Psalm Essay -- Bible, God

Today’s culture is one where people like to do as little work as possible. Even when it comes to reading our own scripture, The Holy Words of God, a lot of people like to look up one verse and reference it to something without knowing what the rest of the passage says. Psalms 109 is no exception, it is one the more widely misused passages as of late. A popular verse from Psalms 109 is verse 8 which reads â€Å"Let his days be few; and let another take his office†, this is seen in reference to our current president, but what people fail to realize is what else David is actually praying. This paper is going to go through Psalms 109 and unpack it verse by verse to show the true meaning of what David was praying and to give us a new look at how to pray. Psalm 109 begins with a superscription that we have seen several times before, â€Å"A Psalm of David† (Bible 873). David is believed to be the author of this Psalm. Psalms 109 though is not a usual Psalm by David; this particular Psalm is classified as an Imprecatory Psalm or a Cursing Psalm. The idea of Imprecatory Psalms is very unsettling for people and the church. This though goes with a misunderstanding of what is involved in actually making an imprecatory prayer. In the introductory section, consisting of verses 1-5, David makes two claims: â€Å"(1) his innocence and (2) the sins of his enemies† (Spurgeon 28). When you read a Psalm by David, God is usually the subject of Praise and thanksgiving, but that is not the case here, God is instead the one who is being petitioned to do something. The plea that David makes for God to not remain silent in verse 1b is a cry for help. The basis for David’s petition is then given in verses 2-5: 2: For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth o... ...scue of David will result in praise by David. In verses 30 and 31 we see David’s vow of praise. David says that he will praise God for His deliverance in the midst of the all of his trials and enemies (Bible v. 30, 874). The basis for this praise is David’s experience of seeing God stand at his right hand to defend him. David knows that the accusers will finally be silenced when God reveals Himself as his helper and defender. In conclusion, in order to have a proper and healthy relationship with God, one will need to occasionally pray an imprecatory pray. To pray a prayer of imprecation is not wrong, you just need to be sure that your heart is right with God. Finally one must be sure to always leave it in God’s hands and to never take revenge yourself. God wants us to take everything to him good and bad, we are his children and he will take care of us.

Retreat Reflection

Last March 4-5, 2011, I had my retreat at the Capuchin Retreat Center at Lipa, Batangas. I treated it as a mini or short vacation from my busy and stressful everyday school life. Well, that was my initial take on my retreat day until I finally came to the realizations the recollection had offered me during my time there. It wasn’t just a vacation. It was a time for me to be able to take a break from my usual life and take a step back to take a look at where I am at the moment and where I want to be in the future. As I am about to finish my college degree with hopefully two terms left, I needed that time to know what God intends for me to do as I begin a new chapter in my life – professional/work life. The retreat was an eye-opener for me. I got to know myself better through the questions asked by the facilitator. Each of which had different intentions. An example would be the question â€Å"What is my passion?†. This made me think of what I would love to do or what I am interested in, disregarding the degree I am taking and what it is about. Honestly, I am not happy with where I am right now and knowing my passion could help me find another path that I could take because doing what I love to do could or might be the best thing. Another question asked was â€Å"What is my biggest or most important question in my life as of the moment?† My answer to it was â€Å"Why is there a need for suffering?† My reason for which was â€Å"I’m just curious to know why because why do we need to suffer if we can all just be happy instead†. I don’t know but my question sounds clichà ©. Maybe we are to suffer for us to remember that God is always there for us. We can always find refuge, security and rest in Him. The retreat also reminded me that in everything that I do, do it for the greater glory of the Lord. There are times when it is hard for me to be productive with God in my mind cause I get caught up with mundane things. The solution I was presented during the two days that I’ve spent in Batangas was to be in love with Christ. If I put God in the center of my life then the things that I’d do would come natural. It’s not forced. I do not need to over analyze the situations I am in because I will have direction. I believe that our paths are shown to us and He unfolds His plans to us when we decide to spend some time with Him.

Cumbia Music and Gender Roles - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1093 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/04/16 Category Sociology Essay Level High school Tags: Gender Roles Essay Did you like this example? Colombia is a beautiful country, that is the home to forty-seven million people. The flag is made of three colors yellow, blue and red. The countrys capital is Bogota and the language is Spanish. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Cumbia Music and Gender Roles" essay for you Create order Colombia was named after Christopher Columbus, as part of the New Granada colony. Colombia is a country that is located in the top part of South America. The land is made up of mostly forests, the Andes mountains, and many coffee plantations. Colombia is known for their coffee as well as being the place where the music and dance style, Cumbia, was created. While doing the research I found that cumbia music and dance styles are more male based. Before I can start to explain the role, cumbia has in Colombia, I first need to discuss the history of the Colombia. According to Delia Zapata in her Introduction to the Folk Dances of Colombia Indian, African slaves and Spaniards were the three major influences that helped develop Colombian culture (Zapata 1967, 91). The Spanish conquerors brought some of their own dances such as contradanza. The Indians and the African slaves adopted some of the dances that the Spaniards brought but each group chose what went well with their own culture. The Colombian population racial background is made up of a mixture of African slaves, Spaniards, and Indians. Cumbias music style is so popular that you can find it all over Latin America. This can be seen in Argentina as Pablo Vila and Pablo Sem?n stated Argentina have with the seemingly sexist and obscene lyrics of cumbia villera, which often portray women as sluts (Vila and Seman 2011, 4). An example of the sexualized lyrics towards women would be the song Mi Cucu by La Sonora Dinamita. In the song his lyrics are Que lindo es tu cucu Tan bello tu cucu Redondito y suavecitoCuando te pones pantal?n Y te tocas por detr?s Se me suelta el corazon Y te quiero mas In this song cucu is a word to represent a womans butt and the male artist is talking about how the ladys butt looks round, soft and just so nice in her jeans that he cannot control himself. Another song that shows sexizliztion towards women is Atrevete Te by Calle 13 one of the lyrics is Hello deja el show Sbete la minifalda hasta la espalda Subetela deja el show mas alta This lyric basically means that he wants the girl to lift her mini skirt high up to her back so that she can give them a show. As you can see these cumbia songs are very sexualized towards women because they only want them for their bodys. Cumbia music has a unique sound and it is mainly made up of percussion and wind instruments. Some instruments that are in cumbia music are the merry drum, calling drum, bass drum, maracas, and gaitas. An interesting fact is that there is a male and a female gaita. This instrument is composed of two long flutes called Gaitas: A male, which has only one hole and the female which has five holes. The male gives rhythmic and harmonic support to the female which carries the melody. They are supposed to be played always together, in fact, they are made at the same time in such a way that for any given male or female Gaita there is only one partner it sounds really well with (Munoz). Another instrument in cumbia music is la flauta de Millo. Brass instruments can also be heard in cumbia music such as trumpets and trombone. Other instruments are guitar, bass guitar, piano, and accordion. The basic musical rhythm of Cumbia is 4/4 (Visbal 2018,13). The dance style cumbia that is very popular shows how these gender roles. Delia Zapata also stated that, The origin is believed to be tri-ethnic and it represents the amorous conquest of women by man (Zapata 1967,92). This folk dance is almost always danced in pairs. For example, in folk dances, the women in the dance are reserved but graceful, however they are also very sensual in the way they move their hips. The women that dance cumbia traditionally typically wear long skirts and carry a candle. The men on the other hand are more free, ebullient and seen as more macho. The men in the performance usually wear hats, white pants and shirts with a red scarf tied around their neck and or hips. When dancing the folklore dance of cumbia, one of two ensembles accompany the dance. One is conjunto de cana de millo and the other is the conjunto de gaitas. As a traditional dance of slaves, Cumbia was associated only with the lower social classes until the mid-20th century. Today, some of the stigma has disappeared, but it remains a dance which is most popular amongst poorer people (Visbal 2018,11). In conclusion, Colombia has had a very interesting background from having the Spaniards come and take over the Indians land and bringing the African slaves. And it is because of this that all three of the cultures were combined and this is how Colombia came to be. Which is also why we now have the music and dance genre of cumbia. Cumbia has become very popular all-over Latin America, that other Latin American cultures have adapted cumbia to their own culture. Cumbia is also a type of dance style. In the folklore dance the women are supposed to be reserved while the man is seen as macho. Percussion and wind instruments are the main instruments that are found in all cumbia music. Cumbia music has always been male dominated as you can see in the two-music example above which were the songs Mi Cucu by La Sonora Dinamita and Atrevete Te Te by Calle 13. In both songs they have lyrics that sexualize women they talk about their body for example their butts. However, in the past few years th ere have been many female artists that have come up in cumbia music. A big female star would be Selena Quintanilla, she came out with many great cumbia hits in the mid- nineties such as Como La Flor, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, Baila Esta Cumbia and many more. These songs were such big hits that many people in our new generations are continuing to listen to her music. And its not only her, there are other artists such as Tot? la Momposina, Thal? ­a, Margarita, la diosa de la cumbia, and eight more female artist. Hopefully in the future there will be many more female artists paving the way in cumbia music.