Sacred Poetry: Ancient Egyptians

The Red Pyramid, also known as the North Pyramid, was built in Dashur. Pharaoh Snerfu, built this pyramid at around 2600 B.C. Because the casing was dated, archaeologists were able to postulate that this pyramid took around 17 years to build. The Red Pyramid is the fourth tallest pyramid ever built in Egypt, and it consists of 160 layers of stone. The Red Pyramid served as a precursor to the Pyramids of Giza. Inside of the Red Pyramid, there lies a single burial chamber that could be accessed through two smaller chambers. Snerfu is believed to have been buried in this pyramid. There is a mortuary temple, east of the Red Pyramid. The mortuary temple is significant because Snerfu purposely positioned the east west alignment of the temple to the path of the sun. This is significant because Egyptians worshipped the Sun God, Ra. The Egyptians believed the Ra was the creator and controller of the universe. In Egyptian religion, pyramids were built for the purposes of burying the dead. Egyptians carefully preserved dead bodies and buried them inside pyramids because they believed that the soul would return to the body in the after life. Egyptians placed a lot of emphasis on the afterlife. They believed in the God of Death Anubis (Egyptian Gods). The Ancient Egyptian Religion can be categorized as a prehistory religion because they have the characteristics common to prehistoric religions. 

Sacred Poem

The

pyramid is

not a creation of 

man but a creation of the 

almighty gods.We thank you 

gods, for giving us the strength and the

power to build these mighty mighty structures.

The pyramid lies on the west of the nile river and 

we have aligned the mortuary temple to the direction

of the sun to praise you, oh mighty gods. Today is the day

that we will bury one of our leaders. I grieve for our loss, but 

we believe in you god of death, Anubis. We believe that you have 

chosen our Pharaoh's soul to bring to the afterlife. We pray that you 

guide Pharaoh Snerfu through the afterlife. Place your gracious hand on 

Pharaoh and lead him through your world of death. Here is a healthy lion

 that we will sacrifice for you Anubis, god of the death. Ra, we pray that you 

bring life and bless us with good food. Thank you almighty gods for saving us

Religion's Influence

Authors argue that religion has a good influence in America. Research has shown that America's diversity and devoutness makes the country more tolerant of other beliefs. For example, because American's are able to switch their religions with such ease, many families consist of several religions within the family. Also, Americans don't think that their friends and family members are damned if they are of other religions. America is far more religious than any other country. Researchers argue that religion produces practical benefits for Americans. Religious people are more likely to do good deeds such as volunteer work, blood donations, etc.

 CNN Article: Religion is good for America

Questions of the Universe

Today, my group discussed the question "How did we originate?" We started by talking about how the video addressed that there had to be an intangible being that created everything, such as a God. Then we asked each other about our beliefs of the big bang theory. My table members were all unsure about whether or not the big bang theory happened. We concluded our conversation by saying that both the big bang theory and the existence of an intangible being or force may have led to our creation. A God may have caused the big bang theory to happen which led to the creation of life on Earth.

During this conversation, I felt confused. The topics we discussed today were extremely mind boggling. It even made me feel a little insignificant. I'm just one person out of 7 billion people, on planet Earth, which is within the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy is minuscule in comparison to the whole entire universe. It was really strange to talk about how we originated. Talking about the intangible being made me feel a little safe. I felt as if I was created for a special purpose, and that there was more to life than just life. On the other hand however, when we discussed the big bang theory, I felt spooked out because it made me feel as if I just came into existence on this world solely by chance. I felt as if I had no special purpose, and I felt that there was nothing after death.