Kevan and Neal - Isaac and Ishmael

Isaac and Ishmael

1. The story of Isaac and Ishmael begins with a promise from God. He tells Abram that he would have a son. Abram believes God, but his wife Sarai doubted God’s promise. Sarai convinced Abram to sleep with her body slave, Hagar, who conceived a son named Ishmael.

Sarai grew jealous of Hagar and exiled her to the desert. While there, Sarai meets God, who tells her to return to Abram and Sarai. God also tells Hagar that Ishmael will become a great and powerful man, a father of nations.

God again meets with Abram, and tells him that Sarai would conceive a son named Isaac. Sarai doubts God once again, since she is past her prime years of childbearing. Sarai becomes pregnant and gives birth.

2. Sarai mistreated her servant. Although Sarai virtually owned Hagar under local customs, she exiled a woman who became pregnant because of Sarai’s actions to an almost certain death in the wilderness.

Abram erred because he wasn’t strong enough to resist his wife’s jealousy. He allowed Sarai to cast Hagar out while she was pregnant with his child. Sarai mistreated Hagar and Ishmael throughout their lives, but Abram didn’t defend them.

3. Sarai, through her mistreatment, and Abram, through his indifference, violate three pillars of social justice. The Life and Dignity of the Human Person is violated, as a pregnant woman is cast into the wilderness. Abram ignores the Call to Family as his unborn son is threatened by death. Sarai mistreats her servant, denying her care and affection, forces her to sleep with a man, and casts Hagar out. Sarai clearly exploits a Poor and Vulnerable Worker.

4. The story of Isaac and Ishmael’s birth condemns the callousness of Sarai and the apathy of Abram. Sarai mistreats her servant and condemns her to death in the wilderness. Abram doesn’t stand up for the rights of a woman he had a sexual relationship with and is pregnant with his child. We, as a people, are called to stand up and defend those who are small and easily oppressed, Hagar, resist the evil actions of jealousy, Sarai, and condemns the fear and apathy that keep us from acting, Abram.

3wyw35ywz35w3

Ben and Kayla- Creation Story

1) God created the heavens and the earth, all the plants and animals on it, and, finally, man. He told the man and woman he created, named Adam and Eve, that they would have power over all the creatures of the earth. He also told them, along with all the other creatures on earth, to be fertile and multiply. He finally gave them his only command- do not eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden, or you will die.

Then the serpent told the man and woman that they would not die, but instead they would become as intelligent as God. They both ate the fruit. God called out to Adam and they hid. God found them and realized that they had eaten from the tree. He banished the serpent to crawl on the ground and be seperated from all other creatures. He told the man that because of what he did, thorns and terrible plants will come from the ground. The woman would feel intense pain during child birth. And eventually, the man and woman would die.



2)The devil (serpent) tempted the man and woman, who easily gave in. They broke God's only law- to not eat from the tree. God gave them numerous rights: to rule over all the other animals, to eat from any fruit except the one tree, and to be fertile and have many children. They had only the one responsibility and they failed to uphold their end of the bargain. Thus death and sin were brought into the world.



3)One of the 7 Pillars is to have rights and responsibilities. Many people have these and abuse them, and many others are deprived of them. Adam and Eve were given rights and responsibilities, but they failed to uphold their responsibilties. Therefore God punished them.

4)What we must learn from this is that God is always on our side and that, even though it may be hard, we must strive to do what he asks of us. If we do not the results could be disasterous. Every day we are faced with the temptation to sin, and we must overcome it and do what God asks us. We must fulfill our duty as his people and uphold our responsibility of taking care of the earth and each other.

Neal and Kevan-Sarah and Hagar

Sarah and Hagar

1. Sarah could not bare children, but she wanted a child very bad. Sarah had a servant named Hagar that was able to conceive a child, she gave Hagar to her husband Abram to be married so that they could bare a child for Sarah. After Hagar became pregnant with a child, Sarah became upset with her and mistreated her badly. Hagar ran away. On her way through the desert, Hagar was stopped by the Lord and told her that the child was to be named Ishmael and to go back to Abram. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. When Abram was 90 the Lord came to him and gave him the covenant, and told him that to be accepted into the covenant every male was to be circumcised, even himself, when a male was born he was to be circumcised at 8 days of age. The Lord also changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. The Lord told Abraham that Sarah would bare him a son, even at the age of 90, and the son‘s name was to be Isaac.


2. Sarai mistreated Hagar when she found out she was pregnant with Abram’s baby, even though that is what Sarai had initially wanted.

3. One of the pillars for Social Justice is that of family. The story shows that there is not a strong link between Abraham and Sarah because she just gives him up to marry her slave so she can have a child to call her own. Then, when Hagar, Sarah’s servant becomes pregnant with Abraham’s baby, Sarah treats her worse than she did when Hagar was her regular servant.

4. The injustice in the story that we are still battling today is that some people are so desperate for children that they will do anything to have them, even if it means giving up a relationship to make it possible.

Project; Kylie and Will

Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch. The nucleus of the story is centered on the Israelites departure from Egypt. It tells of how the Egyptians were increasingly oppressing the descendants of Jacob and their deliverance by God through Moses. Moses is the one who led the people across the Red Sea into Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai the people became an independent nation and had an exclusive relationship with God. God gave the Israelites the "law" through Moses which was the means by which they were to become holy people.
The injustices that the Israelites had to endure were due to the Egyptians skepticism. They did not believe or trust the Israelites so they prosecuted them and drove them out of Egypt.


In the Moses story he is walking along and sees two people fighting. One of which was a Hebrew and the other an Egyptian. He did not like the Egyptian beating on his friend, so, he killed the Egyptian. Then the next day he saw two Hebrews fighting and went to break them up. As he did this the y made a comment about him killing an Egyptian and Moses got scared and left. These examples explain the pillar that has to do with solidarity. This pillar has to do with the idea that we are one family no matter our differences. In these two examples it show Moses, although he does not exactly do it in the right way all the time, doing what is good for his kin. He is helping to protect his family. When he is in Egypt and is hiding from the Pharaoh he see a burning bush that is not being consumed and goes to look at it. While he is looking at it God speaks to him and tells him to lead his people out of slavery. When Moses finally decides to do it he is taking on the pillar that has to do with taking the rights and responsibility. He is taking a big responsibility from God with little complaints. The thing God asks Moses to do also have to do with the pillars of social justice. It has to do with the option for the poor and vulnerable. Gods request was that Moses was to lead his people out of slavery. By accepting this he is helping the poor and vulnerable which is the Hebrews in this situation.

What we are to pull out of this part of the Bible is that what God asks is not always easy to do. As Christians we must do what God asks to the best of our ability. The way we can do this is by using the seven pillars of social justice. In the Moses story he does not want to do what God asks to the point of hiding from God. But he knows after talking to God he will be able to do what God asks because God will not leave him. This should be a big example for Christians that the right thing is not always the easiest and most enjoyable decision. Moses should be a huge model for today’s Christians because he basically took a whole civilization known as the Hebrews on his shoulders because God asked him to.

Report on Jacob and Esau: Aravind Reddy and Daniel Menendez

The story of Jacob and Esau is a controversial one. In the bible, it says "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals." This was said by the Lord, yet it has been shown in the past that favoritism will never be profitable for you. Jacob and Esau were Isaac's sons, grandchildren of the great patriarch Abraham. Esau went out hunting on one occasion. He must have been gone for a few days and not had much luck in snaring anything, because when he returned he was empty handed and starving. Jacob had just cooked a pot of stew. Eagerly Esau asked for a serving, but Jacob told him that he could have it only in exchange for his birthright. In an act of idiocy, Esau agreed to the trade, instantly angering God. In regard to the Seven Pillars of Social Justice, Esau lost his life and dignity of a human person when he gave up his birthright. He was not following any of the seven pillars because he was going against what God wanted. It relates to us in the modern world a lot because we often feel that something is unfair if they take the side you are against. We can all relate to Esau because he have been in his position before where he is not the favorite and his brother, or a friend, gets the special attention. We must understand why it is injustice and what we can do to make it justice.