Saturday, August 31, 2019

School Violence

Tyeshia Michie Professor Silverstein English 102 School Violence School violence is the term used to define violence or any form of arrogance that happens inside a school. Some of the known forms of school violence are student gangs, bullying, physical attacks on fellow students, and physical attacks on the school staffs. This is becoming a very serious issue in the United States where the school violence rates are extremely high with students possessing knives, guns and other weapons at will. In the earlier days, schools were the safest places for students.Students were safer than they were at their homes because they were being monitored each and every second by the school staffs and other fellow students, but it is no longer the same because of the alarming increase of school violence inside the school premises. The school authorities are not able to control such inclement activities inside the school and parents all over the world are concerned with this very serious issue becaus e their children are prone to be victims of school violence. Leading Causes of School Violence Pinpointing causes of school violence is a difficult task.It is difficult to categorize the numerous school violence attacks that have occurred. Each case has different circumstances. The majority of researchers agree that school violence is the result of a society unable to always distinguish between good or bad choices and right or wrong moral decisions but have suggested various theories on what may lead a student to incite violence. Children who witness domestic violence in the home and who are not taught otherwise are likely to internalize such behavior as appropriate means of dealing with conflicts in the school.Such students who get in confrontations with other students may be predisposed to engage in physical violence. Students who grow up in communities with street violence also may react violently to perceived threats. According to â€Å"Youth Violence: A Report by the Surgeon G eneral,† psychological conditions hyperactivity, impulsiveness, daring and short attention span can pose a small risk for violence. Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson of Texas A&M International University notes in The Journal of Pediatrics that depression is a leading cause of youth violence.Additionally, Thomas Grisso professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School writes in â€Å"The Future of Children† that kids with mental disorders are at an increased risk of displaying aggressive behavior. Having access to guns and other weapons may enable students to commit violent acts against their peers. The report â€Å"Violence Prevention: The Evidence† by the World Health Organization states limiting access to weapons can lead to a reduction in violent acts. Students may find guns in their homes or acquire guns illegally on the street.Without access to weapons, however, students would be unable to carry out violent acts. Students who have been bull ied may retaliate against their peers. The National School Safety Council notes that many who participate in such acts are bullied or ostracized from their peers. Peers reportedly bullied or ignored the Columbine shooters, which caused their anger. However, the surgeon general notes that violence in the media also may lead kids to engage in aggressive and violent behavior. What Are the Causes of Bullying in Schools?Bullying is a serious problem in schools and, according to Kids Health, three quarters of kids says that they have been bullied or teased at school as of 2010. Bullying takes a variety of forms and has several detrimental effects on children including depression, stress, sickness, physical injuries and even death. The first step in dealing with bullying is to pinpoint the causes behind bullying and clarify some of its many bullies engage in bullying as a way to draw attention to themselves and make themselves feel important. Unfortunately, according to Education. om, bull ies tend to be popular and even admired by classmates for their toughness. This is especially the case in middle schools, where bullies are sometimes regarded as popular and cool. As a consequence, other kids imitate bullying behavior in an effort to increase their popularity. Another myth about bullying is that bullies suffer from low self-esteem and, as a result, bully other kids in order to make themselves feel better. According to Education. com many bullies have high self-esteem and regard themselves in a positive light. It is not uncommon for bullies to have an overly inflated sense of self.The desire to control and dominate others is a common factor in bullying. Bullies often perceive kids who are smarter or different than them as a threat. Dominating and manipulating the perceived threat allows the bully to minimize the threat and to feel empowered. The bully's sense of satisfaction comes from provoking a reaction from the victims who are being bullied. The best strategy is to ignore a bully if possible. If the bully is unable to provoke a reaction, he may soon grow tired of bullying you. If it is not possible to ignore the bully, the best strategy is to stand up for yourself.Don't given in to a bully's demands. Always inform a parent, teacher or adult. Bullying behavior is often the result of a repetitive cycle of abuse. Bullies may be victims of abuse at home or they may learn patterns of behavior in which anger, name-calling and other forms of verbal abuse and physical violence are normal. Bullies may s Different Interventions ; Prevention Models of High School Violence According to the â€Å"College Student Journal,† almost one-quarter of public school students report that they had been the victims of violence at school.With the proper interventions, high school violence can be prevented or minimized. The National School Safety Center says that if parents, teachers and students work together, school violence can be minimized and, in some ins tances, eliminated. Parents and guardians are primary gatekeepers in helping to prevent high school violence. Parents must be aware of the influences their children receive whether through television, video games or other people to minimize exposure to violence. Parents need to teach their children to be empathetic and compassionate so that violence will not be tolerable to them.High school violence can often be thwarted by providing counselors for students. Counselors can help students with decision making and can teach alternatives to violent behaviors. The school milieu is sometimes the only opportunity high school students have to talk about their problems and get suggestions about reasonable solutions, according to the The National School Safety Center. The National School Safety Center says that a proper level of security can be an effective preventative for high school violence.Security personnel on staff can head off violence and must be alert for weapons such as guns or kni ves. Metal detectors can be installed to aid in weapons detection, if necessary. â€Å"College Student Journal† suggests that the high school buildings be evaluated to identify areas that could facilitate violent events for example, doors that do not open properly (should students need to escape) or doors that are too accessible to potential violent offenders. Meditation is another intervention that can be successful in preventing violence.According to National School Safety Center, mediation can help the students to relax, calm their thoughts, reduce stress and ultimately â€Å"prevent violent attitudes among the students. â€Å"Anger management sessions are a necessary part of intervention so that high school students can learn how to control rage and other intense emotions. Conflict-management strategies that focus on how to avoid fighting and other threatening behaviors can prevent violence. Peer mediation is another effective method to manage conflict in a high school. With this method, student leaders are trained in mediation and, with supervision; help settle conflicts among their peers. Violence prevention models help both parents and students to develop effective communication skills that will enhance peer development. Some techniques include role playing, with role reversal, so that the students can experience both sides of a violent interaction, or decision-making exercises that teach them what to do in potentially violent situations. Other skills include educating the students on the risks of violence in a descriptive manner that gives them a realistic picture of the impact of high school violence.Conclusion As far as this issue is concerned the solution to the problem will be identifying the root of the problem. Some people are quick to blame the media, while some blame parents, and others blame the schools. Americans need to try to take control of today's youth and the violence that is and has been developing in this country for many year s. Although school violence will never be extinct, there are many different ways to reduce violence. References: Surgeon General: Youth Violence Prevention — A Report of the Surgeon General Reuters: Depression, Peers Top Influences on Youth ViolenceThe Future of Children: Adolescent Offenders with Mental Disorders World Health Organization: Violence Prevention USA Today: 10 Years Later the Real Story behind Columbine College Student Journal: The Root of School Violence: Causes and Recommendations for a Plan of Action. The National School Safety Center: Proven Preventive Measure for School Violence. Adolescence: School Violence: Prevalence and Intervention Strategies for At-risk Adolescents. Kids Health: Dealing With Bullies Education: Some Myths and Facts about Bullies and Victims

Friday, August 30, 2019

What Is the Secret to Long Life?

What is the secret to long life? The secret to long life all depends on how we take care of our own bodies. After taking my test on Blue zone I saw many bad habits that got in the way of me living longer. According to Blue zones Vitality quiz my biological age was two years older than what I really was. My life expectancy wasn’t as high as many other peers of mine that took the quiz. MY life expectancy age was 79. 2. If I fix my bad habits its more likely those 19. 4 years will be added to my life expectancy age.My life expectancy ages were this low because of the habits I have that are not good for my body as I get older. One big problem that I have is I’m most of my time. Blue zone recommended that I should battle my feelings of stress by talking it over, exercising, eating right and getting enough sleep. I also learned that anxiety can because you skin becomes pale, heart rate increase and muscles to tense up. When I get an anxiety the best way to control it is to ju st recognize signs of anxiety and then take a walk or breathe in deeply.Another bad habit is that I don’t eat as many vegetables as my body should be getting. Blue zones recommended that if I was offered a hamburger and vegetables, it makes more sense to get the vegetables which are better for my eye health. A scientific study was done and concluded that that people who ate the highest amount of yellow and dark green, leafy vegetables had a reduced chance of developing blindness. ON the other hand o also needs to enjoy some fruits.In my quiz it stated that people who have diets rich in fruits and vegetables lower their risk of Alzheimer and dementia by 30%. Since I’m a college student I do get a lot of fast food. I need to eat healthier and eat food with fewer calories. It hard for me to stay away from the junk food since it seems so appealing comparing it to the healthy food. But my health is important and the best way to get my body healthy is to avoid foods on high fructose syrup and becoming aware of what I put in my body. My body needs exercise, healthier food and emotional control of anxiety and anger.

Literacy as foundation for lifelong learning Essay

Literacy is a fundamental human right and the foundation for lifelong learning. The innovation of writing is one of mankind’s useful creations, it is more than the ability to read and write it’s also the ability to understand what you’re reading and what makes sense in what you’re writing. A person who cannot read and understand sentences, which cannot interpret and cannot write, is called an illiterate person. Illiteracy is the inability to read and write. Literacy makes a person more confident, ambitious and successful in life. Persons with a good education tend to be more confident and ambitious than those who are illiterate. Literacy is thought to have first emerged with the development of numeracy and computational devices. It increases job opportunities and access to higher education; it helps in the economic growth and development of a country. Increases Vocabulary Reading increases your vocabulary, it help persons to learn new words and improves their spelling, the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to and they will inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Reading also helps in your talking skills. It helps you understand different ways of life and expands your imagination. Stress Reduction A well-written novel, play or newspaper will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax. Reading is a wonderful source of pleasure for many people, and can provide a healthy escape from routine. Mental Stimulation Reading helps to keep the brain active, us like every other muscles in the body, and the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy. Reading prevents the brain from Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Better writing skills This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary: exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work. Tranquility In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading a good book, it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility. Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense sense of calm, while reading self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from certain mood disorders and mild mental illnesses.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Grant Proposal Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Grant - Research Proposal Example stand that democracy is one of the main factors that have made countries such as United States, Britain, France, Japan, etc to be highly industrialized. This is because democracy is able to promote accountability in the governance system of a state. This in turn will minimize corruption, as well as encourage the administrators of a state to work hard, for the purposes of satisfying the various needs of the population. Furthermore, a democratic country has political stability, and the justice system serves every member of the society equally. This research is also interested in this concept of democratization, mainly because of the effects that face countries which are not democratic. For instance, in the year 2007, Kenya was able to experience deadly post election violence because of the undemocratic nature of its leaders (Iraki, 212). The elections were conducted, and because of serious breaches of election laws, President Kibaki won, amid opposition from his competitors. Kenya is not the only country to experience violence because of undemocratic behavior. Other countries include Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, etc (Kilonzo, 247). Democracy is therefore an important element that countries have to practice in cas e they need to promote political stability, as well as economic development. This paper seeks to analyze democracy and democratic consolidation in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Zimbabwe is a country found in Southern Africa, and it is under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe, who took power in 1987 (Derman and Randi, 37). There are two main political parties in Zimbabwe, ZANU PF, led by President Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that is led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Robert Mugabe has always been accused of undemocratic practices; initiating policies that would make him cling to power (Derman and Randi, 37). For example, in the 2008 elections of Zimbabwe, there were a variety of irregularities, and this led to the declaration of

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Uk Participation in the European Single Currency Assignment

Uk Participation in the European Single Currency - Assignment Example It eases the mechanism of moving products, services, workforce and capital within the Europe. The basic aim of EU is to encourage and increase economic, social, political, trade, defense and security cooperation between the member countries. The member countries of European Union consists of 27 independent states and these are, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. European Union comprises of 18 % of the world's total trade (Europa 2009). The first steps towards the EMU were only made in 1992, when the members of the EC met in Maastricht. A timetable for the development of the EMU was created there. In the years after the treaty the preparation began. Euro is an authorized currency of the 16 member countries of European Union. These states called Euro Zone includes, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. UK refused to join the Exchange Rate mechanism because of the instability of the system. Euro was introduced to the world as a transactional currency of European countries on 1 January 1999 substituting the European Currency Unit (ECU). The currency was circulated all over European Union on 1st January 2002 (Bized 2009). Euro is used by 329 million of Europeans. According to the research conducted by IMF European Union is the second largest economy of the world. Euro is formally organized and managed by E uropean Central Bank and the Central Banks of the EU countries. Euro is today world's most important currencies after the Dollar. Not all the EU members accepted Euro as a single currency for European Union. One of them is United Kingdom, but 90% of the international trade and transactions in UK takes place through Euro. Pound Sterling is used for local transactional purposes (Hilliard, B. 2008). Economic advantages of European Single Currency Elimination of the transaction Costs A single currency all over the European Union do not require to exchange the money from one currency to another in different regions so the cost of changing money will be eliminated. Elimination of Exchange rate risks A single currency removes the risk of exchange rate. Price Transparency & Equality The law of one price minimizes the differences in price level. The different currencies cause difference in prices in the region due to the rate of the currencies. It causes inflation or may be deflation in the same geographical region. Low level of Inflation The transparency in price will lower the level of inflation as the same currency exchange rate does not require converting the price from one exchange rate to another. Tourism Benefits Tourists can travel all over Europe without any restriction and problem of exchanging money or visa etc. Macroeconomic stability In the European Monetary Union the most important element is the constant growth rate and new jobs. There is balance in the trade among the member countries. It promotes price equality. Facilitates International Trade The Euro makes EU a strong

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Language and Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Language and Identity - Essay Example Though all three writers express initial disgust for having to give up part of their heritage, Rodriguez makes it clear throughout his essay that there should be no shame in embracing one’s native tongue, nor should it be thought of as a sin to accept another. Richard Rodriguez’s â€Å"Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood† follows the writer’s journey from his discovery of the English language when he was a young boy, to being encouraged to learn it while attending Catholic school, and then to completely appreciating its uniqueness from his native Spanish. When he first heard English, Rodriguez remembers being intrigued by the sounds of the words, noting how different and less impersonal the seemed compared to Spanish. These profound differences prompted Rodriguez to regard English as a public and sociable language and Spanish as more intimate and familial based. As a result, Rodriguez felt that his inability to speak English separated him from those who could, and until he was forced to learn English, he was at ease with this distinction. Learning English had been tedious for Rodriguez, who claimed that the Spanish kept his family together and that a new language, one from the outside world, might cause a rift to form between them. As such, Rodriguez was reluctant to accept English as his choice language. He went through school in silence, not keen to open his mouth and speak the words of outsiders. He watched on in interest as his parents used minimal, disjointed English in the public, but pure Spanish within the home. The presence of the familiar Spanish kept Rodriguez from learning English until nuns from his school encouraged his parents to speak English at all times around their children. His parents obliged, and it was not long before Rodriguez fully grasped the English language and began speaking aloud in class. Rodriguez’s perspective of his native Spanish varied throughout his life, and the changes before and after he learned English were the most prominent. Spanish was a language that Rodriguez valued, especially since, according to him, the language kept his family close. He believed that Spanish was not only a secret code that English-speakers could not understand but felt that it was a cornerstone to him belonging to his family, a feeling that was reinforced primarily because his family spoke and shared with one another in Spanish. Everyone outside of the home spoke English, which meant that everyone understood each other; Rodriguez and his family, though, were in their own special circle of Spanish-speakers. Spanish was part of his heritage and a vital component to Rodriguez’s very being. When Rodriguez learned English, he did not necessarily lose his appreciation of Spanish and all that it offered his family but learned to accept the advantages that came with also knowing English. Harder than Rodriguez actually learning to speak English, though, was him speaking a language that di d not involve his parents. As previously mentioned, Spanish was a huge part of Rodriguez’s identity among his family members. When his parents began speaking English for the sake of their children, Rodriguez noticed that the intimacy between his family members had evaporated. They were still a close and loving family, but English caused them to have fewer words to say. When Rodriguez fully accepted English as his primary language, his parents were approving of the change, but other family members were not as open to him embracing a culture other than their own. Aunts and uncles, and even Spanish-speaking strangers on the street and in grocery stores would tease Rodriguez for abandoning his heritage (Rodriguez 321).     Ã‚  

Monday, August 26, 2019

Business Through The Eyes of Faith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Through The Eyes of Faith - Essay Example This is a company formed in 1987, which has over time provided critical technological services to markets, administrations, institutions, and more (Business: Is There A Christian Perspective p. 15). Management team at the company is largely Christians and in equal measure pursues Christian principles in their activities. The expression made in this case is that, business is part of Christian activity that cannot be separated from the wider role and duty of Christians. Business is a social activity and the essence for it to act morally and ethically is inevitable. Christians and the larger human body that have direct or indirect involvement in business have a duty to honor God by pursuing ethical and moral business practices at all times. People can honor and remain obedient to God when they shoe ethical and moral value of their business activities. When one honors God’s creation (the people) then the person in same measure is able to honor God. Ethics and morals are seen to be fundamental principles that define success or failure of any particular given business, although, it has to be known that an individual or a corporation can have strong ethical values and morals but still fail to achieve its objectives when it ignores multi-dimensional perspective of the business. The author of this chapter introduces the concept of ‘Law of Nature’ which he subsequently transforms into an argument based on moral laws. The author contends that Law of Nature is a creation of a human who in one way or the other tries to control or manipulates the behavior of the other human being (The Law of Human Nature 1). Laws of Nature are intended to define what is right and what is wrong, thereby categorizing the appropriate behaviors, which society can accept or not (The Law of Human Nature p.1). Although Laws of Nature provide these guidelines for appropriate behavior, they

Sunday, August 25, 2019

The General (1926) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The General (1926) - Research Paper Example The themes can range from the downright funny to the dead serious, to the everyday lives of people. This review would be focusing on a silent comedy film, acclaimed by many to be one of, if not the best silent comedy film ever produced in Hollywood cinema. The movie featured in this review is entitled â€Å"The General†, which was finished in 1926 and premiered the following year. The lead role was played by Buster Keaton, one of the most well-known silent comedy film actors of all time. The movie has an American Civil War theme, which is based on an actual historical event but mixed with comical elements, along with Keaton’s signature poker-face or deadpan face, which adds up to the amusement of viewers. Screenplay is by Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, direction by both Bruckman and Keaton, and produced by Joseph Schenck and Keaton. The film narrates how a simpleton named Johnnie Gray (Keaton) was not enlisted in the army to fight for the Confederate Arm y of Tennessee, and was dumped by his sweetheart Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) because she thinks Johnnie backed out of the enlistment. But an incident changed that, when a group of Union Spies hijacked Johnnie’s train, The General and taking along Annabelle along with it back to their headquarters. Risking life and limb, Johnnie did everything to get his beloved train and sweetheart back.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Compare the parliamentary and presidential forms of government. What Essay

Compare the parliamentary and presidential forms of government. What are the strengths and weakness of each - Essay Example The Prime Minister (who is the chief executive) may be elected to the legislature in the same way that all other members are elected" (Governing Systems and Executive-Legislative Relations n.d.). Power in Parliamentary systems is concentrated in the Parliamentary leaders. It follows that pressure groups, to promote their interests, must influence the leaders, and this they can do effectively only by putting pressure on them directly or by acting through agencies that can, above all the parties and civil servants. Parliament, of course, also has some influence with its leaders, hence it is not entirely useless for British pressure groups to try to influence Prime Ministers (Mettenhiem 27). But compared to the pressures exerted through parties and civil servants their parliamentary activities are secondary. For instance, the need to focus pressure on the bureaucrats is reinforced by the activities of British government. First, the vast scope and technical character of decision-making r equired by welfare-state policies has led to the devolution of more and more decision-making authority to the bureaucracy, so that there is in Britain a vast amount of executive legislation (Ben-Zion Kaminsky 221). Equally important, the decision-making powers delegated to the Departments are likely to be of special concern to interest groups (Lijphart 129). General policy, of course, is still predominantly made by the Government, but technical details, especially the sort needing fairly frequent revisions (e.g., how much money is to be paid to doctors; what prices to guarantee to the farmers; on what basis to grant or withhold licenses to build, import, issue securities or acquire raw materials), are taken care of by the Departments, and such details are likely to be of as great concern to interest groups as policy in its broad sense (Mettenhiem 29). In contrast to Parliamentary systems, where the P.M is a party leader, the President is chosen by a separate election. "The President then appoints his or her cabinet of ministers (or "secretaries" in US parlance). Ministers/Secretaries usually are not simultaneously members of the legislature, although their appointment may require the advice and consent of the legislative branch" (Governing Systems and Executive-Legislative Relations n.d.). In this view, the constitutional separation of the executive and the legislature is the main culprit in the now excessive fractionizing of governmental power. Following Lijphart (1992): "the notion of the supremacy of parliament as a whole over its parts is a distinctive characteristic of parliamentary systems" (37). The main differences between the Parliamentary and Presidential forms of government are found in separation of power (Lijphart 16). In general, the Presidential form stipulates separation of power between different branches while the Parliamentary form means a fusion of power. In both forms, corporatism is characterized by high concentrations of government power as well as private power (Ben-Zion Kaminsky 221). Pluralism, on the other hand, is based on low concentrations of government and private power. A state-directed system is characterized by high concentration of government power, and low concentration of private power. And, finally, high concentratio

Friday, August 23, 2019

Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy - Essay Example The U.S. democratization policy was introduced and affected by President Bush in 2005 after his administration realized that the U.S. support of non-democratic leaders contributed to terrorism. This paper will detail on how presidency, interest groups, the news media as well as the international distribution of power has made democracy policy to be what it is in the Middle East. The American interests directed to the Middle East are not national interests. The interests of some groups such as small energy companies, banks, and well-paid lobbyists do not in any way present the interests of the majority of the Americans who constitute of working-class individuals from all social groups. In most occasions, the ruling groups portray their own interests as national interests. The ruling elites have evident interests in the Middle East that they have been pursuing for almost a century. Those interests can be referred to as imperialist interests because they center on Middle East’s energy resources (Epstein, Miko and Serafino 7). In advocating democracy in the Middle East, America aims at preventing the rise of popular movements that may threaten her control of that region’s natural resources. She also uses the foreign policy to increase the number of her military in the region so as to have effective control of almost all activities. All corporate media in the U.S., as well as international media, contribute significantly to making the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to be what it is. For instance, it is evident that the corporate media in the U.S. carry out their roles in favor of the government policies. The media in the U.S. portray this by barring the Americans from acquiring accurate information and understanding on all the activities carried out by their government in the Middle East and other parts of the world (Jentleson 567).

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church Research Paper

The Split between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church - Research Paper Example It continually gained a significant number of converts and eventually became one of the world’s strongest religions. During the postclassical civilization, Christianity took the centre stage as it played a vital role both in Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Christianity is believed to have begun as part of Jewish reform movement. Even before the birth of Jesus, some Jews had begun to preach about the coming messiah. The Jews had the belief that the birth of Jesus would bring salvation to mankind, and judgement as well to those who failed to honour salvation. Christianity transformed from the persecuted group of believers over a long period of time, alongside the harsh and vastly changing political environment in Europe. During the fourth and the fifth century, the Roman Empire collapsed. This enhanced the growth of a very powerful church that remained on course for a very long time. All this collapse resulted in subjugation of the church. The early followers of Christ began to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. It began with one the earliest converts like Saul, who was converted to Paul, and his major task was an assignment to take the Christ’s message around the Mediterranean region. Wherever he went, he created churches and constantly wrote letters to them. The early churches shared their common belief in Christ and were united in their worship; they usually met together, shared the scriptures and listened to one another. They were very caring and were usually bonded together. However, as time went by â€Å"Christians began to disagree as to who should lead the groups, the form the worship should take, and how Christian beliefs should be understood. This led to splits within the Christian church† (Jordan 5). It has been observed that the early churches enhanced their unity through faith. They had unity of the doctrine and the traditions that existed in the churches, and this led to

Political Correctness in the Media Essay Example for Free

Political Correctness in the Media Essay Political correctness in the media refers to the use of appropriate words and ideas to minimize racism in all its hideous manifestations, in addition to sexism and offences against identity groups of all sorts. In other words, it is a â€Å"concept that one has to shape their statements (if not their opinions) according to a certain political dogma (â€Å"Political Correctness,† 2008). † Hence, it is rude to say ‘nigger’ in an advertisement especially created for the African Americans even if a Caucasian Congressman uses the politically incorrect word in his home. However, during periods of history when certain races, identity groups or the weaker sex must be looked down upon – according to policies created by the government to raise a race, identity group or gender over another, in the minds of the people – it is not considered politically incorrect by the media to refer to those looked down upon as rascals, despite the fact that the notion of political correctness had originated during World War I (Lind, 2000). Given that political correctness must needs concern governmental policies at any given time, it is interesting to consider the fact that political correctness or incorrectness in the media has taken different forms according to governmental needs at different times. In the United States, racism in reporting against the African Americans seemed to have peaked during the 1950s. Perhaps the reason for the peak was that the whites and the blacks in America had shared a master-slave relationship in the past. The Civil Rights Movement had called for changing the status quo. The demand for equal rights for the blacks was met with resistance, however. This is the reason why an article published in The Birmingham Post-Herald in 1955 quotes a white sheriff thus: â€Å"†¦We haven’t mixed so far down here and we don’t intend to (â€Å"10 Jurors Picked as Till Trial Opens,† 1955). † The sheriff was, of course, describing the relations of the white race with the black race. The above mentioned news article was actually a report on a trial. All of the jury members selected for the trial were white men. Eight of the men were farmers and one of them was a laborer. There were â€Å"eight Negro reporters† present at the trial, but all of them were â€Å"segregated at a separate table (â€Å"10 Jurors Picked as Till Trial Opens†). † Considering that the theory of racism is based on the assumption that a race can be superior to another race for any number of reasons, the news report of the 1950s describes blatant racism. So, even though the blacks had worked as laborers for the whites in the past, for the reason that the blacks had served the whites as slaves, they could not be members of the jury even if one of the jury members was a white laborer. Contrary to the stance of the whites with respect to the blacks described in the above mentioned article, a news article published by The San Francisco News in 1942 describes the value of the Japanese Americans to the economy of the United States. The author of the article, â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments,† states that the internment of the Japanese Americans would adversely affect the agricultural produce of California. The article refers to the Japanese Americans as â€Å"[f]ast and efficient workers (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments,† 1942). † Even though the work of the Japanese Americans on Californian farms had required â€Å"the most arduous form of ‘stoop labor,’† the article mentions that the white farmers would be able to handle it, but not as well as the Japanese American workers (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments†). Stoop labor is defined as â€Å"[b]ack-bending manual work (â€Å"Stoop Labor,† 2008). † If the news article published in 1942 had clearly stated that the white farmers will not be able to replace the Japanese Americans on the plantations because the latter were engaged in stoop labor which the white farmers simply would not engage in; it would have been obvious that the reporting is racist. However, this was not the case. Rather, the Japanese Americans are lauded for their efficiency in the news report, as some of them were capable of tending to forty to fifty gardens at a time (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments†). Even though the Japanese Americans had been interned during World War II, the whites did not seem to look down upon them or consider them inferior. On the other hand, the blacks were obviously considered inferior because they had served the whites as slaves. These differences of perceptions are made clear by the news reports. Even so, racism against the African Americans is considered a totally taboo subject in the media in the beginning of the twenty first century. The reason for the taboo, too, is obvious: the African have a history of fighting racism in the United States. The government of the United States no longer wants to harass them through its policies and the media. As a matter of fact, the taboo is accompanied by policies such as affirmative action, simply for the fact that racism against the Africans of the U. S. is met with ample resistance on the part of the Africans themselves, as well as their friends among the Caucasians of America. Seeing that the United States government would like the country to maintain a semblance of a civilized nation, racism against African Americans does not make sense any longer. The ‘Islamists’ are targeted nowadays. All the same, trends in racism reporting as described above reveal that this too would change one day, somehow. Political correctness or incorrectness in the media is undoubtedly related to political framing. As mentioned previously, it is the policymaker that decides what the media would eventually reveal to the public. Political communicators are skilled at framing the debates over controversial issues through an emphasis on policy goals that deserve the highest priority, according to themselves rather than the people they communicate with. Such rhetoric affects political attitudes by influencing the importance that individuals place on competing issues. Frames do not only affect opinions on the issues, but they also influence the judgments of the participants in the communication process with regards to the relative importance of competing values. Thus, political persuaders shape public opinion through the framing of their policy goals and choices (Nelson, 2004). Politicians attempt to control public perception through the use of words. Thus an encyclopedia has defined framing as â€Å"a process of selective control over the individual’s perception of media, public, or private communication, in particular the meanings attributed to words or phrases. Framing defines how an element of rhetoric is packaged so as to allow certain interpretations and rule out others (â€Å"Framing,† 2008). † Moreover, media frames may be created by the mass media as well as specific political and social movements or organizations. As shown through the several examples mentioned already, the media works alongside political and social movements to control the perceptions of the public at large through the communication theory of framing. Hence, in recent years the media was frequently heard discussing the ‘war on terror,’ seeing as the politicians had coined the phrase and used it regularly to advise the public about their policies concerning the issue. Another important example of framing in this context was the popularization of the term, ‘escalation,’ to describe an increase in troop levels in war torn Iraq. The term, ‘escalation’ implied that the United States was deliberately heightening the scope of the conflict in a manner that was provocative (â€Å"Framing†). Spielvogel (2005) points out that both George W. Bush and John Kerry, during the 2004 presidential campaign, had relied upon the moral framing of the ‘war on terrorism’ and the situation in Iraq as a battle between ‘good and evil’ in their day to day political discourse. Moreover, President Bush had employed this rhetorical frame â€Å"to politically and morally cloak the war in Iraq under a larger war on terror (Spielvogel). † Is war politically correct or incorrect? It depends on governmental policies at any given time. Now that the U. S. is going through an economic recession, perhaps war will become a taboo subject in the media and ‘nonviolence’ would reign. All the same, if the U. S. government continues to perceive all Muslims as the enemies of the United States – the media would continue referring to ‘Islamists’ the way it does at present. Even though stereotyping is by itself a taboo subject, advanced degrees in mass communication are not helping journalists and advertisers to be honest in their understanding of people and cultures. Given the responsibility to relay truthful information to the public; journalists, advertisers and all distributors of entertainment and news across different mediums such as television, newspapers, radio, Internet, etc. should have known that all people and cultures cannot be appreciated through stereotypes. Moreover, through mass usage of stereotypes, the media creates a mass culture, the representatives of which consider it abnormal to step outside the stereotypes. According to the Media Awareness Network: â€Å"The pressure put on women through ads, television, film and new media to be sexually attractive—and sexually active—is profound. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that one out of four TV commercials send some kind of ‘attractiveness message,’ telling viewers what is and is not attractive (â€Å"Media Stereotyping,† 2007). † Thus, the media happens to contribute to the mental illnesses suffered by an increasing number of people in our world. Although this form of stereotyping in the media may not have anything to do with political pressure, or political correctness and/or incorrectness, the fact that the media has stereotypes for women is accompanied by the truth that the U.  S. government has never been headed by a woman! The Media Awareness Network explains another reason for stereotyping before outlining other problems associated with stereotypes: Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, ocial role or occupation. But stereotypes can be problematic. They can: reduce a wide range of differences in people to simplistic categorizations; transform assumptions about particular groups of people into â€Å"realities†; be used to justify the position of those in power; and perpetuate social prejudice and inequality (â€Å"Media Stereotyping†). Although the reason for stereotyping as described above is clear, the main reason for it continues to be understood as governmental policies. Of course, stereotyping is another form of political incorrectness in the media. Then again, there are those who opine that political correctness is a confusing notion, disallowing intelligent debates from changing our world for the better (â€Å"PC thinking ‘is harming society,’† 2006). In other words, by trying to be politically correct or incorrect, the media is veiling the face of reality. Even so, the media is considered an important educator of society as a whole. Furthermore, the media has the power to shape culture by introducing positive changes. It is a shame, therefore, that people must consider educating the media so as to do away with falsehoods that it imparts due to political pressure. Undoubtedly, political correctness and incorrectness must necessarily concern governmental policies at any given time. Whereas the government benefits by the strength of the media through its declaration of certain words or ideas as politically correct or incorrect at any given time – it is the public at large that suffers because it has been taught lies by the media. By perpetuating social prejudice, the media – through governmental notions of political correctness and incorrectness at any given time – may even shoulder responsibility for bloody wars around the world.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Piaget Drawing Development

Piaget Drawing Development Luquet was one of the first to start researching into the development of drawing using a cognitive development theory and releasing a book in French during 1927. He described differing stages of drawing development which a child will pass through; this became known as the stage account. Luquet thought that after a period of scribbling that children go through, there were four stages of realism which children will also go through. These were thought to be fortuitous realism, failed realism, intellectual realism and visual realism. Fortuitous realism shows the childs drawing as mostly scribbles but the child can see real life objects within the marks. The child will do this again and again and notice these accidental representations, until they reach the point where they will set out intending to draw something representational from real life. The child will be entering the second stage which is failed realism when they consistently set out with the intent to draw something resembling real life. During this stage an adult can see an adult can see what the child has set out to draw although it can look like there are many mistakes with important features missed out and objects not always where they should be, (such as a childs drawing of a parent, where the parent has a face but no body, with its legs and arms extending out from the head). Intellectual realism occurs when improvements of the childs concentration and attention occurs, meaning the drawing will depict prominent important features of the object. This is the stage where the child will feel it is important that the defining features in the shape are drawn. To achieve this, the child will use transparency, draw certain features as if like a plan, and draw certain things broken down. However this prospective is different to how the object is seen in real life and the child notices this and will start to become concerned about drawing this way. This leads to the child wanting to draw life like representations of an object and this takes the child into the fourth stage, visual realism, which means that the child will draw on object from one perspective and will only draw the objects features from the same perspective. In 1956 Piaget took the work of Luquets (1927) stages of drawing to use to develop his framework, which too was using a cognitive development theory, Piaget didnt see drawing as a special part of development, but rather a window into the general cognitive development of a child. For him, a drawing showed the cognitive competence of a child rather than what stage of development they were at. For the most part, Piaget agreed with Luquets theory and both of there frameworks has similar stages of development for childrens drawing. There are certain strengths for their theory which include that they seem to explain seeming stages of acquisition, supporting evidence for this was shown by Clark (1897) who studied children aged 6 to 16, they were asked to draw an apple with a hatpin passing through it, the younger children were found to draw a continuous line while the older children tended to only draw the visible parts of the pin, and Freeman Janikoun (1972) who studied cups that were dra wn by children. The cups had a flower pattern and were positioned so that handle or flower pattern was either visible for the child or not visible for the child, they found that they younger children drew the handle even when it was not visible where as the older children only drew what they could see. However, the weaknesses for Luquet/Piagets stage theory are that the roles of culture and environment had not been taken into consideration. Evidence against their stage theory has been shown by Selfe (1977, 1995) who studied artwork of gifted children and autistic savants. She studied a young girl with autism who could draw remarkable pictures, the drawings she studied were produced by the child between the ages of 3 and 9, and said that the girls pictures were remarkable because they were done while she was so young and because Nadia (the young girl) did not show that she had any type of ability to see conceptually. This goes towards showing that not all children will go through the stages that Luquet and Piaget suggest, but whether this is just for children with conditions such as autism is not currently known. Barret, Beaumont Jennett (1985) also provide evidence against Luquet and Piagets stage theory by talking about the instructions which the children received, for instance, did the children receive standard instructions (with the instructor saying draw exactly what you see from where you are sat) or whether the child received explicit instructions (with the instructor saying draw exactly what you see from where you are sat, look at it very carefully so you can draw it just as you see it). They found that when children received the standard instructions 11% of the children got the drawing correct, and when the children received the explicit instructions 65% of the children got the drawing correct. According to Luquet (1927), children move gradually from one stage to the next and that they can still draw from pervious stages in when they are in that last stage, this is because they may still want to represent something in a different way. He suggests that the reason children will draw the same things over again without them varying much is not due to habit but that they prefer to draw it in that way. Luquets theory should not be considered as just a stage theory as he had many other points to add to it, including the two above, for this reason childrens drawing ability should be seen as more of a fluid motion, since a child will progress through the stages but can easily slip back if they want to, allowing them to represent not only the part of the object that they see but the whole of the object. Kellogg (1970) used a generalist theory and took a different approach by suggesting that drawings of children are just patterns as children only draw things that show what they perceive as good form. She found that usually when a child reaches 5 or 6 years old, that most children will be able to draw a fairly accurate and complete person; this is because by this age most children will have formed a drawing formula which allows them too continuously and consistently draw an accurate picture of a person. She thought that some shapes can be seen in childrens scribbles and that it is these shapes that can then be used to form a picture. Kellogg did agree that drawing made use of the base of representational experience but says that the use of the lines would differ. Kellogg did come up with a descriptive classification that had the appearance of developmental progression by looking at thousands of childrens drawings and examining them closely. These drawing showed that the development pa ssed from basic scribbles then diagrams, then shapes finally moving to combining shapes, she suggests that when a child reaches that stage the child is functioning as an artist. Willats (1977) used a perceptual theory but agreed that drawings can be seen as representations but thought that children could possibly experience perceptual problems when they try to draw a 3D image on paper (a 2D space). He also suggested that children can change the solutions to these problems as they grow older and develop. Willats (1977) took children aged from 5 to 17, and showed then a real scene, the children were asked to draw what they saw from a fixed view point. When the children had finished their drawing Willats chose to classify the drawings using a drawing system which gave a certain score to a picture. The score was given based on the number of correct representations of occlusion by overlap. There are many drawing systems and during this investigation six were found, and it was shown that it was the older children who used the more complex systems. Willats found that there were discrete stages at which the development took place which was found to cover all the age s of the children tested, this also showed that the ability to use overlap appears continuous, with few children using overlap at under 9 years old with children learning fast between the ages of 10 and 12 years old. Arnheim (1974) used a generalist theory and had suggested that a child will draw an object which will show the defining features (as the child sees them) in the simplest way for the child to be able to draw them within a piece of paper (2D space). One example that was given of this is that a child will most likely draw an animal from the side so that the relationship between its legs, tail, and any other defining features are visible allowing people to clearly see what animal it is, while a child will draw a person from the front, allowing the facial features to be depicted and also showing the symmetry of these features making it clear that it is a person. This was supported by Ives Rovet (1979) who consistently found that children of any age who had passed the scribble stage, and were asked to draw an object that was familiar but without seeing the object, all used those specific ways of drawing. Luquet and Piaget are the two big names when it comes to looking at the development of drawing in children, but much more research has been done since Luquets initial research in 1927 which was popularised in 1956 by Piaget. They both took the cognitive development approach to drawing development which may have been why they both agreed on the stage theory, with research by others looking into different approaches to drawing development. There is a lot of support for Luquet and Piagets theory of stages of drawing development, and although it has a few criticisms, the main one being that it does not account for any cultural differences, most psychologists will agree that there is some form of stages of development that a child will go through when it comes to drawing development. Another criticism of Luquet and Piaget is that it does not think about the children with such developmental conditions as autism and asperger syndrome. These conditions can involve delays and impairments in t he development of the childs communicative and social skills, which may delay the child in some areas of development, while other children with these types of disorders have been shown to be good at certain things which including drawing, with some children showing remarkable advancement in drawing. It also depends on the instructions that the children are given as to whether they get the drawing correct or not, and so the instructors have to be careful how they ask the children to draw the object otherwise it may influence how they draw the object.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Robb Whites Deathwatch Essays -- Deathwatch Robb White Essays

Robb White's Deathwatch Imagine you've been hired to be a hunting guide in the desert when you?re the guy that is being hunted. Your customer accidentally shot an old prospector whom nobody knows and doesn?t want to go to jail for it. So he makes you take off all your clothes and tells you to try to walk to town, which happens to be 60 miles from where you are. With no food and no water you are forced to walk or do what you need to do, to try to stay alive. So you wander in the desert mountains trying to find water while being watched through a ten-power scope of a .358 caliber Winchester Magnum. Well, that is what Ben had to face when Madec hired him to be a hunting guide in Deathwatch, by Robb White. It all started out when Madec hired Ben because of his field in working in the desert. When Madec saw a white figure through his ten-power scope on his .358 caliber Winchester Magnum, he fired saying he saw horns on it. When they walked up there, Madec confessed that he did not see horns on the animal, and requested to go on hunting and not waste time finding it and bringing it to the jeep. But Ben insisted on either bringing it in to the jeep or to burry it in the desert sand. But Madec had known what he had done, and kept persisting to go on and not waste time because it is a once in a lifetime chance to go hunting for bighorn sheep, and he didn?t want to go home empty handed. So when they got to the body of the sheep, Ben discovered that it was a human. The .358 caliber Winchester Magnum bullet had done fearful damage, blasting the man?s lungs out through his back. Madec was mad that Ben had found out what had happened, and said they should burry the man and never talk about him a gain. But, good ol? honest Ben wasn?t about to make a mistake; he wanted to report the accident to the sheriff. So he went down to go get the jeep, and on his way back up, he heard 2 gunshots. When he got up there, he asked what Madec was doing with the gun and Madec said he was seeing how it was shot. Then Madec went on to the body, and said that the man had been shot before, twice. Madec had tried to cover up his mistake. Then, Madec got mad and said that he didn?t want to go to town to report an accident because he might go to jail. Then he held the gun up to Ben, and told him to take all his clothes off and walk to town. So Ben took off, not knowing what to do. He... ...ngle time, until Madec stopped going for the .358. Then, Ben tied Madec up, and put him in the jeep. He then salvaged the stuff for the car and headed for town. Once in town, he headed directly to the Sheriff?s Office. When he got there he told the sheriff what happened, then they both, Ben and Madec went to the doctor. When they were in the doctor?s office, the doctor examined them both. When Ben went back to the sheriff?s, Madec went to the hospital, the sheriff arrested Ben. Ben told the truth about what happened, but they couldn?t understand what Madec did. They believed what Madec had said. When the trial came along, things were looking badly for Ben. Until the doctor stepped out. The doctor had found Ben?s slingshot, and said that he examined the dead guy, and found that the .358 bullet killed him. Ben was no longer arrested. They took him back to the sheriff?s office, where Ben didn?t report a crime of murder or aggravated assault, he reported an accident. If you really enjoy a fast paced, action packed book with a crazy maniac as the bad guy; if you like to read books about survival in the desert; if you love action books with a touch of death, you?ll love Deathwatch.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Hawthorne Writing Style :: essays papers

Hawthorne Writing Style Nathaniel Hawthorne was a prominent early American Author who contributed greatly to the evolution of modern American literature. A New England native, Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804 and died on May 19, 1864 in New Hampshire. An avid seaman, Hawthorne^s father died in 1808 when Nathaniel Hawthorne was only a young child. After his father^s death, Hawthorne showed a keen interest in his father^s worldwide nautical adventures and often read the logbooks his father had compiled from sailing abroad. Hawthorne was a descendant of a long line of New England Puritans, which sparked his interest in the Puritan way of life. After he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, Hawthorne returned to his home in Salem were he began to write in semi-seclusion. Hawthorne published his first novel, Fanshawe in 1828. In 1839, Hawthorne was appointed weigher and gauger at the Boston Custom House. He later married Sophia Amelia Peabody in 1842. In the following years, Hawthorne wrote his more famous novels which shaped his own literary style, as well as the genres of the romance novel and short story. Eventually, Hawthorne developed a style of romance fiction representative of his own beliefs. Although Nathaniel Hawthorne^s writing style was often viewed as outdated when compared to modern literature, Hawthorne conveyed modern themes of psychology and human nature through his crafty use of allegory and symbolism. To begin with, Hawthorne^s style was commonplace for a writer of the nineteenth century. During the time period in which Hawthorne wrote, printing technology was not yet advanced enough to easily reproduce photographs in books. Therefore, Hawthorne frequently wrote lengthy visual descriptions since his audience had no other means to see the setting of the novel. (Magill:1 840). One example of such descriptions was in The Scarlet Letter when Hawthorne intricately describes the prison door and its surroundings. Another aspect of Hawthorne^s writing which was exclusive to his time period was the use of formal dialogue which remained fairly consistent from character to character (Magill:2 140). Such overblown dialogue was evident in The Scarlet Letter when the dialogue of Pearl, a young child, exhibited no difference from the dialogue of the other characters in the novel. Hawthorne adopted the use of overly formal dialogue partly from a British writer, Sir Walter Scott, whose works were popular in the United States and Great Britain (Magill:1 841). Although Hawthorne^s dialogue was overly formal, it was an accurate tool in describing human emotion (Gale). Absence of character confrontation was another component of Hawthorne^s literary style.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Pediatrics: Cranial Nerve Examination Essay -- Pediatric Examination

Oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), Abducens (VI) cranial nerves Although each of these nerves control separate extraocular muscles, they are normally examined together due to their close functional interrelationships. †¢ Look Similar to other cranial nerve examination, start with inspection of the eyes. Look at - The position of the head position: If diplopia is present, the head turned or tilted to minimize double vision. - Inspect for ptosis and eye position. - Ask the child to look at an object about five feet away. Examine the pupils for size, shape, and symmetry. Oculomotor nerve palsy causes mydriasis. Sympathetic palsy leads to miosis. Ciliary ganglion malfunction within the orbit produces Adie’s pupil with middilated pupils and poor responds to convergence. †¢ Ocular alignment The eyes are normally parallel in all positions of gaze except convergence. Squints can be either paralytic (paresis of one of the extraocular muscles) or non-paralytic (defective binocular vision). Congenital paralytic squints result in abnormal head postures, while the acquired ones cause diplopia. Non-paralytic (concomitant) squints are not associated with diplopia. - Looking at light: Sit in front of the child about 1 metre away. Shine a light source and ask the child to look at the light. Observe the position of the light reflexes on the cornea. Normally, the light reflex is symmetrical and slightly nasal to the centre of each pupil. - Cover test is a good test of eye alignment and is helpful to determine the presence of both manifest and latent strabismus o Unilateral cover test: Ask the child to concentrate on an object that is ten feet away as if â€Å"their eyes are glued to the object†. For testing of the right eye, cover the child... ...mpare the nasolabial grooves, which are smooth on the weak side) - Bell's phenomenon: Ask the child close the eyes. In lower motor neuron VII nerve palsy, the upward movement of the eyeball is seen due to incomplete closure of the eyelid. †¢ Taste Sensation - Examine for taste on the anterior two-thirds of the tongue, only in those with facial palsy. - Ask the child to protrude the tongue and not to speak during the test. - Apply a small sample of sugar, vinegar, salt and quinine solutions (sweet, sour, saline and bitter) with cotton buds to one side of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue one at a time. - Ask the child to point to the taste on a pre-prepared card to point out the response. - Rinse the mouth with water between each specimen. - Between each test ask the patient to rinse his mouth with water. - Repeat test on the other side of the tongue

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Secret Life of Bees

1. Coming of age: A coming of age novel is a novel in which shows the transition of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood through a physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual journey. The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age novel for Lily because she matures and loses her innocence. For example in chapter two Lily makes a mature decision to leave home because she finally realizes that how T. Ray is treating her is vile and un-fatherly. (Kidd 39-43). When Lily comes to the bee farm, she finds that there is goodness in the world. When she finds this goodness she grows up a little more and adds more experience to her somewhat small view of the world. 2. Literary Allusions: A literary allusion is something in the text that references to something that the audience would recognize. For example the book references Moses delivering God’s people out of Egypt, and the other uses that allusion to tie together how the bees are the one’s that delivered Lily away T. Ray. Lily says that the bees â€Å"were sent as a special plague for T. Ray. God saying, Let my daughter go, and maybe that’s exactly what they’d been, a plague that released me. † (Kidd 151). This allusion is tied to the plot because she is referencing the bees to the classic story of Moses, and also talks about how the bees were her escape from T. Ray. 3. The bees are important to the story because they are the ones who have appeared to guide Lily throughout the entire book. In the beginning of the book she traps a few bees in a jar but feels guilty about leaving them in a jar so she opens the jar to let them free, but the bees don’t leave right away, it takes them awhile to finally leave (Kidd 27-28). The bees continue to be a motif because they signify how each bee has a purpose, just like each character has a purpose. This is important to May’s death because if one bee leaves the hive things go crazy and so May was the bee that left and this left the entire hive in a fury (Kidd 192-214). The bees are also a motif in the title because in the beehive Lily has this big secret that she continues to keep from everyone and this is where the title The Secret Life of Bees has most likely came from. 4. The river is relevant to Lily’s coming of age because with this river Lily sees death and this probably reminds her of her mother’s death. Also Lily gets a more clear understanding of death because of the river taking the life of May. The river is also symbolic because the river makes up the stones that make the Wailing Wall and so Lily finds the sadness in the wall and finds out about May’s pain and sadness (Kidd 80-83). With this information Lily is able to grow up and figure out more about the world itself outside the beehive. 5. Setting: The setting is essential to the story because with the time period first of all if it took place in modern time Rosaleen wouldn’t have gone to prison, nor would those men have been aloud to beat her up without getting in trouble. Sadly this was a time when people treated black people poorly as if they were still slaves in a sense. Something else that would have been different is T. Ray wouldn’t have been able to treat Lily the way he had and this is essential to the plot because if T. Ray hadn’t gotten away with being an awful father than Lily probably wouldn’t have run away from home. The time period is important to how this story plays out for if it had been a different time period this story wouldn’t have happened. 6. 7. 8. Foil: In the story it is obvious in short period of time that June is quite different from her older sister August. While June is cold to people and shuts them out, especially Lily, August is calm, caring, motherly, and the queen bee. June is very protective of her self where August is outgoing and let’s people in no matter who they may be. For example June wants to essentially throw Lily out on the street because she wants to keep things easy, but August says that Lily needs to stay until she is ready to leave (Kidd 86-87). This is one of many times where August and June clash in personalities and this is quite important because it moves the plot along. Secret Life of Bees During the Civil Rights Movement there was a lot of hatred and violence between the black community and the white community all because of skin color. When Whitney Moore Young, Jr. states, â€Å"Together, blacks and whites can move our country beyond racism and create for the benefit of all of us an open society, one that assures freedom, justice, and full equality for all†, Whitney means that if all the hate is put aside, the community, even the entire country, can overcome anything. Racism can make or break a community or just a simple friendship.In The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd, worlds collide during the time of prejudice and racism. In the novel, a young girl tries to find herself within a black family, and learns more than she expected about herself, then she would anywhere else. She sees how even she, herself, has evidence of slight racism in her mind. When racism takes over of a society, it does not just change the mind of one person. It changes the mind of many, causing relationships and friendships between people to falter or grow.Racism can cause a dilemma with relationships between people and cause them to be at a thin line. When Lily and Zach are eating lunch after a day of work, Zach explains his dream job and what he plans to accomplish in the future. When Lily hears about it she cannot believe it. She has a sense of annoyance. Without even knowing it, she is being a bit of a racist when she states, â€Å"I’ve just never heard of a Negro lawyer, that’s all. You’ve got to hear of these things before you can imagine them† (Kidd 121).Lily does not realize she is putting Zach down by saying the statement above. Zach became defensive and stood up for himself, but surprisingly did not hold a grudge. It was more of him teaching Lily a lesson that the most famous and intelligent people do not get where they are by being unoriginal and uncreative. They get where they are by imagining what has never bee n seen before. Right around when Lily and Rosaleen first get there, Lily has a thought that suddenly seems to prove to her that she does have some prejudice in her and she is not as open-minded as she thought.Her thought after meeting August is, â€Å"Since I want to tell the whole truth, which means the worst parts, I thought they could be smart, but not as smart as me, me being white† (Kidd 78). Lily suddenly feels like she has learned a lesson about herself by meeting August and the Boatwright sisters. Until this point, she has understood racism as an act whites only committed towards color people. Nevertheless, Lily respects and feels devoted to August, and this respect and devotion begins to grow the relationship between August and Lily into something similar to a daughter-mother relationship.This only proves how racism can make or break a relationship, because you can either offend or learn from what you are doing and thinking. Racism does not just go one way and it nev er will. Everyone as different thoughts and everyone feels differently about certain things. It is a way of life almost. Lily discovers this once she begins living in the Boatwright house when June makes a statement, â€Å"But she’s white, August† (Kidd 87). When Lily overhears June make this comment, she becomes angry and thinks how absurd it is to dislike someone for their skin color.What Lily does not seem to realize right away is that it is the same thing when it comes to the discrimination white people have towards color people. This is an interesting moment in the novel because white people do not usually experience this type of discrimination and it confuses Lily at first but later realizes the reason June does not like her is because of the color of her skin and who she is. It only helps prove how racism can cause a relationship to never even be close to a relationship.The prejudice that goes around society also influences the way relationships are made and how they grow because society almost influences everything done and how it is done. An example of this is when Zach tells Lily, â€Å"Lily, I like you better than any girl I’ve ever known, but you have to understand, there are people who would kill boys like me for even looking at girls like you† (Kidd 135). Zach says this to Lily regarding any potential romantic relationship between them. This comment shows how unfair racism can be and is.Young love is typically carefree and easy and something you look forward to. However, as young teenagers, Lily and Zach have to think about the prejudices of the rest of the society because how dangerous it can get. Racism is not something that will ever really go away in this country or anywhere else as a matter of fact. It can break apart an entire nation just because of the way people think and look at things differently. Even though that is how things already are, when it comes to something so serious like racism though, there is a very thin line that people seem to cross a lot.It all just impacts the society and how it works because of a certain group of people see things a different way then it causes people to feel like what they do can be wrong if it is not approved of. People should just respect each other and let everyone be. It can really bring the nation or just a small community together and that moves the generation forward into something so much bigger and stronger. It is how Whitney Moore stated that if we can all learn to move forward as one, it can become an open society, full of all the wonderful things a society should be filled with.

Friday, August 16, 2019

If God is good why is there evil in the world? Essay

Introduction The problem of evil is as ancient as humanity itself. Since the dawn of man, thinkers, philosophers, religionists and practically every human being who have suffered at the hands of evil have pondered this enigma, either as a logical-intellectual-philosophical or emotional-religious-existential problem. The preponderance of evil as a reality in human existence, and man’s fascination with it is everywhere evident. Open a newspaper, switched on the television, look around the office, school, family and practically every social environment and context, and the imprint of evil is as it were, omnipresent. Evil, whether physical as in natural disasters and calamities, or moral, as in lying, cheating, unrighteousness, harming others, killing, murders and lawlessness in general have been woven into the very fabric of human nature and existence. The reality of evil is brought home to human existence in that it causes human suffering. So much so that evil and its effect has become a great preoccupation and fascination among men. One does not have to go far to see the truth of this statement. Imagine if you will a story, a movie, a novel or great literatures of the world without any mention of evil and its accompanying consequence—human suffering. Such a work if it existed at all would not do well commercially. It would universally be judged monotonous, uninteresting and boring. In fact it is no exaggeration to say that the extent and cleverness toward which evil and its many faces is painted (and sometimes overcome) in works of literature set its attractiveness index in the eyes of readers through the ages until the present day. The enigma of evil has lost none of its â€Å"luster† to the present generation. If anything its sinuous tentacles have penetrated an ever younger population. Conduct a cursory survey of titles for young adults in any bookstore near you. The panorama of subjects on crimes, killings, murders, vampires, demons, fallen angels, evil spirits, ghouls, witchcraft, and sorcery tells of a whole new generation that is being exposed to the notion of evil as something of a novelty on a massive and unprecedented scale. The disguise of evil upon our young as forms of entertainment may engender a familiarity that breeds contempt. And so by and large if we are not watchful, the corruption that is evil may no longer be so evil, at least in perception and appearance to a new generation. Evil is a Mystery While Christians rightly sorrow and sympathize with the suffering that evil brings, it should also come as no surprise that the work of evil has and will escalate in the last days. Aside from natural disasters and calamities, man’s inhumanity to man is writ large on the face of history. The last century alone has seen untold sufferings and unaccountable lives lost to two great wars. This century itself, opens with a manmade disaster that staggers the imagination—the destruction of the twin Towers through acts of terrorism. The vivid imagery of the implosion of both Towers, and the senseless death of thousands of innocents following the run-in of the two hijacked passenger planes are forever edged in the minds of the world as 9/11, a reminder of the maliciousness of evil in a most graphic form. Indeed in scripture there is a mystery that is evil—the mystery of lawlessness. As portrayed in Thessalonians, this mystery is already operating in nation and human society to bring about a divinely directed situation for the ultimate exposure of evil in the last days prior to, and heralding the Lord’s second coming (2 Thess. 2:2-4, 6-7, 8a). These passages clearly depict the present state of the world with its various manifestations of lawlessness, evil and sufferings as the result of the operation of a mystery, the mystery of evil and lawlessness that is even now operating everywhere, culminating in the unveiling of evil incarnate—a man of lawlessness, the son of perdition. The teleology of evil is ultimately embodied in a person, the person of the enemy of God. Let it not be forgotten then at the outset of our discussion on God and evil, that the rampant lawlessness and many faces of evil that we see around us is not just the mere issue of man’s doings. It is according to Saint Paul, none other than Satan’s operation (v. 9a) in all power and signs and wonders of a lie, and in all deceit of unrighteousness (vv. 9b, 10). The modern mind with its scientific enlightenment, and anti-supernatural outlook, easily askew the personification of evil. But the clear testimony of scripture is that evil is not just a â€Å"thing†, a mere act of wrongdoing or transgression. It is all that to be sure, but even more so, the true nature of evil is that it is personified in scripture—the evil one (Matt. 13:19, 38; Mk. 9:39; Jn. 17:15; Eph. 6:16; Col. 3:9) as scripture calls it—with a mind and will of its own, that is totally and irrevocably opposed to God. Even as good is a person, God Himself, for no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19); even so we need to realize in the depths of our being that evil is no less a person, Satan himself. To believe otherwise is to downplay the reality, nature and insidiousness of evil. According to divine revelation (2 Thess. 2:1-3), the exposure of the mystery of lawlessness (and therefore the ultimate unveiling of the mystery of evil) will precede the revelation of the mystery of God (Rev. 10:7). This is not to say that evil has priority over God in any way, but that evil is a shroud, a veil of darkness upon man, that is even now being lifted, that man may see the full glory of God. In other words, amidst a world that has been corrupted by evil, God Himself is working through salvation history to expose, overturn, undo, nullify and depose the mystery of evil and all its outworking, following which the mystery of God will be unveiled in all its glory. Thus evil should be recognized for what it is. We should not forget even for a fleeting moment that evil is more than just an intellectual or emotional problem. It is an anomaly of cosmic proportion amenable only to a solution that comes from an all-powerful, all-good, and all-wise God. To embark on a discussion of theodicy with respect the goodness of God and evil is to plumb the depths of mystery: the mystery of God, and the mystery of evil—around two persons, God and Satan. It is no surprise then that Frame opines in his Doctrine of God1 that the problem of evil is the most difficult problem in all of theology. In what follows we will attempt a prolegomenon on a discussion of this very difficult question, â€Å"If God is good why is there evil in the world† from the following perspectives: 1. The formulation of the problem of evil 2. The various solutions to the problem of evil as conceived by man 3. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention—whence evil? 4. The unveiling of the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ—the divine answer to evil The Formulation of the Problem of Evil â€Å"Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? 2 Epicurus’s unanswered question The presence of evil in the face of a good God has been called the problem of evil. As eloquently stated by Epicurus and David Hume, it is a triad (quoted above) of propositions that imply—since there is evil, there is no God. This formulation of the classical problem of evil assumes that God and evil cannot both co-exist. In this understanding, and from a logical and existential perspective, God and evil are incompatible and therefore mutually exclusive. But it has been pointed out by several philosophers, particularly Alvin Platinga3 that all that is needed to resolve the purported logical contradiction as stated by Epicurus and Hume, is to posit that an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God may have morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. Building on this, Groothius suggests that the classical form of the problem can be reformulated as follows4: 1. God is omnipotent and omnipresent 2. God is omnibenevolent 3. There is objective evil 4. For any evil that God allows, God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing this evil, even if we do not know this morally sufficient reason is in some cases. Thus from a deductive-logical perspective, the actual existence of evil in a world created by God is not incompatible with an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God. As Platinga puts it, â€Å"A good God will eliminate evil as far as he can without either loosing a greater good or bringing about a greater evil. †5 Consequentially, there is no contradiction between a good God and the existence of evil in the world. Perhaps this is the reason Frame begins his discussion on the problem of evil with the assumption that God exist,6 as opposed to the more traditional classical formulation that says God’s existence in the face of evil cannot be taken a-priori, but rather must remain as a proposition with truth value as yet to be demonstrated. In Frame’s reformulation the argument assumes the following form: 1. If God is omnipotent, he is able to prevent evil 2. If God is good, he wants to prevent evil 3. But evil exists Conclusion: either God is not omnipotent or he is not good The issue for Frame then is not God’s existence in the face of evil, but what kind of a God is He that is affirmed by Christian theists, and whether such a God is incompatible with the existence of evil in the world. Coming from an evangelical Reformed tradition, Frame emphatically affirmed the biblical testimony that God is all-powerful, all-good, and all-wise. The implication here is that any solution to the problem of evil that runs counter to these biblically attested attributes of God are inadequate to account for the problem of evil in a world created by an all-benevolent, powerful and wise God. The various Solutions to the Problem of Evil as conceived by Man In his Doctrine of God, Frame surveys three categories of solutions to the problem of evil as conceived by man, albeit some more biblically sound than others. The first focuses on the nature of evil, the second on the ways in which evil contributes to the overall good of the universe, and the third on God’s agency with regard evil. In this section we will present a synopsis7 of Frame’s critique of these approaches from a biblically sanctioned perspective, and draw a conclusion as to his stand with regards the problem of evil. The nature of evil: In this category Frame presents the views of those who regard evil as illusion, such as in Hinduism. This proposal fails as a solution because of the reality of the suffering that evil afflicts. If evil is an â€Å"illusion†, why is â€Å"suffering† so real? A more widespread notion held by Christendom that finds adherents in Augustine, Catholics and post-Reformist scholastics, and many modern apologists and theologians is evil as privation. Evil in this view is not an illusion. Rather it is an absence of good where good should be. As such it is a privation, a deprivation of good. In Gilson’s version and exposition, since God created all things good, everything is good in so far as it has being. Therefore in his consideration evil is non-being, and God does not create nonbeing. But even if granted that evil is a lack or privation of being, Frame’s contention is that it would not absolve God of blame for evil. 8 Another objection is that scripture does not speculate whether evil is â€Å"being† or non â€Å"being†, and doing so takes the evil out of evil and reduces the righteousness-sin relation to metaphysics, and therefore depersonalizes and detracts from the weightiness of sin. So, from a biblical perspective, the privation argument also is inadequate as a solution to evil for it does not recognize evil for what it is—an objective reality in the world. Some good things about evil as it contributes to overall good: This is the argument that evil in the world is good when seen from a broader perspective. The goodness of God is such that He does bring about greater good from evil. Scripture testifies that God does utilize evil to test His servant as in Job, to discipline His children (Heb. 12:7-11), to produce patience and perseverance in believers (James 1:3-4). This so called greater good defense is contingent particularly upon God’s lordship attribute of control, that God is sovereign over evil, and can therefore use it for good. Christian stand against evil is firmly rooted in faith in an all-benevolent God who has provided for its defense. In this regards, the apostle Peter, while acknowledging the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:4), reminds believers that God has granted to them all things pertaining to life and godliness, and precious and exceedingly great promises that they should persevere with all diligence, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love that Christians would be fruitful amidst a contrary world (vv. 3-8). In this vein, Saint Paul also writes that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). While cautioning readers on such items as the proper definition and God’s standard for good, that it is for God’s greater glory; the need to evaluate God’s action over the full extent of human history; and the necessity of faith given the future orientation of this ultimate theodicy, Frame acknowledges that the greater-good defense is basically sound. But interestingly, he says, seemingly by way of postscript, â€Å"†¦ it leaves us with a sense of mystery. For it is hard to imagine how God’s good purpose9 justifies the evil in the world. †10 Evil and God’s agency: Here Frame goes through a whole gamut of verbs in an erudite attempt to give an appropriate delineation for God’s relationship to evil: authors, brings about, causes, controls, creates, decrees, foreordains, incites, includes within His plan, makes happen, ordains, permits, plans, predestines, predetermines, produces, stands behind, and wills. Among these Frame cautions against the use of authors, incite, stand behind, wills and create. â€Å"Authors† seems to suggest that God (like the author of a book) not only brings evil about but approves of it. Contrary to scripture â€Å"incites† and â€Å"stand behind† can mean that God encourages people to do evil things. â€Å"Wills† is ambiguous, since it can mean God approves of evil, or simply that He brings it about. Frame’s view is that â€Å"creates† can be awkward because evil is a quality, not a thing, and God creates things, not qualities. Even so, it should be noted that Isaiah 45:6-7 says, â€Å"I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating evil11; I am the LORD who does all these. † According to Frame, all the other terms listed are less controversial. They differ only in connotation and can be appropriate descriptors at one time or another depending on context. Amidst his remarkable virtuosity on words, the crux of the matter is whether God merely permits evil, or whether He actually brings evil about in some sense. Scripture teaches that God controls human decisions (Gen. 45:5-8; Prov. 16:9; Acts 2:23-24), even when these decisions are sinful. As a testament to God’s absolute Lordship and control over the whole realm of creation, Christian scripture attest unequivocally that God controls all events; He makes everything happens as it does (Lam. 3:37-38; Rom. 8:28; 11:36; Eph 1:11). Astonishingly as it sounds, we cannot even become believers of Christ unless God draws us (John 6:44, 65; Acts 16:14-15). For these biblically founded reasons, Frame affirms that God does bring about sinful decisions of human beings. Frame is a compatibilist who does not subscribe to a libertarian view of agency. A popular premise of libertarian argument is that it is better to create free beings who may fail than to create beings who are â€Å"robots† or â€Å"automata† or â€Å"puppets† as such. Certainly there is truth in this, but contra scripture, libertarians ascribe to man’s freewill12 an autonomy that is quite absolute but alien to biblical thinking. Libertarianism holds that nothing in an agent’s environment or in God Himself or even in the agent’s character compels him from doing or not doing something. In this view, freedom of the will and determination of the will from factors outside of the will are therefore incompatible. For the libertarian or incompatibilists, the power of contrary choice is a necessary choice for moral agency. Notable adherents of libertarianism include the early Augustine to C. S. Lewis, Alvin Platinga, Richard Swinburne and Norman Geisler among others. These have championed libertarian agency as the basis of defense for the problem of evil. As Geisler puts it, â€Å"†¦ if it is good to be free, then evil is possible. Freedom means the power to choose otherwise. So in this present world if one is free to do good, he is also free to do evil †¦ Any alleged. â€Å"freedom† not to choose evil rather than good is not really freedom for a moral creature. †13 Frame on the other hand concludes his argument on the problem of evil by saying, â€Å"†¦ [the] answer to the problem of evil turns entirely on God’s sovereignty. It is as far as could be imagined from a freewill defense. It brings to our attention the fact that his prerogatives are far greater than ours †¦Ã¢â‚¬ 14. No doubt Frame’s stand on the absolute sovereignty of God is a very hard teaching because at one level it makes the problem of evil more intractable. But Frame has suggested that it is also reassuring because if evil comes from some other source other than God, it would be very disturbing, as it implies evil may ultimately be beyond God’s purview and control. Such a state of affair would be undesirable indeed, if not at all unthinkable. As conclusion to Frame’s survey, there are a few points worth reiterating. The main take home lessons from among the three categories of proposals on the problem of evil is that any biblically sanctioned solution must hold in tension the following scriptural truths: 1. Evil is an objective, and undeniable reality in the world. It is neither an illusion nor a privation of sorts. But there is a veil of inscrutability to the mystery of evil, and therefore we should not expect to completely penetrate the enigma that is evil. We must acknowledge in all humility that we are not meant to have complete understanding of the problem of evil this side of eternity. 2. The existence of evil in the world is not incompatible with an all-powerful, all-good and all-wise God. On the contrary scripture attests that God’s goodness and sovereignty in His attribute of lordship and control is such that He utilizes evil for our overall good, and to His greater glory. As this is future oriented, it requires the exercise of our faith. 3. Given God’s absolute sovereignty, human freedom and agency must be understood in a â€Å"compatabilistic† manner, that is, it is compatible with God’s agency in foreordaining all our decisions. In this regards any libertarian solution to the problem of evil that curtails, or put a limit on. God’s attribute of total lordship and control is contrary to biblical testimony. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention—whence evil? In this section we examine pertinent biblical evidence on the subject of evil more closely. It is worthwhile noting here that out of 1,189 chapters in the sixty-six books of the Bible, only the first and last two (Genesis 1-2; Revelation 21-22) are without evil. That leaves 1,185 chapters in which the problem of evil is dealt with in the light of God’s eternal plan for His creation. On the one hand we should recognize evil for what it is. But we should also be careful not to overplay that card. For it is well to remind ourselves that evil like all things else, is under God’s complete control. In the huge canvas of biblical narratives, and in light of God’s goodness, wisdom and sovereignty, evil is just the negative background against which God unveils two glorious mysteries: the mystery of God (Col. 2:2), and the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4; Col. 4:3) for the fulfillment of His divine economy in creation. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention. Evil needs to be seen in relation to God’s eternal intention for man before the fall. If we would understand God’s intention, we have to pay careful attention to the first two chapters of Genesis before evil and sin entered the world of man. In these two chapters, God created the heavens and the earth in good order (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), and committed the man whom He created in His image and likeness with His authority to rule over all created things (Genesis 1:26-28). Man is in the image of God in order to express God, and he has received God’s authority to represent God. In order to have the full image of God to express God, and realize the full authority of God to represent Him, man must have God’s life in him15. Therefore, in the first two chapters of Genesis, there is not only image and authority (Genesis 1), but also life, signified by the tree of life (Genesis 2:8-9). Although man, created in the image of God and committed with God’s authority in Genesis 1 is very good, he is not yet perfect with respect God’s original intention for him. Frame is right in distinguishing between that which is merely â€Å"good† in Genesis 1:31 and that which is â€Å"perfect†16. In Genesis 1, although man was created good, he has the potential to sin. It seems that for Frame, to be â€Å"perfect†, man must also possess the God-like quality of not being able to sin. So after Genesis 1, we have Genesis 2, where man was placed in Eden with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (also in the midst of the garden). God’s intention was that man should take in the tree of life, representing God as life, and reject the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that the created man may be â€Å"perfect† according to God’s original design. It is by eating (partaking and receiving into him) the fruits of the tree of life, that he may have God’s eternal life (cf: John 5:51 and Gen. 3:22. Also see explanatory note 15 on page 14) and hence the ability to be conformed to this life in all its innate goodness, including the ability to not sin. In other words, man was created as a special vessel (Rom. 9:20-21) with God’s image and likeness, but if he stops in Genesis 1, that is all he has—the outward form of God’s image and likeness. As such, he will not be â€Å"perfect†, because though â€Å"good†, he has the potential to sin. This is like a glove which was created in the image of a hand. The glove is â€Å"good† because it has the exact outward image of the hand, but this is not â€Å"perfect† because the five fingers of the glove is just an image. They are not able to function â€Å"perfectly† the way a hand can. According to its original design, the glove can only fulfill its full potential and be â€Å"perfect† if it receives the hand into it as content. Likewise in man’s original created state, the image and likeness that he possessed is â€Å"good† but not â€Å"perfect†. To be â€Å"perfect† according to God’s eternal intention, man must have God’s life in him. Whence evil? Unfortunately, before God could come into man as life17 and carry out His purposes, the embodiment of Satan—the subtle serpent, caused man to fall (Genesis 3:1-7). Due to the fall, the race of Adam failed God. Romans 6 tells of the tragic consequences of the entrance of sin and evil upon the world’s stage when Adam disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Paul says that through one man’s disobedience, evil entered the world’s stage, and through sin, death passed to all man because all have sinned (5:12). Furthermore, the apostle adds that through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted18 sinners (v. 19). Even more than just an act of wrong doing, sin in Pauline understanding is an inward constitution, the nature19 of sin within man (7:20b, 23). Through his fall Adam received an element that was not created by God. This was the satanic nature of sin. Thus evil entered the world as sin, which became the constituting essence and main element of fallen man. It is this constituting essence and element that constituted all men sinners. So we are sinners not primarily because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. Whether a man does good or evil, in Adam he has been constituted a sinner. This is due primarily to an inward element in fallen man, which is prior to his outward action of wrongdoing. This constituting element is the element of sin, and through sin death passed to all men because all have sinned. Hebrews 2:14 exposes the devil as the one who wields the power of death. Death is like a tool in the hand of the evil one. It is the power of incapacity that is now operating in fallen man. Through the power of death, the devil renders mankind incapable of obedience to God. For in every sinner, death lords it over him (Rom. 6:9b), reigns in his mortal body (v. 12), and makes him a slave to sin (v. 16). And so the devil, sin and death can be likened to an evil trinity that is now operating as a mystery in fallen man—the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:7a). Out of this come all the moral, natural, and physical manifestations of evil in the world. This then is the subtlety of the entrance of evil as sin and death into the world created by God in good order. The unveiling of the Mystery of God, and the Mystery of Christ—the divine answer to evil Our thinking concerning the problem of evil tends to be man centered, probably because of the existential reality of suffering that evil brings. From such a standpoint, it is psychologically difficult to appreciate what greater good can issue from the afflictions caused by the existence of evil in the world20. The apostle Paul however councils that human sufferings are but momentary lightness of affliction (when seen in the light of God’s eternal intention for man), for suffering works out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Cor.4:17). But these things are God-centered, things of faith which eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and have not come up in man’s hearts, things that God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor. 2:9). There is a glorious and greater mystery than evil that God desires to reveal and work out through the Spirit that searches all things, even the depths of God (v. 10). To indicate that God’s eternal intention is higher than that which man could conceive, the New Testament uses the word mystery to qualify it. â€Å"Mystery† occurs 27 times in the New Testament21, of which 24 are positive and 3 negative. The three negative cases refer firstly to the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:7), and lastly, the mystery of Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5, 7). As we have seen, the mystery of lawlessness is the mystery of evil, the mystery of Satan’s operation. This will consummate in the mystery of Babylon the Great as the finality of Satan’s work in the world. But over and against the mystery of Satan’s operation, there are 24 positive references to the mystery of God’s operation in the New Testament. The first group concerns the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 13:11; Mk. 4:11; Luke 8:10). This is followed by 23 usages of the word mystery (20 of which are Pauline) to describe God’s eternal purpose, God’s will, Christ, the gospel, the believer’s salvation, the believer’s stewardship, the believer’s hope, the transfiguration of the body, faith, the church and the Body of Christ. The last reference is Revelation 10:17, in which the apostle John proclaims that the mystery of God is finished. Clearly God Himself is working out a mystery through the ages to effect the recovery of a fallen world back to His eternal intention, which according to Saint Paul’s writings can be summed up as two great mysteries: the mystery of God, who is Christ Himself (Col 2:2), and the mystery of Christ, which is the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 3-4, 9; 5:32). The Mystery of God—Christ. God is a mystery, and Christ as the embodiment of God to express Him, to make Him known, is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2-3, 9). With the entrance of sin and death into the world, the man created by God was spoiled by His adversary. But the unchanging and everlasting God would never change by annulling His eternal purpose which He made in eternity past for eternity future (Eph. 3:9-11). Thus He had to rescue the man whom He had created for His unchanging purpose, even at the cost of His only begotten Son (John. 3:16). God’s solution to the evil, sin and death that has come into the world is Christ Himself as the mystery of God—in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col:2:2-3). It is for this reason that even in eternity past Christ as the second of the divine Trinity was preparing to come into time (Micah 5:2) to die for fallen man according to the divine determination made in the council of the divine Trinity in eternity past (Acts 2:23; 1 Pet. 1:18-20). God’s incarnation in Christ, His death and resurrection, is negatively to solve the problem of sin and death, and positively to re-open the way back to the tree of life that man lost in Genesis 3, that man may receive God as life. In fact, the whole process of Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, resurrection and ascension is a mystery, the great mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) by which God resolves the problem of evil, sin and death. The problem of sin is resolved through Jesus’s death on the cross. Through the cross He accomplished what may be termed judicial redemption22 (Romans 5:10a), in which is forgiveness of the believers’ sins (4:7), justification of the believers (3:24), and reconciliation of the believers to God (5:11). Without the accomplishment of redemption with forgiveness, justification and reconciliation, there would be no basis for a righteous God to forgive a sinful people, and no way for sinful man to approach Him. The problem of death is resolved through God’s organic23 salvation in life (Rom. 5:10b), an aspect much neglected, if not in doctrine at least in emphasis. This aspect of God’s salvation is carried out by Christ’s life in the Spirit. In order to accomplish this, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b). We receive this Spirit through regeneration (John 3:6). Whereas before we were dead in our trespasses, transgression and sin, now we are made alive in Christ (Eph. 2:1, 5). Today, Christ indwells believers through the Spirit. This is Christ in us, our hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Christ is our life waiting to be manifested (Colossians 3:4). He is our life! Scripture attests that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, even Christ Himself, is in us today (8:9-11)24. This heavenly ministry of Jesus—post resurrection and in ascension—is within the believers as the Spirit, and it spans the whole spectrum of God’s organic salvation in life from regeneration (Titus 3:5), through sanctification (6:19, 22; 15:16), renewing and transformation (12:2b) to conformation (8:29) and glorification (8:30). It is indeed a salvation â€Å"so great† (Heb. 2:3a), for its eschatological goal is for Christ to make His home in our hearts through faith and that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19). And so, through the process of God’s salvation in life our spirit is enlivened (Rom. 8:10), our mind becomes life (Rom. 8:6b), and even our mortal bodies also will receive life through the Spirit who indwells us (Rom. 8:11b). Over against the reigning of sin in death in fallen man, much more we who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (5:17b). Thus in God’s salvation our whole being comes alive in order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21). In this way Christ destroys the hold of him who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14)! The Mystery of Christ. Christ is also a mystery, and the church as the Body of Christ to express Him, to make Him known, is the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4, 9; 5:32). This mystery is God’s economy, or God’s administration to head up all things in Christ. The Bible affirms that God created the heavens and the earth for a purpose. Ephesians 1:9 reveals to us that God has a good pleasure.