Section 3 Questions Of Mice and Men and Radical

Who is your favorite character in this book? Explain your selection in detail.
My favorite character in the book is Slim because he always knows what to do and he is reasonable. Whenever something goes wrong Slim knows what to do and he takes charge and he always has the level head. When Candy has to shoot his dog Slim is the voice of comfort to him and he gets the other men to fall in line. The author writes, "Candy looked a long time at Slim to try and find some reversal." This shows that he is grounded and people look up to him. Then after Candy shoots the dog the author says, "'Carlson' Yeah?' 'You know what to do' 'what ya mean Slim?' 'take a shovel' said Slim shortly." This shows that he knows how to direct people and he always does the right thing. He is a solid character and people look up to him. In the end of the book when Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife, he's the one that comes up with explanation of what happened. "Slim went on, 'maybe like that time in Weed you was tellin' about.'" He knows how to keep a cool head and he always knows what to do.

Platt talks about intellectual universalism and practical universalism. Briefly describe what those are. Do you fall into either category? Explain.
Intellectual and practical universalism are both ideas on how salvation is achieved. Intellectual universalism is the belief that any religion will save you in the end so Christ and God are not necessary for salvation. They believe that there are multiple routes to heaven, and therefore they don't feel a need to spread the gospel. Practical universalism is the idea that Christ is necessary for salvation but they do not spread this message and pretend that others do not need to hear the gospel. What I believe Platt to be saying is that if you are not spreading the gospel you are tending towards universalism. And universalism does not mean that u have to have universalistic beliefs, it can also mean that you act like you believe in universalism (meaning you don't share the gospel with people). I think I would tend towards practical universalism because I do believe that Christ is necessary for salvation, so my silence is not from believing I don't need to share, it's for other personal reasons. I think that practical universalism is not the best term because universalism by definition refers to the intellectual idea that religion is relative and you don't necessarily need Christ. So even if you do act like a universalist because they don't spread the gospel, it gives the connotation that you don't believe Christ is necessary for salvation, which I do, so in his terms I would be a practical universalist, but to me it seems like a false dichotomy.

Section 2 Questions Of Mice and Men and Radical

How is the theme of loneliness shown in this story so far? Give specific examples.
The theme of loneliness is displayed in this story in that the culture of this time seems to have a lonely tone which affects how people interact with each other. The culture has a lonely time because it's setting is the farmlands of California where people come and go and usually travel alone. On page on page 41, Slim, while talking to George, says "Hardly none of the guys ever travel together. I hardly never seen two guys travel together." This sets the tone for the book that loneliness is just part of the way people lived. This tone of loneliness affects the way people interact because it seems that there is a common social standard that when you're interacting with someone you're supposed to try and push them away even if you really desire their company. We have seen this many times with George and Lennie when George acts like he wants to push Lennie away but in reality wants him and needs his company. We see it again with Crooks when people show up in his room. We know that he is a lonely character, partly because of his race, and so when people show up to be around him he is secretly happy but he puts on the act of pushing them away. On page 75 he says, "'Come on in. If eever'body's comin' in, you might just as well.' It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger." This shows that the culture of the time was one of loneliness and it was a social standard to integrate into how you interact with people.

As you enter/approach the time of your life when you will be making more of your own financial decisions, what do you think of Platt’s radical take on wealth (and giving it away)? Is this something that every Christian is actually called to?
I think that Platt's radical take on wealth is very accurate and something that we all could here in our day and age. He starts out by saying for must of us that even if we don't consider ourselves rich we live in the top 15% of the world's people for wealth. This does show that we have resources that we can use to help others in less fortunate situations. The main premise of his idea is that a radical take on giving wealth away involves a true trust in Jesus. He then outlines that one of the main problems with the way we see giving in America is that we want to give whatever is left over that we don't need. We will keep the wealth we need for luxuries and things to make us comfortable and when we feel like we are in a good enough position we can give to the poor. Platt however turns that on its head and says that wealth is not for us to store up and make ourselves feel like we aren't in need, we acquire wealth so that we can give more to help others. I think that Platt's attitude is one that I want to follow in my own financial life. Of course not every Christian is called to the same radical giving as others, people are called to different missions than others. That's why he talks about the struggle in his own personal life about figuring out how much to give and how much to keep because it is a journey for each person to figure out what their convictions are. There is no doubt however that God calls us to give (at least in some capacity) even though it may look different than others, we all need to make an effort to help those in need