Ottoman

There was a lot of pride in being loyal to the state. This is why I was most interested about the exemption of the peasant families in the system. This could be a way to prevent poverty, but sending children away to be converted to a different religion and becoming slaves is too immoral for me. I wonder , did this idea to unintentionally not harm , but to serve the state, turn into an influence to raise young boys to become killing soldiers in countries like Congo today? I felt that Hurrem Sultan was an important part of this passage. Her and her husband set up a great influence of companionship for the public to look upon to. This change of history was also helping other women feel like an necessary piece to this society. The idea of being faithful to one woman seemed like a taking a huge step into the future since their was a culture during and before this time to have multiple wives and lovers.

Dante

With all the hatred spoken about Muslims and their Islamic faith, the Christians back then were not being very Christian. Over the years I think Christian views have improved  by being more open minded and forgiving. Even if the Christians back then thought the Islamic was of like was barbaric, they should of made the effort of at least just leaving the Muslims live their own life instead of targeting their anger and violence towards them. The Christians were pretty much creating their own sins, making their nasty views on the Islamic religion known. I thought that the passage "the more extreme Christians moved north and the remaining Christians coexisted peacefully with their Muslim neighbors", was kind of funny because, it just seems like if you were an extreme christian you would be more forgiving and offer everything you have, trying to  kindly convert the Muslims to their way of living , but in this case it means more hatred to those who are not Christian.

Decameron Day 2
Whether you see it is as a lack of trust or a test of faithfulness,the "Tenth Story of the Tenth Day" definitely went to the extreme when Gualtieri was testing his wife's honesty and unconditional love for him.  From God and Abraham, to Odysseus and Penelope, these souls seem to put in a lot of effort to what they morally believe when it comes to trust and love. I saw Gualtieri's test was like some sort of sick game. His empowerment over women was an outrage to me, because if Griselda ever stood up for herself and her children , she would be shunned by her own husband, not having any sort of women's right at all. And what would happen if Griselda did not accept to support Gualtieri's to his own daughter? Would Gualtieri go through with marrying her?
All the women seemed to suffer in all these stories. Even though the nuns and the Abbess had their way with Masetto at first, in the end Masetto ended up being successfully wealthy and got what he wanted, leaving the nuns and Abbess unsatisfied. In the "Eighth story of the Seventh Day" the widow is also left miserable in the end  because of her actions in the beginning. Just like the poems and stories we have read in class, Rieneri was willing to wait and do anything for the widow, because love makes you go mad. He also went mad with revenge, using manipulation on the widow for being manipulated by her. Just the the mountain girls and the priest, they tried to fool each other to get what they want. It's like a game of karma.

From reading the Decameron, I would like to focus on how religion is used for a mask, only revealing what people want to see and covering whatever may be sinful.  Sir Ciapelletto does almost anything and everything to displease God and those around him.He even has the guts to fool a holy man, the Friar. Sir Ciapelletto made one confession after the other, making it sound like he was just making innocent mistakes, but in truth Sir Ciapelletto's sins are made with every intention for his entertainment and survival.And after hearing all the confessions, the Friar admitted that even the holiest men do wrong. I thought back to the other stories where priests and monks would go out and enjoy drinking and sex, but then still try to enforce God's rules on others. Everyone is a hypocrite. I think this story also proves that God is true to his word, about forgiveness. With all the awful stunts Sir Ciappelletto pulled, he still confessed and made the "effort." And since he did take the time to ask, God took the time to forgive. Some people will never understand this concept,like those who thought that Ciappelletto he ended up in hell rather than in Heaven.  I believe there always has to be at least someone out there who unconditionally save you, because it gives people hope, if they decide to change their ways.

Book of <3 #2

After reading the first two poems of the mountain girls for the first time, I believed the arch priest was talking about the same girl. The second poem, the arch priest seems to create a story for entertainment of his own experience with his acquaintanceship with the mountain girl in the first poem. I saw the second one as a story for entertainment because he would insult her looks, emphasized details that were not mentioned before, and then adding his sexual fantasy at the end. I believe these women represent reality over fantasy. Imagine if these mountain girls were absolutely beautiful, would they then receive the gifts they were promised? Would the arch priest hesitate for one second to give them what they desire? I feel like these ladies really need guidance and those who won't give them the time of day are ignorant. Sometimes we over see who in this world really needs us, because we are only looking toward our goal of riches or our own success, rather than helping those who could help us.
It was difficult to tell if the non-living things had human characteristics , or if the human beings were the ones given animal and other object characteristics. Which ever one it is, the names were symbolic , and instead of representing one, the names were representing a whole group of people . In my opinion I believe Carnal were the non-religious people who lived in great sin, being  lustful and glutton. I think Lent represented the Catholics, who tried to do good and follow God's rules and ways.

Book of <3 #1

The prologue in verse is filled with reasons why God deserves the highest respect and why he should be feared by everyone. Many of these reasons is because he has freed those who were in helpless, from the slaves in Egypt to Jonah and the whale. Since he has the power to free people from trouble, he will free our souls from evil if we choose to follow God.These reasons were proof for people who needed to understand God's saving power. In the prose version of the prologue, it seems to me that people were mentally unstable if they could not understand God's ways and the consequences of sin. But some people are not feared by God because they are disabled, but because they were either not strongly educated about God's saving ways,or just lack faith in him because they are in need of evidence of his good deeds. And since we all lose faith once in awhile it is we all have a "defective memory", said by the reading. Because of our inability to retain what we should and shouldn't do, we have paintings and sculptures to remind us of God's wishes. It is implied that life is naturally filled with more evil, causing a human being to naturally sin. This makes me see life is a game; the goal is to have a pure life and live in heaven with God forever once you reach death, but in order to do that, you must defeat evil's challenge by choosing not to sin.

Holy Mary

5
Whoa, whoa , whoa, where are the woman's rights in this son? I see a continuous theme of sexism in this as the empress repeatedly suffers abuse from demoralized men . She tries her best to obey he husband as well as trying to save a faithful relationship with him by denying to commit adulatory with the emperor's brother. Yet, it is the brother who is listened to by the emperor. In this song many men were attracted to her and couldn't handle rejection, so unlike the poems we read prior to this song where the men just grieve over the love they can't have, they use violence against the woman. From rape to false murder, the woman suffers for no reason other than she looks beautiful, which she really has no control over. Today in the media whether it is politics to the red carpet, the woman always has an image that is either used to her advantage or is used against her.  I think what is trying to be said in this poem other than the Holy Mary will never fail to serve and protect you, is that a woman who is pure and honest like the Virgin Mary shall receive what she deserves if she has faith and trust in Holy Mary, the mother of God.  ( at least in the final outcome of the situation.)
11
In this song , the Monk who committed sins was seen as an unfortunate man, rather than a bad human being for what he did. But why? Is it because  if you work for God ( as in a monk or nun) , you will be saved , no matter what the ungodly situation is? Or was this to explain the fact that even godly men make mistakes, and the Holy Mary, mother of God will save those who are weak. This song implies that even as a man coveted by sin, is given a chance to be saved as well, because if Mary only saved those who did good, the people who suffer from sin will never learn their lesson. I think the monk drowning in the river was meant to happen so he can be acquainted with the devil and be saved so he can become fearful to not make wrong decisions anymore.

The songs represent deep respect for Mary to prove she is a powerful figure that can save you.

Troubadour: 26

At the beginning of this poem, it is implied people in love are like larks.They rise up and fly free away from reality and into a high. This image to the speaker makes him sick because he knows he will never fly freely like the others who love and are loved in return. I found it amusing how the speaker of this poem felt  like he had lost his manhood to a woman if she leaves him heart broken. The idea of this makes me feel more empowered as a woman. Most men are known to  rarely express their emotional feelings because they assume they are less of a man if they did. Though in this poem, the man can't express enough how much pain he suffers emotionally. It was so depressingly beautiful that I couldn't decide if I thought I should have pity for this man or find him pathetic. Since his efforts to regain his woman's love back, he turns cold against her as well as himself. He finds no reason to live in life anymore. Love does not always end in happiness, but in jealousy, hatred and despair.

Trobairitz:Countess of Dia

I saw this poem to express the consequences of being naive and in love. In part I of the poem the speaker is extremely enthused about life and love and believes that everything is perfect, especially her man. She congratulates herself for picking a man who is "noble..generous, upright, and wise" ,but in part II it is shown that she must of been blinded by love because all of his qualities she thought he had now vanished. This poem becomes dark and represents that over time love fades and eventually might even be lost forever. Overtime the man treats his woman as if she is invisible because he still is "noble, generous, upright and wise" , but only to the people who he does not have absolute control over. I think too many women do not stand up in a relationship they do not deserve. We all dream about the perfect woman or man, but many times we make the wrong mistake because we are so overwhelmed by what we first see rather than what we really know.
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Poetry

One of the themes I saw when reading The Dove's Necklace, was that with love comes with inevitable suffering.Both physically and mentally, true love for someone else takes over the mind, making the person restless and frustrated with them self. Questions, confusion, and a lack of patience starts to take over the love sick person. I know I've had that feeling about someone I truly thought I deserved to be with, and when it didn't happen I felt like nothing else in the world could ever make me happy ever again. For me , that feeling soon passed because I have so many other interests than just to be with someone.The writer implies that a person would choose death over life if he or she could not be with the one they truly love. I also liked how the writer compared your true love to be the light of your darkness.
Another theme talks about the roller coaster relationship you have once you are with your lover. This part of the reading describes what most people like to call  the "honey moon" phase and the relationship happens between a couple once that phase has faded. Today, majority of the marriages that are made end in divorce. No one has the patience anymore to work through a fight or to deal with their partners bad habits. In this reading, a couple that truly loves each other would be able to handle heavily heated argument and soon be back to normal. This reminds me of the relationship I have with my mother. I only have my most intense fights with her because we are so close and hold a great and sincere love for each other that we are allowed to go far in an argument and still have the ability to forgive eachother afterwards.
In the Hispanic- Arabic poem, the theme of love being painful is compared to being driven by desperateness. I felt the poem was becoming dark as if waiting for a love was like mourning for a death. The relationship between the lovers was described with many nature like characteristics. True love being compared to nature made love seem endlessly beautiful and almost too good to be true. However, all the beauty expressed in true love can be damaging if your without it.

Book 3:

3. Okay what I want to know is why did mating snakes bother Tiresias in the first place? And how could he see that they were mating, if he was blind? This made me believe that he hit the snakes on accident and knowing that Tiresias meant no harm , the snakes gave him the ability to transform instead of poisoning him with their venom. They should of just gave him the ability to see instead, or maybe since the Gods have the power to give Tiresias , they could of given him his vision instead. That makes more sense to me. If the snakes are magical , does this mean they are gods as well? I am just caught up with too many questions with this story.

4. The conversation between Echo and Narcissus consisted of two different intentions. Narcissus was curious to find out where the voice he heard was coming from and Echo wanted Narcissus affection. She though narcissus was searching for her and her love. I found this quite funny because every sentence he said sounded like he was yearning for her, when in fact he just needed to know whom he was speaking to. If he would say  "Is anyone here?" She would only echo back "here" as in like "I and my love are here for you". When he would say "let us meet together" so he can see her , she would just say  "together" because she obviously wanted them to be together for life. Those words were the closest seductive words she could recite back to him. Yes an echo repeats the end of your sentences, but they can only be heard back with the same emotion you expressed them with. She was twisting his meaning.

Plato's Republic

"Then Democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor win, killing some of the others' and casting out some, and share the regime and the ruling offices with those who are left on an equal basis; and, for the most part , the offices in it are given by lot.....it is probably necessary  for the man who wishes to organize a city , as we were just doing, to go to a city under democracy. He would choose the sort that pleases him , like a man going into a general store of regimes, and, once having chosen, he would thus establish his regime."
 There is a continuous pattern of separation. If one man desires to rule in a way of his own, another man just as equal in society might have another idea that will enforce him to rule in an opposite direction. And a lot of the issues that they are having seem to be human flaws that are inevitable to occur.It would be democracy against democracy. Even in a democracy there needs to be an authority figure to speak for all. Though if the poor has nothing to offer, how will leadership be pursued? Yes one would have initial leadership over all, but this means taking the blame for whatever happens. A lot of pressure is put on for whoever speaks for all. The poor would not be as educated as the aristocrats, so they would have weak control and knowledge over the people. I guess the best you can do is fight for what you believe, trying to gather as many people with the same beliefs and join together as one group, creating a voice to be heard by the ones who are not aware of the problems they are neglecting. 


"I suppose that because the rulers rule in it thanks to possessing much, they are unwilling to control those among the youth who become licentious by a law forbidding them to spend and waste what belongs to them-- "
 The wealthy can choose to have what they desire and what they need to do . If they choose what they desire , whether it is a nessecity or not, or if it is even a good choice, who is going to stop them from pursuing their desires? Since the wealth have the money, they have the control, knowledge , and forces to protect them. This is unfair and unjust to the rest of the society. It is interesting that such a small group could have power over a large amount of unprivileged citizens. You would think the larger group automatically has the upper hand.

Books 21-24

2

As a veteran of war, Odysseus has developed a range of painful emotions causing him to be extremely impulsive.I  thought maybe Odysseus would be the better man about things since he reminesed such a heavy guilt of his murderous past but he still killed more people than I think he should of had. Anyone can kill and you don't deserve to be honored as a genuine warrior if vengeance is the only thing you want. Odysseus was more powerful than the average mortal, so I believe he could of used his enemies in a beneficial way rather than to just make blood. The faithless women were barely a threat, especially since at that day and age they could not possibly pursue his wife's love like the suitors attempted to. Women were already overruled by males, so to be slaughtered the way they did was unnecessary. Odysseus set himself up for more people to hate him like the loved ones of everyone he murdered.

5

When I started to read the Odyssey, I found the poem difficult to understand due to the complex translation. Once I did a little research and compared a few versions of this adventurous tale, I saw how Homer's The Odyssey ultimate classic. I liked how the reader was on the same level as almost everybody else in the books because as a reader, we are waiting for the ultimate reunion between the characters and the characters are waiting to be reunited. With Penelope being faithful as she is, it gives us the feeling that Odysseus' journey back to her is worth fighting for and throughout all the murders, fighting, pain and suffering, love can still exist. Even though Odysseus has many flaws about him , from being distracted to impulsive, it was overall a good story. Also, I find that the Odyssey isn't also just telling an epic tale, but revealing history about the Trojan war and the value of God and Goddesses in Greek culture. It also gives us the roles and authority between male and female, mortal and God.

Books 11-15

Since Odysseus's had the cunning strength and skill to achieve almost anything, making a journey to and from the underworld alive would prove he was the ultimate hero. Not only would he prove his willpower but also he would be able to live his life again in Ithaca. He already agonized through so many burdensome experiences in the earlier books, so he had nothing to lose by descending into Hades. Odysseus's journey reminds me of  Josephs story in Genesis when their was a famine in the land of Canaan for several years and the brothers had to being Benjamin with them to Egypt to receive the food they needed to survive. Odysseus needed to sacrifice and bring an animal so the blood would attract the dead and he could receive the information he was seeking.

The Cattle of the Sun
Odysseus and his crew are tested for their ability to listen and follow orders. When Odysseus leaves his men for a short period of time, they are tested again , but not by Helios. Eurylochus manipulates Odysseus' men , causing them to fail through Helios instructions to respect the animals on the island of Thrinacia. I think he does this because of the grudge he holds against Odysseus when Odysseus threatened to kill Eurylochus.Helios offers his trust in this story and with broken trust comes consequences. It was wrong for Odysseus to leave his men unattended especially since he did once before when they opened the bag of powerful winds thinking it could provide them wealth. Helio received the justice he wanted with the help of Zeus. I feel like Odysseus could of gotten along better traveling by himself rather than carrying the trouble his foolish men made.

Book One

Telemachus: 

"My mother verily saith that I am his; for myself I know not, for never man yet knew of himself for his own descent. O that I has been the son of some blessed man, whom old age overtook among his own possession! but now of him that is the most hapless of mortal men , his son they say that I am, since though dost question me hereof."

Telemachus needs to see it to believe it. He is at least twenty years of age and still has no proof of his father other than by the word of what others say. Without knowing what a father's love is like, he has no reason to believe that all the responsibility he has been given by to protect a kingdom would be a task left by a father.

 

 

Though Telemachus is making an effort to be man of the house and kingdom, Penelope has a lot stress on her as well. She faithfully waits for her husband's return, while suitors try to court her, for they know that if they do, they will become King. She refuses to remarry to anyone but does not say it to any of the suitors because I think she sometimes has doubts that her husband will not come and she will be alone. So instead of refusing anyone, she tells them she hasn't decided yet and that she will marry once she has finished weaving a burial garment for her father in law, Laertes. At night she takes apart her weaving, so it will never become finished. If she married one of the suitors, she has given up on her husband and would give her the mindset that he is dead or with someone else. With a love so extreme for him, she cannot give in so easy.

Both of these characters are struggling to find hope , but they know they have no time to waste moping around because their kingdom is in danger from all who want it. This fight that they are going through is torturous but it is definitely making them stronger .

Genesis Day 5

After reading this story, I found a pattern of favoritism and the conflicts that arise from it. Jacob favors Joseph by giving him a special coat.Rachel, who is Joseph's mother, and I believe she is also favored over Jacob's other wives. Joseph is the eldest out of the sons Rachel had, which would make sense for Jacob to love them more. Once Joseph is abandoned by his brothers, he is then favored by the Pharaoh with the help of the Lord. Everything goes from bad to good , until it becomes too good when the Pharaoh's wife favors Joseph over her  own husband by continuously commanding Joseph to have sex with her. But even when Joseph is put into prison , he is still in a good position because the Lord is with him and makes Joseph to be favored by the one who runs the prison. The Lord basically made everyone like Joseph, which is kind of unfair. Then when Joseph is at the top of his game, feeding the world, the brothers finally favor him as well because they thought he was God. After all the brothers are reunited, Joseph favors his youngest brother Benjamin. Two reasons to believe this because Benjamin did not travel with the rest of the brothers when they sold him, and another reason is because they both were the offspring of Rachel. Favoritism both destroyed and rebuilt the relationships in this story. It was the conflict made to save.

A second theme is reconciliation. Joseph took care after his brothers, even when they sold him. Joseph did this because he believed it wasn't his brothers that sent him away, but that is was the Lord who did this. Having the power to interpret and being a likable man, Joseph really had nothing to lose, and to keep his family safe and secure to him made everything perfect. He knew he had control over them too since he was the provider and the savoir to them.

Reading Genesis 26 started to make me think that Isaac was Abraham and Rebecca was Sarah . I mean, did the bible lose it's creativity here? At least we know that Isaac made his Wife act like his sister so they could spare there lives. Luckily they didn't need to do that in the first place, so what is this fear that is being passed down the family genes?

Rebecca was obviously not a understanding woman as she deceived her husband and son. Even though the Bible states no specific reason why she loved Jacob more , but I think that is has something to do with Jacob always staying home while his brother is always out hunting. Since the role of a woman was to stay close to home and take care of things there, she was able to be close to her son Jacob , which led to favoring him. I think her speech in Genesis 27 was important because it might be trying to say that forgiveness takes patience. 

Genesis 12, 16-18,  21-23

2. Sarah might have kept her mouth shut, because the Lord said to Abraham “him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  I think she also understood that there was a reason behind all of this because her husband said that she was beautiful, so at least she knew Abraham was not ashamed of her. If she did spill the beans, Sarah and Abe would have been killed or punished by the Egyptians before the Pharaoh would be afflicted by God. Since Sarah was beautiful, she made the perfect distraction so Abe could successfully get what he needed.

3. Abraham and Sarah did not seem to me that they were wealthy enough to have servants. This is where I question how they decided who was higher than the other. I thought maybe Hagar was a whore who Sarah and Abraham took in. With this decision to have Hagar into their family, jealousy comes into play again in the Bible. I think Sarah is more envious of Hagar, not because she gets to have sex with Abraham, but I think it is because she cannot have a child like Hagar can. Sarah says herself that after Hagar gave birth, she feels like she is worthless and has no power, when in truth Sarah is the one who overpowers Hagar. Sarah was the one who let Hagar have a child for her anyways, so Sarah should have been thankful for Hagar.

4. At this point of the story, Abraham has no other choice but to listen to God. Abraham knew God was capable of anything. Since he blessed Abe and his wife a son, which they thought was impossible to do at their age; he also knew he was capable of punishment for not listening.  I’m sure Abraham loved his son, which kind of makes Isaac the perfect sacrifice. If you gave the Lord a sacrifice that wasn’t too meaningful to you, it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice.  

Genesis 4, 6-9

Cain & Abel:

Question 2
If Abel was protected by God, and God let Cain know Abel was being protected, Cain would have not pursued his deathly actions by how he truly felt. If the murder didn't happen, the knowledge of justice would never exist.Like in Genesis 1-3, God gave Adam and Eve choices, and just like in Genesis 4 he gives the brothers a chance to choose how they deal with their feelings. Adam and Eve were also unprotected by God when they met the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, and their punishment for what they did carried off to their offspring so they were unprotected too. Abel may sound completely innocent, but that is because we really know nothing about him or his relationship with his brother. Since there is lack of information about Cain and Abel's earlier life, I came to wonder how did one become a farmer, while the other the Shepard? Did they choose their own career path? Or were they assign by God? Because if so , Cain was treated unfairly since he was growing fruits and vegetables when God had already made fruits and vegetables, so the offering of Cain would be not as plentiful as a Shepard's work. God also created animals,but as a Shepard, Abel was able to take care of those animals enough for them to offspring. It took on different responsibilities. It also sounded like Cain was receiving help from the earth, because when Cain was punished , God said "When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength".

Question 4

At first I found the Mark of Cain the most confusing out of Genesis 4... Cain kills, and God doesn't want vengeance against Cain, but he does want vengeance if Cain is killed by another man. Then I realized factors to this reasoning...God doesn't want to kill Cain because he wants to punish him in a suffering way rather than not suffering at all by killing him in an instant. If he didn't put a mark on Cain , Cain could just find a human being he meets as he travels the world and just ask them to take his life so he can escape his punishment. So at first you think, "oh God is really nice and forgiving since he will let Cain live", but then in truth he is really true to his word about justice by making Cain's life a miserable hell. God may be doing this not to protect one person, but to everyone else that Cain may cross so they can see what happens when you have deeply sinned.


Noah

In Genesis 4, murder and vengeance is first discovered and that disappoints God. He insists on punishing those who do wrong, but in the chapters immediately right after it contradicts when God commits murder to not only one person,but probably billions of people! From the time of when the earth was created to Noah’s story, it was at least a few centuries that have gone by and many generations were born.

God created everything out of nothing within just a few days, so I’m pretty sure he would have the ability to destroy what he created within a matter of minutes, rather than 40 days, 40 nights and a yearlong flood. Since God  saw Noah as a good man on the outside, there is a possibility he could have been testing his goodness and faith on the inside by commanding him a task so bizarre. Though why would you ask a 600-year old man to do the labor that should be done by 600 men? It startled me to know that despite his age, Noah was in perfect condition to build a ridiculously gigantic ark. Also, why did he wait so long? Before Noah was born or before he reached the age of 6 centuries, it’s hard to imagine that there was not another man equally as decent as him before his time who could of not done the task just as well.

Genesis 1-3

Question Two:

Growing up in a Catholic family who regularly went to church and invited to go to Bible school by a strict Mennonite church next door, I was always exposed to the teachings of the Bible at a very young age. I still go to church even to this day, but when I reached the age where I could not go to Bible school anymore, I rarely continued to study the Bible, and started to become less familiar with the readings.

Reading Genesis for the first time, in a long time, was quite amusing for me since I was viewing them in a academic respect , rather spiritual.

In Genesis 1, God’s narrative is very commanding on how he created the earth. Listing one thing after the other, he creates everything out of nothing in a meticulous order. I felt he was being extremely spontaneous pulling these names for everything right out of his pocket.  In Genesis 2, he is more personal about breathing life into man, creating him out of dust, making the earth more spiritual and soulful. He details earth with the seasons and light it will have.  Genesis 2 is a bit more poetic and I think it made sense that is was because Genesis 1 was like a rough draft. It was God starting something new, not ready to be revised yet.

Question Five:

The things we humans desire will most likely to be appealing, even things that might consider to be “bad” or “sinful”, otherwise how could a person be pulled into temptation if the image of it was not entrancing? If the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil were fruitless and lacked the informing power of temptation, Adam and Eve had a wide range of other lively things to pick from something like a banana bush or a patch of grass or of course pick the fruit from the Tree of life.

I find knowledge to be a most wonderful and powerful gift, but I think the lesson other than “don’t fall into temptation because it can lead thee to original sin” was simply testing their faith in God. Working for their desires rather then accepting them by the “unknown” would help them rely more on God and build a faithful relationship with him. God wanted Adam and Eve to fear him, because to fear the Lord means you hold reverence and belief in him.

Question Six:

Adam and Eve were set up to fail because they were given the freedom of choices they were not capable of. God said he provided everything “good”, from the seas and vegetation to the animals and the light, to create an earth’s version of heaven for Adam and Eve. And within in this lovely environment, one tree out of many consisted of evil, and God made sure it was known that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not to be picked from. Even though Eve did pick from the one tree God said not to pick from, I don’t consider that she was completely ignorant. Since she didn’t really have any knowledge in the first place, she didn’t know what the hell evil was and obviously was never taught about manipulation. This shows the punishment was indeed inevitable, because God did not educate the new couple enough. If he did, they would have been able to enjoy their sweet life in the Garden of Eden a little bit longer.