Honors

Honors to me this semester was good. It really challenged my views and encouraged those views i had not yet developed. Honors was a different classroom experience for me and it taught me a lot not just about english but about issues in life.

PS I commented on Jamne's Post

Honors applies to life

I know this is a little late, I'm so sorry!

I can't say how much I've appreciated Honors this semester.  It's so much fun having a true open forum for ideas, where you can actually throw a figurative (and literal) bone of contention into the midst of the room, and discuss hard subjects.  While some of our reading has been incredibly difficult, it's been so much fun to see people ask questions because they want to know answers, not just to share their opinion, and to watch all of us emerge from lectures on Plato's circular reasoning on justice with headaches, but be so interested we have to continue his argument outside of the classroom.  Honors has taken the ancient works of literature and made them applicable.  We've been living the dialogues of Plato, making allegorical connections with Plato, and fighting for the rights of Orestes before the gods.  No where else could we have this opportunity, and I truly appreciate it.
PS. commented on Emily LaForce's post :)

The Censorship of Poesy

So, I am yet again sitting up writing a paper that will probably take me the majority of the night to finish. I had forgotten I had to blog until I was looking for something to help me procrastinate with, and then i remembered, with 15 minutes to spare. Over the semester, as I've contemplated what I was going to write the final paper on, my mind kept coming back to the subject I finally settled on, Proving Plato Wants to Banish the Poets from the City. At first, I was going to write the paper completely tongue-in-cheek. And up until about 2 o'clock in the morning that was the direction the paper was headed. Then I really started to get into what I was doing, which was removing from The Iliad what Plato wanted to censor. And I realized that there really would be no poetry left and the poets would not be allowed in the city. And it made me wonder what it would be like to not have poetry in the world. Granted, I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I do appreciate it. And besides, when Plato is talking about the poets and poetry, he's really talking about all literature. Life without literature would not be a life I would want to live! I don't know how I could handle not having literature in my life! And now, as I sit here, working on a paper for a Literature class, I'm beginning to wonder what would happen if the works I am focusing on were censored the same way Plato wanted to censor them. Then I remember that I actually need to write my paper, so I try not to let it distract me.
Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit,
May everyone have a wonderful Finals week and a Merry Christmas!!
Meghan Johnston!
PS - I commented on Emily's blog
PPS - 2 minutes to spare! :)

Salt of the Earth.

What does it mean to be the salt of the Earth? My church history is a repetitious cycle of bible stories, parables, and anecdotes. I remember being taught to be the "salt of the Earth" as it says in Matthew 5:13-16. I have come to the conclusion that this passage must be talking about the lukewarm Christian. It is a warning to not let one's relationship with Christ lose its flame. Salt, once it loses its saltiness can not be restored to its original taste. At this point, salt is completely useless. Matthew 25:30 says,  "Worthless servants will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." What a horrible way to spend eternity! This is why we are encouraged to be salty. 

PS i commented on Jasmine's post.

Destiny and a whole lot of digging...

Throughout the last couple of years of my life, I feel that God has been revealing to me that his plan from the very beginning was to restore creation its original purpose. God wants to make us into what he destined us to be from the very beginning of time, before sin or anything separated us from him. I found this last lecture to be a satisfying ending to a wonderful semester in our great "quest for truth". Knowing that God won't leave his people where they are but takes them with Him on the journey is one of the most comforting things. The most comforting thing I know at this point in time is that I'll get to rest this weekend from my frantic all nighter. I'm discovering that honors papers can really take it out of you but the results are so worth it. I'm so grateful that I dug into my topic and found answers. This is the same with life. If you stay up until 4:30 in the morning, you are bound to find some answers. Here's to some more mind opening truths! (P.S. Commented on Amanda)

Momma knows best

       As I began to register for classes for my first collegiate semester, my mother told me to look into the honors program. She of course, had been stalking the UM website to see where all of her money was going to be going, and had stumbled across an article about how the honors program allowed students to make more personal connections with their professors. I had looked into honors programs at other schools, but they were based around your degree field; not through the english department. I already had my required english credits, so I didn't really see the point in retaking four classes that I had already passed; however, my mother had other plans for me.
      Looking back on this semester, honors really is my favorite class, and I am extremely glad that I chose to take the course. It not only taught me a different way to read literature, but it also taught me to always be searching. To search for truth, to search for new opinions and ideas, and to search out the unknown, and I look forward to continuing this search.

p.s.- I commented on Amanda Gaster's blog

Conversations at the Honors Project

I had a really wonderful conversation with Will Drake at the honors project. We talked about what honors means to us, and what honors has taught us.
The texts that we've come in contact with have challenged us, stretched us and changed us. But one of the best feelings I have experienced is when my view hasn't changed. When I can read Philo, when I can take hermeneutics and when I read Desmond Tutu, and when I can examine the argument thoroughly. Then, when I realize what I believe is still the same, that is when I know I can trust it. It is wonderful to know that the conversion you experienced when you were 14, or 4, is still the same truth that you believe after you learn Greek or read new interpretations of the texts. To be faced with a thousand inherent contradictions and find that I still believe the bible is true and that a God who is all knowing is capable of making himself known- this is what it means to have faith. To listen with grace and discernment and love to every argument, and yet to know at the end of the day that the Word of the Lord endures forever. We can rest in this in our Spirits, while searching out truth with our minds.

To find every obstacle, to hit every roadblock headfirst, and to know that God is more logical and more loving than I could even imagine. 

Pursuing Perfection

I love when Honors connects with real life. I've been reading a lot of Paul's letters recently and I have really enjoyed discussing him in class, even though it (sadly) came at the end of the semester after our papers. Talking about the Sermon on the Mount and the Didache today also connected some dots... sophomores may remember Bonhoeffer from last semester (freshmen- look forward to him :))... he also talked about the Sermon on the Mount. With hundreds of years between the writing of the Didache and The Cost of Discipleship, there must have been something in this idea of righteousness and perfection from God rather than the self, since both address the issue. Today in class we defined "perfect" in the Greek as whole, complete, true to yourself and your purpose. Bonhoeffer says, "Our task is simply to keep on following, looking only to our Leader who goes on before, taking no notice of ourselves or what we are doing. We must be unaware of our own righteousness, and see it only in so far as we look into Jesus; then it will seem not extraordinary, but quite ordinary and natural. Thus we hide the visible from ourselves in obedience to the word of Jesus." Sometimes I know I get caught up in trying to make everything work out just so... yeah I'm a perfectionist. But how freeing this is from the Didache and Bonhoeffer- from Christ comes our perfection. Our righteousness is in Him, so we can stop striving and look to him. Pursuing Him results in a pursuit of righteousness and perfection, so he is sanctifying us as we go. So, maybe you are not able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, maybe you're overwhelmed with papers and finals and life.... keep running the race and do the best you can- you aren't a failure; you're being made perfect in the process.
I have been so blessed by journeying with you all this semester. Seeking truth can be painful, but it's so worth it. See you next semester, friends! Much love!

commented on Lauren's "The Search"

The Search.

I did not think that I would ever be able to experience Honors at Mobile because I transferred in as a junior. I was so jealous after hearing everyone talk about the class and the professors and the crazy, yet amazing things they did. Then there was a mix up with my credits and Dr. Schuler worked out a way for me to be in Honors this fall.

I am thankful that I am now a part of Honors family at the University of Mobile. This class has stretched my mind and my heart to think in ways that I have never before thought. I have been challenged by the questions posed in the texts and in the classroom. I have built relationships with people that I will always cherish. But the most important lesson I have learned is to seek out the truth in everything you do. Seek the truth in the text, in the paper, in the relationship, in the vocation; seek the truth every day. This is not an easy task because sometimes seeking out the truth means confronting beliefs that have previously never been questioned, but the journey is worth every confrontation.

p.s. I commented on Jasmine's post.

Heart Support

Through comparing and contrasting the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, the purpose of life has become less about morality and more about attitude.  Morality is mostly associated with "good and bad" or "right and wrong" choices in life.  While morality is important to God, your heart is of much greater value.  True morality begins as an attitude within the heart; furthermore, an individual is not considered to be moral on the basis of a few "good" choices.  Consequently, in order to "be good" or "do good," an individual must have an absolute source of "good."  Since God is good, moral behavior flows from Him alone.  Morality is very similar to a lifestyle; therefore, living a moral life is the fruitful results of a correct attitude.  God outlined this attitude through the Ten Commandments in order to ensure the Israelites a joy-filled, fruitful life, but they replaced the true meaning of the Law with a moral basis for living.  Thus, Jesus presented the Beatitudes in order to restore the Law to its proper place among men.

Is Jesus really fufilling the laws or changing the way they are set up?

In Matthew 5-7 Jesus is fulfilling the laws. When you really read what he is saying, you begin to see that the laws are almost becoming more strict. Instead of adultery just being when you have relations while married, it is just simply looking at another woman. He says that it is no longer an eye for an eye, but if someone strikes one cheek you must turn to the other side. When he is talking about doing good works, it is not only doing good works but doing them in secret. Jesus says"do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that only your father in heaven may know." Basically everything the people thought was right was changed. Because Jesus was fufilling the law, they were made stricter and had more rules to them My favorite part of these verses is when he says to be the salt and the light and that we are a city on a hill and we must shine our light for all to see. It is just so powerful that Jesus is declaring this to a crowd of people, it is not in a parable but just straight up go shine your light which to me is awesome.