Bios

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*Insert Witty Title Here*

Here, Jesus goes to the city of Jerusalem and goes to the temple with which he fights and ends up just watching people give offerings. And then came these verses: "And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called [unto him] his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all [they] did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, [even] all her living. " Here, Jesus mentioned the saying that all of us knew from when we were but toddlers. It is not what you give but the feelings that count. Or something among those lines. I can't be bothered to remember it.

Jesus then foresees the destruction of the temple which seems pretty brutal. I have to start paying attention to those old geezers holding up "the end is near" signs. Anyways, Jesus goes with his disciples to have diner with them for passover. Now the famous last supper takes place here. Jesus predicts Judas's betrayal and Peter's denial and gives his disciples wine and bread who are supposed to symbolize his body and blood. Jesus is captured by the high priest who accuses him of planning to destroy the church and has him crucified.

Everybody know this story. I mean, you just have to have heard it sometime in your lifetime. The story with Jesus carrying the cross and Pilate who is scared to the point where he wets his pants. And Jesus being crucified between two thieves, one that repents and one that does not. Jesus rises from the dead in the third day and everything is cool. Except that Judas kills himself.

Wonderous Magic is Wonderous

Guess what Jesus does! He heals more people. Man, I swear all these books have a strange obsetion whether it is trees, repeating phrases, or opposites. However, there are more miracles than just healing. These including the well known walking on water and feeding a crowd with a few loafs of bread and fish. But something strange is this: "And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead." (Mark 9:7-9) So apparently Jesus tries to look like a normal person and be humble before his ressurection. Then why the heck is he going around walking on water and generating food going, "I am Jesus and I will heal you,"? I might be wrong but that doesn't seem humble at all. Ah, whatever.

Jesus also randomly has an illusion with Moses who, got a divore? Jesus then starts rambling on about how when you get a divorce and marry someone else you are commiting adultery and that is bad. And he tells some children how they have to follow the commandments who everybody knows. But I guess this is important because this wasn't really explained in the ten commandments. However, this seems strange seeing how today there are second marriages wherever you turn. Then again, the same can be said for the other commandments. Society is pretty screwed up isn't it?





Oh and John the Babtist gets killed. Sad Face :(

JEEZUZ KRAIST

Jesus is here. About damn time! The New Testament is where God stops punishing and starts being nice God who loves everybody. Mark starts us off in the baptism of Jesus just because and now I'll summarize the next four chapters in one sentence. Jesus heals a crap bunch of people. Yeah that's all. Good night folks.

Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you hanging there. Anyways, whether it's paralysis or leprosy, he heals them. And because of this, Jesus gets a lot of stalkers. And they all wanted to touch him. Um, this got strange. Well, he then tells the people a story about how a seed will only grow in fertile land. This was a metaphor of how people will only flourish if they are "rooted" on the word of God. And something led to another and they were on a boat. *Insert I'm on a Boat reference here* Then a random storm strikes but is calmed by Jesus. One would think this boat incident would be big but it was literally like four lines.

And just a random thought: "And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had [his] dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any [man] tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones."(Mark 5:1-5) So apparently, emos are possessed by Satan. That's good to know.

Rest of Tao Te Ching

The rest of the Tao Te Ching goes more into government and giving examples of how the weak will overcome the strong and ends with a nice little cherry on top but I'll get back to that later. According to the Tao, a ruler must not interfere with the people for this will make them react. By not doing anything, people will not react in any way making the perfect harmony. And this is not only for people, this applies to animals and plants as well. The only way for them to live in harmony, is to be left on their merry way. The only point of a ruler is to help the people when disaster strikes. So in a way the ruler is just there, doing nothing. Quite a ruler that is, but I see were this idea is going. Why would a man break the law if there is no law? Then again, without law, there would be too much chaos. I think this guy put his hopes for humanity a bit too high.

And the examples, they actually had some pretty good ground. The one I liked the most was the one where he explained how water is really flexible and weak yet it can destroy strong and firm rock. This guy is obviously thinking of and erosion effect which is actually quite interesting. If it works in nature, why can't it work with humans. Another one is how when one is born, he is soft and weak, but when one dies, he is stiff and rough. Weak = Life, Stiff = Death. That was eye-opening to say the least.

Anyways, now the moment you were probably not waiting for: "A small country has fewer people. Though there are machines that can work ten to a hundred times faster than man, they are not needed. The people take death seriously and do not travel far. Though they have boats and carriages, no one uses them. Though they have armor and weapons, no one displays them. Men return to the knotting of rope in place of writing.Their food is plain and good, their clothes fine but simple, their homes secure; They are happy in their ways. Though they live within sight of their neighbors, And crowing cocks and barking dogs are heard across the way, Yet they leave each other in peace while they grow old and die."(80) Okay, it's not the end but it was pretty dang close to being so and should have been so. Well, you can't win them all. This is basically the utopia according to the Tao where nobody shows off and everything is simple. People mind their own way and die peacefully. However, I have two gripes with this "utopia." First, it seem really boring. I think way to borring. Second, it's never going to happen. This is going stictly against human habits. It might seem nice but you heve to accept it is not going past dreams.

Bios

Send all the TTBA bios to this email: gerardvillela@hotmail.com

Conciseness

Exercise 3
Many people enjoy reading murder mysteries as a distraction to everyday monotony. Not that they use it as an inspiration to act in such a way.
People consider this genre to be realistic fantasy due to the character’s human features including logical thinking.
However, murder mysteries are also fantasies due to the fact that the reader must suspend his unbiased criteria throughout the drama turning the book into a game.

Tao Te Ching 29-47

The opposites, they'll never stop! These chapters actually mention the yin and yang which I personally wasn't expecting. What seemed strange to me is how a symbol that has become so big is mentioned once and so casually in the book that it symbolizes. I guess people felt like milking that line dry. Or maybe I'm just missing the big picture. Moving on, the Tao is described as this big incomprehensible thing that spawned everything but does not control them. It just leaves them out there to find their own way to make it back. But the way he puts it is that the Tao is not their lord which brings me to the point where I realize: this is like the only "creator" that does not control its creations. Quite original I must say.

What I found most interesting is "A truly good man is not aware of his goodness, and is therefore good. A foolish man tries to be good, and is therefore not good. A truly good man does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone. A foolish man is always doing, yet much remains to be done."(38) This made me think: people do good trying to be good themselves but people who are good do actions not caring if it's good because they already are. Or something among those lines. This book gets more confusing by the minute.

Tao Te Ching 13-28

Whoever wrote the Tao really liked his opposites. They're everywhere. Anyways, these chapters go more into depth of disconnecting from everyone to follow the Tao. To do so you have to go against any belief the world had given you and go against the crowd. "In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace. But I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am. Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile. I am alone without place to go. Others have what they need, but I alone have nothing. I am a fool. Oh, yes, I am confused."(20) Which I found quite shocking comparing it to today's society that has this mentality of going with the crowd and worrying what the think of them. I also like how he looks at himself through the crowds eyes at the end to help others see how he is more clearly.

Nearing the end he tells us how when you do something you must not forget the opposite. I understood this as to keep both options in mind because you don't want to go in a one way path. That's about as far as I got with that one but in the beginning he said something about misfortune being part of being human which I completely agree on. Everyone is prone to disgrace with no exception. Misfortune is part of having a body and so is goodness. You can't avoid any of this until you are dead or something like that. I probably took that in a very cryptic way but you don't care do you?

Tao Te Ching 1-12

These books keep on getting weirder and weirder. This one is just teachings. There is none of this "The Master Says" bullshit. It is just straight up how to live your life. But, surprisingly, this book is really interesting. Without bad there would be no good. Good would just be normal because there is no other option. That is the base of all these teachings, but it gets more complicated than that. Without wealth, there is no desire to steal. One must be modest or bad things will happen. If you have nothing, people will want nothing from you. By doing so, you become detached.

Now here is where the shit hits the fan. It was all cool until I read this: "Heaven and earth last forever. Why do heaven and earth last forever? They are unborn, So ever living. The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment." Wait, What? Is this some kind of strange reverse psychology? This got me stuck for quite some time until I thought of the Way. Maybe by detaching and staying behind, he is farther into the path of the Way. That's the only definition I can think of so bear with me. Please note I said bear with me not bare with me. Please don't do that.

Who Should We Trust?

The creation of man might be the biggest controversy between religion and science. The being created in seven days and evolution never seem to make up and shake hands. And due to this, people won't to. This conflict has gone for way too long and has to be put to an end. Though I, myself, am a Catholic, one must not be deprived from teaching such things as evolution. I am not trying to attack religion but tolerance must be had.

The evidence we have for each theory is very different. Evolution has fossils and genetic similarities while for the creation in seven days, we have the Bible. But can we completely trust the Bible? The book of Genesis itself was written by Moses many years after what could have been creation. Not only that but the Bible has gone through many translations and versions that might have changed the actual meaning. When the Bible wasn't for access to everyone thousands of years ago, a ruler or pope could change anything he didn't like about the Bible and not get penalised. We all know that religious leaders got really corrupt during the Middle Ages. The fossils, though, are most certainly real and show a striking similarity to our structure and that of monkeys for there to be a possibility of a middle point.


There are many example of plot holes in the Bible that might have been done during translation. There's Cain's infamous wife who appeared out of nowhere and the first day that was without light making a day impossible. These are many examples that prove that the information we are being given might not be the one we are supposed to be getting. I'm not attacking my own religion or anything, but it is common sense that a book that is thousands of years old is bound to get changed somwhere in history. One can be religious but must not follow the Bible word for word. The Bible is not supposed to become a man's chains, but make the man think. And every man must be allowed to think in their own way.

Analects 4, 5, and 6

The Analects are not your typical book. They are more like teachings than actual stories. Actually there are stories but they are five lines long and are just a way to show a teaching. Some verses actually got really interesting but if I had to choose one it would be this one: "Those who are Good feel at home in Goodness, whereas those who are clever follow Goodness because they feel that they will profit from it."(4.2) After reading this I took some time to think about it and it is true. A lot of people only do good because they either don't want punishment or expect that person to do something good to them later on. Which got me into thinking: is there such a thing as a good person in this world? According to this book, a good person is someone who takes care of his family and are free of troubles. They use "good" people as a role model and a person who is not "good" as a comparison to find the bad within them.

And the big goal in all of this is to become a gentleman and to follow the Way. But the gentleman in this book is probably different from the one you normally think of. The gentlemen here are the people that follow Confucius's teachings and aspire to learn. Apparently being wise doesn't necessarily make you good and aspiring to learn is one of the biggest things needed to follow Confucius's teachings.

Something I noticed is that in these chapters they never say the word evil. They say not good instead. I think this is because one can not do good but not do bad at the same time. What Confucius is trying to say is to not just sit there doing nothing but to go and do good. This might in some way relate to the Bagavad-Gita's theory of action and inaction. There, inaction is bad and here, not doing good will keep you away from the Way. And what is the Way anyways? If I had to guess, I would say it is the point where the person is free of any conflict. They are calm in both body and spirit. Who knew that old Chinese teachings could be so philosophical.

Psalms 23, 42, 51, 137

Psalms is different from the other books in the Bible in the sense that it is not a story but a series of songs written by David. Most are no more that ten lines but they are many. Psalms 23 is a comparison to a man's relationship with God to one of a sheep with it's shepherd. The sheep follows and obeys the shepherd who takes care of them. This chapter actually brought me back memories of the Christian school I went to where you had to memorize verses and this was one of the ones that stood out to me. Especially the part of "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."(Psalms 23:4) It just made me feel really warm inside. I used to think that God was more like a father but when I thought about it, the shepherd example is better.

Psalms 42 is more of asking God questions of how to worship him and says that even though He might not seem to be present when bad thing are happening, you shall always worship him because he is the reason you are still alive. It is better to praise than to question.

Psalms 51 is a song about repentance and asking for forgiveness from God. It shows how we live in sin but with the help of God we can drift away from it.

The last one, Psalms 137, I praising God for the richness of the land and that everyone involved with it must be thankfull. Kind of cocky but I liked it.

2 Samuel 2-18

These chapters start of with Abner dying and apparently a fight broke out between David's and Saul's houses. Saul's son is killed and David inherits the throne. David then sees a woman bathing and falls in love with her. What happened to privacy? Anyways, he sleeps with her and sends her husband, one of David's soldiers, to the front line of battle to be killed. David gets her pregnant and is contacted by a priest named Nathan. Nathan tells David what he did was wrong and to ask for forgiveness from the Lord. David does so until his son dies and just stops.

Wait. David, the chosen king by God, just committed adultery and indirectly assassinated one of his soldiers for his own good. What happened to good old David. The one fought for his family and took care of his little sheep. I miss him. The new one is such an asshole. After getting the consequences, he didn't even care for what he did. He was sorry until something bad happened to him, then he didn't feel sorry anymore. Selfish prick. God was probably thinking he screwed up by picking him to be the king. I guess living with sheep doesn't give you the best morality in the world.

1 Samuel 17 - 2 Samuel 2

These chapters tell the story of David. He is the youngest son of Jesse and a shepherd. His brothers go of to fight a war and he decides to join in. The Philistines there have a warrior named Goliath that is enormous and unbeatable, but David decides to take him on. With a sling and stone, he is able to knock down Goliath and kill him using his own sword. All is well until Saul fears that David is going to replace him and tries to kill him, but he fails. David, being able to easily kill him, refuses to do so and forgives him. However, Saul's sons eventually get killed by Samuel and Saul suicides. Due to this, David was now blessed to be a king.

Well that's a depressing ending. I like how David defeats Goliath with a mere stone and kills him with his sword. It further proves the saying "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" or something along those lines. These chapters show more of the good side of David since he is able to forgive and forget that Saul was going to kill him. Though that was in vain because Saul died anyways. Oh well, David was the king chosen by God wasn't he.

Rest of Job's Story

These chapters are just Job's friends trying to find what wrong Job had done and were blaming all that was happening to him on him. This goes for a very long time one by one complaining. This is until Elihu, some random guy that is not even Job's friend, comes and tells him that God is the only one that can see if he deserves it or not and that his friends should not question or look for a reason of God's actions. God then proceeds to bless Job and to curse his friends and they lived happily ever after.

This might as well be a children's tale. I mean something bad happens to a good person, but that good person decides to keep doing good and then good things happen to him. Also, Job has to have some pretty bad friends if the only one that had positive ideas about him was a complete stranger. Way to go Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad. You guys are assholes. I like how Satan is nowhere to be seen at the end when he was proven wrong. He was probably cowering off in a corner.

Job Chapters 1-10

These chapters tell the story of Job, a rich man with a big family that is really faithful to God. However, Satan comes up to God and tells him that Job wouldn't follow him is bad things happened to him. God, trying to prove that Job was his best follower, did bad things to him to test him. Job's children and animals are killed and his house is destroyed yet he still follows. His wife and friends tell him to curse God for all that He has done to him, but Job refuses. Three friends of his, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar, come to talk to him and say that there has to be something Job has done to displease God.

Something interesting about this story is that it is not linked in any way to the other stories in the old testament. It is a tale of a guy that was not named before. And also God has to stop "testing" his people because they are starting to get out of hand. Kill all his children. Really? Might as well leave him limbless. But something strange I saw was it this: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them." (Job 1:6)
Does that mean that Satan is one of God's children? And since when does He have children. This is all too strange. I thought Satan was like an angel or something. It is also the first time Satan is mentioned but you don't care about that.

Exodus Chapters 3-20

These chapters tell of the story of Moses. Moses was this man in Egypt that is the adoptive brother of the Pharaoh Ramses. God speaks to Moses through a burning bush and tells him to free His people who are being kept captive as slaves in Egypt. Moses asks the Pharaoh if he will let the people go but he refused so God sent seven plagues upon his land. The last one being the angel of death going from house to house that did not have lamb blood on the door and killing the youngest son in the house. One of the killed was the Pharaoh's son. Ramses, pissed, let Moses leave with his people but Ramses started going after him after some time. God slows down the Egyptians as Moses escaped and they reached the Red Sea. The Red Sea then parts before them and the Israelites are able to pass, but when the Egyptians tried, The sea came back together drowning them. I guess they are going to sleep with the fishes. Anyways, Moses leads the people through the desert until they reach Mt. Sinai. Moses then climbed the mountain and got the ten commandments from God.

Unlike Genesis, this book is actually historically proven. Moses and Ramses actually did exist. Not that I doubt the rest. I am Catholic I swear. Something I noticed is that this is the first time God tells his people exactly what is wrong in the Ten Commandments. I suppose this is the point where sin starts existing. This book was pretty straight forward. It had none of this interpretation crap.

Genesis Chapters 24-35

These Chapters continue the story of Isaac. Abraham is able to find a wife for Isaac who is called Rebekah. They get married and have twins. They were named Jacob and Esau. Esau was Isaac's favourite and Jacob was Rebekah's favourite. After many years, Isaac went blind and was going to give Esau his blessing but his wife had another thing in mind. She told Jacob to trick Isaac into giving him the blessing by putting some fur on his arms because Esau had hairy arms. Jacob is able to trick his father and got his blessing. Jacob then fled from Esau fearing he was mad. Jacob then wrestles some random guy all night and is renamed by God. He is now called Israel. "Why Israel?" you must ask. "Why not Israel?" I shall respond. Israel then finds Esau who is not mad at him.

The first thing that came to my mind as I was reading is how hairy is Esau for Jacob to put fur on his arms to impersonate him. Does he have fricking gorilla arms? Jacob must have like super endurance to be able to wrestle all night. Ancient roids? And I guess you can relate Jacob and Esau to Cain and Abel since one is liked more and the other takes something from him due to jealousy.

Genesis Chapters 17-24

These chapters tell of the story of Isaac, the son of Abram. Abram is getting really old and God comes up to him a tells him that he is to have a son with his wife who is to be called Isaac. He is to start a country and Abram is to become the father of all his people. Because of this, God renames Abram with the name of Abraham. Why? Beats me. So Abraham has Isaac and circumcises him because the Lord said so. God then tells Abraham to kill his son Isaac in offering for Him. Abraham is about to do so when he is stopped. Turns out this was all a test of his faith and he had succeeded.

This has to be one of the worst pranks ever made in history. God promised him that he would have many children and when he finally has one, He tells him to kill him. And He doesn't stop him until he is about to kill his son. Abraham was willing and didn't complain but I bet he was dying in the inside. What I wonder is how did Isaac react to his father pulling out a knife and pointing it at him. And, from what i remember, God does a lot of these "tests" in the old testament.

Genesis Chapters 10-16

These chapters start with the lineage of the children of Noah. They form the different countries and all spoke the same language. Then some idiots had the idea of making a tower that could reach the heavens in order to please God, but He was everything but pleased. He made them speak in different languages so that they couldn't work together to make something like the Tower of Babel ever again.

One of these descendants is Abram who's story is known by everyone, but I'll tell you about it anyways. Abram was a follower of God in a city that followed a different religion. The Lord told Abram to go out of the city and go to a land that He had prepared for him. Abram left and caused both plagues in Egypt because of the Pharaoh's interest in Abram's wife and the destruction of Sodom and Gamora because of a war. Abram the had a son with his wife's maid who was later named Ishmael and became a wild man.

And I thought the Bagavad-Gita had too many extra characters. I think there where at least twenty people you won't hear of again. And most people probably complain of having different languages and were mad at hearing that God made them but I personally like having different languages. The difference makes everything more interesting and the world would be too bland if we all spoke the same language. Also, while reading the story of Abram, I was surprised by how much there is to it. I thought it was only God saying, "Go there." and Abram doing so but there is actually battles and family problems in the way.