The Role of the Church in Society Essay Example for Free

The Role of the Church in Society Essay The role of the church in today’s society has been undervalued, misrepresented, and ineffectively communicated. There are many churches in the United States alone that possess a great deal of resources. Some churches are full of multimillionaires and others with six-figure incomes. However, they have too much, are doing too little, and when something is done it is too late. Those who call themselves Christians and that possess an excess of wealth are called to have that wealth. There is nothing wrong with being wealthy and affluent. It is truly a blessing to have more than enough. The problem with those who are wealth is that they are oppressing the poor. Of course those who are not of the faith can be expected to care less about those who are in need. However, those who are Christian, and not just claiming to be, must in the words of the Nesquik rabbit â€Å"share the wealth. † It is more than okay to have nice things and a nice home. It is even okay to have servants such as butlers and maids. When the wealth of a Christian becomes an affair for them and they neglect the need that is plainly in view, it becomes a problem. I do not mean to say just throw money at the problem. However, to not share your finances in a way that is pleasing to the lord is sin. In James it says â€Å"†¦to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. † When a wealthy Christian redistributes his or her wealth he or she ministers to God and receives favor from both God and man. The wealthy also have a near unlimited amount of political influence. Their political influence is not just in the capacity of a lobby, but often the wealthy are personally or mutually connected with mayors, governors, senators, and the like. With the resources they possess there is an unlimited amount of good that they can do. They can break down the strong holds of evil that claim lives by way of violence, drugs, gangs, and poverty. They must also be willing to live among the poor and not separate themselves by living in suburbs or in high rises that overlook the sea of misfortune. On the other hand, there are churches that have members that do not possess an excess of financial wealth. However, they still possess a great deal of spiritual gifts and a wealth of knowledge that the old and young have acquired throughout their experiences. Many churches that do not have wealthy members still have members who possess some amount of affluence. Those same churches are also filled with knowledge, wisdom, and love that can be used to break the same strongholds mentioned above that the devil likes to employ so enthusiastically. For instance, there are people in my church who have been to college, who have are counselors or therapist, there are teachers, I would even venture to say there exist some incredibly brilliant people in my church. With those resources, a church can be considered just as wealthy as a church full of millionaires. I know a slew of students who are high school aged, that do not possess the ability to read and write effectively. Education is certainly power and more importantly, the three Rs reading, writing, and arithmetic, are the most powerful components of education. A church that has members who can navigate the three Rs ought to be sharing the wealth of that ability. By sharing that wealth, those who do not have the ability to navigate the three Rs can acquire it. Then they can do likewise and help others become more educated. Education is one of the main reasons for poverty in this country and even throughout the world. If you are educated, you can figure things out and you are able to improvise when certain dilemmas take place. Another component of wealth is the experience of overcoming tragedy, adversity, and overcoming or being content with one’s socioeconomic status. That is probably the most significant component of wealth that those in a poor church possess. The Minor Prophets were blessed with a unique calling. That calling was to be the voice of those who did not have a voice. Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, there are two recurring themes. The first them is to love God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength. The second is to love thy neighbor as thyself. The twelve Minor Prophets were called to tell Israel about itself in regards to not complying with those two major themes. Each of the twelve Minor Prophets addressed Israel with God’s displeasure. God was extremely displeased with them because Israel would often take on the idols of the nation that God allowed them to overcome. Israel would also begin to take part in some of those nation’s undesired cultural traditions and practices. The Minor Prophets also addressed Israel’s oppression of the poor and disenfranchised. Israel was guilty of being unkind and being harsh towards the poor. All of Israel was judged according to their action and inaction regarding God’s law and their mistreatment of the poor.

Gun Control in Canada Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚   There has been considerable debate recently in Canada over the issue of gun control. The Canadian parliament enacted the Firearms Act to enforce gun control by requiring gun owners to register their firearms. Just recently, the government of Alberta lead in a charge, including five other provinces and numerous pro-gun groups, complaining that the law is unconstitutional and intrudes on provincial jurisdiction. They also claim that the act infringes on property and civil rights that are guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Parliament contends that the government of Canada is within its rights to protect public safety. Pro-gun control organizations, police chiefs and the City of Toronto also back the Firearms Act. The enacting of the Firearms Act by the government of Canada is legitimately constitutional and is within the jurisdiction of Parliament as it only seeks to protect the well being of Canadians. Furthermore, this legislation does not intrude on provincial jurisdiction because it is a representation of all Canadian’s rights.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Canadian law that requires the licensing and registration of handguns has been around since the 1930’s. The new statute, enacted in 1995 is currently under heated debate, the act extends the licensing and registration requirements to shotguns and rifles. Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control says, â€Å"More Canadians are killed with rifles and shotguns every year than with handguns†. The ultimate purpose of the Act according to the government is to reduce firearm offences and violent crimes including murder. Moreover, Cukier believes the real issue is saving lives, as licensing and registration help make gun owners more accountable. She also points out a list of kids killed with firearms- a boy shot at a birthday party, a Grade 3 student shot as his twin played with a rifle. Gun control advocates may also highlight some other incidents involving firearms including the 1989 massacre at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique that claimed the lives of fourteen women and the recent school shooting that killed a fifteen-year old student. Ironically, the shooting occurred at a Taber, Alberta high school, the same province that is leading a fight to strike down the Firearms Act as unconstitutional. On February 21 and 22 of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to rule whether th... ...legitimate recreational pursuits; and guns are the tools of some trades. At the same time, guns intimidate; guns maim; and guns kill. It is precisely because of this paradox that guns are used for good as well as evil- that controversy surrounds government efforts at gun control.† It is clear that the new firearms legislation is looking out only for the best interests of the citizens of Canada. Public safety and well-being undoubtedly takes precedence to a traditional gun culture. The argument by pro-gun advocates that licensing and registering firearms will turn them into criminals is invalid since guns have the potential to seriously injure and kill people and thus, should be treated with caution and special care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Firearms Act enacted by the government of Canada should be considered as a positive notion and not as a law that invades on property and civil rights. The reason why Canada is a safe country is all due to our strict gun control laws. Moreover, if this statute was struck down as unconstitutional, there is no doubt in my mind that Canada would head towards a gun culture society that would inevitably lead to more violent crime and murders involving firearms.

Abortion: Controversial Issues in Society Today Essay

One of the major controversial issues confronting the society today is abortion. I chose abortion as the topic of discussion since it contradicts my values and beliefs. Abortion is the extraction of the human fetus from the mother’s womb with an intention to end the life of that fetus prior to its natural birth. Most religious people believe that abortion should be completely banned. They agree with the idea that it is simply a type of murder and murdering a person is a crime and abortion is just a different type of killing. Some other, generally non-religious people believe that abortion should be not be banned and it should be a personal choice whether a women gets an abortion or not. There could be some cases where the women has no choice but to have an abortion and considering these circumstances some part of the population believe that abortion should never be banned. The controversy surrounding abortion is whether it should be legalized or not? In my opinion, bearing in mind the different views on abortion I cannot agree with a particular one.I chose this issue for discussion to bring to light many of the hidden facts and arguments, of which people are unaware and not very sensitive today. Abortion is a controversial issue lacking of humanity and moral value because of the various motives behind it. Article 1 â€Å"The more you relax, the less pressure and pain you will feel,† she says. Dr. Oyer dilates Anna’s cervix and turns on the vacuum aspiration machine. She inserts a tube through Anna’s cervix, and a gentle whirring sound fills the room. She barely has to raise her voice to explain, â€Å"The cramping you feel is totally normal.† Anna lets out a few gasps before Dr. Oyer clicks off the machine, signaling the end of the five-minute procedure. By: Liz Welch for Glamour magazine. P.O.V-In this article the author tries to convey abortion as a simple convenient procedure ignoring the stigma attached to it. The stating of the process as a five minute procedure clearly shows the way society has altered the sensitivity of abortion. Article 2 The GOP:Party of Quacks. â€Å"Out of the various layers of falsehoods contained in Todd Akin’s now-notorious claim that â€Å"legitimate rape† cannot end in pregnancy, one that caused many eyebrows to raise the highest was his contention that â€Å"doctors† had told him that the female body has a way to prevent pregnancy from rape through a vague mechanism he described as â€Å"shut that whole thing down.† Surely no actual doctor would say such a thing, many of us thought. But we underestimated the right’s devotion to creating their own set of â€Å"facts,† backed up by their own â€Å"experts.† Just as conservatives have been able to pay handsomely for people with impressive-sounding credentials to spread lies about everything from global warming to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so have they been able to build up their own little empire of medical doctors who will say any fool thing about women’s bodies and pass it off as science. If anything, the anti-choice movement was instrumental in shaping the conservative approach to science. Anti-choicers were among the first to realize that if the experts and the evidence counter your beliefs, you can simply make up your own claims and put them in the mouths of well-credentialed people. It’s just as good as the truth! Better, even, because it can be endlessly manipulated to meet new ideological goals.† By Amanda Marcotte. P.O.V: Amanda Marcotte is a Brooklyn based freelance journalist, grounded on the above article her main focus is on showing resentment towards the conservative party rather than the actual question of abortion. ARTICLE 3 MOSCOW ; â€Å"Every year, millions of Russian women undergo an abortion. Russia’s government is making free abortions available to women who fall into several newly defined categories, through their twenty second week of pregnancy. Critics of the free abortions blame Russia’s declining birth rate on cheap abortions. In the past six months, twice as many deaths as births have been recorded in Moscow. Of course it’s sad, said Vaganov. The whole story is sad, the number of abortions still being performed is sad, mortality figures are sad†¦. The thing is that you can just see more of what used to be hidden from the public eye he said. We are just trying not to hide the new realities of life, and we are not neglecting the old ones.; P.O.V; The journalist is trying to show that the united states is not the only one facing challenges in abortion and is possibly biased towards the united states. Source:Cable News Network, Inc.2011 Article 4. A pregnant leukemia patient who became a flashpoint in the abortion debate in the Dominican Republic died Friday morning, a hospital official told CNN. The 16-year-old, who had been undergoing chemotherapy, died from complications of the disease, said Dr. Antonio Cabrera, the legal representative for the hospital. Her case stirred debate in her country, as her life was potentially at risk because of anti-abortion laws in the Dominican Republic. Doctors were hesitant to give her chemotherapy because such treatment could terminate the pregnancy — a violation of the Dominican Constitution, which bans abortion. Some 20 days after she was admitted to the hospital, she finally began receiving treatment. The case sparked renewed debate over abortion in the Dominican Republic, with some lawmakers calling on officials to reconsider the abortion ban. From Rafael Romo, Senior Latin American Affairs Editor,CNN According to Article 37 of the Dominican Constitution, â€Å"the right to life is inviolable from the moment of conception and until death.† Dominican courts have interpreted this as a strict mandate against abortion. Article 37, passed in 2009, also abolished the death penalty. P.O.V: The author wants to identify the situations where abortions can be deemed necessary. He tries to convince the readers to see the two sides of abortion. He seems to support the notion of legalizing abortion in the Dominican republic. ARTICLE 5: â€Å"Legalized abortion is a national holocaust; an affront to our national character; a contradiction of established principles subscribed to from the beginning of Western Civilization; an insult to the principles of our Declaration of Independence; a bane of our national spirit; and a stench in the nostrils of Almighty God. That we have allowed it to continue for 37 years now stands as an indictment against this generation of Americans and bodes ominously for the well-being of our posterity.† By Pastor Chuck Baldwin P.O.V-The author is clearly against abortion .As a pastor he takes a religious stand on as he considers it to be unholy. Based on his article he tries to urge the readers to be against any form of abortion. CONCLUSION As said by former Surgeon General and a pediatrician Dr. C. Everett Koop, the most common reason for abortion is convenience. Only three to five percent of all abortions performed are for reasons of rape, incest, the possibility of a deformed child, or severe threat to the life of the mother. According to researchers at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, of those obtaining abortions in 1980, 30 percent were under age 20 and 79 percent were unmarried, which shows that abortions in the United States are most often sought as a â€Å"solution† to the problem of pregnancy outside of marriage. The major reason behind most of the abortions is mere inconvenience or unwantedness of the baby seems mean, insensitive and unreasonable .However the question of whether abortion is right or wrong will remain a controversial issue for everybody has their own point of view on the subject. The ultimate right of choice should lie with the woman who is undergoing the abortion. This remains one of the foremost arguments and is often stated by supporters to be as important as the basic right of survival.

Near Death Experiences Essay - 572 Words

Near Death Experiences There is a great deal of skepticism about near-death experiences. While there are many written accounts available in medical and scientific journals, which describe near-death experiences, the phenomenon still raises questions. Some think that they are merely dreams, while others believe that they are actual windows showing them of what is to come in the after life. In this essay, I will try to provide positive evidence to suggest that they are indeed real, through facts, polls, scientific studies and personal stories from near-death experiences. To begin, I would like to define a near-death experience. It is a time when the body shuts down. The lungs stop breathing, the heart stops beating, and blood ceases to†¦show more content†¦News World Report). After conducting many studies, scientists have concluded that near-death experiences happen in five sequential stages: Stage one- feeling blissful sensations throughout the body. Stage two- the spirit leaving the physical body itself. Stage three- the spirit entering through a dark tunnel. Stage four- the spirit perceiving a bright light. Stage five- the spirit entering the bright light. These are just two of the numerous results from polls and studies conducted by scientists, to prove the realness of near-death experiences. Additionally, most of the scientific research has many things in common, (the stages listed above are a good example). In my research, I also found numerous personal accounts from people who have revealed their near–death experiences to others. For example, Maria Rodrigues of Toronto, Canada, who was in the hospital for immediate brain surgery, claims that she felt herself dying. â€Å"I remember going through a big tunnel, then coming out into a wondrous light. I wasn’t afraid. I felt very much at home. It was a place of pleasant peace and love† (no author, The Toronto Star). Former leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party, Pam Barrett, also from Canada, can r elate. The 46-year-old woman was having dental surgery done when her throat swelled up, preventing her from breathing. â€Å"I knew I was dying. While gasping for air, I made the sign of the cross and died. I was traveling slowly through a tunnelShow MoreRelatedDeath Experiences : Near Death Experience1189 Words   |  5 PagesNear-Death Experiences Definition: A near-death experience is defined as an unusual experience which takes place on the verge of death and is typically an out-of-body experience or a vision of a tunnel of light. Account: My first visual memory was looking forward and seeing a brilliant bright light, almost like looking directly at the sun. The strange thing was that I could see my feet in front of me, as if I were floating upward in a vertical position. I do not remember passing through a tunnelRead More Near Death Experience Essay803 Words   |  4 Pages Near Death Experience It was a warm fall day in early October, a day that I recall quite vividly. The smells of the transition from summer to fall were in the air, accompanied by the sounds of birds singing and the wind blowing through the trees. It was on this beautiful day that my existence was almost terminated. A quick hunting trip could have ended my life. After school on this day, a friend and I decided to go hunting before our evening basketball practice. I really dont know why we calledRead MoreNear Death Experiences Essay1001 Words   |  5 Pagesthe cases where people cannot decide whether consciousness still exists after death of the body. However, people with the testimony of near death experiences do not seem to fall in the category of monism, but dualism. What they have experienced with the split second of body and soul, at the edge of life and death are unexplainable. Their personal experience reassured the veracity of consciousness survives after the death of the body, and there will be an afterlife besides the life that we see existsRead MoreEssay on A Near Death Experience as a Religious Experience1276 Words   |  6 PagesA Near Death Experience as a Religious Experience A near death experience can be defined as an event which occurs to people when seemingly the bodily functions which confirm life have stopped, (i.e. clinically dead). It often has an ‘out of body’ element and may be interrupted in a religious or non religious way. Most individuals who claim to have had a near death experience say that there is a sense of indescribable bliss, ecstasy and peace. Similarly, a religious experienceRead MoreEssay on The Neurology of Near Death Experiences 1027 Words   |  5 Pagesthey have, in fact experienced a near death experience or NDE. While being involved in a near death experience there are reports that consist of involving one or more of the following: having an awareness of being dead, having an out of body experiences, feelings of euphoria, seeing a tunnel of light, and meeting deceased people. After experiencing this phenomenon, the near death survivor often reports a non-fear of death. They may experience feelings that death is not the end, but a new beginningRead MoreNarrative Essay-Near Death Experience1671 Words   |  7 PagesA Cold Sad End It’s occasionally said that human beings are the only creatures who are aware of their own death, but is this actually true? The term death is often used lightly and has been made into something of an unimportant subject. Fact of the matter is that many of us don’t want to think about death, we live in a death denying culture. Few individuals truly grasp the concept of death and how it can distort the lives of the people it comes in contact with. I was among the naà ¯ve until rightRead More My Near Death Experience Essay766 Words   |  4 PagesThe term death is often used lightly. It is frequently used in jokes and idle threats, and rarely taken seriously. Few individuals really grasp the concept of death and how it can distort the lives of the people it comes in contact with. I was among the clueless until I was ten years old. I was running home from soccer practice, speeding towards the cursed intersection, not but a quartermile from my house when it happened. Luckily I am here today to reflect on that moment. My near death experienceRead MoreNear Death Experiences Research Draft2923 Words   |  12 PagesResearch Peer Edit Near-Death Experiences Research Draft â€Å"I looked up and I saw this light; it wasn’t a normal light, it was different. It was luminescent. And it grew. I kept looking at it like, ‘What is that?’ Then it grew large and I went into it† (Sunfellow, David). Near death experiences and the knowledge of near death experiences have become more common in today’s society. Countless books have recently been written on them such as Heaven is for Real, Near Death Experiences of Suicide SurvivorsRead MoreEssay on Distinctive Features of Near Death Experiences1186 Words   |  5 PagesDistinctive Features of Near Death Experiences It is estimated that only 5% of the population will have a NDE, this being a time when an individual is pronounced clinically dead but for some reason survives death and lives to try explain why and how they had this experience. Experiences like this are usually life changing. NDE are the link between whether there actually exist a separation between the physical body and the soul this is because the features of NDE’s areRead MoreReligion And Its Effects On Society1584 Words   |  7 Pagesof years, billions of humans have existed and every single one of their lives will end with death. Over these years, many humans have founded multiple religions that explain that which cannot be explained. While the majority of people devote their lives to these religions, these religions come across as fear mongering campaign against the evils they are creating. The honest answer of what happens after death is still not proven in today, leaving millions of people to decide to either believe in a religion