My name is Zach Zaiger. I was born in Portland, Oregon and moved to the East Coast when I was 8. I love to skateboard, listen to tunes, play guitar, and chill with my friends. My favorite skate companies are Zero, Independent, Bones, and Reds. My favorite type of music is Punk(from the 80's, not that Greenday crap). I have an Ibanez guitar. My best friends are Caleb, Luke, Dakota, and Dustin. I'm pretty easy to get along with if you give me a chance(I know I can look scary but I'm not that bad). That's it.
February 25th, 2013 Genesis 1-3:
I enjoyed reading this scripture. I found it to be very interesting as I have not read Genesis 1-3 in quite a while. I thought that the part where God took one of Adam's ribs while he was sleeping and made Eve out of it was eccentric. To be honest I did not know that Eve was created out of Adam, thus woman and man, until I read this tonight. One thing I spent a lot of time wondering about was the serpent. God made everything on the earth as well as the earth, including the serpent. So when the serpent talked to Eve and coaxed her into eating from the Tree of Knowledge which she then shared with Adam, was that and intentional act of God to test Adam and Eve and see if they truly would listen to His word?(If someone would like to reply to that it would be much appreciated). I also thought that it was really cool that it never rained and that all the plants and trees and herbs and stuff grew via water coming up from the ground. I also noticed that after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge sins were committed left and right. Immediately after they had eaten, they made clothes, they hid from God, and they(mainly Adam) looked for a scapegoat instead of taking responsibility for their actions. I believe that this is one of the most common sins today. Every single person is guilty of not taking responsibility for their actions at some point in time. Granted, no one will be sinless, we can all certainly try our best. Although we will fall short, the world would be a much better place if we all tried to live as close to Jesus and God as possible.
Response to Genesis 1-3.
Rebecca Redding
Your analysis of these Chapters were really good! I totally agree with you when you say that,"God made everything on the earth as well as the earth, including the serpent. So when the serpent talked to Eve and coaxed her into eating from the Tree of Knowledge which she then shared with Adam, was that and intentional act of God to test Adam and Eve and see if they truly would listen to His word?" When i was reading these chapters i was thinking the same thing! But when it came down to typing out what i thought, you did a lot better then me in getting to the point! It's weird to think about how God made everything good in the world, but also many bad things! Also i don't have a reply on that topic like you asked for, but like i said, i'm wondering the same thing myself. Something that was different about our reading was the fact that you included how it never rained. I guess for some reason i didn't pick up on that while i was reading, but now i see why you thought that was important. I really like how at the end you talked about how every single person is guilty of not taking responsibility of their actions. I think that was a great relation to Genesis 1-3.
March 7, 2013. "On The Marionette Theatre" by Heinrich Von Kleist
I thought that reading this piece was rather interesting. I felt that I was a bit lost at times and that I knew what they were talking about at others. The part about fencing with a bear confused me because I did not really know what was going on or why he was fencing with a bear, but when Heinrich Von Kleist says "that we must eat again of the tree of knowledge in order to return to the state of innocence?" I thought that that was really cool and interesting. I never thought about that before. If eating from the tree of knowledge brought sin into the world, then maybe eating from the tree of knowledge again can eliminate sin from your life. I think that is what Heinrich Von Kleist was getting at. I'm not really sure about the comparison of the puppet dancers to the human dancers though. Why is this titled "On The Marionette Theatre" and what is the significance of comparing the inanimate dancing puppets to actual real live dancers? I do not know if I just missed the reasoning behind that or what but I am still a bit confused. Maybe going over it in class will help. I also found Heinrich Von Kleist's friend to be very peculiar. I really liked how he answers Heinrich Von Kleist's questions and how he really gets Heinrich Von Kleist to think. All in all I think that this piece of literature is a pretty interesting read.
March 10th, 2013 Response to "On the Marionette Theatre" by Heinrich Von Kleist
Rebecca Redding
I agree with you when you say that you were lost at times and then at other times you knew what was going on. I felt that way as well while reading "On The Marionette Theatre". I found it really cool when Heinrich Von Kleist related the tree of knowledge to his story. From that point i knew that this was why we were reading this in class. It was awesome how i didn't know where the story was leading to until that point. When Von Kleist made the relation of how the tree of knowledge brought sin into the world, and that he thought eating from it again would eliminate i was very interesting. I also agree with you when you say that you like how his friend answer's Heinrich Von Kleist's questions. I guess he was getting Kleist to be the one doing the thinking and he didn't want to put his say in the situation. After discussing this in class, i have a better understanding on this and now see the relation that Von Kleist was making. I saw this as a way to relate the "puppet" and the "puppet master" to ourselves and God. I believe that God ultimately has control over everything that we do, while also allowing us the freedom to think we are choosing our own paths. I guess you could relate that back to the puppet and puppet master because ultimately the puppet master is the one in control. However, there are many more arguments that could be debated on how us and god relate to a puppet and his master. For example our love for God is of course on a whole other level than a puppet and his master because we are humans and actually understand why we should serve and obey God.
March 13, 2013. Book One Response.
Zachary Zaiger
I liked reading Book One by Milton because it really got me to think. I really liked how he talked about Chaos. If Hell is in Chaos and Chaos, the Earth, and Heaven all used to be one thing. An argument could be made that Earth is the middle ground between Heaven and Hell. Heaven is said to be sinless and perfect, and Hell is where sinners who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior go when they die. Earth is full of people committing sin, but there is also a lot of people that try very hard to be perfect and as like Jesus Christ as they can be so that they can live a good, holy life and one day be with God in Heaven. Does this not make Earth the "no man's land" in a religious war between Satan and God, between the fallen angels and God's angels, between evil and good? One could be led to think that people on Earth are in "no man's land" and can choose which side they want to go to. They could and most likely will go to the side that they believe is fighting for the right cause. I think that most people would agree that Adolf Hitler went to Hell. Did he not do what he thought was right, out of hatred, and choose Satan's side? Therefore going to one side of the religious war from no man's land. Life is simply a path that all people must take, and throughout life, people will be faced with difficult decisions and they will do what they think is right. Through these actions, people will pick a side, and when they die they will go to their side, leaving no man's land, and they will join the fight for what they, among others with them, believe is right.
March 17, 2013
Rebecca Redding
Your response to this was one that i never even thought about! I loved the connection you made with the no mans land, heaven, and hell. I'm glad you brought that up because it really helped me further understand this book and get the whole picture together. Even though i think Milton is a hard author to evaluate, the connections you made and the connections we made in class were totally understandable. I also really liked that you used Hitler as an example in this, that was a really good way to get your point across. Another thing about your response that really made me think was how you depicted the religious sides, that is a good way to analyze this piece. Pre destination is a very interesting topic, and i loved talking about it in class. It amazes me how many ways there is to interpret the bible, and how many questions i never knew i had about God's word. Pre destination is such a broad topic i guess because no one knows the exact answer, instead there are just theories that seem to make sense but were not sure. When we talked about how God knows who will be a follower of Christ and who wont, that scared me because how could someone who wanted the best for his children let them not decide to follow him? I don't know exactly how i feel about that. This topic is really interesting though & these are things iv'e never thought about on such a high level.
March 19, 2013. Book Two Response
Zachary Zaiger
I found Book Two by Milton to be slightly easier to read than Book One was. I am not sure if it is because there was less odd spelling of words or if maybe Mr. Alexander posted an easier version of Book Two. Regardless, I thought one part was particularly interesting. The part where Molach talks about overthrowing Heaven and "...turning our tortures into horrid arms Against the torturer;...", to me, is very bold and really stands out. I think it is odd how all of the people in Hell, such as Molach and Satan, think about God as a torturer. Most people look at those who went to Hell as bad people and the people in Hell look at God and those that are in Heaven as bad people. I think that that ties into what I was talking about in my response to Book One about people choosing what side they feel is right. I also think that all of the people in Hell are just using God as a scapegoat for the reason that they are in Hell. Satan and the other people in Hell blame God for them being in Hell and refer to God as "the torturer" instead of taking responsibility for their previous actions. I believe that people should take responsibility for their actions, whether they be right or wrong. From the moment that sin was brought into the world, the blame was being put on someone else. Adam blamed Eve saying that she brought the fruit and told him to eat it when God confronted Adam about eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Instead Adam should have taken responsibility for what he did. I think that if people took responsibility for their actions the world would be a much better place.
March 24th, 2013. Partner Response Rebecca Redding
I really like how you described some of the events in Book Two by Milton. Some of the things you described in your response really stood out to me as well. I too also found that Book Two was easier to read and was very interesting. I liked that you mentioned the quote "...turning our tortures into horrid arms against the torturer." I agree with you when you say it was a bold statement that really stands out. I think the strong words within this statement really made it mean something and fit into this book really well. I liked that quote in particular because it gave me the picture i imagined in the first place. Whenever i think of demons i think of them using strong hateful words that would really tear someone down if they were on the other side of that conversation. This statement really fit in with the image of "demons" to me because of words such as "torture" and "horrid". Does that make sense? haha. Anyways, going along with what you said next, i also think it is weird that Molach and Satan think God is a torturer. I think this is weird because Satan knows God is NOT a torturer because Satan has seen Gods works done when he (satan) was in heaven with God before he was cast out. I loved when you said that people might blame god for sending them to Hell, and therefore thinking of him as the bad guy. I never thought of it that way, but i really like the way you worded it. I also really liked when you talked about how ever since the beginning of sin, people have been blaming each other. I really think this fits in well with the world today and it is a problem that still has yet to fade away.
May 3, 2013. Make up for No. 5 Response. Zachary Zaiger
It was weird for me to go into senior year. I did not really think about it at all my junior year. Once I got here though it was crazy. Most people say that your junior year is the hardest year but I think that my senior year has been much harder. I have had half of the amount of classes my senior year as I had my junior year but more than twice the work in all of these classes. I suppose it is because of all of the college or dual enrollment courses that I took. However, I am glad that I took these courses because I learned a lot, I feel that I now have a better understanding of what college is going to be like, and I am going to be going into college with college credits. Now that I am within one month from graduation, I feel very nervous but also really excited. I am more than ready to get out of high school simply because of the lack of responsibility that students are given. I understand why it is this way but I disagree with it. I am nervous though about college because it is a new experience that I have never had before. I look forward to graduation and getting my diploma and I am very excited to see what life has in store for me next. I am glad that I had a chance to do this online homework thing because I think that college will have a lot of stuff online and this was my first opportunity to get that experience. So I thank Mr. Alexander for giving me this opportunity.
My name is Zach Zaiger. I was born in Portland, Oregon and moved to the East Coast when I was 8. I love to skateboard, listen to tunes, play guitar, and chill with my friends. My favorite skate companies are Zero, Independent, Bones, and Reds. My favorite type of music is Punk(from the 80's, not that Greenday crap). I have an Ibanez guitar. My best friends are Caleb, Luke, Dakota, and Dustin. I'm pretty easy to get along with if you give me a chance(I know I can look scary but I'm not that bad). That's it.
February 25th, 2013 Genesis 1-3:
I enjoyed reading this scripture. I found it to be very interesting as I have not read Genesis 1-3 in quite a while. I thought that the part where God took one of Adam's ribs while he was sleeping and made Eve out of it was eccentric. To be honest I did not know that Eve was created out of Adam, thus woman and man, until I read this tonight. One thing I spent a lot of time wondering about was the serpent. God made everything on the earth as well as the earth, including the serpent. So when the serpent talked to Eve and coaxed her into eating from the Tree of Knowledge which she then shared with Adam, was that and intentional act of God to test Adam and Eve and see if they truly would listen to His word?(If someone would like to reply to that it would be much appreciated). I also thought that it was really cool that it never rained and that all the plants and trees and herbs and stuff grew via water coming up from the ground. I also noticed that after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge sins were committed left and right. Immediately after they had eaten, they made clothes, they hid from God, and they(mainly Adam) looked for a scapegoat instead of taking responsibility for their actions. I believe that this is one of the most common sins today. Every single person is guilty of not taking responsibility for their actions at some point in time. Granted, no one will be sinless, we can all certainly try our best. Although we will fall short, the world would be a much better place if we all tried to live as close to Jesus and God as possible.
Response to Genesis 1-3.
Rebecca Redding
Your analysis of these Chapters were really good! I totally agree with you when you say that,"God made everything on the earth as well as the earth, including the serpent. So when the serpent talked to Eve and coaxed her into eating from the Tree of Knowledge which she then shared with Adam, was that and intentional act of God to test Adam and Eve and see if they truly would listen to His word?" When i was reading these chapters i was thinking the same thing! But when it came down to typing out what i thought, you did a lot better then me in getting to the point! It's weird to think about how God made everything good in the world, but also many bad things! Also i don't have a reply on that topic like you asked for, but like i said, i'm wondering the same thing myself. Something that was different about our reading was the fact that you included how it never rained. I guess for some reason i didn't pick up on that while i was reading, but now i see why you thought that was important. I really like how at the end you talked about how every single person is guilty of not taking responsibility of their actions. I think that was a great relation to Genesis 1-3.
March 7, 2013. "On The Marionette Theatre" by Heinrich Von Kleist
I thought that reading this piece was rather interesting. I felt that I was a bit lost at times and that I knew what they were talking about at others. The part about fencing with a bear confused me because I did not really know what was going on or why he was fencing with a bear, but when Heinrich Von Kleist says "that we must eat again of the tree of knowledge in order to return to the state of innocence?" I thought that that was really cool and interesting. I never thought about that before. If eating from the tree of knowledge brought sin into the world, then maybe eating from the tree of knowledge again can eliminate sin from your life. I think that is what Heinrich Von Kleist was getting at. I'm not really sure about the comparison of the puppet dancers to the human dancers though. Why is this titled "On The Marionette Theatre" and what is the significance of comparing the inanimate dancing puppets to actual real live dancers? I do not know if I just missed the reasoning behind that or what but I am still a bit confused. Maybe going over it in class will help. I also found Heinrich Von Kleist's friend to be very peculiar. I really liked how he answers Heinrich Von Kleist's questions and how he really gets Heinrich Von Kleist to think. All in all I think that this piece of literature is a pretty interesting read.
March 10th, 2013 Response to "On the Marionette Theatre" by Heinrich Von Kleist
Rebecca Redding
I agree with you when you say that you were lost at times and then at other times you knew what was going on. I felt that way as well while reading "On The Marionette Theatre". I found it really cool when Heinrich Von Kleist related the tree of knowledge to his story. From that point i knew that this was why we were reading this in class. It was awesome how i didn't know where the story was leading to until that point. When Von Kleist made the relation of how the tree of knowledge brought sin into the world, and that he thought eating from it again would eliminate i was very interesting. I also agree with you when you say that you like how his friend answer's Heinrich Von Kleist's questions. I guess he was getting Kleist to be the one doing the thinking and he didn't want to put his say in the situation. After discussing this in class, i have a better understanding on this and now see the relation that Von Kleist was making. I saw this as a way to relate the "puppet" and the "puppet master" to ourselves and God. I believe that God ultimately has control over everything that we do, while also allowing us the freedom to think we are choosing our own paths. I guess you could relate that back to the puppet and puppet master because ultimately the puppet master is the one in control. However, there are many more arguments that could be debated on how us and god relate to a puppet and his master. For example our love for God is of course on a whole other level than a puppet and his master because we are humans and actually understand why we should serve and obey God.
March 13, 2013. Book One Response.
Zachary Zaiger
I liked reading Book One by Milton because it really got me to think. I really liked how he talked about Chaos. If Hell is in Chaos and Chaos, the Earth, and Heaven all used to be one thing. An argument could be made that Earth is the middle ground between Heaven and Hell. Heaven is said to be sinless and perfect, and Hell is where sinners who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior go when they die. Earth is full of people committing sin, but there is also a lot of people that try very hard to be perfect and as like Jesus Christ as they can be so that they can live a good, holy life and one day be with God in Heaven. Does this not make Earth the "no man's land" in a religious war between Satan and God, between the fallen angels and God's angels, between evil and good? One could be led to think that people on Earth are in "no man's land" and can choose which side they want to go to. They could and most likely will go to the side that they believe is fighting for the right cause. I think that most people would agree that Adolf Hitler went to Hell. Did he not do what he thought was right, out of hatred, and choose Satan's side? Therefore going to one side of the religious war from no man's land. Life is simply a path that all people must take, and throughout life, people will be faced with difficult decisions and they will do what they think is right. Through these actions, people will pick a side, and when they die they will go to their side, leaving no man's land, and they will join the fight for what they, among others with them, believe is right.
March 17, 2013
Rebecca Redding
Your response to this was one that i never even thought about! I loved the connection you made with the no mans land, heaven, and hell. I'm glad you brought that up because it really helped me further understand this book and get the whole picture together. Even though i think Milton is a hard author to evaluate, the connections you made and the connections we made in class were totally understandable. I also really liked that you used Hitler as an example in this, that was a really good way to get your point across. Another thing about your response that really made me think was how you depicted the religious sides, that is a good way to analyze this piece. Pre destination is a very interesting topic, and i loved talking about it in class. It amazes me how many ways there is to interpret the bible, and how many questions i never knew i had about God's word. Pre destination is such a broad topic i guess because no one knows the exact answer, instead there are just theories that seem to make sense but were not sure. When we talked about how God knows who will be a follower of Christ and who wont, that scared me because how could someone who wanted the best for his children let them not decide to follow him? I don't know exactly how i feel about that. This topic is really interesting though & these are things iv'e never thought about on such a high level.
March 19, 2013. Book Two Response
Zachary Zaiger
I found Book Two by Milton to be slightly easier to read than Book One was. I am not sure if it is because there was less odd spelling of words or if maybe Mr. Alexander posted an easier version of Book Two. Regardless, I thought one part was particularly interesting. The part where Molach talks about overthrowing Heaven and "...turning our tortures into horrid arms Against the torturer;...", to me, is very bold and really stands out. I think it is odd how all of the people in Hell, such as Molach and Satan, think about God as a torturer. Most people look at those who went to Hell as bad people and the people in Hell look at God and those that are in Heaven as bad people. I think that that ties into what I was talking about in my response to Book One about people choosing what side they feel is right. I also think that all of the people in Hell are just using God as a scapegoat for the reason that they are in Hell. Satan and the other people in Hell blame God for them being in Hell and refer to God as "the torturer" instead of taking responsibility for their previous actions. I believe that people should take responsibility for their actions, whether they be right or wrong. From the moment that sin was brought into the world, the blame was being put on someone else. Adam blamed Eve saying that she brought the fruit and told him to eat it when God confronted Adam about eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Instead Adam should have taken responsibility for what he did. I think that if people took responsibility for their actions the world would be a much better place.
March 24th, 2013. Partner Response
Rebecca Redding
I really like how you described some of the events in Book Two by Milton. Some of the things you described in your response really stood out to me as well. I too also found that Book Two was easier to read and was very interesting. I liked that you mentioned the quote "...turning our tortures into horrid arms against the torturer." I agree with you when you say it was a bold statement that really stands out. I think the strong words within this statement really made it mean something and fit into this book really well. I liked that quote in particular because it gave me the picture i imagined in the first place. Whenever i think of demons i think of them using strong hateful words that would really tear someone down if they were on the other side of that conversation. This statement really fit in with the image of "demons" to me because of words such as "torture" and "horrid". Does that make sense? haha. Anyways, going along with what you said next, i also think it is weird that Molach and Satan think God is a torturer. I think this is weird because Satan knows God is NOT a torturer because Satan has seen Gods works done when he (satan) was in heaven with God before he was cast out. I loved when you said that people might blame god for sending them to Hell, and therefore thinking of him as the bad guy. I never thought of it that way, but i really like the way you worded it. I also really liked when you talked about how ever since the beginning of sin, people have been blaming each other. I really think this fits in well with the world today and it is a problem that still has yet to fade away.
May 3, 2013. Make up for No. 5 Response.
Zachary Zaiger
It was weird for me to go into senior year. I did not really think about it at all my junior year. Once I got here though it was crazy. Most people say that your junior year is the hardest year but I think that my senior year has been much harder. I have had half of the amount of classes my senior year as I had my junior year but more than twice the work in all of these classes. I suppose it is because of all of the college or dual enrollment courses that I took. However, I am glad that I took these courses because I learned a lot, I feel that I now have a better understanding of what college is going to be like, and I am going to be going into college with college credits. Now that I am within one month from graduation, I feel very nervous but also really excited. I am more than ready to get out of high school simply because of the lack of responsibility that students are given. I understand why it is this way but I disagree with it. I am nervous though about college because it is a new experience that I have never had before. I look forward to graduation and getting my diploma and I am very excited to see what life has in store for me next. I am glad that I had a chance to do this online homework thing because I think that college will have a lot of stuff online and this was my first opportunity to get that experience. So I thank Mr. Alexander for giving me this opportunity.