How Can Taoist Texts Help us Understand Chinese History

Today, we read an article about Taoism and the article talked about the details of Taoism. Taoism is a very unique religion and contains philosophical readings such as the Tao The Ching. Taoism can deepen our understanding of Chinese history because the Taoist canon can be used as an alternative history, expanding on early Chinese history. Taoism is an aspect that was not recorded in the emperor's official history. I find this interesting because Taoism is such a unique and inspiring religion, and it is also very different from any religions. In China, there are very little philosophical teachings like Taoism. Taoism and it's beliefs are very fascinating and they show a part of Chinese history that is not very common, and their teachings and beliefs represent something different, and therefore it can help us understand early Chinese history.

Is our world real?

I do believe that our world is real. Although someone can make a good arguement that we are just living in a stimulation. With all of the variables that are going on in our world, it is just extremely difficult for me to believe that our world is not real. Every person in the world has emotions, personality traits, different looks, the ability to make decisions, and so many more different characteristics that make everyone unique. I think that someone creating a stimulation of the world would be a very extraordinary and unbelievable thing to do, and it would have to be done by a being that is higher than us and that has much more power than us. It is possible for that to happen, but I think it is very unlikely. In addition, when you look at people like Albert Einstein, it is even more difficult to believe that he is not even a real person. He was such an extraordinary person, and in my opinion, it would be nearly impossible for someone to create a mind like that. If people in the world didn't have emotions and all looked the same, I would be more convinced that the world is a stimulation. It would make a lot more sense because people would not be unique. But, since we do possess these characteristics, I believe that our world is real.

Comparing Holocaust Story to the Book of Job

           The story of Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum has similarities to the Book of Job and also has some differences. Both of the stories focus on how God can harm us at times or not protect us. In this story, it is questioned why God couldn't prevent the Holocaust. So many tragic things happened to Jews during the Holocaust such as babies being killed for no reason. These Jews, who worship and have faith in God, may have some doubt in him because of this occurrence. God not doing anything to stop the Holocaust is similar to the Book of Job because God tortured an innocent man just to prove a point. In both of these stories, God basically is just letting people get harmed. Also, these stories relate because both of them may raise questions about how faithful they should really be to God because of all the things that happened. The Jews in this story and Job in the Book of Job are very loyal to God, but it is hard for them to not have any doubts. This story is also different from the Book of Job. That is because in this story, God isn't making the holocausr happen, whereas in the Book of Job, God iasicslly just harmed Job for no good reason. The Holocaust was a result of Hitler and the Nazis' actions, and while God didn't stop this from happening, he certainly did not do this to them. In addition, these stories are different because the Holocaust affected millions of people, and in the Book of Job, only Job, has fsmily, and has servants aré affected. These stories are also similar because they differ from other stories where God does extraordinary things like in the story of Noah's Ark. In the story of Noah's Ark, God sends a huge flood to destroy mankind. In these stories, God is either doing nothing to prevent a catastrophic event or is just harming someone for no good reason.  

The Book of Job Part I

       

he Book of Job is similar in some ways to other stories in the Old Testament and it is also different in some ways, too. The Book of Job is similar to other stories in the Old Testament because in other stories as well as this story, God punishes or harms somebody. In this story, God agrees to torture a man named Job. He does this because Satan says Job is only loyal to God because he has a great life and if his life wasn't so great, he wouldn't be as faithful. In order to test his loyalty, God agrees to torture Job. This relates to other stories we have read in the Old Testament such as the story of Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, and Noah's Ark. In the story of Adam and Eve, God punished Adam and Eve for eating from the tree. In Noah's Ark, God sends a flood and destroys mankind. In the Tower of Babel, God spreads out the people of the Earth and makes many different languages. Also, this story relates to the story of Abraham and Isaac because the main point of both stories is about loyalty to God. In the story of Abraham and Isaac, God asks Abraham to kill his son to prove Abraham's loyalty to him. In this story, God tests Job to see how loyal he is to him. The Book of Job is also different from some stories we have read in the Old Testament. For example, in this story, the only reason God torques tortures Job is to prove a point to Satan. That really isn't a good enough reason to basically destroy somebody's life. In some of the other stories in the Old Testament, God has much better reasons to punish or harm people. For example, in the story of Adam and Eve, God punished them because they clearly disobeyed his order about not eating from the tree. Job did not do anything wrong at all, and God didn't have a real reason to harm him at all.