I feel like everyone knows the story of The Good Samaritan, and everyone knows that they have to love their neighbor and stuff. Although I feel like sometimes Christians are just like the Pastor and the Levite who you would assume would have helped the man but didn’t. Christians are sometimes the people who judge the most and the easiest, and random people who don’t know God and haven’t been taught to love your neighbor do love their neighbor before a Christian would. I feel like just because you say you are a Christian doesn’t mean you are if you don’t follow what God/Jesus said and act like one. It’s sad that in a country full of so many Christians there is so much judgment and pain sometimes caused by Christians. And sometimes the fake Christians shed such a bad light of the Christians who are doing the right thing, that is what people end up seeing only the bad side of Christianity. I love the fact the Jesus says that you don’t just have to love God and fully except him in your life to have eternal life you also have to love others as yourself. That is exactly what we should be doing, I just really don’t like that there are so many people who say they are Christian but don’t act like it.

To start off I have always heard the word Parable but I never knew what it meant or what the Parables really were because I was never taught, I just had to assume. I had to look it up before I read this chapter because I didn’t want to go and read about the Parables without knowing what they were. I kind of thought they were other books of the bible but I learned that they are just the stories of Jesus in the Gospels except for John. The one thing I really enjoyed while reading this chapter was when he compared the Parables to jokes because I completely agree unless you get the historical and cultural background then we won’t get the joke or what Jesus is trying to say and we miss important things and the main point. I feel like we have talked about this many times in class we get so worked up about the small things in the bible that don’t make sense to us now but it made sense back then; if we don’t see it from the perspective they would have, then we miss the point and get confused. I also liked how he included a section on how to interpret the parables especially for people like me who didn’t really understand how to read and interpret them to let alone know what they are. I am very excited to really read and interpret the parables know that I fully understand what they are.

I read Mark for this assignment because that is the book I knew the least about, you don’t hear many people talking about Mark. The stories move into one another a lot quicker than in the other Gospels. It was different reading this whole entire story of God’s life and the good news in one sitting. There were a few stories I didn’t know about but most of them I knew previously. I noticed that as soon as I started reading the book of Mark uses the words “good news” or “Gospel” are used right away “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark 1:1. I feel like the Good News is just Jesus’ life, they are called the Gospels and the one thing they have in common is Jesus’ life. Throughout the book of Mark, you read all the different stories, miracles and good things that Jesus had done throughout his life here on earth. Another time the gospel is mentioned is in Mark 8:35  “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it”. I think this means that when Jesus says “Whoever saves his life will lose it” he is saying if he denies the Lord to save his earthly life, he will lose his heavenly one. When he says “Whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it” he is saying if he does not deny me and loses his earthly life he will gain a heavenly life. Mark also talks about the Gospel in chapter 16:15-16  “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news^[d] to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” I think Jesus is saying that we have to tell every one of the good news (Jesus’ life and all the good things he did and taught). Overall in the end after reading the book or Mark, I think the Gospel or Good news is basically that God has sent His Son into the world to save the world. That the Son of God is Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ. That He suffered torture and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and that in His sacrifice He atoned for my sins and your sins and for the sins of the world. And that this Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion, and He appeared to many people, and after a time ascended into heaven.

I’m not really sure how to answer this questions its a big one. I guess I think that when they use it at church they are talking about the teachings of Jesus. But I’m not sure if that is the meaning I want to go with, I feel like there are many other meanings. I feel like it should just be able to mean many different things to different people, just like how we interpret the bible and most things in our lives different than others. I decided to look at all the different definitions there were for Gospel, such as (the teaching or revelation of Christ, a thing that is absolutely true, a set of principles or beliefs, the record of Jesus’ life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament., a fervent style of black American evangelical religious singing, developed from spirituals sung in Southern Baptist and Pentecostal churches.) I’m not sure which one the true meaning is or what it was intended to be by God but I think maybe for me I would say that its a combination of the teachings of Jesus and a set of principles or beliefs. I also think that it should just be all the meanings combined but that’s in a perfect world and I know a lot of people would disagree with me especially people that focus on the little details of the bible and not the big picture.

I am very excited to read the Gospels and see four accounts of Jesus’ life. I love that there are four different perspectives because everyone reads and interprets things differently and having four accounts means everyone can relate to one. I think for me personally I could understand and relate more to either Luke or John the best. I think that Luke or John would work best for me because Luke is written for the Gentiles and John is written just to prove the life of Jesus and it’s for everyone. I can’t wait to read everything and see if I was right about which ones work best for me. I feel like we will get on the topic of the small things that are different like some of us in class always do and we talk about what that means rather than the big picture of things and what is really trying to be said instead of the details. I think that is why there are four perspectives to show that the small details don’t matter just the big picture and main ideas and teachings. For me I usually read the four Gospels if I want to read the Bible, (I don’t read the bible a lot but I know I should and I am starting to get back into it), although its always been difficult for me to really understand what I am reading and process things because of the four concussions I have had but The Gospels, Psalms and Proverbs have always been the easiest for me to understand. So hopefully this time around I will really be able to understand everything since in the last couple reading we had I realized I always missed something or didn’t connect something.

I really liked this everything about this book of the bible. I loved it because it really shows how we should act and God is just reminding us of how we should treat him and treat each other. The Lord is teaching Israel that if it were not for his steadfast character and covenantal integrity they would have all perished because of their iniquities. And this is still so true today, have we really been any better than them. I loved this one verse “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.” Malachi 3:6. God’s character never changes. He is always perfectly good and faithful; but are we to him? I also love Malachi 2:10 “Have we, not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?” Why do we not treat others the way God has taught us to, there are many times throughout the bible where God teaches us how to treat our neighbor like in Mark 12:31 “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” and Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”. I don’t know why still today we have such a difficult time Treat God and others they way they should be treated. We need to change and that is what God is telling us and has been telling us for so long, but we are human and sinners and really never learn.

I felt like Amos was a big change from Jonah because in Amos God saved everyone because they repented but God destroys so many towns and he says “I will not revoke the punishment”, although God gives them a chance to repent they don’t take it. So they all end up dying not by fire though, and God said many times “So I will send fire”. I noticed that he gives the same punishment to everyone except for Israel he never mentions fire for their punishment. Because fire is mentioned so many times throughout the first three chapters I thought there was a reason why. So I researched a little and saw all the other places God uses fire throughout the bible. God either comes in fire, uses it as a punishment or for purification. I think that if the Israelites would have just repented like the Assyrians in Jonah then they wouldn’t have been destroyed, but that’s just what I think. I think that’s how we all should live even if we have done wrong repent although I think we should completely try not to sin but we are imperfect humans and will always sin no matter what. I just don’t really understand why you wouldn’t repent I mean if God is saying you are going to die if you don’t correct yourselves, I would have repented in a second for what I have done even though its to save myself I would then end up turning to God and believing fully in him like the Assyrians.

This reading caught my attention right away. I completely agree with Cosby when he was talking about how he always thought that the Prophets predicted the future because that’s what I was taught. This is kind of the same things with the whale in Jonah and the Donkey is the birth of Jesus. We believe what we are taught and don’t check it for ourselves. I think the reason the prophets used visual aids is the same reason we focus on actions and words today. We don’t really pay attention to the words of things but rather the crazy actions of people. We are so captivated but outrageous things, it’s in our nature. We don’t really listen when someone is talking about how we can do better thins for our culture and world but we freak out when a celebrity does something crazy and big. I feel like if the Prophets had just explained their predictions no one would really listen but because of the specticle, they created everyone listened and paid attention. I had already known about the different kinds of prophets from my religions of the world class but it was nice to read more about it. I didn’t know Profecy could be connected to so many things and thought prophets we just people that predicted what was to come. I liked that Cosby added in different ways of interpreting the Prophets I didn’t know you had to interpret them differently than the other books of the Bible. I am very excited to read more about the Prophets now and learn for myself.

I thought Jonah was being a little bitch at some points in this story. He was very disrespectful to God and disobedient. It’s not like when God told him to go to Nineveh he had a talk with God about how he didn’t want to go, he did the complete opposite and went in other direction and didn’t tell God. I feel like he thought that he could just escape God without him knowing. I thought it was very smart for the Mariners to throw him overboard because he needed to get some sense knocked into him. He knew what he did was wrong but didn’t care, I also feel like when he was in the belly of the fish he said what he did out of spite just to make God hear what he wanted to and he did the same thing when he went to Nineveh. If he had really repented then he wouldn’t have got upset about God saving the people there. I love that God has a sense of humor and gave Jonah what he wanted (the bush) and then just took it away, God does this a lot in our lives today. I have seen it done many times in my life. At the end when God says “And should not be concerned about Nineveh that great city, in which a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals” he is trying to say that these people who are not very smart can repent without a problem but you Johan who have so much and can make smart choices, it took you so long to repent.

I enjoyed reading Ruth, I had never read this book of the Bible. I didn’t realize that without her we would have David. While reading I remembered back to class where we talked about how Jesus would also gravitate and help the outcasts in society. Ruth was an outcast, and she was a Moabite having to transition and mold into the life of those in Bethlehem. I felt so bad for Naomi she lost both of her sons and her husband, but at least she got remarried and had another son. Ruth is the perfect daughter-in-law, she stayed with Naomi through everything and help provide for her. after I read it through twice once in my head and the other out loud, I tried to incorporate the strategies for interpreting the Biblical Stories. I looked up words I didn’t know or ones that I wanted for clarification of, such as Mara which means bitter or sorrow, and Naomi which means pleasantness. I looked at the map and saw the distance they traveled to get to and from Bethlehem, and it would be a lot to walk but not too far. I saw noticed how in the beginning and end Naomi ended up with a husband and children and was happy even though she went through a lot and had a rough patch, her life ended up well. I also realized that I had already done some of these by just reading it and not actively attempted to do these strategies. It was really interesting to realize how many of these skills I already knew and how easy it is to use them, I am thinking that this is probably how I will read my bible from now on.