5/2 Notes

1. Prayer
2. Serivce reflection
Micah 6:8
"The Lord God asks this of you:  act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God"
3. Instead of Presentation--> watch movie on Christianity . orthodox

4/12 class notes

Today we talked about church history and the splits within the church

1.  Documentary: 

• 3 major groups(Catholic, orthodox, protestant)
• God encourages unity between these groups
• theological differences
• Same major principles 
• Differences in clergy
• Blessed mother= big part of catholicism, big debate about this
• 1054= East, West Schism, this was proceeded by lots of tensions
• Many different forms of protestantism
• Catholic and orthodox believe in transubstantiation 
• Protestants believe in consubstantiation
• Protestants have married clergy
• Sola Scriptura- differences in scripture
• Rivalry between different denominations 
• Catholics believe in the tradition of the pope

2. Video on Eastern orthodox patriarch (equivalent of pope)

4/8/11 NOTES

After prayer we discussed Thomas Aquinas' 5 Points ascertaining the existence of God. He confirms that God must be real because of 5 different points:

1. First Mover: everything must start somewhere & from something
2. First Cause: there has to be a reason that things start and something must cause them to happen, they don't "just happen".
3. Necessary Being: things start at a beginning point
4. Intelligent Design: the world has a purpose & everything works according to some type of order
5. Greatest Being: there has to be a higher being because good/great beings must come from something greater.

After we read an excerpt from The Shack, which is a book about the evolution of a relationship between a man and God after the death of his daughter. In it, God is portrayed in a form that makes it easier for the man to relate to and it attempts to depict the true nature of God and the fact that it is impossible for us as humans to truly comprehend him.

Then we went to Stations of the Cross in the chapel.

4/6/11 NOTES

Today, we started the Christianity unit.  We first read Pascal's Wager and he compared believing in God to gambling, because there is no real downside to believing in God, so why shouldn't a person try to believe in Him as when death comes if He is real then one will go to Heaven and if not then the person lost nothing in believing.

Each group then took one of the essential questions about a religion and answered them. The main points were:

Nature of God: all-knowing, Trinity, Jesus, merciful, loving, peace
Nature of Humans: Adam and Eve, original sin, made in the image and likeness of God, & free will, & the 2 theories regarding human's sin
How Do People Live Their Lives: Beatitudes & Sacraments, by the 10 Commandments, & Golden Rule
What Do We Have To Hope For: Salvation, Heaven vs. Hell, eternal life with God, Jesus' saving grace

4/4 Classnotes

1. Prayer
2. IA Work
3. Talk to HL students about IA
4. Food Drive Donations?

HW: any extra food donations due next class

upcoming:
4/6 - Chapter 9
4/12 - IA due

Class notes 3/29

1. Prayer
2. U.S. Department of Justice reading- hate crimes and groups in the U.S.
3. Nazi America video- History channel and National Geographic
4. Southern Poverty Law Center- fights against hate crimes and groups
5. Anti defamation league


HW: Continue working on IA and presentation

3/25/11 Class Notes

Two senior students gave a presentation on their service learning projects: one was at the children's inn at the NIH and the other was at the 2nd Chance Wildlife Center.

Then, we were given a handout and listened to a recording of Elie Weisel's speech at the White House in 1999 during the Millenium Lectures. He commemorated the Holocaust and also touched on a somewhat similar situation that was happening in Kosovo. He talked about the consequences of indifference of nations and people, especially in relation to the Holocaust and the U.S. initial position during the war. He also talked about how it was our duty as humans to make the decision to help others and bring justice to various corners of the world.

We also read excerpts from Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl who was also a Holocaust survivor and  he wrote about his experience in the camps and how people were dehumanized and demeaned by the guards and the situation they were in. He also talked about the power of love in those types of situations and what became the most important things to people when they were liberated: to eat and to talk, 2 of the most basic things that they were deprived of during the camps--the ability to voice one's opinions and just talk.

Hw: Read chapter 9 by April 6 & completed IA due April 12.