So many things have happened since we last saw each other. I went to a beautiful city called Bethlem some years ago, and met a baby boy that had just been born, his name is Jesus. I think you know Mary, his mother. She tells that the angel Gabriel went to her in a dream and told her that she was going to give birth to the Son of God. His father is a nice man named Joseph. I am going to tell you their story.
On my trip, I also met another baby. His name is john. He was born in Nazareth. His mother's name is Elisabeth. She is the daughter of Aaron. Her husband's name is Zechariah and he is a priest. But that was a longtime ago and time has passed and these two boys have grown up.
John began to baptize people and wash away all their sins in the desert of Judea. He has become a man of god. But the evil king, Herod, who disagreed with baptism arrested John and put him in jail.
Jesus also became a man of god. He began to perform miracles, save lives, cure lepers, bring people from the dead and he even does exorcism. He also tamed a storm, and fed a crowd of 5,000 people with scarce food. People admired him and praised him because he claimed to be the Son of God. He began to have many followers and he called out twelve men who became his biggest admirers and followers. Jesus began to preach and his apostles followed him everywhere and preached his word among people. Most of the Jew's loved Jesus for he was there King. But a group of people thought he was a farce. They were called the Pharisees. They were completely against him but Jesus did not mind them. He kept on preaching and continued like always. But one day he was conversing with his apostles and he told them that he foresaw that he was going to die.
Worried that he will soon be killed he hurries back to Jerusalem. When he arrives he has trouble getting through the town because a crowd of disbelieves attacks him but he manages to get through them.
With the feeling that his end is near he warns his followers about the apocalyptic. He gathers all his apostles and has a special supper for them. He tells them that that would be there last supper together.
In the end Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus is arrested. He is crucified shortly after his arrest and he is nailed to a wooden cross and let there to die. Joseph being a very loving and loyal to his friend goes buries him and doesn’t leave him rotting on the cross. His good friend Mary Magdalene goes looking for him to his grave and finds that he is not there any longer. Jesus had resuscitated and went to tell his loyal apostles to spread his word and his teachings and to make the religion bigger and stronger.
This is a very important story and I think that one of Jesus biggest concerns was that some one might forget his story and I hope that never happens because I am a loyal disciple of his and I don’t want this story to be forgotten.
I hope to keep in touch with you my dear friend,
Luke
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Tao of The Bible
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus20: 4)“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus20: 7)
While I was reading the Tao I kept on remembering many passages from the Bible. The passages above are two of the Ten Commandments. Similar to the first passages from the Tao Te Ching, it is stated in the bible that one must not have any image or representation of God nor may one use his name in vain.
“The Tao that can be told
Is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
Is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
Of all particular things.” (Tao Te Ching: Chapter 1)
The first thing that is said in The Tao Te Ching is that the Tao cannot be explained and it can’t have a name. Similar to that of the Ten Commandments, one should not use Gods name in vain nor shall one name the Tao.
These two “rules” are similar because they are both trying to preserve the power and importance of the Bible and the Tao Te Ching, because once you name something so important and mysterious as the Bible or the Tao you are taking away some of its importance and mystery. If you make an image of god, you are reducing it even more. And eventually both will be reduced to a simple theory, which is exactly what these two passages are trying to prevent.
The Tao is supposed to always remain a mystery and it is suppose to be impossible to explain. So are Gods powers. We know that Taoism exists but we don’t know its source. Same with Gods powers, we know they exist but we don’t know the real source. The true essence of faith lies within these principles.
“Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.”(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 1)
“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse…”(Romans1: 20)
I began to look at the New Testament and realized that some of the Lord’s teachings are the same of those in the Tao. For example:
“The more you talk, the more you are likely to sin. If you are wise, you will keep quiet. “(Proverbs 10:19)
”The mouth, on the other hand, becomes exhausted if you talk too much. Better to keep your thoughts inside you.” (Tao Te Ching: Chapter 5)
Both are saying that you should keep your mouth shut for useless matters. This shows that the Bible does teach some similar things as the Tao. I have found that these two have many characteristics in common and that the Tao and The Bible have some similar teachings. I think that the Tao expresses them in a much more direct way.
“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”(Matthew 26:52)
“People who try to take the executioner's place are like people that try to take the Master Carpenter's place. If you use the Master's tools, you just cut your own hands.” (The Tao Te Ching: Chapter 74)
In the bible we assume that God is supposed to be teaching the good and defending it. But that is no the case, God is impartial because he is the creator of everything and everyone thus he loves all his creations. But what about a thief? That’s still is one of his creations. All humans sin and yet, God still forgives all of our sins. God is above good and evil.
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Hold on to the center.” (Tao Te Ching: Chapter 5)
The Tao is also like God in this sense; it is above good and evil, and in Taoism the yin yang represents this.
“When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.” (Tao Te Ching: Chapter 2)
In Taoism good and bad compliment each other. Without bad, good wouldn’t exist, and without good, bad wouldn’t exist either. Good and bad balance each other out. In every wrong, there is some good and in every good there is some bad.
Both of these books are the basic pillars to universal beliefs. And they are very similar. They are both spiritual guides to help their readers become better people. But the bible is a religious book, and I believe that the Tao is more a philosophy than a religion. But they both have common basic principles and teach their readers and followers positive life lessons. They both make humans undertake the quest to find a spiritual life through a matter as deep as faith.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Tao In GO
While I was playing Go, I began to think of how the Tao Te Ching and Go are alike. In the Tao, we learn how to balance good and evil with the yin yang. When you play Go you have to make the right move to win. The Tao is trying to teach us how to become better people. It is like a spiritual a spiritual guide that tries to make humans better people. In Go we must look for the right choice to move in order to win. much like in life. we could use the game Go as a metaphor with life. You always have too look for the right move to make to do better and we may be in difficult situations through out our lives but there is always a solution and like the Yin Yang, there is always some good in bad and always something bad in good.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Love everything you do
One thing I noticed was about Confucius was that he always says very wise things but all his preachings have to do with love. I think that everything that Confucius did, he did it with love and gave the best of his energy.
"Set your heart upon the way, rely upon Virtue, lean upon Goodness, and explore widely in your cultivation of the arts." This quote is really inspiring. I have really enjoyed reading these analects. There are many lessons to be learned from them. This quote really made me think.
You can understand this quote by dividing it up.
The first part: " Set your heart upon the way… ". Confucius is saying that the "way" is the path of life, so you must love your life and love everything you do in life.
The second part: "…rely upon Virtue…” Here you must always believe that everything you do have a positive outcome and you always have to have faith in that goodness is always on your side.
The last part: "…and explore widely in your cultivation of the arts." Here he is asking all of us to cultivate the arts to help and give new input to the society we are in.
He is asking to be positive and to love and live our lives and love what we do and find the goodness in everything at all times.
love for learning
Reading Analects 4 through 6 a quote from the Analects really caught my attention. "In any village of ten households there are surely those who are as dutiful or trustworthy as I am, but there is no one who matches my love for learning," (5.28) I began to analyze this quote and I realized what Confucius meant. If you don’t love what you are learning you wont enjoy it so you want really learn. Confucius teaches about finding a love for learning. We can see that he wants his students to love what they do in order to find goodness in their selves and to learn more you should love what your doing.
Many people I know, who are a lot older than me, have always told me that the essence in learning is not the same anymore. Our parents or grandparents use to go to school because they enjoyed learning. Everyday was more exciting because they would learn knew things. I’m sure that these would all be perfect examples of people who do have a true love for learning new things, people who are thrilled with the thought of learning knew things, and this isn’t only in their childhoods, this is all there life’s. I could perfectly use my parents as an example they are in their forties and they still love learning new things. They really enjoy it.
Today, the majority of students attend class because it is am obligation. We are forced and we can’t seem to find a joy in learning and this makes me go back to Confucius’s quote. Maybe he is right, we must find a joy and an entertainment in learning if we really want to succeed and learn more.
Many people I know, who are a lot older than me, have always told me that the essence in learning is not the same anymore. Our parents or grandparents use to go to school because they enjoyed learning. Everyday was more exciting because they would learn knew things. I’m sure that these would all be perfect examples of people who do have a true love for learning new things, people who are thrilled with the thought of learning knew things, and this isn’t only in their childhoods, this is all there life’s. I could perfectly use my parents as an example they are in their forties and they still love learning new things. They really enjoy it.
Today, the majority of students attend class because it is am obligation. We are forced and we can’t seem to find a joy in learning and this makes me go back to Confucius’s quote. Maybe he is right, we must find a joy and an entertainment in learning if we really want to succeed and learn more.
Spelling Exercise
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You had 23 out of 23 questions correct.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Incredible Speaking Ability
After watching President Barack Obama speak, I noticed many things that the new American president does. Aside from being one of the best speakers I have ever seen and heard he maintains the audience's attention throughout the whole speech. He demonstrates eye contact and limits his hand gestures and uses them to make emphasis o n certain parts of his speech. He also changes his tone and volume to master emphasis on important points of his speech. One of the things that stood out the most to me was his clear and confident tone. It really leaves you admiring and analyzing what President Obama is saying. He really hooks you into what he is trying to say.
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