Taoism and its effect on Chinese History

Today I read an article from the New York Times and it talked about how Taoist texts can deepen our understanding of early Chinese history. In the article it said that we can deepen our understanding of early Chinese history by not just looking at official dynastic histories and looking for who is a Taoist, but instead looking at the religious texts in the Taoist canon. People may say that you can't date anything from the religious texts, but this has changed and we now have the date for every document in the Taoist canon and this allows us to write more about the history  of the early Chinese since we have dates. Now that we have Taoist texts, it opens up another aspect of Chinese history that aren't just from official histories and things recorded in the emperor's official history. In the article they compared the Taoist texts as being the Gospel because in the Gospel they squeezed out information that are now in our history and the historians also want to do this with the Taoist canon to figure out more about the history of the early Chinese.

Are we living in a program?

I read a very interesting article called, "Are we living in a computer simulation?" This article talked about how everything in this world and universe is actually a giant computer prgoram and that everything is virtual. This idea was very intriguing to me because the thought of everything being virtual seemed impossible. The article gave reasons that support the idea that everything in reality is actually virtual because it said that the more we learn about the universe the more mathematical laws the universe seems to be made out of and that the universe is a function of the nature we live in. When I read this statement I also started to believe that reality is virtual because computer games are just functions and everything in the universe is math related like functions and comparing computer games to the universe makes a lot of sense because of the mathematics involved in both. The article also said that there is a 50/50 chance that our entire existence is a program and if that is true then that means that there is a programmer and the programmer is God. My english teacher gave a great analogy to a student that couldn't believe this at all by telling him that graphics in games have been getting better overtime and if we are programmed, we were programmed over a long period of time, so the graphics are going to be very good which would make everything seem realistic. I also have an analogy and it is that since the graphics in games started off to be very simple and then more complex it's like the growth of human life forms from cavemen to present day humans. After reading this article I also have a feeling that we might just be programs from God.

The Holocaust and Book of Job

Survivors from the Holocaust have many stories to tell and some of them are told from Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum. Their stories are similar to that of Job because in the book of Job he was tested if he can keep his faith and love for God during hard times and during the Holocaust which was a difficult time for the Jews, they were also being tested if they can keep their faith in God. In both stories there is pain being inflicted because Job was inflicted with sores and Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum were also inflicted with pain from the labor being done. During these stories loved ones died and in both stories some Jews they lost their faith in God. These stories are also different because Satan didn't affect Moshe Yosef Daum and Fela Nussbaum directly, but Satan directly affected Job by applying sores on him. Job cursed out God, but some Jews kept their faith in God. Job was given sores by Satan, but the Jews were being hurt from other people. Also during the tests of the Jews, Jews died, but in Job's test God didn't want him to die and he didn't. God is testing us in many ways and God wants to know if we can keep faith during hard times we face and I think God is also doing this because of his talk with Satan and how Satan said that faithful people don't stay faithful after they are undergoing hard times.

Testing Job

Why does God test us when God should know our faith? I just finished reading the book of Job and there are many similarities and differences from this book compared to other books in the Old Testament. The book of Job is like the story of Adam and Eve because Satan was involved in both stories because in the book of Job, Satan was involved in making him suffer and in Adam and Eve he was involved in the temptation. Another similarity is that in the book of Job the Lord tested Job and the Lord also tests Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In both books they also "fail" the test given because Job cursed out God after he was suffering from sores and didn't stay faithful and Adam and Eve ate from the tree they were not supposed to eat from. The book of Job is different than the story of Adam and Eve because Job was inflicted with pain and suffering during his test, but Adam and Eve weren't. The book of Job also had more feelings and "show don't tell" than the other books of the Old Testament. Another difference is that Job's was a test of his faith, but Adam and Eve's was a test of if they follow God's commands. God is always testing us to see if we actually are faithful, but does God really need to? God knew Job was faithful, but after Job cursed him out, I wonder if God still thinks he's faithful.