1 Month!

             On the first day of High School of Roslyn High School I felt that everything was going to be different. I thought the year would go by so slowly, but we're already a month into school. The High School has been a major change in my life. So far the best part of High School is the new sense of freedom. In the Middle School, they never allowed us to bring our phones let alone our bags to class. I think that the High School is better by far. The teachers are very laid back and they don't make me want to jump out of skin from fear. I think the workload is less too. The worst part of High School is that now everything counts toward college. All of the grade I get count even more. To me, grades have always mattered, but now they matter even more. Yeah, it's more stressful, but it's still fun. My schedule is also very hectic, I have to go from one side of the school to the other and up and down, but that's okay I still manage to get to class on time. Based on what I have experienced so far, I'm looking forward to next four months of my freshman year at Roslyn High School.

The Characterization of God Reflection

             From reading Genesis 6-9 last night, I learned a few things about God. God is just like us but, He also is extremely different from us. I am part of a Christian family, meaning that this is the material that I have been taught to believe. From this activity, I think I finally know more about what type of "person" God is. I have always thought of God as a superior being to everyone, He can create and, in this case, destroy anything He wishes at will. In the Bible, when God warns Noah about the the flood that would destroy everything, God told Noah that He thought that he was "righteous before me in this generation." This shows that God shows compassion to those who live by His word, agreeing with what I have been taught. While doing this assignment, I noticed that God is just like us. In the Bible, God admits that he regrets destroying everything. This just comes to show that even God, a superior being to all of us, can regret doing things as well. God regretted making man so much that he decided to kill off all living things so he could restart. To be honest, I'm not shocked by what I "found out" about God because I have grown up being taught all of this material.

Adam & Eve and The Garden of Eden

             From what is given in Genesis 2 & 3, it seems to show that Eve is to blame for the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. If it wasn't for Eve being greedy and taking the apple from the tree she was specifically told not to take fruit from, Adam and Eve would have been able to remain in the Garden without any problems. In Genesis 3, Adam says “ The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” This line from the Bible makes me think that this whole situation is Eve’s fault because even Adam points fingers to Eve. I think that the serpent who tempted Eve was testing Eve’s faith to God, her creator, because he told Eve that the apple would give her the knowledge to differentiate good and evil, and she knew that she was strictly prohibited from taking fruit from the tree. Like today, there is always a consequence for every wrong action. Eve's punishment was great pain when she bears children. God specifically said to Eve: “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children…” After punishing the two, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God, all because Eve decided to give into temptation.

Flood Stories

       
              In many different cultures/religions, a story about a Great Flood exists. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Roman’s version of a Flood story are both very similar, yet very different. For example, both stories believe in polytheism. In both stories, the gods get angry with the humans on the earth. However, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods lived on earth and were angered by how loud the humans were, therefore they thought of bringing a Flood upon Earth. In the Roman version, the gods were angry because of humanity's evil ways, because of this Jupiter wanted to set the earth on fire, but instead brought upon a Flood because he thought might set heaven itself on fire too. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods warned one person about the flood so that they could prepare and built a boat to survive. In the Roman version, no warning was given, instead, Jupiter, with Neptune’s help had the flood go everywhere except the summit of Parnassus, where Deucalion and his wife went to seek refuge. In both storylines, the last male and female were responsible for repopulating the earth. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the man and woman who repopulated the earth were rewarded/punished with eternal life. In the Roman version, while Jupiter and Mercury were traveling incognito in search of food and shelter, everyone else but a hospitable couple gave them food and shelter. As a reward, Jupiter and Mercury turned their house into a marble temple.They also made them the priest and priestess of the temple. When the couple grew very old, they were turned into an oak and lime tree. Many different cultures/religions have similar stories, but they will always have their differences.

Source: talkorigins.org

Welcome to My Blog!

Hi, my name is Daniel Castillo. Currently, I'm a High School Freshman at Roslyn High School. I am writing this blog as a collective project for my Freshman Humanities Class. My teacher is Mr. Reiff and he is by far one of the best teachers I've ever had. I think that this will be an interesting project for everyone in the class because it gives each of us a place to express our thoughts and ideas. I hope you enjoy my blog!