Connections+-+Rachelle,+Alex,+LaShawn

Personal Connections


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Connection 1: One new thing that I learned about was the Whiskey Rebellion. I have never heard of it before and I found it quite interesting. Most people in Appalachia hadn't seen cash in years and the only thing that they had close to cash was whiskey. Two immigrants Morris and Hamilton started taxing it. The people of Appalachia just couldn't afford it. Even enlisted war veterans were going unpaid and were still expected to pay these taxes. So they all got together and that's when the Whiskey Rebellion broke out. This helps deepen my view of culture because it just shows me how powerful people can be. It makes me wish that more people would stand up today and join together to do something about gay rights and abortion. If we would form more groups and stand by each other I believe we as Christians could do many great things, especially since we have God on our side.

I disagreed with the view of the Seventh - Day Adventists very much. I don’t understand how they can claim to be followers of Christ when older men and women were sent out to sleep with young virgins. It just doesn’t make sense at all to me and I totally disagree that this group was religious in any way. It sounds more like a cult to me. I don’t personally know anyone that is a part of this group but I would advise people to stay away from it because it was clearly not founded on Godly principles. In 2 Samuel 22:3 it says, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence. This verse speaks to me because I think it applies to the situation in the Yankee schools. I think this verse is very relatable to the Catholic parents that pulled their children out of this school. They stood up for what they believed in so that they could protect their young children from the hostile and violent lifestyle the Yankees were instilling in their impressionable minds. The parents acted as a shield and a refuge for their children. I hope their kids appreciated what their parents did for them and hopefully even thanked them later on. I am sure God blessed them for their honorable efforts. This verse really impacts my faith because I think we as Americans are so quick to do things for ourselves and we think we can accomplish anything. We as people are helpless and needy and we can’t do everything on our own. We need to look to God and rely on Him more. If we do this He will be there for us. He will be our refuge and our strength and a comforter in hard times. God is our rock if only we will lean on Him. I know I struggle with this sometimes because I just get all wrapped up in the stress of homework and try to do it on my own but this is the time when I need God the most. I need to lean on him and let him be rock and strength and this is a challenge I am setting up for myself this semester.

Connection 2: Something that I found very interesting was the Founding of New France. There are many reasons for this, but the first reason I came across was the description of winter and the snow, and how they were not prepared for it at all. I like hearing about the winter, since I am from Michigan, I can relate and understand what they are going through. I also thought it was interesting that they sent three teenage girls over to marry the men living there that would then make them one people. I can relate to this, again, because I am a teenage girl so I was able to put myself in their shoes. The last reason why I think this story was so important and interesting is that at first, the people of New France hated the Native Americans and didn't want anything to do with them, then New France had become entirely dependent on the Native Americans to protect them from invaders. This deepens my understanding of culture by realizing that people we might not like right now may become our closest allies and friends in the future. The bible verse I thought that was very relevant to this topic wasGalatians 5:13 which says; //For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.// The people of New France had freedom, and they at first only used it as an opportunity to try and defeat the Native Americans, but what they needed to do was love and serve each other, which they did end up doing towards the end. This impacts my faith by realizing that there are consequences for not loving people like Jesus did, and we can see those consequences clearly when looking at New France’s situation.

Something that I read that I disagree with at first that not everyone came to America wanting religious freedom for everyone. Specifically, when founding Yankeedom, many Puritans settled in Massachusetts Bay. They did not let anyone settle in their colony if they did not pass a test of religious conformity. I had no idea that this was going on in America, and that not everyone wanted religious freedom. After reading further I came to agree with what he was saying. I now think that Americans take for granted the religious freedom that we experience on a daily basis, and how close we came to only living with people that believed what we did or you would have to conform.

Connection 3: In all I learned much about Americas current state and the scary thought of its possible future state. The “Flat World” Theory opened my eyes to the idea of globalization on a whole new level; the local becoming global struck me as fascinating. We do not realize it on a day to day basis, but how much of what we see and listen to was made global from a very local environment, probably a lot more than we care to think. There was an article (the author did not reference his own political affiliation, however it was clear that he was very left wing) written about how the United States is not a Christian Nation currently, and bashed the idea that America ever was a Christian Nation. I disagreed with that, other than that, all of the articles were well written, well informed, and very interesting. The relevant Biblical principle I got from my readings was, in the end, no matter how “flat” or “round” the world is, no matter how global we all are, as Christians we all worship the same God. Daniel 7:14 states, “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” This has impacted my faith by making me appreciate more what we have in the United States. I like the saying, “You never know what you’ve got until its gone”, I feel like there are so many people in America who take their freedom for granted, me included. Sure we do not have massive manual labor powerhouses in America that can produce a million iPhones in a night; but that is because we have freedom in America, we are guaranteed Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Intro Articles Summaries Woodard Summaries Conclusion