Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #9: The Incarnation of God: "After viewing 'The Nativity Story', analyzing your chosen Christmas carol, and reading Philippians 2:1-7, reflect on the meaning of Christma..."

In the movie The Nativity Story, in the Christmas carol, and in Philippians 2: 1-7, Jesus is described as fully God who is incarnated as human. The Scriptures say that he is a good example that teaches us to live humbly, to care for others, and to create unity among people. He is also described as a lonely human servant who sacrificed himself for all people who would believe in him. The stories in the movie, The Nativity Story, describe how difficult Joseph and Mary’s life and their experience nearing the time of birth the Jesus were, the son of God. For a short moment, Joseph suspected Mary of being with another man, although she became pregnant with the baby Jesus by the Holy Spirit. However, without the faith between Mary and Joseph, Jesus could not have been incarnated. After the long period of struggle to move around the several cities and countries as a pregnant woman, Mary gave birth to the “human” Jesus. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Persian astrologers were necessary to be the witness of the birth of God and recognizing that he is fully God.

        Silent night, holy night

        All is calm, all is bright

        Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

        Holy Infant so tender and mild

        Sleep in heavenly peace

        Sleep in heavenly peace

        Silent night, holy night, 

        Silent night, holy night!

        Shepherds quake at the sight

        Glories stream from heaven afar

        Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

        Christ, the Savior is born

        Christ, the Savior is born 

        Silent night, holy night

        Son of God, love's pure light

        Radiant beams from Thy holy face

        With the dawn of redeeming grace

        Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

        Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

In the Christmas song I chose, “Silent Night, Holy Night,” the lyrics create an image of Mary and the baby Jesus right next to each other after the baby’s birth and explain that night as holy. The song itself seems to be words from the people celebrating the birth of the Son of God. The song points out that the baby Jesus was sleeping in “heavenly peace” describing how “tender and mild” the baby can be. Also, Jesus is called “Christ the Savior” predicting the sacrifice and death of Jesus on the cross.

God born into a human body provides the comfort, equality, and love for all people since his human form demonstrates itself that he understands people’s suffering. God in the form of a human man would be appealing to a god wanting to relate to people on an equal level. He does not want to amaze people with his holy power and ability to destroy everything. He wants to show he has suffered all of the things that people have suffered, even from the time of a baby’s birth. Jesus comes to Earth not only as just human but also as a lowly servant of the people he will save. He does this however as fully God while in human form. In human form, he is less intimidating too.

The Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, and its Muhammad cartoon controversy of 2005 is a conflict between Western ideas of free speech and Islamic prohibition against pictorial images, especially of the prophet Muhammad. The cartoon depictions were first printed in Denmark with a picture representation of Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. This caused much unpleasant tension first with the Muslims in Denmark and later lead to massive violence throughout the Middle-East and many European countries.

In the Muslim view, the reasons of their anger are that the bomb-shaped turban symbolizes the radical Muslim terrorists and their intolerance and that the picture of Muhammad is forbidden in Islamic belief. Some radical Muslims often fight against opposing forces with terrorism and violence. Because of those radicals, many people think of Islam as a religion that is itself violent and supports terrorism. This is the stereotype as if all Muslims are violent. Muslims argue that this is only a small part of all Muslims and that other countries should not criticize one’s most sacred beliefs. The drawing in a satirical cartoon of the holy figure, Muhammad, was the one of the causes of Muslim anger. Islam belief forbids pictorial depictions of holy figures in fear that they would lead to idol worship. Many Muslims believe that all pictorial depictions are bad. Many Muslim historical artifacts and temples, therefore, have geometric designs and virtually no human figure depictions. The critics of the Danish cartoons thought that connecting Muhammad to the radicals of Islam was a mockery to all Muslims.

The main reason for this cartoon from the Danish journalists was to show Muslim intolerance. The opposite Western opinion is that expressing one’s opinion is a basic human right that no one can give up or be criticized as having. In this different perspective, the satire cartoon on the Muslim prophet Muhammad can also be counted as free speech. By violating that freedom of speech, Muslims cannot cover over their faults and the violence committed, goes the Danish journalists’ argument. Expressing an opinion is not bad, a Western point of view can claim. Satire, in fact, on the issues of the day is common in the western world.

Religious conflicts seem not easily resolved, and the tension between the different religions grows stronger. The Muslim anger against the depictions of Muhammad was expressed through the boycott on European products and hate and violence toward European people living in Islamic countries. The conflict is proof to Muslims of Western ignorance of their religion, and to the West, the violent backlash against the cartoons is another proof of the violent nature of apparently many Muslims. The extremists of both sides seem to be at fault in this conflict, but the public sees the extremists rather than the majority of the people on either side.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/02/AR2006020202720.html

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=16434

http://www.imran.com/media/blog/2006/02/lets-make-new-cartoons-of-prophet.html. Islamic view

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7

Modern Religious Experience: Personal Commemoration- Reflection #7: "Think of an event in your life- past, present or future. You are going to create a commemorative ritual for this event. First, describe the ..."

Becoming a part of the Family reunion

My personal commemoration day would be the day I will buy my guitar. Recently, I have been very interested in playing guitar after I saw a singer singing with her guitar in a Korean show program. I think it would be amazing to play the guitar. I think it would be impossible to learn how to play guitar now since I would be very busy for next two or three years while I am in high school. I promised to myself to buy a guitar and practice it right after my high school graduation. Playing guitar would stay as my main hobby after graduation. Playing guitar, carrying the guitar, and singing with my guitar would be my dream. The day I will buy my guitar would be the personal commemoration day. The guitar would be the way I connect with my family for informal family reunions.

Every year on that day, I would come up with two or three songs to play in front of my family for the family reunion. This would happen every summer vacation I come back from the States. Before we greet each other and talk about what happened in both countries, I would play my guitar as an introduction. I would also play the first song I practiced, some family songs, or some hymns for my family.

Although the commemoration is informal since it is not a religious event, the event itself does not take longer than a few hours or so. Learning all of the songs and practicing until becoming an expert would take quite a long time, however.

I would say before my performance, ““I hope that I will help the family in times of trouble, and be a source of joy during times of happiness.”

                                                              Hera and Zeus

In the last Modern Religious Experience class, we performed one of the Greek myths for more understanding of Greek beliefs and its moral lessons. Our group performed the second half of the Cupid and Psyche story, and I had the role of Hera, the goddess of family, and Zeus, the god of the sky.

People worship the beauty of the princess Psyche so deeply that they forget about the goddess Aphrodite. Angry, Aphrodite sends her son Cupid to punish her, but he falls in love with Psyche. Psyche, curious about her husband’s identity, lights a lamp to see his face, even though he warns her not to do so. After Psyche’s continuous hardships with the three tasks assigned by Aphrodite as punishment, Psyche finally meets Cupid and becomes immortal.

The moral lesson in the Greek myth, Cupid and Psyche, is that trust between two people is absolutely necessary to protect their love. Psyche’s distrust and curiosity causes their heartache and the separation between them. 

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #5: Bongwonsa Temple and Nature Walk: "After visiting the Zen Buddhist Temple, Bongwonsa and attempting to see nature as a Taoist, answer this question: What is it about creation,..."

The purpose of religion is to lead people to the right way and to teach how people should behave. Buddhism is all about reducing the suffering in life, but overcoming such suffering depends on people’s behavior and attitude in confronting their difficulties. Whether to reach Nirvana and get enlightened is people’s choice in how they react to their suffering. People tend to be very desperate when they are in a difficult situation. Hoping to go to paradise or reach nirvana even after death for a better future, some people believe in Buddhism and try to act according to its teachings. On the field trip, one of the Bongwonsa monks explained about the several types of Buddha who are responsible for people after death, responsible for the spirits, and people’s wishes as well. He explained about Buddha, which grants one wish to people if they bow three times. I think the reason why people try to bow to Buddha is not merely to be granted a wish but to endure their suffering. Getting what one hopes for, people think, will make them happy. Buddhism, however, ultimately teaches to reduce wants, or even greed in the more severe case, and to accept the world as it is. Self control is a way to reduce suffering, it teaches.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

During the twenty minutes, I meditated sitting down silently under my quiet “fig tree.” For the first few minutes, I focused only on my breathing. It was quite hard to breathe using my stomach muscles instead of my chest ones. While I was breathing in and out slowly, I found myself calming down and relieved from the stress of trying to do my school work everyday. I had time to feel the good weather with a breeze blowing past and hear some boys playing soccer below in the apartment grounds. After a few minutes, I started to think about my future and college. Some of the upper classmen friends I know were worried about entrance tests and college applications. Talking to them made me worry too. I was setting out my goals and deciding what to do at university and in my career. That was one of my greatest concerns these days, strangely, even though a career seems such a long way off. My concentration, trying to feel nature and the peace in mind, began to break. Focusing just on emptying my mind for twenty minutes was difficult. Since I usually don’t meditate for such a long time, I am not yet trained to focus for that long. However, through the meditation, at least for a few minutes, I could calm my mind and reach a strange and unfamiliar mental state. I was trying hard not to think of anything for a change.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist: "In class, your small groups went over movie questions about the content in Gandhi. You should know who each of the main characters are and t..."

Gandhi’s idea of Hinduism was peace. He emphasized equality for all people regardless of race, gender, or class, or caste. It was to create peace between all people so no one would fight another because of unequal privileges. He used his belief in non-violence in war, fights, or in any conflict to support his idea of peace. The best example of his idea of peace is the March to the Sea Salt Mine protest and the separation of India into two countries: India and Pakistan. Since many Hindus view him as a protector or a leader, there were a huge number of his followers. In the Sea Salt Mine protest, they lined up in four or five lines and just marched to the soldiers who were holding weapons. Even though Gandhi was not there because he was arrested, his teachings encouraged them to march toward the soldiers and sacrifice themselves being hurt and beaten very badly for unity and peace in India. Also, India was in danger to be broken up into two countries because of religious differences. His white friend asked Gandhi whether their group should have Civil War against Muslims, or to separate India into two countries. Then, Gandhi responded rather to make his people migrate to India and Muslims to Pakistan. War might take less time than this. However, since the faith he believed in for his whole life was peace and non-violence, he did not fight back.

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,” said Mahatma Gandhi. This thought means that a continuous revenge on others will cause them to fight for no memorable reason later. This well exemplifies the way Gandhi lived out his faith. He and his country took more than 50 years to end the war against Muslims. Revenge would cause enemies to fight back again. When both sides keep fighting back on each other in revenge, they would not recognize the reason they fought in the first place. Every time Hindus were beaten or killed, people who followed and trusted in Gandhi did not rebel against Muslims and took "an eye for an eye." Their independence might be gained more easily in a shorter time, but they gained what they wanted later by a continuous silent resistance. Through this movie, we learned that the resolution for all the conflicts is not violence. Sometimes violence is needed, but avoiding such violence and revenge against enemies is more effective and lawful at times.