Christianity

Period 2 Morgan Ilg, Kira Egan, Kate Zimmerman, Megan Lambert

"I thought, darkness is the last thing that religion is. Religion is light." P. 34 - Pi views religion as a way out of dark places. It is something that he, personally, can run to in a time of need, when he has no other options.

"It was my turn. Time to put down Satan." P. 28 - There is always a good and a bad to everything. Satan is the bad in Christian's. He has attacked Pi so much in his life and it is time for Pi to take a stand and prove Satan wrong.

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"Why would God wish that upon Himself? Why not leave death to the mortals? Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect? Love. That was Father Martin's answer." P. 68 -Pi can't figure out why the only God Christians have would want to die for humanity's sins, but Father Martin tells him that the reason is love. Pi has never heard this as being a part of religion, all the God's he has ever heard of are immortal. I believe that this is a reason Pi wanted to be a Christian. It is so different that he was attracted to it from the time he heard it.

 “They should direct their anger at themselves (not God). For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart” (Martel 90).

 Pi believes that God does not inflict evil, but we humans create it. God is a pathway which can lead do a person becoming ‘good’, however God does not make this happen, He just supports it.

"He seems to be attracting religions the way a dog attracts fleas..I don't understand it. We're a modern Indian family; we live in a modern way; India is on the cusp of becoming a truly modern and advanced nation--here we've produced a son who thinks he's the reincarnation of Sri Ramakrishhna" (94).

"So all that I can sort of accept. But //Muslim//? It's totally foreign to our tradition. They're outsiders" (95).

"'How many nations are there in the sky?' She thought for a second. 'One. Thats the point. One nation, one passport.' ....'If there's only one nation in the sky, shouldn't all passports be valid for it?' (93).

"If Christ played with doubt, so must we. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation: (36).



"Do you know which is the most dangerous animal in the zoo? An arrow pointed to a small curtain...behind it was a mirror" (39). (This can be relate to religion, God(s) are a way for people to become 'pure', etc rather than a dangerous animal).



Page 51: "Catholics have a reputation for severity, for judgment that comes down heavily. My experience with Father Martin was not at all like that. He was very kind. "

I thought this was interesting since Pi earlier said he was born a Hindu and always would be a Hindu and now he is exploring Christianity. I was shocked that Pi was so open to another religion when he seemed to be strict with himself being Hindu. Pi is a very accepting person when it comes to what other people believe. Also he is always wanting and willing to listen as long as he is learning a story behind the subject.Father Martin is wanting to tech Pi so he will understand the basis of other religions. Father Martin teaches as Christ once taught his children and man.



Pg 73: "...Whoever meets Christ in good faith is a christian. Here in Munnar you met Christ." - This quote is very relative to Christianity and why Pi joins the faith. The Father is telling Pi that because he met Christ in good faith, he is a christian, and I believe that this really turns Pi on to the religion.

- I found a definition of existentialism that is "...existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility." The fish don't have a choice in being eaten so they do not exhibit existentialism because they do not believe that they can change their destiny thorough their own choices.

The definition I found for Existentialism said it "is a philosophical attitude that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices." In this song, the singer is singing about a hotel he goes to that seems like it is great on the outside but in the end all the fame and glory and things that look good on the outside just turn out to be nothing... They turn out to be miserable. The definition said basically it's the attitude the person gets due to his or her own actions. Because of his actions to go to the hotel, he ends up being afraid of it, so he has an attitude of fear. "Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember, some dance to forget" another example, the woman who works at the hotel, she seems beautiful and strong on the outside but "her mind is tiffany twisted" and he has a lot of pretty boys she //calls friends.// so in other words all she knows is fake. She's fake and her friends are fake.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night There she stood in the doorway; I heard the mission bell And I was thinking to myself, ’this could be heaven or this could be hell’ Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say...
 * Hotel California- Eagles**

Welcome to the hotel california Such a lovely place Such a lovely face Plenty of room at the hotel california Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain, ’please bring me my wine’ He said, ’we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’ And still those voices are calling from far away, Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the hotel california Such a lovely place Such a lovely face They livin’ it up at the hotel california What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling, The pink champagne on ice And she said ’we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’ And in the master’s chambers, They gathered for the feast The stab it with their steely knives, But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door I had to find the passage back To the place I was before ’relax,’ said the night man, We are programmed to receive. You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!

Existentialism- //n.// A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. ** Exist **entialism "Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber." — [|Kurt Vonnegut]  "I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth." — [|Umberto Eco]   If you have been around church long enough you probably have heard someone say, “We are called to be different from the world,” or “If we don’t tell people about Christ, how will they ever know we are different?” That can be a big concept to grasp. Sure, we are supposed to be different, but what does being different mean? What does it look like? And if we are supposed to be different, how do we live in the world? Do we have limitations and standards, or are we given free reign? -Elevated Student Ministries

Period 3 - THE HANDS OF WU : Austin Pierpont, Steve Salazar, Travis Schulze, Brian Baldukie, Andrew (Ralph) Hastings

Quote: (Pg. 84) Hindus and Christians are idolaters. Annotation: (Pg. 98) Why do people move? (Pg. 100) People move because of the wear and tear of society.

Picture:

Pg:68 "But once a dead God, always a dead God, even resurrected." = Pi is not used to the idea of a compacassionate God. Especially one that would die for all of humanity.

Pg:91 "'But I want to pray to Allah. I want to be a Christian.' 'You can't be both. You must either be one or the other.'" = Is this true? Is it blasphemous for him to try to blen religions together? In Christianity it simply states..“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me." AND...“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments." ... How can Pi bow down and worship idols and other Gods while being Christian?

Pg:79 "The presence of God is the finest of rewards." God's love is unconditional, on your worst day at your wrost moment, God has chosen you. Christianity is not a RELIGION but a love relationship with a God who loves you and wants you to love Him too.Humans aren't perfect. God understands that becasue he created us. It is through God that we find salvation from our sins.

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10/21/10: Christianity gives Pi hope. It gives him something to place his fears, joys, hopes into. Christianity allows Pi to draw courage from.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2009/September/911-Survivor-Shares-Survival-Story/ The quote above is an example of someone who called upon God in a time of need. God gave this person hope and sustained him through a trial. Yes bad things happen but it is God and God's love that provide for this person through a extreme life endangering trial... just like Pi does in his struggles. He draws strength from God.

Pg: 177, " 'God preserve me!' No supplication was ever more passionate yet more gently carried by the breath." = Pi turns to God instead of trying to take matters into his own hands, he asks God to preserve him and deliver him from this trial.

Pg:186, "I was going to give up. I would have given up --> WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!! WU!!!!!

Jesus loves.

- If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain (The Matrix) - You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? (Fight Club) -Your life is YOURS to create -NEVER LET YOURSELF OFF, WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO CREATE MAKES A DIFFERENCE -WHO AM I, WHT DO I DO -Pi is wondering if he made a difference enough to be missed to be known if he was missing or if he died