Please Just Be Silent

By
So, I've already finished the book but I promise I won't spoil anything. However, since this is the only blog post we will write on the book, I'm going on a rant. Rodriguez is NOT my favorite person. Even though he says he wants to reach others and encourage the church in Japan, he's constantly thinking about himself. He wants to be a martyr so that he gets remembered....uhhhhhh? We as Christians are called to "take up our cross and follow Jesus," but we are not called to actually seek martyrdom. Possibly the most profound comment Rodriguez makes is in chapter 6 when he watches the prisoner get killed and all that he notices after are the sounds of the flies and locusts. It's the first time he really understands that not all martyrs die "glorious deaths." Garrpe, on the other hand, when he is given the choice to apostatize or watch the prisoners die, he joins them in death. Heck, I have more respect for Kichijiro than I have for Rodriguez.

Yes, Kichijiro is a coward...he has proved that by now multiple times, but at least he is honest. He understands that martyrdom is hard and in the face of it, he caves. His view of martyrdom is not "glorified." I feel like he has a better grasp on the actuality of martyrdom than Rodriguez does. Rodriguez is an idealist who is ultimately in Japan to satiate his curiosity and to further his own name rather than Christ's. He even goes so far as to constantly compare himself to Christ. He just disgusts me.

I commented on Sophia and Zelda's posts.

Comments

  1. Zelda PeachMarch 12, 2018 at 6:30 PM

    As much as Rodriguez is flawed, he did eventually in the end save the lives of three innocent people when he would have rather been martyred. I am not saying that what he did was good, I am just saying that those three people didn't die because of what he did. You have a point though, he is definitely arrogant and too full of himself. I don’t know how much I can personally hate on the guy, for he is human and we are all a little flawed in our thinking sometimes. But yeah, his reaction after watching the first death was a little concerning…

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael TurnerMarch 12, 2018 at 9:08 PM

    Kichijiro is what I see in most modern day Christians in the U.S. Yes, I know we are talking about Japan, but still. The church of our nation has never faced full-blown persecution. They live their comfortable lives in ignorance, and for many church is simply a way to be rid of the guilt they feel for sins. As one who has witnessed the effects of true persecution, I must say that in the case that an actual era of persecution would show Christians in this nation just how deep their faith is. Many will die for the faith as some did in the story. Yet, many more will apostatize as Kichijiro and Rodriguez did. Only in the face of tyranny can one know the deepest reaches of faith.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Will BradyMarch 12, 2018 at 10:10 PM

    I wonder if Garrpe joining the prisoners in death was the same as him “seeking martyrdom…” I’m certain he knew that he was swimming out to his death for no reason, but I suppose his personal motive is the deciding factor. Did he wish to join the Christians in martyrdom for the sake of it, or did he want to escape the future that he knew would have him choose between apostatizing and watching more Christians die? I wish we got a inside look at his thoughts in that scene.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ty GoramMarch 12, 2018 at 11:06 PM

    MAN I hated Rod from the GET-GO. The fact that when Garrpe wanted to go outside, it was bad; but hold those horses back when Rod wants to go outside. Gotta listen to that guy and his selfish desires!!
    But I agree with having more respect for Kichijiro than Rod, because at least Kichijiro sees his wrongdoing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Honest Reaction to Reading "Honest to God"

By
Originally I said in my last blog post that I liked this book, but I have sort of changed my mind. It is not that I hate it or anything, it is just weird and I don’t really agree with what John Robinson is saying most of the time. I appreciate that he is trying to write something different and new, but my problem is that some of the ideas are just a little too radical for my taste, and I disagree with him a lot. In the seventh and last chapter of the book, Robinson himself acknowledges his radicalness and writes about how he knows that this type of thought on religion is controversial. He goes on to write how all great thinkers were seen as controversial when they first started and says, “Every new religious truth comes as the destroyer of some other god”. To further prove this point, he uses the example of how Socrates was condemned as an atheist for not believing in multiple gods, and while it is true that Socrates was a great philosopher who was not seen as so when he was alive, I ...
Read more

Raphael and a man walk into Eden...

By
I'll just start off by saying Raphael is one of the three named archangels in Scripture we hear the least about, and I thoroughly enjoy just reading and seeing his name pop up. Regardless, I want to touch on Adam's recounting of his own..."birth". Take that with a grain of salt as Adam was not physically born, but rather he simply became. In truth, we should all be able to give a similar account to their first memory of consciousness and fully aware. Adam was created, but he realized he could walk, talk, and speak without first learning. Imagine being able to think clear thoughts in your native language and be a functioning individual right out of the womb. It's an incredible thought, and Adam can give a recall of this like it were yesterday...which it might have been, who knows? Aside from that, Adam could even give an account to Eve's creation. The Bible says nothing pertaining to this matter so this is where Milton does a bit of adlibbing and writes around ...
Read more

Extra blog

By
OK so, honors project! Honestly I really loved it as a whole. I said this already in the video, but I feel like I personally could've done better. I just feel like I didn't have enough time to completely process some questions and be able to give my best responses. I really enjoyed reading the O'Connor piece, which I think was everyone's favorite anyway. I love narrative stories like that, but honestly I'm glad I got to be in the Russell group. I feel like that group was the easiest to argue and answer from, honestly. As a whole, I would love to do a project like this again in later semesters. It was a lot of fun and time FLEW by.
Read more