of the most famous human of all time. Looking at things like sibling rivalries is another thought provoking idea. Assuming his siblings were followers of him, it would be beyond condescending to have your sibling also be fully God. It’s a shame that we don’t have more definite proof of their existence or their true relationship to Jesus because I feel as though their insight may be helpful in our understanding of Jesus, Christianity, and even religion in general.

I thought the conversation around archeological evidence presented was very interesting. The fact that when unqualified people possibly dig up what could be a religious artifact, completely invalidates what is being presented is such a tragic thought, especially when it completely supports something so big and important. It’s incredibly disappointing to see the connection between archeology and religion completely fall apart when people either dig up important objects irresponsibly or pass things along inauthentically. It is also interesting how people would be willing to pass along something so significant as an authentic work. It kind of makes you realize how important religion is, that people are willing to create fake documents or artifacts.

When Dr. McGrath asked us the question if Jesus had brothers and sisters, my immediate thought was of course not. I had never even considered the question if Jesus had siblings, because it always seemed that he was an only child. It surprised me when he showed us Bible verses that appear to mention that he has siblings. It’s debated, however, if these are just half siblings since Joseph had been married before, or maybe they are just cousins. Then this led to the discussion of the bone box that is inscribed with “Jesus brother of Joseph son of James” and the importance of having the proper credentials and documentation in order to take something like this into consideration. This goes with the major theme of the whole class: not just taking information at face value, but really digging into the legitimacy and expertise of the person giving you this information.

Discussing the letters of Paul led to many new discoveries for me. Firstly, I never realized that Saul and Paul were actually the same person. Paul has a very important role in Christianity by spreading the word and teachings of Jesus. What was really interesting to me, however, was reading about the relationship between Paul’s letters and race relations. Apparently in the arguments over slavery in the 1800s, those who were for slavery used the letters of Paul to emphasize the submitting of slaves to their masters. However, most people seem to look at Galatians 3:28—“There is neither Jew nor Greek, male and female, slave or free, but we are all one—you are all one in Christ Jesus.” I think that is one of the best things in the Bible, and something I think all Christians need to remember.