In class we talked a lot about Paul redefining some of the ancient beliefs of the Jewish people. I feel like in some ways much of the literature we've read this semester has centered around an underlying theme of redefinition. As we created a kosmos, the world was redefined and people's re-examination of the world around them and what it meant to them as Homer set down the believes, morals, and honorable traits that a person should strive for. And as we slowly moved through literature a continual idea of creation arose from the different works as Socrates created a Republic and the Trojans created Rome. And through all that they had to redefine their own thoughts and ideas so to create new ones and make something new stronger than the old thing.

So as Paul redefines this stronger new Jewish sect, what makes it stronger? what makes it different?

The reliance upon grace. The people could never live up to the standards that God set forth in the Old Testament, thats why he provided a way for them to atone for thier sins, but He did this so that His people would depend on Him and continually come back to Him. As Paul writes he takes down a lot of the rules and regulation of the Old Testament but we find he does not destroy all of Jewish history, He redefines, reorganizes and gives Christians the hope we have, the strength in the midst of the fight, and the reason we have for continual seeking after a righteous life. Those intangible qualities are stronger than the tangible breakable laws because we find that God's love never fails, and His hope can bring light to the darkest situation something the law could not do. The law was rigid and dependable. The grace is flexible and fits together with our messy and disordered lives where most of the time nothing happens quite how we plan it.

On a side note sometimes I feel like by all this "free thinking" our teachers are actually causing us to come back around and have similar mindsets about these works and about life. What if...its all apart of their plot to take over the world??....I mean why not start with the smart kids, right? In defiance I have decided to do absolutely nothing with my life and live in a cardboard box to thwart their plan....bahahahahaha

(okay maybe not....maybe its just really late and cold outside)

I commented on Treya's Blog (: & a minute ago I just saw her walk into the dorm (: woah baby.