Envy and Jealousy

The question of the week for the Ron Paul English 3 course is…

“After Satan’s rebellion, Satan was motivated more by his envy of God than his jealousy of God: true or false?”

That’s a tough one, especially considering the similarities of ‘envy’ and ‘jealousy’. Based on what I know, ‘envy’ is wanting what someone else has. (ie: Being envious of someone’s things.) And ‘jealousy’ is not wanting what you have to be taken away. (ie: Being jealous of your best friend spending time with someone else.)

I guess the statement above is true, then. Satan would want what God has. After all, while the (untrue) saying goes, “Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.” (really, the opposite must be true, though) Everyone knows it’s better to rule in Heaven than in Hell.

Bring in the Hawks!

“Imagine a community with the following 5 trophic levels: plants, crickets, mice, snakes, and hawks.”

The hawks eat the snakes, the snakes eat the mice, and so on. But what would happen if more hawks suddenly migrated to the area? The balance of this system would be thrown off. Snakes would start dying off, forcing the hawks to go after mice instead. Even if the hawks leave the snakes alone in favor of the mice, the hawks and snakes are now competeing for a food source. Say the snakes start eating crickets instead, and the mice had been eating the crickets. The only thing to do would be to hope there were enough plants to go around. Unless… what if the snakes just altogether died out? Then the hawks would eat the mice. Unless they started dying out. Then the hawk population would lessen, either through death, or emigration.

Shakespeare or the Bible?

The question of the week for the Ron Paul English 3 course is…

“What do you find easier to read? Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible?”

I’d have to say that it depends. (Really, it almost always depends.) If it was Deuteronomy vs. The Tempest, I’d choose The Tempest. If it was Genesis vs. Julius Caesar, I’d choose Genesis. Since the way I base ‘easiness to read’ on how much I’m interested in the story, I believe that the KJV would win out overall. I’d say it would probably win out based on language alone as well. Both are poetic, but Shakespeare’s poetry can’t really compare with God’s. (Or his prophets.)