Friday, July 31, 2015

Evil


Why Is There Evil?

R.C. Sproul...
1.    Evil is not a thing, like some force or poison or ooze.
2.    Evil is an action.
3.    Just as Augustine said, evil is a privation of good.
4.    Evil is doing what is contrary to God’s commands.
5.    Concupiscence (an innocent inclination to sin) is a contradiction, and does not explain the origin of evil.
6.    Evil is not simply imperfection. Evil is not necessary to being a creature. Adam was not created fallen. Biblically, Christians are also promised not just physical or mental perfection in heaven, but spiritual (metaphysical) perfection.
7.    Karl Barth said original sin was the “impossible possibility,” which is just a way of saying “I don’t know” where evil came from.
8.    The best answer this side of eternity is probably “I don’t know.”
9.    Scripture itself calls iniquity a “mystery.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7)
10.Some have argued the presence of evil proves there is no God, since an all knowing all powerful good God wouldn’t tolerate such evil, when actually, the fact that we demand justice and recognize evil points to an ideal moral good (God).
11.If we agree God exists, then the current present evil we experience, while not good in itself, yet it is still apparently good that it exists right now, otherwise it wouldn’t. Nothing prevents God from accomplishing everything he wants even if that means allowing evil and using it for good purposes that would otherwise not exist.
12.God means evil for good. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20) “And an evil spirit sent by the Lord terrified him.” (1 Samuel 16:14)
13.Nothing is more clear in Scripture about God meaning evil for good than the sending of his son to die on the cross. “to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” (Acts 4:28) “It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.” Isaiah 53:10.
 
However, oddly enough, it’s only once we have decided that there is such a thing as goodness existing, that evil becomes a problem. We can’t even talk about evil unless we first assumed the good. The problem that the non-theist or the atheist has, is to account for the existence of good. Do you understand that? The guy who denies the existence of God has a much more difficult problem. He has the problem of ethics. In other words, what I’m saying is this, we do indeed have a problem with evil, but that problem is only there because of the existence of the good. And it’s not near the problem that the man has who denies God with the problem with the good.
 
Michael Reeves
First, while God is sovereign over all things, He is not the creator or author of evil. Second, evil simply does not have the existence good does. Good and evil are not equal and opposite things. Good is an eternal reality found in God. Evil is a consequential, lacking thing. Pastorally, that’s important because it means that where sin promises happiness, by its very nature it cannot deliver because it has no thing to give us.

Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Quotes&Sayings


“What many men despise today as ‘doctrine’ the New Testament calls the gospel; and the New Testament treats it as the message upon which salvation depends.” -J. Gresham Machen
---
"A God without wrath, brought men without sin, into a kingdom without judgement through a Christ without a cross."  -H. Richard Niebuhr
---
“Larry Hein, who wrote the blessing: May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.” -Brennan Manning
---
The Mizpah- Gen 31:49
49 and Mizpah,[f] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. 
"The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from another."
---
Num 6:24
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to
you; the Lord lift up his countenance[c]  upon you and give you peace.
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, July 23, 2015

HOme Instead

Blessed are they who understand my faltering step and shaking hand
Blessed are they w know my ears today must strain to catch the things they say
Blessed are they who seem to know that my eyes are dim and my wits are slow
Blessed are they who looked away when I spilled the coffee at table today
Blessed are they with a cheery smile who take the time to chat for awhile
Blessed are they who know the ways to bring back memories of yesterdays
Blessed are they who make it known I'm loved, respected and not alone
Just like you, to us, it's personal.
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Research Paper sources




http://time.com/3926042/nip-tuck-or-else/ 


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/06/16/hidden-dangers-of-cosmetic-surgery/

http://www.forbes.com/2011/06/16/top-10-dangers-cosmetic-surgery_slide_2.html

http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/briefing-papers/plastic-surgery-for-teenagers.html     

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/03/13/a-new-report-says-selfies-are-causing-young-women-to-get-more-plastic-surgery-heres-why-its-wrong/


http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2005/03/oped1-0503.html


Body image, psychosocial functioning, and personality: how different are adolescents and young adults applying for plastic surgery?

K J Simis
,
F C Verhulst
and
  • Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

This study addressed three questions: (1) Do adolescents undergoing plastic surgery have a realistic view of their body? (2) How urgent is the psychosocial need of adolescents to undergo plastic surgery? (3) Which relations exist between bodily attitudes and psychosocial functioning and personality? From 1995 to 1997, 184 plastic surgical patients aged 12 to 22, and a comparison group of 684 adolescents and young adults from the general population aged 12 to 22 years, and their parents, were interviewed and completed questionnaires and standardised rating scales. Adolescents accepted for plastic surgery had realistic appearance attitudes and were psychologically healthy overall. Patients were equally satisfied with their overall appearance as the comparison group, but more dissatisfied with the specific body parts concerned for operation, especially when undergoing corrective operations. Patients had measurable appearance-related psychosocial problems. Patient boys reported less self-confidence on social areas than all other groups. There were very few patient-comparison group differences in correlations between bodily and psychosocial variables, indicating that bodily attitudes and satisfaction are not differentially related to psychosocial functioning and self-perception in patients than in peers. We concluded that adolescents accepted for plastic surgery have considerable appearance-related psychosocial problems, patients in the corrective group reporting more so than in the reconstructive group. Plastic surgeons may assume that these adolescents in general have a realistic attitude towards their appearance. are psycholog
ically healthy, and are mainly dissatisfied about the body parts concerned for operation. corrective patients more so than reconstructive patients. Introverted patients may need more attention from plastic surgeons during the psychosocial assessment.



Has MLA format -
http://library.calstate.edu/sandiego/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c1296-41122db58c8630e3287af6d8658fd283f747cf8d939c82a7a09ee74053d5e28f3




Latina Bodies in the Era of Elective Aesthetic Surgery





Format:
Journal Article Peer Reviewed




Year:
2013




Published in:
Latino Studies, volume 11 issue 4 (1 December 2013), page 547




Source:
Palgrave Macmillan
Full text available
Check for availability

Summary

Using a multi-methods approach (for example, ethnographic interviews, participant observation, content analysis of television shows), I explored Latina women's experiences with the plastic surgery industry. This article illustrates how multiple actors - doctors, beauty pageant promoters, stylists, beauty queens, media and plastic surgery consumers themselves - construct notions of universal beauty. The reality television show Dr. 90210 and the Miss Universe Pageant competition are analyzed to understand the ways in which multiple actors/agents influence Latina/o beauty ideals and how these in turn influence plastic surgery practices. This article also explores the ways in which ethnicity, race and cultural ideals disrupt, and at times, shape plastic surgery practices. What I call the Maja woman emerges as the universal beauty ideal for Latinas. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

People who read this journal article also read :

Find other books and articles on:

Language

  • English

Standard Numbers

  • ISSN: 14763435

Cite this:

APA

Lloréns, H. (2013). Latina bodies in the era of elective aesthetic surgery. Latino Studies, 11(4), 547.

MLA

Lloréns, Hilda. "Latina Bodies in the Era of Elective Aesthetic Surgery." Latino Studies, 11.4 (2013): 547.

Turabian / Chicago

Lloréns, Hilda. 2013. Latina Bodies in the Era of Elective Aesthetic Surgery. Latino Studies. 11, no. 4: 547.
These citations are software generated and may contain errors. To verify accuracy, check the appropriate style guide


Library Home » Find Books & Articles » Record

Cosmetic Surgery: Beauty as Commodity




Format:
Journal Article Peer Reviewed



Year:
2000



Published in:
Qualitative Sociology, volume 23 issue 1 (29 February 2000), pages 77-98



Source:
Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers
Full text available
Check for availability

Summary

Cosmetic surgery stands, for many theorists and social critics, as the ultimate symbol of invasion of the human body for the sake of physical beauty. Interpreted as somehow qualitatively different from other efforts at altering the body, plastic surgery is considered to be so extreme, so dangerous, that it leaves no space for interpretation as anything but subjugation. While such criticisms are compelling, they tend to operate at either the grand level of cultural discourse or the highly grounded level of physiological effect. As a result, they leave out almost altogether the experience of the women who themselves have plastic surgery. This article draws from qualitative interviews with 20 female clients of a Long Island, NY plastic surgeon to explore cosmetic surgery as an occasion for autobiographical accounting and a particular kind of account of the self. Interview data suggest that plastic surgery allows women who undergo these procedures to successfully reposition their bodies as “normal” bodies. At the same time, it also requires them to create accounts that reattach the self to the surgically-“corrected”—but potentially “inauthentic”—body by invoking both essentialist notions of the self and corresponding notions of the body as accidental, inessential, or degenerated from a younger body that better represented who they truly are.

People who read this journal article also read :

Find other books and articles on:





Reduction Mammaplasty in Teenagers



Format:
Journal Article Peer Reviewed


Year:
2005


Published in:
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, volume 29 issue 5 (30 September 2005), pages 385-390


Database:
Web of Science
Full text available
Check for availability

Summary

Asymmetrical breasts are an aesthetic problem for teenagers that should be dealt with by a plastic surgeon before it causes significant psychosocial problems. Incision placement is crucial, and attempts must be made to ensure that the scar is well hidden.Eleven teenage girls with asymmetrical breasts underwent unilateral reduction mammaplasty of the larger breast, and four of them also underwent augmentation of the smaller-than-normal contralateral breast with a gel-filled implant. A submammary incision was made for reduction mammaplasty, and the natural elasticity of the young skin was put to good use.There were no postoperative complications, and all the patients were highly satisfied with the final results. The scars are invisible, concealed in the submammary crease.Reduction mammaplasty is feasible for teenagers. The author recommends the procedure for correction of breast asymmetry to avoid emotional and social problems in the adolescent girl.

People who read this journal article also read :

Find other books and articles on:

Language

  • English

Standard Numbers

  • ISSN: 0364216X

Additional Notes:

  • Article
  • Journal Article

Cite this:

APA

Piza-Katzer, H. (2005). Reduction mammaplasty in teenagers. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 29(5), 385-390.

MLA

Piza-Katzer, Hildegunde. "Reduction Mammaplasty in Teenagers." Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 29.5 (2005): 385-390.

Turabian / Chicago

Piza-Katzer, Hildegunde. 2005. Reduction Mammaplasty in Teenagers. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 29, no. 5: 385-390.
These citations are software generated and may contain errors. To verify accuracy, check the appropriate style guide.  
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, July 11, 2015

eng 101 - vACTION tIME OFF

                                                            Let’s Go On Vacation
The United States is the only technologically advanced country that does not mandate that every employer give their workers paid vacation time.  Other countries that join the U.S. in this sad company are less developed countries like Nepal, India and Pakistan.  There seems to be no earthly reason for this to continue and as we can see time off can have tremendous benefits.  Fifteen days off is a luxury and a nirvana that needs to be attained.  A smaller step should be to have vacation time for employees, full or part-time, part of American law.    
There have been several attempts to change the U.S. law but it hasn’t gained any traction.  In 2007, the Center for Economic and Policy Research did an in depth study on the policies of various affluent countries concerning paid vacation time. 
Here are some highlights from the report.
France was the most liberal country when it came to paid vacation for workers with a whopping 30 days off - a month of vacation time! Austrian workers got a mandatory 22 days off with 10 days of holiday pay.  England comes in a close second to France with a generous 28 days of vacation time.  On the other hand the poor U.S. worker gets a big fat zero for government mandated paid vacation time. 
The commission found that U.S. lagged far below the average of its European counterparts where the combined total paid vacation and paid holiday is only 16 to Europe’s 20.  It also pointed out the disparity in providing vacation to low-income and part time employees to those of higher income workers or workers that are employed by large companies.  Most low income earners barely got any vacation at all.
The report found that most European countries had a minimum 20 days of vacation time.  Incredibly there were five countries that went above and beyond the mandated vacation time off by adding a little bonus to employee’s paychecks to pay for vacation expenses.  Moreover, some countries added vacation time for worker’s important life moments like getting married or moving or simply engaging in local volunteer activities.
The amount of hours worked by U.S. laborers has sky-rocketed without much to show for it.  Data provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics show that American workers are 400 times more productive than workers in the 1950’s.  The standard of living for the workers of today should have improved 400 times, yet most scrape by, living hand to mouth, no matter the income level.  Laborers  worked harder but with no benefits to show for it. Someone else is receiving those benefits.
Hardest hit are the low-income and low wage earners.  Small businesses have no budget allocated for basic benefits, much less paid vacation time.  Fast food and retail environments have been notoriously lacking in providing vacation time for their part-time employees.  Vacation time is accrued on the hours worked but most part-timers don’t even meet this criteria.
As far as opposition to the mandated paid vacation time, there are many groups that oppose the idea, saying that it’s tantamount to socialism and that it would create a nation of lazy workers.  Another opposing view was presented by corporations that stated that regulating paid vacation time would be unnecessary and would generate an extra expense in implementing and managing.   

According to the BLS, 80% of all U.S. workers working in the private sector get paid vacation time, holiday pay and sick leave.  Seventy-two percent of workers get both sick leave and paid vacation time.
Vacation time has been used by companies as an incentive to lure prospective employees to work for them.   Talented U.S. workers can be choosy in selecting employers especially the companies with liberal vacation policies.  Part-time employees also receive some sort of vacation time remuneration albeit at a smaller scale.

America’s biggest employer, the U.S. government also provides paid vacation time off, a little less competitive than other countries, but commendable none-the-less.  Federal workers receive 13 days of paid vacation during their first three years of employment, 20 days after three years and 26 days after 15 years of service. Unions as part of their collective bargaining agreement has included paid vacation time in their benefits packages. 
What the U.S. has not figured out, that other countries have found, was the multiple benefits of time off from work.  Studies have found that overwork can lead to stress, or more stress and if left unchecked can lead to major health problems including heart attacks and strokes.
Also mandatory paid time off will be a tremendous boost for families.  Parents can now spend time with their children without fear of losing work days and not getting paid.  Workers are rejuvenated and their mental and physical states are renewed. Even providing some kind of paid time off for part-time employees would be a huge improvement for the employer’s bottom line where the brightest part-timer are retained which results in less turnover and therefore less training.   
Unfortunately in this day and age of the bottom line, workers will be asked to give more and more and more without regard to each mental and physical state.  Employees are often scared to take time off because of the constant fear of being let go.  Workers coming back from rest are more productive and more energized in tackling work problems. Working days on end, employees are more susceptible to colds and flu and with their fear of taking time off, spread their germs throughout the office and before long everyone is on leave, paid or not.  Now companies have resorted to what is called consolidated time off.  The employee receives a set amount of paid time off and this can be used for anything like vacation, sick day, personal leave or even jury duty.  Vacation time is now lumped with other life events and it may seem like a lot of days off but not as much as if it were segregated.

 There are bills on the horizon that would mandate paid time off.  Even the president has weighed in urging congress to pass a Paid Leave law that would assure at least seven days of time off for all employees, private or government. This can only help the workforce, already overworked, to commit to the highest level of competence and productivity. 
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Eng 101 - Causal Essay


German Rivera
English 101
Professor McBride
June 7 2015
Word Count: 1039

Basic skills like reading and writing are the on the decline, I believe, because of two of many factors:
1)The decline of the strong work ethic
2) The rise of cultural influences

Growing up in the early 70's most families had one or both parents worked.  If only the dad worked, the mom worked harder still taking care of the home.  Most men were blue and white collar types and waking up at 5 am was the norm.  Coming home at 6pm, fighting traffic, having dinner, helping kids with homework and still having time to fix the bathroom faucet was a regular routine and repeated daily.  This had a major influence in my life not seeing my dad until the evening sometimes droopy, looking tiresome but always had time to talk and recap the day with me.  I never gave it second thought  that there was always food on the table, clothes  and shoes were always available and a car to take us places.

 Kids growing up seeing this scene play itself out every day, thought that it was normal behavior.  The parents knew the value of education and hard work, and try to instill in their kids the thought of being a valuable and productive  member of society. And that starts with being able to read and write.  I was grew older and started to work my parent's work habits shifted to me as I too took work seriously, always on time and always being productive.

Nowadays  parents have sense of entitlement and are often self-centered.  The strong work ethic has taken a back seat to sloth and high value of mediocrity has prospered.  Parents intuitively know that school is good for their kids but they are lukewarm in channeling it. Also, if the parent's education was half-heartedly gained then they saw no reason for their kids to do any better.   Working at menial jobs, they see no reason for kids to aspire when their parents can get by which has a major impact on the impressionable youth .  Unlike the valuable example my parents set for me, if a teen today wants escape the downward trajectory of underachievement set by their parents  they must do it on their own.  If filling out an application and W2's are the minimum they have to do then why take an upper level English courses?  Free education is lost in the current generation, why go to school when you can get by, by doing something else?  Private schools better promote the three R's but there is a cost, a cost most parents, even those who can afford it, are not willing to foot.

Contrast these parents with immigrant parents especially from eastern countries like India and China where education at any cost is prized and a priority in the family's lives.  These parents with a solid work ethic, work at multiple low paying jobs,  pool all their earned money to fund their children's education.  

What I stated above are generalizations. Most parents are hard working  and do want their kids to be successful and better off than they are.  Kids are given every advantage but refuse or just not inclined. Our culture today plays a major role in the dulling of our youth which brings us to my next stumbling block.

The glamour and glitz of Hollywood, the excitement of sports and the allure of social media has been a great detriment to education.  What kids watch has so much influence in their lives where fantasy overpowers reality.  They see lives of the rich and famous who talk in jumbled sentences yet still make millions.  They think that this is normal and if the stars can talk incoherently, they can also. Even college athletes are not immune to this illiteracy.  Just watch an athlete being interviewed and one will be hard pressed to understand half of what they are saying.   

The digital world has also been a detriment to the basic foundations of communications.  Full 
paragraphs give way to half-sentences and sentences give way to abbreviations.  Want to share an emotion, then use an emoticon.  Why describe what one is feeling when one can use a happy face? It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this age of social media, where the public is bombarded with millions of pictures and photographs,  words get lost in translation.

Free education is not free.  Somebody has to pay and that somebody most of the time is Joe Taxpayer.  Teachers are overwhelmed and underpaid.  They have become baby sitters to spoiled brats who are unwilling to learn.  Most teaches try  to live out their calling but are inundated with rotten kids, arrogant parents, administrative bureaucracy.  The few kids who want to learn are swept up in the peer pressured world of below-average. 

While basic skills are on the decline, critical thinking where comprehending what one is reading and thoughtfully conveying that in a written word, is in a free fall. Reading and writing take a modicum of brain activity and thought.  Critical thinking takes this to a higher level.  Being able to think and discern good and bad and choosing between good, better and best, takes experience and practice.  Some of it is innate and all of us have some aptitude for critical thinking but the muscle of critical thinking has to be  exercised.  In school higher levels of reading and writing will help but other courses like physics, algebra and  logic will enhance the learning. 

Even working at a lowly McDonald job takes a liberal amount of critical thinking where decisions have to be made for the betterment of the business.  For example, telling a customer that there is a better deal on the menu, realizing the food is stale and throw it away or the ability to correctly handle multiple orders during rush hour are just a few examples where the ability to think is needed.

Yes, free education is a valuable right in this country, but it is also our right to take advantage of it.  Sadly, our next generations will be lost unless we can at least read or right lucidly which would lead to better critical thinking which advances to a better society.  

  




Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)