September 17, 2007

Danny Sorenson
Religion 303
Professor Victor L. Ludlow
09-17-07
Journal for September 17, 2007
We started this day by attending our Jewish narrative, Arabic, and Old Testament classes. One of the first things that we discussed in our Arabic class was certain cultural and religious beliefs within Islam. I was amazed to be again reminded of how much there is in common between our religious communities. Some of the things we discussed were the paramount importance of God, the direction to continue to learn, and the need to respect our parents. I enjoy learning more about the various cultures, because too often we have the wrong impressions and ideas about various peoples. In our Jewish narrative class we discussed the evolution of Jewish practice and belief after the Second Temple period, which was also an enlightening experience. In our Old Testament Class we discussed the plagues that affected Egypt, as well as the beginnings of the Exodus that would eventually lead to the Israelites entrance into their Promised Land. One of the major things that we learned from that class was that God does, and will continue to protect the righteous. While the first few plagues were universal, they were also more annoying than life-threatening. But as the plagues became more serious to the point of death the Israelites, and finally those who were righteous, were protected from the lethal effects of the plagues. This is an important lesson for us today. While we will not be protected from all pain and suffering in this world, we can have the knowledge that God does know best and will ultimately save those that are righteous.
After classes a group of us went to the Church of St. Anne’s and to the Western Wall. The Church of St. Anne’s is one of the supposed locations of Mary’s birthplace, as well as the Pool of Bethesda. On the pamphlet that we were given it talked about the story of Christ healing the invalid man by the pool, and how that can relate to all people. This is a true statement; Christ’s atonement is all about healing, whether spiritually or physically. There is nothing that Christ’s atonement cannot heal, and there is no pain that Christ does not understand. In this sense, several of today’s themes ran together. While we cannot be entirely spared from the pain of life, we can be healed from all the pains of life.