St. Augustine, tranlations and Psalms

in book 2 Augustine talks about signs in heaven and earth he also writes about three main signs of knowledge holiness and fear and all three work together. He says "the fear of God is the beginning of all knowledge". Augustine also talks about the signs being literal and metaphorical. also that knowledge is for the teachers and how they can reveal meaning to the students. also people should not seek personal satisfaction of any kind that they should seek satisfaction in God and if you don't punishment will come to you.
In book 2 of St Augustine's on christian teaching, Augustine writes about translation and how it can be different from a certain language. for example in the Latin language a person must be educated in the origin of Latin and Greek. also in Latin it is difficult to translate from single words and in word phrases. for the average Joe it its very difficult to use Augustine teaching to interpret the Psalms because the majority of the people do not know Latin, but if more people did understand the origin of the languages in the translation maybe more people would understand it more... but that maybe a hard task
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8CtVhVImBM

I do not understand why there are people out there who believe that religion is a waste of time and that it does not serve a pupose. For those atheists, I do not think that have noticed that the majority of people in our world believe in some higher power. Religion gives people something else to believe in. Sometimes there are things that happen that we just cannot explain. Religion is there to fill the gap so people do not go insane with trying to figure it out. Religions are here to help us from reaching our breaking points and keep us from becoming socially unacceptable. Back in high school, my school's all state track star was killed by a drunk driver. How does this happen to such an innocent good person. Or another instance, my ex-girlfriend's mom has had three different types of cancer over the past five years. Why and how does this keep happening to such a nice woman. These are the questions that just cannot be answered. So through religion I believe that everything happens for a purpose. God has a plan for everyone.

in psalm 18 David is asking god to protect him from his enemies (a rock to hid behind). Also David ask god for help because his enemies are coming for David and when god answers David god comes down and destroys the enemies of David. the reason why god answers David call is that David is righteous his hands are clean he obeyed the rules of the god and did no evil and did not turn away from God. then David talks about how everything that he owns come from god that god gave him nations to rule because David is pure and believed in god and because of this god made David king to rule over these nation that god gave him. the image of god in this psalm reminds me of the cliche god is fire and brimstone. but i do not see anything wrong with this portrayel of god. i believe that god created us and has the right to do what he pleases with us. and if u look closely towards the end of the psalm you will see other people crying out for gods help but he does not reply because not everyone recives gods help if u look in the new testiment in the bookof mathew Remember the words of Jesus: Not everyone that calls me Lord will go to heaven. Only those that obey my Father (God)

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mbhs.net/Giant_Rock_HJ_PhotoWeb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://warriors-of-light.blogspot.com/2008/01/psalm-18.html&usg=__u2Q3kY4lUyilZ_Xiw26fd1-ogHg=&h=1104&w=931&sz=96&hl=en&start=10&um=1&tbnid=NvpJPt1o1550MM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpsalm%2B18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7TSHB%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

i always read this poem when life is hard, maybe it can help you also

here are the words to this poem..

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."
Mary Stevenson

Sometimes i find myself questioning whether there is a God or if i believe in him. Sometime i feel ashamed of myself but other times it is granted that i question God. i don't think that God would be mad at someone that questions him i almost think that he might encourage it.
In philosophy class we are talking about God and free will and whether they exist or don't or if one or the other exist. from the philosophy point of view we haven't come up with a definitive answer yet .. go figure.. also we talked about whether God is omnipotent and wholly good and that evil exists. the problem with that is that if evil exists then good is not wholly good and if God is omnipotent and can do anything why doesn't he prevent evil. well my solution to this would be that God is omnipotent but chooses when he is and when he is not. and yes there is evil but it is not because God in not wholly good it is because God let his people have a choice in life its called free will.so to relate it back to this poem i hope who ever reads this blog and ever has doubt in God read this poem and maybe the light will shine through.

if you want a copy of this poem here is a websitehttp://www.footprints-inthe-sand.com/index.php?page=Poem/Poem.php

http://www.easyenglish.info/psalms/psalm002-taw.htm
I was doin some reasearch on psalm 2 and i ran across this funny almost stupid link that broke down psalm 2 into parts so that people i guess can understand it check it out, maybe you wont find it as weird as i do.


I noticed that the earlier version rhymed and had kind of poetic flow almost like a song. In order for the earlier version to rhyme the translation must have been altered. I think reason for this version rhyming it was more appealing or easier to understand and also like more modern day Christians it is kind of like a hymn. Also in class we talked about how religions sang or played song: maybe brought the community together this could also be a reason why this version had a rhyme or poetic feel to it.also i noticed the lack of quotations in this version compared to Alters version to me the quotations are telling me who is talking even though i have a good idea of who is talking.
I think that Psalm 2 was translated the way it was in the Bay Psalm Book as a way for early Americans to understand and maybe somehow find a way to relate to it, like for example "Let us asunder break their bands, their cords bee from us throwne" could be in relation toward how the settlers were breaking away from British rule thus why they came to the Americas. this might be far fetched but also in the wording in the two different versions in the bay of psalm he uses the words "heathen" in the other version "nations" is used now back in 1640 when book was published the Pilgrims were fighting with the native Americans which were heathens a person that does not believe in Christianity so that is another way how the early american could relate

You know, it amazes me that there are religious wars in our world. I really just do not understand why they happen. I also wonder if those involve realize that until or if it ever happens that a real "God" is found that the killings are going to continue. Palestine and Israel have been going on with their religious fight for way too long. The only thing that is going to happen is that more people are going to die and the fight will continue to rage on. I just do not understand how people could kill just because someone else does not believe in the same thing they do. Religions are there to give people something to believe in. They give them a way of dealing with the things they cannot explain or cannot deal with. But i do understand that people with a religious background do fight in wars, but i assume there a fighting the war for other reason than not agreeing with the oppositions beliefs, instead for reason like being patriotic or a draft.

effigy mounds and the "system of symbols"

Effigy mounds in wisconsin are very unique and mysterious, yet they are a "system of symbols" to native american and people today. To me there are many "system of symbols" that the woodland people interject with there belief system. for example many effigy mounds are near large areas of wetlands and springs and other natural features that have spirtual meaning. These symbols such as water resource have an abundence of waterfowl and animal that live near theses watershed like beavers, mink, turtles deer and bear which many of the mounds were made from and also water spirit or panther. Also effigy mounds in wisconsin are regarded as belief system encoded on woodland pottery and art work from the woodland people that reflect the social divison that exsited with the people that lived in the effigy mound region. To me theses effigy mound were a corralation between life and the after life, where the woodland people came to celebrate life even if "life" is referring to death too. A qoute from the book that says it better, "the effigy mounds can be considered as areas of social reporduction; places to which people returned again and again for the pupose of life-way reinforcment and renewal." I beleive that these system of symbols from where the mound are formed to what shape they are formed into are all "conception of a general order of existance"

here is a web site that offers some good informationhttp://www.nps.gov/efmo/

i went to holy rosary catholic school on the east side of flint MI from pre-school to 8th grade. the school has a long history of great sports teams and a outstanding parish. and i am very sad to here that the school is closing. some much has changed since my days at the school. when i was in first grade i can remember having over 40 kids in our class and in 8th grade that number reduce to 30. now in most classes the highest number of people in any grade in 16 and that's in a kindergarten class. i understand that flints economy has suffered greatly in the past ten years but i am still try to understand why the enrolment has drop of 80 percent in the last 3 years. i don't think that it has to do with money either I think that many people have stopped practicing Catholicism to me that is a shame. i recently read an article in the new york times that the number of religion have lost many people to the fact that they have stopped practicing and the number of atheist rose to of 15 percent. i have a hard time understanding this i take great pride in calling myself a catholic and when i have children i want them to be catholic also. hopefully the school is doing a massive fundraiser to stay open for a few more year but i hope that people step up in the community and support this school like they have supported our community for over 60 years GO WOLVERINES

http://holyrosaryflint.catholicweb.com/