Journal 6
	1.The final segmet of our first semester Faith course, entitled “Jesus: Model of Faith, model of humanity,” deals with proofs of God’s existance and the humanity of Jesus Christ. The first category of proofs for the existance of God are those from the natural world, including the Kalem, anthropic, telelogical arguments, among others. The second category prooves God through the human person, specifically through the religious experience, conscience, and natural law arguments. Following these proofs comes a segment on Jesus as a human, an ordinary guy in all ways but sin, meaning that he experienced the bad parts of life as well as the good. Realizing Jesus to be a human makes him more approachable. 2. A.The fundamental doctrine of Jesus is found in the one question: “I was needy ... what did you do about that?” This question, coming from Matthew, sums up how Catholics are called to live—not dieing for but living for the people around us. Jesus worried less about the legality of religion and much more about the spirit behind the law. We too, are called to realize the spirit behind religion and be able to properly use religion to live as a child of God, serving others always. B.The second major idea is the four traits that make someone a Christian. First, that Jesus is the embodiment of God, second, that Jesus died in order to rise and share with us divine aliveness, third, that to share that aliveness we must become selfless and forgiving to others and look for others’ interests before our own, and finally that we celebrate that community of service at a meal, the Eucharist, where Jesus is fully present every time. Without believing these four doctrines, one is not Christian. C. A third major idea is the five basic inclinations of human nature. The first inclination is to seek happiness, and God is the highest good and ultimate object of every will, that happiness all seek, whether or not they admit or know it. It is off of this inclination that all the others build. Secondly, man strives to preserve himself in existance, because that is the only way to experience goodness of which we know by nature. Third, man strives to unite sexually, that is, to preserve the species. He is ingrained with the desire for sexual union. Fourth, man is inclined to live in community with others, for he finds joy when around others. Finally, man strives to use intellect and will; to know the truth and make free decisions, in order to find happiness. 3.This picture of Jesus reminds me of the core of Jesus' teachings as O'Malley stated it, the question: "I was hungry, I was thirsty ... What did you do about that?" Here Jesus is among the people waiting in the bread line hungrily. Jesus is a common person, not some lofty purely divine being. He is both someone I can relate to and someone I can help.
							From www.zapoverty.com
			4.If, as O’Malley said, Jesus came to an increasing awareness of his divinity, what he thought when he was able to perform miracles. I wonder how he became aware that he was God, and when. Why would he not have known this, doesn’t it seem like he was playing a trick on himself, making himself unaware of his divinity? 5.I will worry less about the formality of religion for formality’s sake and work to use religion, as it is meant, to move closer to God. I will not worry about whether others are performing rituals the right way as long as they are doing it with their hearts in the right place. I will make sure I do things with my heart in the correct place before I worry about doing it right externally. Nevertheless, I will continue to realize that the ritual helps me find God, and continue to value it for its use.
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