How can Taoist text help deepen our understanding of Chinese history?

The Taoist text can help deepen our understanding of Chinese history because from the text, we learn how the philosophy afffected the way the  Chinese lived. For example, the article states "China had never had an alternative political model other than the emperor." this was the model followed for more than 2,000 years. Until Taoism. Unlike the previous Chinese mode, Taoism is a theocracy based on tianshi, or celestial masters. The celestial master was supposed to establish a new political structure, the “Great Peace,” in which every individual would be treated justly. This provided an important alternative to the norm of Confucianism. This was a new ideaology for the Chinese. We can also see that the present day mainstream Tasoism is a descendant of the second-century religious movement. First of all, Taoist printers still use many of the same terms and practice the same things. In addition, the ideas are the exact same, "The world of the dead is like the world of the living. Taoist priests are like cosmic lawyers. They can go up to heaven and extricate the dead from difficulties. Taoism gives you a way of controlling  your fate in another world." This has always remains the same. However, today the Chinese consitution guarantees freedom of religious belief but not religious practice. According to the New York Times article, "Much of what a traditional Taoist priest did is now illegal. They are allowed to do rituals but cannot claim to have actually accomplished anything with the ritual, or else it is called superstition. If you claim your ritual will actually heal someone or save their relatives, you can be thrown in jail for fraud."

Is our life a computer program?

    I think that the idea of someone, or something, being capable of controlling everyone's lives with a computer program is not only mind boggling, but also quite legitimate. It's scary to think that our lives and everything we know is possibly embedded into a computer. In social studies today we learned that the Hindus believe that the earth we live isn't real because everything around us, including our selves is never the same because it's always changing. I think that you could apply this to Neil DeGrasse Tyson's question in some sense. Also, when I used the google virtual reality thing, I was really surprised about how realistic it was and have thought that in the future, at the technological rate we are increasing at now, in the future we'll probably be able to recreate all the senses we feel now in virtual reality. I don't agree with the theory though because if we were a computer program, why would we be programmed to think or wonder that we were a program?

The holocaust and Job

The stories of Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum Is similar to the story of job because as Abernethey says “The fact that there are Holocaust survivors who, after all they endured, can still keep faith, is itself, the greatest miracle of all.”During the holocaust, many Jews and their families were killed in this form of genocide. This can relate to the story of job because after all of Job's suffering (loosing his family, house, animals, and belongings), he still remained faithful to God. Both stories features a terrible way of suffering for Jews. Weather that means losing loved ones or losing belongings. At this point most people would question why god would just observe all of this terrible behavior and not do anything to stop it. However, the survivors of the holocaust and Job's opinion on god and their belief in God remained constant.

The stores of Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum is different because during the many Jews lost faith in God after and during holocatust whereas Job was always confident in god. Mr. Memachembaum says I try to continue my parents’ ways, but to be honest, I do it more out of respect than out of conviction. I really don’t understand my father’s faith. I don’t understand why he would risk his life in the camps for a God who had seemingly abandoned him. He chooses not to forgive god for not doing anything during he holocaust. Job consistantly had assurance I'm god throughout his unfortunate events. Some Jews were able to justify gods actions because saying they were meant to be misunderstood by humans, others chose not to forgive god.

 

 

The Book of Job

The Book of Job part one is similar to the others story we read in the Old Testament. In these stories, God is usually testing someone to see if they are truly faithful and Is truly fearful of God and shuns evil. In the Book of Job, God made Job suffer by taking everything he knew and loved away from him, like his family and farm animals, after Satan said the only reason why Job had faith in God was because Job had nice things in a materialistic stand point. The story is similar to the story of Abraham's sacrifice. When God wanted Abraham to prove his faith in him, by telling him he has to sacrafice his son Isaac. In both stories, God see's that each character is fully devoted to God by putting them through severe tests. Also, in both stories, God is proved to be feared by the tests. In addition, God takes away or attempts to take away member/members of ones family. 

The book of Job is different to the others stories we read in the Old Testament because unlike the other stories, the book of Job features Satan. Satan appears as a character in the book as the character that is suspicious of gods servant. When God asks Satan if he considered his servant, Job, Satan says he only fears God because he has so many possessions and is content with his life. Satan tells God to take away these things and expect to be cursed in the face. The book of Job is also different from others stories in the Old Testament because it shows God going to much harsher extremes to prove someone's commitment to him. Unlike Abraham. God decided to put Job the real test rather than interrupt when things started to go bad like he did when Abraham was about to stab Issac.