Midevil artwork comparison

The first thing that catches my eye is the symmetry in the Gothic era compared to the chaos in the Romanesque era. The Gothic is not perfectly symmetrical but its all pointing to the center.  This center implies the monotheistic belief in the Gothic era, compared to the polytheistic belief in the Romanesque era. There is obviously one divine being everyone is looking up too. The Romanesque artwork seems to be much more detailed and is telling many stories with the art form of language and scenes. The gothic era looks to be portraying one grand picture that puts Jesus Christ as the center of the faith.  The figures in the Romanesque piece seem to have more of a monstrous overtone; making specific human features dramatized almost looking inhuman. In the Gothic era everyone looks very similar to each other and shows a more realistic approach to religion. Within the Romanesque piece, there are a lot of extremely ambiguous positions that could be interpreted in many ways. In the Gothic piece, they are all uniform and giving a clear example of praise to the figure in the middle of the piece. This piece uses the tool of making the most important figure the biggest to show order of importance. We can also see in the Gothic era a very clear form of hierarchy of who is most important and who is the “masses”. In the Romanesque piece, though there is one who is biggest, it does define a clear picture of importance, and seems as if the figures hold equal weight. Overall, the Gothic era shows a much more organized, symmetric, and realistic approach to the religion they are trying to portray. Whereas the Romanesque artwork shows a little more chaos, giving a more open minded approach to the religion of the Roman people.

Roman Woman

          It always amazes me how cyclical human behavior can be. We think ourselves advanced in thought, morality, and reasoning, but when reading passages such as these I am reminded of our foolery. When reading the arguments against women in Livy's article of Rome I repeatedly thought of our own women;s right movement and the arguments that were made at the time. Though they were less extreme, the principle idea behind women were the same, they were emotional and did not have the self control of men. Therefore, they should be stripped of power and treated as property. Why we continue to rotate back to these ideas is beyond me.
              I also find it interesting that the women of Rome and the women here in America used the exact same protesting method to change the ideas of men. Physically putting themselves in the street and yelling out their rights. Men are visual creatures and often don't listen until you get right up into their face and force them to realize your point of view. This is a sad flaw for my kind. Yet, it proved to be effective and the laws were overturned as reason set into their hearts and saw the foolishness of their ways.

In studying the comparisons between Gilgamesh and Joseph I see a lot of similarities between their characters. For one, the main characteristics I see between the two are the strength that they show in the craft that they choose to do. Gilgamesh is considered the strongest male in the land, giving him a sense of dominance over all those around him. You see this same characteristic with Joseph as you follow him through his journey to the King's hand. Though he is young and powerless, he is the best at whatever he does and this gives him an edge in any situation he finds himself in. Because these two show so much strength, yet in very different ways, we look up to them and want to be like them, even if they have character flaws. Another characteristic the two heroes show are their relationships to the higher being. They are both very close to the higher power of their civilization. We as readers question this mysticism and look at it with awe, giving these two a sense of mystery and valor. We also see the two triumph obstacles in their life that is usually in the form of a journey in trying to find true meaning in one self. We as mankind can strongly relate to this trait because we all have to go through it at some point ourselves. These two both start out with humble beginnings, knowing they are searching for something greater than themselves, and ultimately tell a very impacting story once they triumph  their journey's. These three characteristics can be argued as the three most influential aspects in creating a hero. Creating someone who triumphs above all, someone who is spiritually in tune to whatever God they have, and conquering a personal obstacle that all of mankind can relate too.

For the DocUtah film festival I chose to attend Garwin with my father. Garwin was a documentary about a man by the name Richard Garwin who was considered a very highly respectable scientist from the time of president Eisenhower to recent days. He helped with the initial plans of the hydrogen bomb, was part of a panel(known as the "Jason's") that strategically planned many attacks in the Vietnam war, and also currently owns 43 patents on current technology one namely being the touch screen. The film was about his life and his accomplishments throughout the past 50 ears. I really enjoy films like these because getting even just a glimpse of these geniuses is always an exhilarating experience for me. Garwin was worldly renown for simply being a genius and was asked to participate in many worldly events for that mere fact alone. I find that very fascinating and I'll take any opportunity I can to get as close to it as possible.
      Though the story of Garwin was fascinating, the direction of this film was very poor. Ten minutes into the film you wanted to leave. It didn't develop the story well, the scenes were mostly long dramatic pauses of Garwin staring off into the snow, and they never actually noted any of the contributions that Garwin made to the projects, they just stated that he did. It was filmed with Garwin narrating the whole film while he went around and visited the old places he had lived while he was making many of his accomplishments. They would interview neighbors and colleagues that basically said over and over again just how smart he was. We got to see the apartments that he lived in while making the hydrogen bomb and the storage in which they kept the early forms of the bomb. Though we got to see all these interesting places, we never really got to know Garwin and the actual material that helped him in finding these many achievements he had in life. Although it was slow and boring, they did make a point to really illustrate the atomic bomb crisis and what the leading minds of the world had to say about it. Being that it was around seventy years ago now, we don't often here the political and moral arguments surrounding the conflict of whether America should use the atomic bomb. Obviously e chose to move forward in dropping the bomb, there were many scientist, even those who created it, that ere strongly against it actually being used in war. At the time of war Garwin was initially for the dropping of the atomic bomb, but in his later years he takes the stance that we should all eradicate atomic bombs as a whole and no longer let them be a factor on the world stage.
         The film itself did not make any point to give an opinion one way or another, they mainly interviewed many of those surrounding the events. Although Garwin grew to disagree with the use of the atom bomb many of his colleagues did not. There's one point in the film where one of the interviewed men states that all his high school friends had died in the war and if he had the chance to drop another bomb on the Japanese, he would do so. It definitely opened my eyes to the surrounding emotions this event must have evoked. I respect this style of documentary above all else, the form of simply interviews, stating facts on both sides of the issue, and coming to no common conclusion. Ultimately, letting the viewer decide what he or she thinks.

About me

My name is Braeden Guter and I was raised here in southern Utah. After I graduated high school I chose to attend a missionary program that lasted six months, three being in training up in Montana, and three being in the country of Morocco where I can apply what I had learned. I chose to move to California from there and tried to go to school. Due to expenses and costs, I came home to attend school here at Dixie State University. I was very reluctant to come home at first, it was definitely not my first choice, but since then I have grown tremendously and realized it's simply what I need to do to get to the next step in life that I want to get to. I want to be a Psychologist ultimately and am getting my major in psychology. In high school, I did a lot of theater and specifically Shakespeare so I really enjoy older artworks and the skill of bringing them to life in the 21st century. I'm excited to take this class because I believe that the people of old far out understand many simple life questions that we have today.

Morocco

Kazba

 Very Common Moroccan door

Acts 1:4

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me.”

Ready, Set, Stop. Some of the finals word we have from Christ He gives the great Commission and simultaneously a verse of waiting and listening. How appropriate. We see in this verse that they are clearly given something to do, but it is not in the form of an action or sending out. It is in the form of standing still. Sometimes I think standing still means that I am not in the center of His will. I have realized now it is quite the contrary. When we let ourselves get in the missionary mind, literally eat, sleep, and breath missionary work it is easy to forget about the well-being of the self. Being up here in the long winter nights(in which I have yet to truly experience) you can get stir crazy, restless, or often feel that you are not being used to your full potential. That God may have put you on the bench and you feel simply ineffective. That is a device of the devil that takes so many Christians captive. The initial, absolute, most important task we are given in our lives is the responsibility of taking care of our personal relationship with Him. From there, all things blossom and come to fruition. From there we can learn, and from there we can serve. This all comes back to the Promise of waiting. In hours, days, weeks, months, even years of waiting we can stand on rooftops and waste our time staring into the sky, or we can embrace them and use them for the time of preparation. The battle of souls is at hand and prevalent and being fought all around us. I for one do not want to be the Christian running to the field naked and without weapon. If I spent all my time anticipating the battle I would be cheating myself out of all the armor I could be reinforcing and sharpening. Battles are prepared and won in the days of training, armies enter ready to go. Often times because I didn't prepare myself, my deploy was even set back or canceled. I was eager and ready to go but because I sat around before hand my opportunity was taken from me, or when I tried to fight I was destroyed. It is foolish to think days spent in long winter nights are less effective than the summer days of roaring war. We can see these quiet long days as a gift to sharpen our sword, to solidify our prayer life, and simply fall deeper in love with Him. A.W. Tozer a very respected, and revered man amongst our group was entirely self-taught. He spent his long days in books, prayer, and diligent seeking after the Lord. Now we see the abounding fruits from his diligence. He didn't have the internet a button away, he didn't have electronic gadgets that bring up literally anything we wish to find. We have no excuse. Blessed are the days of waiting. The bugle horns will blow one day, and we will have the opportunity to see our Lord face to face and on that day He will not ask us what we did for Him, He will only ask, did you know Me?

Acts 1:7

“He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed to His own authority.”

Oh how easy it is to hate this verse. You're in a tragic moment in life, all relationships are falling around you and you just want to just know, why? You think if you're given an answer than all will be okay again, you just need to know! I have a lot of questions, as many of you know, and nothing eats at me worst than unanswered questions. It will stumble me, cause hostility in me, blind me, cripple me, and basically distract me from all that really matters. What I realized is that if I were ever to get all the answers I wanted, I would no longer have a reason to search. No need to ask God or anyone because I already know. I would slowly watch myself envelop in pride and let fleshly riches enthrall me. Solomon, humbled and wise, was literally blessed with the gift of knowledge and wisdom. He was the smartest most intelligible man in the world at that time. What happened to him? He stopped asking, he stopped seeking a relationship with God. We're not meant to know all things on this earth for a reason, we aren't mature and loving enough to handle it! The journey of figuring out the answer is often times more important than actually receiving the answer. It keeps you diligent, humbled, seeking, attentive, in the word, in fellowship, in prayer, I could go on but I won't. I count it a s a blessing to not know the times or seasons that the Father has planned. He loves us enough to keep us asking. The day will come when all things are known, but they will be known to us while we stare at the face of God. My application is to embrace my questions and use them as an automobile to bring me closer to the Father.

Acts 1:6

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”

Lord, will the rapture happen already? Lord, my back hurts so terribly, just kill me now so I can be with you. Lord, I have never sinned so deeply, I repent of my ways right now and just kill me quick before I screw up again. Lord, my heart is broken into the tiniest of pieces, please just end this pain and let me be with You. Many a times I have found myself asking these very questions and definitely more than once. In the depths of the weak, the pained, and the brokenhearted often times we just want the rapture to come right now! Even in the hearts of the strongest men, they long for the rapture to come everyday. Some of Christ's greatest warriors stared at Him and begged for Him to just finish all His work up and give the treasures that they have in store. Too me it only shows a beautiful picture of Christ's love. Say there was a perfect man who let Himself be killed for all the people of the world. On top of that, imagine this man coming back to life and offering a personal relationship with Him even though we let evil rule us everyday. He loves us more than we even know how to understand love and he has to watch us be beaten and marred all the days of this earth. He let His body break for us and still He watches His loved one's in the realm of evil. Who do you think wants to be in close relationship more, You? Or this Man? It must pain Christ to wait for the rapture. But He died for the whole world. We are called to love the world and not stand on rooftops waiting for Him to come. The more days we have before the rapture, the more of an opportunity we have to prove our faithfulness to Him. I will do my best to grasp the mission I am given and love Christ by loving His people.

1 Corinthians 13:7

“Bear all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

God does not force us to love anyone. He commands us to love, and from that point, we can choose to obey, or disobey. By choosing to love someone you are making a choice to bear the load. We choose to take on the task of loving that person. From that point, the next step we are asked to believe in the person at all times no matter the circumstance. If they have lied, slandered, and hurt you over and over again we are still asked to believe they won't do it again. You don't have to believe the lies they may feed you, or enable them, but we are asked to believe that the person could do better. First we choose to love, from there we must believe in what we love, and from that point we are asked to hope. Hope is having faith in someone and turning it into an action. Praying for them, encouraging them, and more personally, conforming your thoughts into hoping the best for them no matter the sin. Christ does this process for us everyday. He chose to love us, he believes in us through every sin we make, He then hopes that we'll do better next time, the next time, and the next time. He you picks up the pack(love) and strap it to your back. You must believe the backpack will be sufficient enough to fulfill it's purpose, if you don't believe the pack will pull through how will you it ever be able to prove you wrong? Whether your backpack is full of weights, or full of feathers, we have to carry the pack hoping that it will travel with you wherever you go. When we get dreary and want to set it down even for a moment, by love standards, that is unacceptable. After we pick up the pack, believe in its purpose, hope it will live out its purpose, we are then asked to do it every moment of everyday. If it rips, or breaks we must still carry it, hoping it will accomplish the journey. He is always carrying the pack and willing to do whatever it takes to help it complete its purpose. We kick, we scream, we walk away, we slander, and we hate. Yet still He walks for us. Luckily, God does not expect us to be perfect. But to clearly understand how Christ does this for us everyday, gives us that much more motivation to mimic. We will hate the pack, we will turn around and yell at it, and we will drop it over and over again. But because Christ never did, Heaven is still in store.

Proverbs 31:5

“Lest they drink and forget the law,

and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.”

I can't help but replace the word drink with sin. Lest they sin and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. We so often see just a taste of sin in someones life haze the vision in how they see themselves and others. We do it thinking “only one won't hurt” and in the grand scheme of things one little bad thought or idea never really hurts anyone. But by allowing yourself that one little thought you let yourself have another, and another, and another, slowly breeding this sin until the point in which you are doing and thinking things you never had imagined. In comparison, when we find ourselves in a situation with alcohol it is a slow compromise, an action, a splurge of actions, and then a series of very unfortunate events. Alcohol, like sin, in abundance can lead to death. Alcohol little by little can pollute the physical body and mind until it deteriorates from the inside out. Sin little by little pollutes the Soul of a man, till his vision won't allow him to walk down the straight and narrow. The large distinction between the two is that little alcohol in moderation can be acceptable, sin on the other hand is never acceptable. But the parallel image is an interesting one. If we sin we do slowly haze the difference between right and wrong, in affect, forgetting the law. Also by sinning we are perverting the justice of all the afflicted, taking what was meant for good and using it for evil.

Matthew 11:6

“And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.”

Too many times I've heard the devastating story of someone praying for something fervently day in and day out and never getting what they prayed for, leading them to there unbelief in God. It's a tragic story to see such a potential heart be turned away due to lack of understanding in God's plan. I went through a period in my life where I was not given what I asked for and I prayed hard. I chose anger and disobedience to comfort the pain of being ignored. I was weak and hurt and hated that God wouldn't come to me in my time of weakness After getting kicked around back and forth by my sins and the sins of the world I found myself screaming out to God once again. I came back to Him and found the peace I had once had. Although having that peace the unanswered prayer that troubled me for so long stung in the back of my mind. Instead of running away with anger, I ran to Him for answers. I realized that I knew the answer all along and only needed to look at the situation in a different way. He had been giving it to me but I was not mature enough to see with the right perspective. Often times we want an answer from the Lord, and he gives us exactly what we ask for, just hardly in the way we expect. It's not that he gives us encrypted messages, it's usually that our hearts are not in the right place to understand. It can be compared to a carpenter and his wood. The wood must be taken from its comfort, shaved and cut down to where it is standing naked and vulnerable into the hands of the carpenter, sanded, polished, and eventually assembled into a functional piece of furniture. If the wood were to run away at the point of being vulnerable and naked it wood never know what it's beautiful purpose was for, leaving him alone and naked for the world to scar and beat. I was that wood that ran away while I was naked and I was scarred. But Christ took me back in and sanded them away to use me once more. When I come across a situation or a heart break where all I want to do is run, I will remember to fall on my knees and not let my feet take me anywhere but His word. In applying this, when I call home and here the troubles of my fellow loved ones I will not look to God and ask why, I will look to myself and ask, what am I supposed to learn?

With a vibrant mind and a dull heart you are a weapon of destruction.

With a dull mind and a vibrant heart you are a weapon of peace.

With a vibrant mind and a vibrant heart you become a peaceful destroyer.

This life is meant for Him.
To indulge in sin only leads to an emptier morning.
Only leads to another crack in your glass reputation.
Only sticks knives in the ones you love.
Only pours salt on the wounds where the knives have been.
Destruction leads to destruction.
Foundation leads to design and stability.

I do not want to die in this world rubble that scatters the earth giving myself to all creatures that walk by.
I want to be made a structure where I can invite those creatures in and offer them the peace I have been given.

Galatians 6:8

“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

When I read this verse the concept of Pride comes to mind. When I was younger I had a complex with Paul. I read his letters and couldn't help but think how prideful he was in the way that he would always say be more like me for I am a man of God. A man who states be more like me doesn't always come across as the most humble of men. Through the eyes of the Holy Spirit it is an act of humbleness, in the flesh it comes across as prideful. When man does good on his own terms, and takes pride in the good he has done, it becomes pride. When we see men in our culture today telling everyone to be more like them, Charlie sheen for example, we think him prideful, insane, and simply crazy. We all have our own gifts and talents, who are they to tell me to be more like them. Why should Paul be any different? Paul takes pride in what he does for the Spirit, and only the Spirit. I believe Paul fully grasped this concept he wrote so many years ago. Because he knew that things he sowed were of the spirit then he didn't speak that he was a man of God through his own sowing, but because he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he was made great. We can see that Paul is humble enough to say I am a great man, but give no entitlement to himself. From that point of view it makes us see Paul as an exceedingly sacrificial humble man instead of a man seeking recognition. I struggle with doing things for the Lord and remembering I had little to nothing to do with it. We are given these great tasks in the name of the Lord but we are so quick to forget that it was only through Him we were blessed with the task. It's easy to sow to the Spirit and desire to reap in the flesh.

Galatians 6:7

“Do not be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

We see this theme written with different names all throughout culture. Acknowledging this concept in almost every religion, it is mostly referred to as Carma given name by the Buddhist culture. When most people are introduced to this concept they take on the idea that they just need to do more good and therefore the punishments won't be as strong. The only ones who “succeed” at beating Carma are guys dressed up in orange garments and separate themselves from society for the rest of their lives. Even then, they never escape this vicious concept. God created us to be perfect, but we failed. And we continue to fail everyday whether we do it in the mountains of Tibett or in the cities of Boston, we fail. Adam and Eve initially was at fault for bringing sin into this world, but it is us that keep biting that fruit every single day. We can't escape it, we were born into sin. Many will try to bend and make rules explaining why this law of nature doesn't exist to them, but only one answer stands above all the rest. Christ. Only because Christ came in and payed our ransom. Only because he stepped in and became our ultimate get out of jail free card. If it were up to us to conquer this concept, you would be a fool to think we can defeat it alone. Only one of us was perfect, and He who was perfect loved the rest of us enough to be beaten and crucified, so we can be perfectly covered by His blood. He who was never bound by jail, became bound so we can all be freed. That, and that alone is the only answer to this age old question. We do reap what we sow with or without Christ, but with Him we win, without Him we lose tragically. The good we reap within Christ is good for God, the good we reap without Christ is a hamster in a wheel, thinking he is gaining, but only thinking.  

Galatians 6:5

“For each one shall bear his own load.”

I am called to pick up my cross everyday, and I should try to never complain for the path I have been given. Christ's cross bared more weight than any of ours and He is who we must look too. Not turn around, look at each others cross, and envy the size of others, but look to Him who carried the most. My cross is heavy yet the yolk is light and I will strive to run this race with endurance and without complaint.  

Galatians 6:5

“But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Jesus Christ was our perfect example. If he were to ever say, why can't I sacrifice like John the Baptist? He would not have been amongst the people in the cities. If He were to say, why can't I be perfect like the Pharisees? He would have let the deception of religion backslide him into a white washed tomb. If He were to say, why can't I speak poetically like faithful King David? He wouldn't have been able to relate to the people of His time and love them exactly how they needed to be loved. Why do we find it okay to follow the great men of our nation and call it justified? Often we cry out to be more like this pastor, or if I can only think like this guy, sacrifice like this guy, love like that guy. It is good to respect a quality within a man, and admire his strength but never to think him great by his own works. Firstly, it will only lead you to be stumbled in your walk. If you follow the way of man he will inevitably fail you in one way or another and all the faith you had could crumble over one mans sin. Second, God does not call us to follow the sheep around us, He calls us to follow the shepherd. We are given a perfect plan for our life. Although we will never follow it perfectly, it is still singularly one path and one path alone. If Christ would have looked to others for heavenly guidance instead of heaven, my sins might not be washed by His blood today. I can't even fathom the repercussions. By conforming to others work we are cheapening His personalized will for our life. I need to rejoice in the realizations and plans God lays before me, for they are sweeter to my soul than any other. I am guilty of this type of idolizing because of it's tangibility, it is so easy to see the fruit they bear, taste it, and plan our lives around reproducing from our own lives. C.S. Lewis's fruit taste really really good. I mean really good. I would love to recreate those fruits. But God asks me to conform to His Son's fruits, and that is what I will try and do. Once again, Jesus Christ is our perfect example.

Galatians 6-3

“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Funny that this is the verse that comes up now. I have been very caught up in my judgments lately. I deceive myself just about every moment of everyday. It is one of my greatest falls as a human being. I love the art of studying individuals, figuring out exactly what it is that makes them tick. My favorite past time is to simply sit and watch the reactions and decisions individuals make everyday. Everyone is a huge puzzle and I obsess over finding all the pieces. With this, my passion is based on judgment. I am in a constant state of comparison and judgment. It gives me a face of pride and wards off many with my first impression, often making them feel judged and insecure. Although never my intention, I hurt and offend many individuals. Jesus judged individuals righteously. He saw there flaws, he studied there behavior, and corrected them in there ways. But because he was perfect all judgments were perfectly used for the glory of God. That is my prayer. To continue to perfect and use this perceptive skill, not for the satisfaction of my pride, but for the glory of God. If we come from a place of “something” we look down on those who we are judging and find the flaws to hate instead of the qualities to love. If you come from a place of nothing you see clearer for one, but you strive to find the good qualities and meditate on the beauty of an individual. When the flaws are revealed, we only shall fix and correct, if it is toward the glory of God. I pray to judge righteously, and humble myself to see everyone in the way that I want to be seen. I want my very few qualities to be seen and loved enough to be loved through my flaws. I want to handle others as Christ handled me, through the layers and layers of sin, look at the qualities that make people beautiful in the eyes of the Lord.