Last Day in Class :(

Today was the last day of class in Human Geography. I am sad because I really enjoyed this class. I enjoyed the topics we talked about and learned and it was a great class. I think that I have learned a lot from this class and it has benefited me and my views about topics in good ways. I always liked how Mr. Schick would let the students teach because it was always funny but we also learned stuff. This class was probably one of my favorites because there was a lot of laughs and humor. This class was also very chill and not uptight like many of my other classes. I am honestly scared for Mr. Fendrick's class but who knows it may be fun. I am definitely going to miss the blogs and all that fun stuff.

Class work on 5 religions

  The Christian religion was founded by Jesus Christ. The adherents call themselves Christians. The number of adherents is around 2.2 billion. Most Christians are found in Europe, the Americas, and south Africa. The holy book used for the religion is called the Bible. The Christians believe in both the New testament and Old Testament. The Christians believe that Jesus is both human and divine. The head of the Church is the Pope and the local leaders are priests. 

  The Islam religion was founded by Mohamad in around 570-632 A.D. The 1.5 billion adherents call themselves Muslims. They are generally found in Indonesia, the Middle East, and North Africa. There holy book is called the Qur’an. They believe in the five pillars of faith (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage). They have two different denominations which are called the Sunnis and the Shiites.

  Hinduism is a major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia. This is the oldest religion in the world that is still around. There is no distinct founder for Hinduism.  Hinduism has 1.1 billion adherents that call themselves Hindus. They are mostly found in India and Nepal. The Hindu holy book is called the Vedas which has been passed down through oral tradition. There prayers are mostly sung. Believes in reincarnation.

  Buddhism was discovered by Siddhartha Gautama. There are about 500 million to 1.5 billion adherents. The number varies because many people practice Buddhism as well as other religions. The adherents call themselves Buddhists and are normally found in southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan. They go off the four noble truths as well as the eightfold path. Also believes in reincarnation.

  Judaism was founded by Abraham and has 14-18 million adherents. The adherents call themselves Jews. They are located in Israel and the U.S. Jews believe in ethical monotheism which means that God is one. There holy book is called the Torah. The Jews follow the Ten Commandments swell as 13 principles of faith. 

Quaran or Bible

Today in class we played a game about whether a passage was from the Quaran or the Bible. It was really stress full but fun. I got to learn about the Quaran and it was very cool reading some of the passages. I like playing games to review for tests because it like makes the mind remember information under stress which makes it even stronger in your head. I personally learn the best from playing games and reviewing blogs and notes. I feel that I need to study some more for the test but I also know some of the information by heart. I think that I can do really well if I put-on the work and study hard.

More test prep stuff

Today in class we went over more of the notes and stuff that we need for our test next week. We went over Christian, Islam, and Buddhism religions. Christianity was founded from the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was born in Bethlehem between 8 and 4 B.C. and he died on the cross in A.D. 30. The christian Bible contains the four Gospels which are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus was put to death and on the third day after his death his tomb was empty. Jesus was raised from the dead by God. There are also many branches of Catholics. One of the branches is the Roman Catholic branch. The Orthodox branch, and lastly the Protestant branch. The islamic religion has five pillars of faith. The first is called the Shadah, the second is the Salat, the third is Zakat. The fourth is Sawm of Ramadan, and lastly the fifth is called the Hajj. The islam founder was Muhammad who was born in about 570 in Makkah.

test prep

Today we had condensed classes because we had an assembly. The assembly was really fun and cool. It was about native Americans and it was very interesting to learn about. The classes were 45 minutes today which was Amazing! But anyway in class we went over stuff about religions that are going to be on our test. The information that we need to know and study for the test is pretty easy stuff. I feel like I can do really really good on this test because I can comprehend the material and its actually interesting.

class work

There are four basic Vedic texts in use by Hindus. Give a brief description of each,including how many hymns are in each.

Vedas are sacred to the Hindu religion. They come in four parts and are put in chronological order. The first part is the Samhitas which is most ancient part and consists of hymns that are prayed to God. The Hindus believe that this sacred scripture was directly from God and was passed down through a thousand years. This part contains 1,028 hymns. The second part is the Brahmanas which is the part of the Vedic that contains all the myths and legends, and also explains the 

philosophy of the Vedic. The Brahmanas contains 1,017 hymns. The next section is called the Aranyakas which contains the worship and meditation. It also explains the ritual sacrifice part of the Vedic. And lastly the Upanishads consist of the mystical teachings of the Vedic. This section contains about 1,017 hymns.

Do some independent research, and in your own words describe the practice of indulgences. Why do you think this made Martin Luther object to indulgences? Please note where your research led you.

The practice of indulgences was basically paying your sins away. The Catholic Church in 

medieval times was very corrupt. If someone wanted God to forgive there sins they would have to pay the Church and then they were told that their sins had been absolved. I think that Martin Luther objected to the indulgences because he knew that God didn't want money and that if you were poor then you were sinful because you couldn't pay away your sins. After finding out about the indulgences Martin Luther decided to write the 95 Theses and nailed a copy to the door of the Church.

I found my research at http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his101/web/37luther.htm

The Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca is called the Hajj. Describe the details of the Hajj, and include a photo of a Hajj in your blog.

The Hajj is the gathering of muslims in there holiest city. The pilgrimage takes place for five days. There goal is to have there sins forgiven as they go to the pilgrimage. On the first day the pilgrims set up camp at nearby Mina. On the second day they go to Arafat where they pray and beg for God's forgiveness. On the third day they return to Mina where they then pray and are devoted to asking God for forgiveness.

Religions around the world

Today in class we learned about three different religions. The religions that we learned about were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. They are similar but also very different. They all use different holy books to worship with. The number in worshippers also vary. Buddhism is a very popular religion with 500 million to 1.5 billion. Judaism only has 14-18 million followers. Hinduism is can be found anywhere but the majority live in Nepal and India. The people who worship Buddhism are called Buddhists. We also have to rank the number of worshippers around the world. Over all I am very fascinated with the variety of religions and how different some are.

My Rankings                                                                

• Christian 31.4%
• Muslim 23.2%
• Hindu 15%
• Buddhists 7.1%
• Judaism 0.2%