What did you learn and what do you know now that you didn't know before? To begin, I learned that the spokespeople for God often lived unabashedly ordinary lives. Many of these individuals have many of the same problems, trials, and tribulations that society currently experiences today. For example, in the case of Hosea, his wife was very unfaithful, which required him to personally experience the ideas of repentance and redemption outside of the church. When thinking about God’s spokespeople, we often forget that they are human. We often read their text in reverence and apply to them a certain aura benefiting the lord. We often see this with John the Baptist for example. I learned that in many instances these are ordinary men who through time displayed great faith. Their relationship with God took many years to cultivate and develop.

What did you feel as you read the material?

As a read, I felt a sense of hope for the future. The year 2020 has been awful for many people around the world. Sickness, death, income inequity, and race relations appeared to all have gotten worse. We see an African America male have his neck kneeled on for 8 minutes and 42 seconds until he died in broad daylight. The surrounding cops did absolutely nothing to stop it. Meanwhile, we have seen White Supremacists literally marching through the capital, overwhelming law enforcement, looting the capital building. The contrast between how people of different races in society are treated is very alarming and seems to have gotten worse. We also have record levels of unemployment and wealth inequality. Nearly 400,000 people have died from COVID-19, with many millions becoming infected. We have civil unrest in the Middle East, and the list appears to be endless.

Reading the material allowed me to gain perspective that God will rectify this situation and help solve the issues that plague this world. The material helps...

The prophet Amos spoke to the economic greed of society much in the same many others are speaking today. Other prophets spoke of repentance and a need to return to the fundamental principles of the bible. Reading the text emphasized how timeless these principles are and the need for society to return to God to heal.
Discuss any assumption(s) you held that was challenged by the reading?

I personally had no assumptions that were challenge by the reading. I did however question why God would allow the world to fall into the state that it is today? I questioned why God does not intervene on behalf of the downtrodden people he so vehemently advocates for. 2020 was the very year for God to help millions and millions of people avoid death, loss of jobs, sickness, homelessness, the inability to provide for families, and much more. I also questioned my faith as it does not seem to make sense when prayers appear to go unanswered. Tithes go to churches with pastors that preach the prosperity gospel but did little to nothing for those who are poor and need help. Even Joel Osteen has shut his doors to the downtrodden! Those who did provide aid often did so to simply promote themselves or to do damage control as oppose to genuinely helping others. I then asked myself, “Why do Christian churches need so much money to begin with?” Does giving 10% really prove or even indicate a person’s faith? History is littered with the church using money to exploit the very people they were expected to protect with funds that appear to be ill-gotten. The Catholic church has been known to heavily execute those who disagreed with them. The same goes for Christianity. So much for the “Thou shall not kill” commandment. This also got me thinking about the correct denomination of Christian beliefs. It simply is not enough to believe in God, but you also must have the correct interpretation of his word. This puzzles me as even interpretations of the bible vary wildly. So wildly, that other “Christians” may not even acknowledge other “Christians” believing their own beliefs to be true.…