YOLB- Month 3 and 4

Due Date: Thursday, November 12

Here are your questions. Choose three of the seven to answer. You choose which you want to address. Answer them via the blog or have a hard copy when you get to class.

5) When Jacobs is troubled by the "mysterious code" of perplexing Biblical rules in the Bible, why do you think he is ok with the explanation "If a jigsaw puzzle came numbered, you'd return it to the store."

If the Bible could be interpreted easily, there would be no mystery or Godliness to it. People would not revere it as much, and it would not be considered a holy text. The metaphorical writing adds a wise element to it, and the examples seem more profound than dry text that lists rules and morals. They would not have a meaning if listed this way.
Also, as humans, we are always trying to figure things out, and we like challenges. Religion is just another challenge and mystery for us that we can continuously work to figure out, even if we may never understand God.

6) When Jacobs reads Ecclesiastes and comes to the conclusion, "be good for goodness sake", how does that allow him to answer the question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Ecclesiastes is a collection of works from King Solomon, that talks about how bad and good things happen to everyone, no matter if you are rich or successful. It states that we should be good and follow the covenants, even if this doesn't incfluence the events that happen to us in our life. We should "be good for goodness sake." Also, there is no guarantee that if we do good deeds in our life that good things will happen to us. Vice versa, if we do bad things in life, there is no guarantee bad things will happen to us. We must do good deeds just for the sake of doing the right thing, regardless of the outcome.

"We should follow the commandments, but we should do so with no guarantee that they will pay off in this life (114)."

7) What is meant by the term Chasid Shote or Righteous Idiot? What does this address about religious belief?

These terms refer to people who are so focussed on following their religion and certain rules and traditions that they contradict them by forgetting to apply these rules to the real world. Perhaps, they would follow the rule of always helping others, but they would not wake up and help the woman who has a flat tire. This says that for religious belief to have a meaning, we must apply it to our everyday lives, and unite our actions with our words. This term infers that some religious people are so busy trying to be riteous and follow the rules of their church that they forget about their everyday lives, and how to apply these rules outside of church and praying. They forget that there is more to religion than praying and going to church on Sundays. One of the reasons religion is so powerful is that it takes into account, the needs of others, and how each person can help fufill those needs. We must be kind to all our neighbors as well as be faithful to our religion to be truly righteous.


Month 4

1) How did Jacob's "forced Sabbath" make him understand how a true Sabbath should be?

When Jacobs was stuck in his bathroom for 3 hours because the doorknob fell off the door, he truly learned the meaning of Sabbath. He had nothing to do in the bathroom, and thought about how the rest of the world was moving on and working without him. He thought of all the things he could be doing at the moment, but couldn't. This made him realize what a real Sabbath should be like. It doesn't mean just "turning down the volume", but completely shutting the music off.

He states that, "...the Sabbath is a sanctuary in time (125)."

I think in a way, the Christian religion made Sundays based off of the Sabbath for when God created the world, and left the 7th day to rest. However, today, Church is held on Sundays, which doesn't exactly constitute resting. I think the Church took the Sabbath to mean a holy day in general, and opened it up to different interpretations. Since it was a holy day, the church decided to hold mass on that day. Personally, I believe that a day of rest is needed for all cultures and religions. It allows us to take time to reflect on our week, and our lives in general. We have unconciously worked small breaks into our culture, such as "time outs" for children to reflect on what they did wrong, vacations off of the school year, Saturdays and Sundays, afternoon siestas, and so on and so forth. Other cultures have also included these breaks, such as the Muslim religion and praying 5 times a day. These prayer times aren't just for praying, but also refocussing on what is important in life. They give people a break from their work, so when they return they will have more energy and gumption. These breaks are essential to any culture that wishes to remain mentally, physically and emotionally healthy. That is the true value and purpose of a Sabbath.