Tag: reflection question

RS35: In Pursuit of Happyness Assignment

Picture 1The movie Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner’s struggle to achieve his share of the American dream.

Directions: Answer ALL of questions below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

1)  In our society, fulfillment may be found on such things as having the latest car, the biggest house, the largest bonus and bank account. Their satisfaction and happiness are tied to material riches and other societal labels of success.  What is happiness?  Click on the link (definitions) to see a number of definitions.  Which of these definitions do you agree with? Explain why.

2)  Christopher Gardner makes the statement “Maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue. And maybe we can actually never have it no matter what”.  Do you agree with this statement?  Why or why not?

3)  How does a person achieve happiness?  The article Happy Thoughts has suggestions on how to achieve happiness.  Read the article.  Do you agree or disagree with the article’s methods?  Explain why or why not?

RS35: In Pursuit of Happyness Reflection

Picture 1The movie Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner’s struggle to achieve his share of the American dream.

Directions: Answer ALL of the questions below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

1)  Scene in movie:  Christopher is telling a story to his father. The son explains that a drowning man refused two rescue boats because he believed that “God would save him.” The man passes away and, while in heaven, asks God why he was not saved, to which God replies: “I sent you two big boats ya dummy!”   What is the message of this story?

2)  In Matthew 7:7-8 it says, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  Is this essentially the same message as Christopher’s story about the drowning man? Why or why not?  Explain your reasoning.

3)  In James chapter 4, verse 3 it says,   “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures”.   Is there a proper way to ask God for help?  What is the correct way to ask God for help? Explain what you think that is.  The article entitled, Does God Answer our Prayers? suggests a way to ask God for help.  Do you think this article has it right? In other words, do you agree with what this article is saying?  Why or why not?

RS 15: Awakenings Reflection #1

Directions: Answer ONE the question below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.  Use the following information in your response.

Catholic catechism provide seven answers:

  • Humans are created in the image and likeness of God.
  • Humans are called to happiness and holiness.
  • Humans are rational and free.
  • Humans are moral beings.
  • Humans have passions or feelings.
  • Humans are blessed with a conscience.
  • Humans are able to sin.

1.   Just after Dr. Malcolm Sayer got his job at the chronic hospital, he was taken on a tour of the facility.  During that tour, the following conversation occurred:

Dr. Sayer:             “Excuse me.  What are all these people waiting for?

Guide:                   “They’re not”

Dr. Sayer:             “How are they supposed to get well?”

Guide:                  “They’re not.  They’re chronic.  We call this place the garden.  All we do  is feed and water.”

What does this conversation tell you about the view of the patients in the chronic hospital?  Does the hospital staff see these patients as human?  Explain, using one or more of the statements in the Catholic catechism, if the catatonic patients are human or not.

OR

2.  Dr. Sayer discusses his post-encephalic, catatonic patients with a doctor who once treated them.  The retired doctor describe these patients as, “insubstantial as ghosts”, “children who fell asleep” and as “people who were once normal but are now elsewhere”. Leonard’s mother when describing her son’s progression said, “He never spoke again.  It was like he disappeared”.  Were these people dead (not in a physical sense)?  Explain.  If these patients seem “dead”, then are these patients  human?  Explain using one or more of the statements in the Catholic catechism.

Religious Studies 25: Little Buddha Reflection Question

Instructions:  Answer the questions below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages.  When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

The movie involves two stories happening simultaneously.  One is the story of Prince Siddhartha and the other is the story involving Jesse Conrad.  

Jesse asks the Lama, “Was Buddha a God?”  The Monk responds with, “No, a real person.  Like Jesus.  Yes, like Jesus.”    Christians, on the other hand,  believe that Jesus is the Son of God, both human and divine. 1)   Do Buddhists believe the same thing, that is, Buddha (the enlightened Siddhartha) is both human and God?  Explain (you may have review what you have learned about Buddhism in class),  2)   How is the  story of Siddhartha similar to that of Jesus?  How is this story different to that of Jesus?  Provide at least two specific examples.  3)  What is the biggest difference between Buddhism and Christianity?  Explain your thinking.

Religious Studies 25: Pay it Forward Reflection

Picture 1Directions: Answer the following two questions.  Print your response and hand it in or email it to me.  The page on the left titled, Reflection Rubric, will be used to evaluate your response.

Introduction: A Los Angeles reporter, Chris Chandler, interviews Trevor McKinney.  Trevor says the following:

“…I don’t know.  I think some people are too scared or something.  I think things can be different and I mean the world’s not exactly “shit”.  I guess it’s hard for people who are used to things the way they are.  Even when they’re bad to change.  They kind of give up.  When they do you kind of lose”.

1.  Are people scared to change things?  Can the world be a better place?  What are your thoughts?   Mahatma Gandhi gives 10 suggestions to change the world.  Read the article, Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World.  Select one suggestion from Gandhi’s list and explain how you could use the suggestion to help you bring about changes for a better world.

Introduction: Trevor gets killed during a fight where he was trying to help his friend, Adam.    John 15:13 says,  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.  

2.  Explain how is this an act of Agape love?  Are there people in this world who love selflessly (i.e that love agape style) that they would even lay down their life to save someone else? Explain your reasoning.  Do you know of any non-fictional examples of this kind of love?  If you do, explain the example.

RS 25: Inherit the Wind Reflection #1

Directions:  1)  First, click on the link  Christian views on Hell and skim some of the information.  This is to give you some concept of  how Christians understand hell.  Also read Pope Benedict XVI’s view on hell by clicking on the link, Hell Exists.  The late Pope John Paul II at the General Audience of Wednesday, 28 July 1999,  said that care should be taken to interpret correctly the images of hell in Sacred Scripture, and explained that “hell is the ultimate consequence of sin itself… Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy”. (Source)

2)  Answer the question below. Your answer should indicate that you learned something from the readings above.  The rubric used is called Reflection Rubric and is found in the pages on the right.  Answer the question in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.

 

Reflection Question:
Rachel Brown, the fiancée of Bertram Cates , while on the witness stand said, “At the funeral, Pa taught that Tommy didn’t die in a state of grace [a basic definition] because his father won’t allow him to be baptized.”

Mr. Cates then shouts to Rachel, “Tell him what your father really said.  That he was dammed in hell fire.”

Does God throw people into hell?  Explain your thinking on this question.

Note: It is not what you believe that is important.  What is important is why you believe what you believe.  I want to see some thinking.

RS 25 Inherit the Wind Reflection #2

Directions:  Select ONE s of the two questions below and answer the question.  Your answers must reflect what you have learned in class.  The rubric used is called Reflection Rubric and is found in the pages on the right.  Answer the question in a word document, save it, and either print it off and hand in or e-mail it to me.

1.  While Matthew Harrison Brady is on the witness stand, Henry Drummond asks, “Now listen to this.  This is Genesis 4:16, Then Cain went away…and Cain’s new wife…  Now where the hell did she come from?”

Mr. Brady responds,            “Who?”

Mr. Drummond,             “Mrs. Cain.  If in the beginning there was just Cain and Able, Adam and Eve. Where did this extra woman come from?  Did you ever stop to think about it?”

Mr. Brady                         “I do not think about things I do not think about”.

Mr. Drummond,:             “Do you ever think about things that you do think about?”

How would you answer Mr. Drummond’s question about Cain’s wife?    What did Mr. Brady mean by, “I do not think about things I do not think about”?

 

OR

 

2.  The following dialogue occurs when Matthew Harrison Brady is on the witness stand.

Brady:            “A well known biblical scholar, Bishop Usher determined the exact time of creation.  It occurred 4004 B.C…In fact, he determined the Lord started creation on the 23rd of October, 4004 B.C. at 9 A.M.”

Drummond:            “Is that Eastern Standard time or Rocky Mountain Time?  It wasn’t Daylight Savings Time, because the Lord didn’t make the sun until the 4th day”.

Brady:            “That is correct.”

Drummond:            “That first day.  Well, what do you think it was?  24 hours long?”

Brady:            “The bible says it was a day”

Drummond:            “There was no sun.  How do you know how long it was?”

Brady:            “The bible says it was a day”

Drummond:            “Was it a literal day?  A normal day?  A 24 hour day?

Brady:            “I do not know.”

Drummond:            “What do you think?”

What is Mr. Drummond trying to tell the jury?  What is he saying about scripture?  Does he mean to say that scripture is incorrect?  Explain.

 

RS 35: Tuesdays With Morrie Assignment

Directions:  Answer all three questions.  The rubric used to grade this assignment is called Movie Study Assignment Rubric.

(Question #1)  Morrie quotes from W.H. Auden more than once when he says. “We must love one another or die”.  What does the poet Auden mean by this?  Perhaps reading the entire poem, September 1, 1939,  will help answer this.  As you know, not all love is the same.  For example, is love for your pet the same a true love between a husband and wife?  To help you understand this, read what the Greeks say about love.  Now using these two sources, explain what Auden meant by, “We must love one another or die”.

(Question #2) Morrie and Mitch have the following dialogue concerning life.

———————————————————————————————————————-

Morrie:         “…It is what I call ‘the tension of opposites’.  Life pulling you back and forth like a rubber band.  Pull one way cause this is what you want to do, the pull another way cause you think that is what you have to do.”

Mitch:         “It sounds like a wrestling match.”

Morrie:        “You could describe life that way.”

Mitch:         “So who wins?”

Morrie:        “Love!  Love always wins.  You don’t believe that?”

Mitch:          “I don’t know.  Maybe I don’t.  Have you looked at the news lately.  We’re not exactly racking up the gold medals out there.”

Morrie:         “Maybe the game isn’t over yet.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————  (Question #2)  What does Morrie mean when he says, “Love always wins”?  Is this true?  Justify your response.  What does the first letter of Paul to the 1 Corinthians 13:4-14 say love is?  Could this be what Morrie means?  Why or why not?  You can use Oremus Bible Browser to help you find out.

(Question #3)  Morrie says, “Death ends a life, not a relationship!” What does this mean?  Was Morrie suggesting he believed in an afterlife?  What do Christians believe about the afterlife?  Click on the article, Thirty-five FAQs About Eternity to help you answer this?  Be sure to fully explain yourself.

Temptation

picture-2It’s midway through the semester, and you are taking the midterm  Math 30-1 or 30-2 test. You’ve been struggling all semester in this class, and you know that this test will comprise a big part of your final grade. You feel like you are doing quite well on the test until you come to the last question, which is a problem to solve. It is worth 20 marks and you just can’t remember how to solve it. As it happens, the class math whiz is sitting right in front of you and you can see he’s just finished it. You are close enough to see how he solved it, and you know that the supervising teacher cannot possibly see you if you cheat.

What do you do?