Genesis 1-11
My mind began to fill with questions and thoughts as I read the first eleven chapters of the Bible (see list of questions after my paper please). It never ceases to amaze me that I can repeatedly read chapters of the Bible and learn or notice something fresh each study session. A number of unique things occurred to me this time through.
The fact that the Tigris and Euphrates have actually been on earth since Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:14) amazed me. To think that I, with the appropriate finances, could go and see part of the Garden of Eden is astounding. The list of the descendents of Adam (Genesis 5) allowed me to grasp that Noah was only nine generations removed from Adam. I found in one of my reference books that Noah’s father, Lamech, was only fifty-six years old at the time of Adam’s death. However, at the same time, this information was a little disappointing. Did the whole earth really fill with corruption and violence in just nine generations? This served as a definite reminder of the kind of world we are born into. Even so, God sends hope into these Bible passages with Noah’s presence.
Noah himself gave me hope. I came to realize as I read that Noah was the first example of a genuinely righteous man in the Bible. With unbending confidence in God’s word, Noah began to build the Arc. Noah could nearly even be considered an in advance example of what Jesus would be like. For approximately 120 years, Noah preached God’s judgement, mercy, and the coming flood. However, people turned their heads at Noah and continued in their evil ways. Another interesting event was the first time rain fell from the heavens (Genesis 7:12). Before the great flood, water came up from the ground (Genesis 2:6).
After the flood, Noah’s family was the only one on earth. With this data, we can assume that everyone is a descendent of Shem, Ham, or Japheth, Noah’s three sons. Therefore Noah’s family re-populated the earth. Different languages and cultures came when God spread the people all over the earth and confused mankind by separating their languages and geography (Genesis 11:7-9).
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
In America, voting for the President is a privilege and a lie. Many Americans think when they go to the polls in November, they are voting for the President of the United States; but really, they are voting for a group of electors who have pledged to support a nominee for the President. The Founding Fathers were concerned that presidents would always come from a populous state and wondered whether the public would have the knowledge of various candidates necessary to make a wise selection. They did not have access to technology like the internet or smart phones as we do. In most states, as the result of the election, the state awards all its electors to the winning candidate (Belenky 1308). A Presidential a candidate must win 270 Electoral
Hence, Invisible Man is foremost a struggle for identity. Ellison believes this is not only an American theme but the American theme; "the nature of our society," he says, "is such that we are prevented from knowing who we are" (Graham 15). Invisible Man, he claims, is not an attack on white America or communism but rather the story of innocence and human error (14). Yet there are strong racial and political undercurrents that course the nameless narrator towards an understanding of himself and humanity. And along the way, a certain version of communism is challenged. The "Brotherhood," a nascent ultra-left party that offers invisibles a sense of purpose and identity, is dismantled from beneath as Ellison indirectly dissolves its underlying ideology: dialectical materialism. Black and white become positives in dialectical flux; riots and racism ...
One reason political parties have a positive effect on American politics is that they unite and organize Americans that share similar viewpoints on a variety of political issues. Political parties allow Americans to select a party that demonstrates their personal values/beliefs and articulates their views on ways to overcome the issues facing America. Murray S. Stedman, J...
Throughout Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, the main character dealt with collisions and contradictions, which at first glance presented as negative influences, but in retrospect, they positively influenced his life, ultimately resulting in the narrator developing a sense of independence. The narrator, invisible man, began the novel as gullible, dependent, and self-centered. During the course of the book, he developed into a self-determining and assured character. The characters and circumstances invisible man came across allowed for this growth.
Where Genesis I describes a more ordered creation - the manifestation of a more primitive cultural influence than was responsible for the multi-layered creation in Genesis II - the second creation story focuses less on an etiological justification for the physical world and examines the ramifications of humankind's existence and relationship with God. Instead of Genesis I's simple and repetitive refrains of "and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25), Genesis II features a more stylistically advanced look at "the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" (Gen 2:4). While both stories represent different versions of the same Biblical event, Genesis II is significantly more complex than its predecessor and serves both to quantify the relationship between God and his creations and lay the foundation for the evolving story of humankind as well.
The narrator participating in a "battle royal" prior to delivering a speech on the progress of the Black people. These are the days during which he is still a hopeful scholar, at this point he is living the life that others have told him that he should live, and defines himself as he believes he is seen through their eyes. The abuse he goes through in the battle royal give him the first feelings that everything is not as it seems, but fail to do anything to change the narrator's perceptions of himself. If given the chance, the narrator may have gone on living the life that society had set for him and never realized his invisibility, but fate had other plans for him.
In the novel, The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator of the story, like Siddhartha and Antonius Blok, is on a journey, but he is searching to find himself. This is interesting because the narrator is looking for himself and is not given a name in the book. Like many black people, the narrator of the story faces persecution because of the color of his skin. The journey that the narrator takes has him as a college student as well as a part of the Brotherhood in Harlem. By the end of the book, the narrator decides to hide himself in a cellar, thinking of ways he can get back at the white people. However, in the novel, the man learns that education is very important, he realizes the meaning of his grandfather’s advice, and he sees the importance of his “invisibility.” Through this knowledge that he gains, the narrator gains more of an identity.
Flood stories have been a common thread in many religions across the globe. One of the stories we are most familiar with in our culture, the story of Noah’s Ark, is a well-known segment of the old testament, and an interesting story of how God punished the world for how corrupt it had become. God accomplished this by flooding the world, and annihilating all the creatures upon it, save for Noah and his family and a pair of each type of creature on the earth . This story, however, has roots deep in the past, some of which have only come to light with the development of new archeological techniques and technology. As more and more is found out about the era from when this story originates, discoveries are made as to the origin of the story, what tale it was based upon, and as to the authenticity that such an event may have actually even occurred, if on a somewhat smaller scale. Based on the information available at the present time, one can make fairly confident inferences as to the root of this story. One could argue that the story of Noah’s Ark was based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, and that in turn was based on older stories that were based on a real flood of the Black Sea.
Political parties in the United States, just like any other country has been in existence for many years, probably since the late 1700s. In definition, a political party is a legally organized group of individuals or people who have similar opinions and control the governing of a country. Long before political parties in America came about, there had been indifference concerning the existence of political parties, but today, Political parties are a vital constituent of a democracy. They provide a means through which individuals in America can express themselves and their voices can be heard. It can also be seen as a link between the people and the government. Political parties thereby have important roles which they carry out such as nominating candidates, help in the formation of public opinions, organizing the government and much more.
To understand the narrator of the story, one must first explore Ralph Ellison. Ellison grew up during the mid 1900’s in a poverty-stricken household (“Ralph Ellison”). Ellison attended an all black school in which he discovered the beauty of the written word (“Ralph Ellison”). As an African American in a predominantly white country, Ellison began to take an interest in the “black experience” (“Ralph Ellison”). His writings express a pride in the African American race. His work, The Invisible Man, won much critical acclaim from various sources. Ellison’s novel was considered the “most distinguished novel published by an American during the previous twenty years” according to a Book Week poll (“Ralph Ellison”). One may conclude that the Invisible Man is, in a way, the quintessence Ralph Ellison. The Invisible Man has difficulty fitting into a world that does not want to see him for who he is. M...
The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic, Utnapishtim is immortal and, although Noah was extremely old when he died, he wasn’t immortal. Utnapishtim was a human, but because he saved mankind, Enlil said, “Hitherto Utnapishtim has been a human, now Utnapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods.” (Gilgamesh 11.206-207) In the Biblical story, God told Noah that he was going to send a flood and asked him specifically to make the ark in order to save mankind. In Genesis 6:13-22, God tells Noah why he’s flooding the earth and exact instructions to build the ark. “13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all arou...
New Testament. Vol. 2. Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.
In the film, when Noah is telling the story of creation, he says “In the beginning, there was nothing,” but Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” He also said “Adam and Eve had three sons,” but Genesis 5:4 says “Adam and Even had Cain, Abel, Seth, and other sons and daughters.” In the film Japheth is Noah’s youngest son, but Genesis 9:24 says that Ham is Noah’s youngest son. Japheth in the movie also releases the raven, but Genesis 9:7 says that Noah released the raven. And, as stated before, in the film Noah built the Ark to save the animals, but in the Bible Noah was commanded to build the Ark to save humanity and the animals. Albeit these details prior to the last one might be small, they show that the director and his co-writer Ari Handel blatantly and deliberately lied about details of the Biblical story of Noah (Patterson, Chaffey, 2014).
Genesis is the first creation story. God creates, establishes, and puts everything into motion. After putting all of this in motion he then rests. He creates everything on earth in just seven days. Before creation Gods breath was hovering over a formless void. God made earth and all of the living creatures on earth out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. Reading Genesis 1 discusses where living creatures came from and how the earth was formed. It’s fascinating to know how the world began and who created it all. In Genesis 1 God is the mighty Lord and has such strong power that he can create and banish whatever he would like. His powers are unlike any others. The beginning was created from one man only, God.