What does it mean to truly be "Green?"

1. "Have you figured out yet that I'm going as a cadaver, an anatomical gift?"


2. The intent of this essay by Semrau is to convince more people to sign up as anatomical gifts to be used for medical research and education.  This intent of Semrau is helped when he keeps information from the reader, which is accomplished through his writing strategy.  This strategy was basically to keep the reader interested long enough in order to make his point.  Once Semrau made his point about 3/4 through the essay, he continued to leave out some details in order to keep the reader curious.  As a whole, this strategy was successful, mostly because it kept my interest long enough to hear his point.  Also Semrau's writing strategy helps the intent because it helps to persuade the reader into agreeing with his point of donating your body to science.  It was also an interesting tactic for Waldemar to compare anatomical donations to being "green."  With so many people trying to be completely "green" nowadays, Waldemar knew he could appeal to a majority of the society's interests, and therefore be more persuasive.  Overall, through this strategy of writing, Semrau was successful in both persuading the reader and keeping the reader's interest.

Our Unbound Savior of the Nations, Come

Throughout “Savior of the Nations, Come,” Luther’s message primarily focuses on Jesus’s entrance into the sinful world He came to save.  Luther discusses how Jesus was born of a “Virgin undefiled,” which shows that it was the Holy Spirit who conceived Him, and therefore made Him both true God and man.  Another prevalent theme throughout this hymn is Jesus’s defeat over sin and the devil and the everlasting Kingdom of God, as described in stanzas five and six of the hymn.  In describing these themes, Luther uses a culmination of two literary devices, description and diction, to help the reader better understand truly how our God is unbound and unlimited.  When Luther describes how “glorious is its light divine,” and goes on to say “Let not sin o’ercloud this light,” he is using this word choice to describe the unlimited power of God, even in the form of a baby in a manger.  Jesus himself states that He is powerful enough to defeat all evil in Matthew 16:18, when He says that “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”  This statement validates the description and diction used in “Savior of the Nations, Come,” where with the literary devices help the reader to better understand the truth behind our omnipotent God.   

Rev. Borghardt's Sermon Review

1. Jesus was mentioned 32 times.

2. The verbs with Jesus as the subject: makes holy, took on sin, died, died for us, was slain, rose and reigns, makes alive, can't stand to be without us, calling us, lives, reigns on His throne

3. Borghardt’s and Edward’s sermons had many differences content-wise, but the themes were almost completely opposite.  The main theme throughout Edward’s sermon was that condemnation was inevitable without accepting the Messiah.  Edward’s sermon used God’s wrath and condemnation as an overriding theme to provoke the fear of God in his audience, and therefore his theme was of death and damnation.  However, in stark contrast to this theme is that of Reverend Borghardt’s sermon, which emphasized the absolute perfection of heaven, and how Jesus’s actions in the Gospel are the only way us, as sinners, can live in this eternal paradise.

Fuzzy Dice

   Throughout the article about hanging objects in the mirror, Helms discusses how the current ban on dangling items from your mirror could be loosened up.  This would make these objects legal.

   "I call it a 'gotcha' law.  It's an excuse to pull someone over."  I like this quote because it shows how unnecessary a majority of laws like this are.  Police already have enough to keep up with, without worrying about people with innocent air fresheners hanging in their rear-view mirror.  When police are looking out for people with objects dangling on their mirrors, they are truly just looking for a reason to pull somebody over.   

   With the ban in place, officers are slightly distracted from enforcing more important laws, such as major traffic offenses and domestic issues.  I also disagree with this ban because the decision as to whether or not something is distracting should be up to the driver of that car.  This is a case of the government, and more specifically the police, being over-involved in personal and trivial matters. 

Lebron James and His Ego

    Throughout Mitch Albom's article, "It's not race, LeBron James, but it might be you," he makes his point of view quite apparent.  Mitch believes that race is never truly the cause of criticism and controversy such as this, but people will play the race card as a scape goat.  Blaming problems such as this on race is just too easy, and when "people shamefully want to grab race as a parachute to safety, they'll do it." Albom believes that people always are taking the easy way out and blaming these types of problems on race, when they frankly are rooted in the egotistical, proud ways of the athlete.
    I completely agree with Mitch, especially when he makes the point that "ego knows no color."  The news media today makes our society out to be way more racist than we truly are.  The question CNN's Soledad posed to James proves this.  Society won't stop liking a person just because they have a different skin color.  Most Americans, I believe, would be more discerning than that in their decision making.  The majority of society will stop liking and respecting a person in Lebron's position, however, when they become too egotistical.  This type of attitude is a turn off to fans, and goes against how God tells us to act in the Bible.  God even goes as far as to say, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes" (Isaiah 5:21a).  Therefore, nobody should be proud, boastful, or egotistical, but be humble, and know your place in this world.
    In discussing his point of view on the topic, Mitch makes a number of great points that help to defend his opinion.  His strongest evidence that Lebron's egotism is the reason people have begun to dislike him is when he discusses Lebron's response when asked what team he will be playing for.  James responded "I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach."  Albom states that this shows 1) his egotism and 2) his selfish motivations for the move south.  Through this, Mitch's point regarding egotism is proven correct.  In accomplishing the task of proving his opinion, this argument is the most effective.