Tag: roskamp

Somalia Persecution Research Paper

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In Somalia, it isn’t even illegal to be Christian, but people still manage to be killed for it. Speaking out about your faith will get you killed. You can’t go to church without threats of murder if they find out your religion isn’t Islam.Christians have been persecuted in the past and are still being persecuted in countries today, such as Somalia; however, there are things we can do to help these Christians.

Persecution in the early church was no different from what it is today. However, it was arguably crueler. This primarily started with Nero’s reign. In his town, a fire had broken out, and he was caught “dancing on the balcony of his palace.” Since he did not want an uprising against him to form, he had claimed that the fire was started by Christians. Specifically because “they Christian prophecies” had told them to. This caused Nero’s people, the Romans, to revolt on the Christians. The story mentioned several occasions that didn’t lena in favor of the Christians. Nero started claiming all sorts of things to be true about Christians that weren’t, and they were severely attacked. It even mentions Nero setting an unspecified amount of Christians on fire on burning crosses to be used as lighting for one of his galas.

Now, to the present. In Somalia, the main reason Christians are persecuted due to their faith is because it isn’t socially acceptable to be Christian. Most Somalis are Islamic. Christians are harassed, judged, and killed in public because of their faith. Out out over 11,390,000 people, only a few hundred are Christian. Out of those few hundred, over 90% of them are discovered, and then killed. The terrorist group Al-Shabaab is the main oppressor of Christians. Another reason Christians are persecuted or killed is because they get caught on the “wrong end” of their civil war. For nearly 30 years, a vast civil war has been raging between two political parties. If you’re on the wrong side of the country, and believe something different about the political beliefs of the opposing party, it is highly likely that you are killed. Over 100,000 casualties have been noted due to the civil war. The civil war has divided the country into three parts; Puntland, Galmudug, and Jubaland. It doesn’t help that the current president of Somalia is not Islamic; he has denounced the religion, but did not come clean about those of his own.

Still today are Christians persecuted. Just recently, a 17 yr old named Guled was killed in the most gruesome way. Because he was Christian, some Islamic militants raided his house after his parents had left to work. They only found Guled. Brutally, they took off his head. When his parents arrived on scene and discovered the corpse of their headless son, the quickly buried the body and fled the country, in fear of being attacked by the same terrorist group that claimed the life of their son. Even recently, there were two attacks very close to Somalia’s presidential palace.

People have been doing all they can to support Christians in Somalia. Whether it be praying, sending supplies and money, or helping the situation stop outright.  The easiest things out of these is just to pray. The United Nations (or UN) has been sending troops and supplies to properly deal with the Civil War, and that alone has pretty majorly decreased civilian casualties, Police have not been helping the situation; the police force in Somalia is very corrupt due to its Islamic background. In conclusion, Somalia is in a very dangerous state for Christians; one where speaking out about your religion is not allowed, punishable by death.

I am like a Snowflake

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I am like a Snowflake

I am like a snowflake. Snowflakes are unique. No two snowflakes are the same. I am unique because I am good at telling bad jokes and cheering people up. Nobody will have my sense of cleverness and my ability to cheer people up when they’re sad.

I am also like a snowflake because I like to hang around in large crowds of my friends. I enjoy large crowds because similar to snowflakes, nobody is the same in them and it makes for interesting conversations. Nobody thinks exact same thing because of all the intermixed personalities. In the crowds, we often talk and laugh, usually wasting the time away.

Another reason I am like a snowflake is because I am very situational. Similar to snowflakes, my jokes usually only come at certain times when I have a point to make or such. Snowflakes only come when it’s a certain temperature, weather, and environment. Although, during certain times of the year, more snow falls, and in other times of the year, no snow falls at all.

The final reason I am like a snowflake is because they also fall individually. While I still enjoy hanging with my friends, I prefer doing work alone. This is only because I feel like if I’m in a group and I mess something up, it’s easier to blame my misdoing on someone else. If I work alone, I only can blame it on myself.

Thematic Writing – The Hunt for Dark Infinity

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Thematic Writing – The Hunt for Dark Infinity

This book is all about sticking with something until the end. A whole ton of realities spiral into chaos because a bad person from the 13th reality and a bad person from the 4th reality met up. The bad person from the 13th has a wicked sort of magic. The person from the 4th is incredibly smart technologically- even to the point where he can control the person from the 13th’s magic. This made very bad things happen.

This book had many challenging obstacles to get over throughout the plot. But one theme was shown throughout all of them- persevere. Tick, Sofia, Paul, and all of the other realitants went through a harsh deal of harsh challenges; but they never gave up. Even when faced things such as giant shredder worms and thousands of brain-dead mutants. Even faced with extreme circumstances, they did not give up. They faced death head on and just shrugged it off.

The second theme in this book would have to be courage. When they were faced with things such as life-altering threats, they did nothing. However, one of these shortcomings resulted in Paul, one of the main protagonists, fracturing his arm. He then was faced with a heavily injured arm for the majority of the book until he was then healed by a realitant doctor.

In conclusion, this book is about sticking through with something until the end. I personally really enjoyed this book. The details were vivid and the plot was easy to follow and complex; plus, every part of the plot was gripping. I especially remember the part about how they had 24 hours to solve a clue or else “their lives were at stake.” Not exactly something I trailed off on. Great book- it’s gonna be a 9.5/10 from me.