Augustines God Vs. Epictetus God :: essays research papers

At first glance, I was immediatly inclined to argue in epictetus' favor, because it pains me to argue that Christianity is good for anybody. In the following paragraphs, i will contrast the God of Epictetus, and the God of Augustine, and in the end, my stand will be clear. Epictetus and Augustine both identify God on basic level. Epictetus says, "Where the essence of God is, there too is the essence of good. What is the essence of God?......Right Reason? Certainly. Here then, without more ado, seek the essence of good." He says strive for goodness, live in conformity with it, and you will find God. God is the vital force that creates all things and the cosmic intellegence that governs it from within. Augustine says: "Where I found truth, there i found my God, who is truth itself." He says strive for truth and understanding...In loving God, we love truth. Persons can come to know truth though inner experience and conviction, he holds that you can't obtain true knowledge without faith. you must have faith in God, who is the essence of all truth. Both philosophers address man's powerlessness in the face of God. Epictetus asserted that humans are basically limited and irrational beings, but that the universe, ruled by God through pure reason, is perfect. Because human beings can neither know nor control their destiny, they must cease striving for the attainment of worldly ends and pleasures and instead calmly accept the fact of their own powerlessness before fate. The only thing in a person's power is their response to events or outlook, namely, their morality. Augustine believed faith preceded reason. He believed people are good, but not perfect. But in Augustinean theology, each person is predestined to either heaven, or to fry like bacon, and there's nothing you can do about it. Salvation is a "free gift" with purchase, but only to every 7,000th caller. This is where i would think morality means squat. If you know God decided when you were born whether or not you were going to heaven, nothing you do makes any difference. You can step all over everbody, and run with scissors and it doesn't matter. If you go to hell, you were going there anyway. If you're going to heaven, you've got a few good stories to tell when you get there. On top of all this, Augustine says that no human mind can penetrate the mystery of of God's wisdom.

Computer Addiction Essay

Computer addiction is a mental illness which causes the excessive use of computers to the extent that it interferes with daily life. Excessive use may explain problems in social interaction, mood, personality, work ethic, relationships, thought processes, or sleep deprivation. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include a diagnosis for such a disease. The term †²computer addiction†² originated long before the Internet. Some people develop bad habits in their computer use that cause them significant problems in their lives. The types of behavior and negative consequences are similar to those of known addictive disorders. Effects Excessive computer use may result in, or occur with: Lack of social interaction. Using the computer for pleasure, gratification, or relief from stress. Feeling irritable and out of control or depressed when not using it. Spending increasing amounts of time and money on hardware, software, magazines, and computer-related activities. Neglecting work, school, or family obligations. Lying about the amount of time spent on computer activities. Risking loss of career goals, educational objectives, and personal relationships. Failing at repeated efforts to control computer use. A cause for many of the above-mentioned effects may be that computer games do not stimulate the release of neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of satisfaction and relaxation, such as oxytocin and endorphin, in the same way that real world activities do. Bibliography †Exhaustion’ most likely cause of death’, 2007, Chinese gamer dies after three-day session , vnunet.com, [Online], Available: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2198850/chinese-man-dies-three-days [2009, April 14]. ‘About online gamers anoymous’ 2009, , OLG, [Online], Available: http://www.olganon.org/ [2009, April 14]. Block, 2008, ‘Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction’ Available: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/165/3/306 [2009, April 14]. ‘Chinese suicide shows addiction dangers Online life proves too appealing†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ n.d., , Play.tm, [Online], Available: http://play.tm/news/5928/chinese-suicide-shows-addiction-dangers/ [2009, April 14]. ‘Experts debate internet addiction’ 2006 , Nov. 14 Available: http://www.physorg.com/news82749930.html [2009, April 14]. ‘How computer addiction works’ 2009, Available: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-addiction3.htm [2009, April 14]. Orzack, n.d., ‘Computer addiction services’ Available: http://www.computeraddiction.com/peter.htm [2009, April 14].

Zion National Park

All-throughout my young childhood I have experienced camping and hiking. It is something that I loved when I was a child, and still love to this very day. From 24 mile hikes in the Grand Canyon, swimming in the pools of Havasupai falls to my favorite, hiking in Zion National Park. Zion is a marvel to behold. The park consists of huge massive canyon walls that soar to the sky. I have walked all-throughout Zion and have experienced it first hand, it is indescribable until you see it first hand.The walls are of mostly sandstone which vary in many beautiful colors. One thing that I can say, is during sunrise and sunset the canyon walls look like a glittering diamond of assorted colors glowing in the sun.. The park is considered to have some of the most elaborate canyons in the United States. Zion consists of many canyons, high Plateau and mesas. The National Park is located at the edge the Colorado Plateau. It is here that one can notice that the rock layers have been changed, eroded to what is called, â€Å"The Grand Staircase†.The mazes of canyons and Plateau’s did not just form over night, but through millions of years of erosion and change. Scientist speculate that Zion was nothing but a flat basin close to sea level. As millions of years of sand, mud and lose gravel eroded change became noticeable. Streams and wind carried these lose materials and dropped them into sections or layers. On one of my research websites the author writes, â€Å"The sheer weight of these accumulated layers caused the basin to sink, so that the top surface always remained near sea level.As the land rose and fell and as the climate changed, the depositional environment fluctuated from shallow seas to coastal plains to a desert of massive windblown sand. This process of sedimentation continued until over 10,000 feet of material accumulated. †(http://www. scienceviews. com/parks/zion. html What I have come to realize is that the features of Zion will change as time passes. In 1000 years Zion could be a completely different place due to weathering and erosion. On my last visit to the Zion National park I noticed that there was a strange criss cross patterns in the stone.I was young and naive and thought that it was a man made phenomenon. Now however after much research I discovered what really caused the patterns. It is known as the Checkerboard Mesa and is made up of Sandstone. The checkered board like patterns are a direct cause of cross bedding, and also different layers of windblown sand. Another reason for the patterns are from years and years of erosion from the rock surface. Also weathering and the wetting and drying of the rock could have possibly caused the checkered cracks.Answers are everywhere we just have to look for them. Another grand feature of the Zion National park is the enticing Mt. Camel Tunnel. The Geology of Zion is very diverse and as I mentioned earlier is constantly changing. A perfect example of this is the Camel Tunn el. The tunnel is 1. 1 miles long and was created in the early 1900s. The first thing that I find amazing about this is that this was done during the early 1990s. This would prove to be very difficult today yet over a hundred years earlier people were cutting through 3000 foot think sandstone!On another reserach page it reads, â€Å"The Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel was a network of scaffolding, set up on the east side of the tunnel going across Pine Creek which flows below. Blasting was used to enlarge the hole and railcars hauled off debris. On the tunnel's south side, work was not an easy task because the drop-off of the canyon below is 800 feet. The whole process is considered a technological wonder and creating the Switchbacks, leading up to the tunnel, was even more difficult. †(http://www. zionnational-park. om/zion-national-park-geology. htm) My personal opinion is that there is nothing more beautiful then the world around us. I feel that everyone should visit Zion, or any o ther national park and witness the true beauty of the natural out door environment. The world is an all most living thing. It is constantly changing and becoming something new. Our existence on the earth is only a splint second compared to the geographic history of our earth. We should all strive to except this fact and learn about the natural changing world around us.

Contrib.of paint. in Mid. Age essays

Contrib.of paint. in Mid. Age essays The development and contrubutions of painting in the Middle Ages Cimabue, an Italian painter, was the first famous painter of the city of Florence. Cimabue's painting of the Madonna Enthroned is painted in a traditional style based on the medieval art of the Byzantine Empire. His faces and figures are rendered stiffly, and placed vertically without size relationship to the figures around them. Cimabue's works have great personal force and effect, even though the forms are traditional. Giotto was the most important painter of the 1300's. His paintings of the Madonna Enthroned was painted approximately twenty years after Cimabue and shows a slight contrast to the painters that came before him. Giotto painted the throne of the Madonna with open sides and showed two bearded men looking through the openings. In this way, he gave the feeling that the scene is not flat, but a sense of spacial depth and perspective. The angel's gazes are more expressive and the Virgin resembles an actual woman. His realistic style revolutionized painting in Italy and the natural figures in his works foreshadowed great changes in art. The Limbourg brothers were noted illuminated manuscript painters. Their most famous manuscript was a prayer book called Les Tres Riches Heures. In the vividly colored illuminations, beautiful lords and ladies amuse themselves while servants tend to the guests. These illustrations rise above all others of their time with intricately designed crowd scenes and exquisite detail. Hieronymus Bosch was a Dutch painter who is best known for his triptychs(three paneled paintings). Many of his paintings show landscapes full of distorted people, fantastic demons, and unidentifiable objects. Bosch's largest and most complex work is a triptych called The Garden of Earthly Delights which displays three interrelated scenes organized around the creation, fall, and damnation of the human race. The left pa...

New Role for Women in the Early Church Essays

New Role for Women in the Early Church Essays New Role for Women in the Early Church Essay New Role for Women in the Early Church Essay Church History I Theme Report New Role for Women in the Early Church This theme report analyzes how Jesus sent a new revolutionary message laying the groundwork for the elevation of the social status of women in the early church. The cultural norm of the day was that women were restricted to subordinate roles in society and the church. Jesus broke boundaries in his dealing with women and led his disciples to challenge those same boundaries as they took over leadership of the church. Luke’s Gospel story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary tells how Jesus was on the side f recognizing the full personhood of women. Mary’s sitting at Jesus feet in Luke 10:39 shows a violation of the social norms of the day. â€Å"She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. † Lesly Massey states in her book, Women and the New Testament, of critical importance is the fact that Jesus would be willing to sit in conversation with women in such a manner, or that he might have instructed them privately as a rabbi might instruct a promising student. This very fact, regardless of the spiritual depth of their talk, reveals an attitude toward women which was ncommon among Jews of Jesus day and reflective of his revolutionary manner. Massey asserts that Jesus is rejecting the second-class status of women in his society because according to the social laws of the day, only men were supposed to sit at the feet of a religious teacher and listen to his teaching. Women were supposed to stay out of sight and appear only to wait on the men. Jesus clearly rejects this double standard laying the groundwork for the elevation of women to a higher status in the new Christian church. According to the Gospels, the world was changing in 1st century Palestine, Martha and Mary represented the growing number of people who were responding to Jesus teachings. Both sisters attentiveness to Jesus as a guest in their house was not only an act of hospitality, but also a sign that they sought to understand his teachings. Their attentiveness shows the sisters as part of the movement as learners. † 1 The take away here is that this story does not show subordination of women and it shows boundaries being broken. Another insight on the same story with a focus on Martha is Satoko Yamaguchi’s Mary and Martha: Women in the World of Jesus, Yamaguchi identifies Martha as the leader of a house-church, that is, someone who cares for the practicalities needed for Jesus and his disciples to meet at her home. According to Yamaguchi â€Å"the context of the scripture implies that she frequently welcomed traveling missionaries and gave them food, shelter and possibly even financial support. In other words, Martha was one of the first church administrators (in Christian parlance, ad-minister is taken to mean in the service of ministry). Scholars now recognize that without women such as Martha to provide material support, the traveling ministry of Jesus and his followers could not have happened as effectively. † 2 Another theologian, Bonnie Thurston in Women in the New Testament says: â€Å"as I read the Gospels, under the reign of God, men and women are intended to work together in a discipleship of equals†. Thurston cites Constance Parvey’s essay â€Å"The Theology and Leadership of Women In The New Testament† in Religion and Sexism and states that â€Å"The New Testament gives two messages with regard to women. First it presents a theology of equality in Christ, a vision of equality on the theological level. But in practical parenesis many New Testament passages support woman’s subordination; that is they present a status quo ethic on the social level. Part of the power of Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of God had to do with the fact that it ushered in an entirely new mode of human existence. The fact that Jesus broke boundaries in his dealing with people led his disciples to challenge those same boundaries in their dealings with each other†. 3 Summary In the earliest days of the church, Jesus was taking steps to elevate women above their subordinate roles which was the not the cultural norm of his time. In Luke’s story of Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary, Jesus broke boundaries and broke with the status quo. The two sisters were full participants in his ministry and study. Mary elevated herself above her subordinate role by sitting at the feet of Jesus, clearly a sign of the elevation of women to a higher status in the new Christian church. Martha becomes a church leader by offering her house as a home church and by assisting in the traveling ministry of Jesus and his entourage. This story and the assertions of theologians quoted above shows Jesus breaking boundaries and breaking the cultural norms of the day which was to put women in a subordinate role unequal to men. 1 Lesly F. Massey, Women and the New Testament: An Analysis of Scripture in Light of New Testament Era Culture (Jefferson, N. C. : McFarland Co. , 1977, 19 2 Satoko Yamaguchi, Mary and Martha: Women in the World of Jesus (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis Books, 2002, 46-47. 3 Bonnie Thurston, Women in the New Testament Questions and Commentary (New York, N. Y. : Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998, 160-161.

The Cell - Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells

The Cell - Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells What Are Cells? Life is both wonderful and majestic. Yet for all of its majesty, all organisms are composed of the fundamental unit of life, the cell. The cell is the simplest unit of matter that is alive. From the unicellular bacteria to multicellular animals, the cell is one of the basic organizational principles of biology. Lets look at some of the components of this basic organizer of living organisms. Eukaryotic Cells and Prokaryotic Cells There are two primary types of cells: eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells. Eukaryotic cells are called so because they have a true nucleus. The nucleus, which houses DNA, is contained within a membrane and separated from other cellular structures. Prokaryotic cells, however, have no true nucleus. DNA in a prokaryotic cell is not separated from the rest of the cell but coiled up in a region called the nucleoid. Classification As organized in the Three Domain System, prokaryotes include archaeans and bacteria. Eukaryotes include animals, plants, fungi and protists (ex. algae). Typically, eukaryotic cells are more complex and much larger than prokaryotic cells. On average, prokaryotic cells are about 10 times smaller in diameter than eukaryotic cells. Cell Reproduction Eukaryotes grow and reproduce through a process called mitosis. In organisms that also reproduce sexually, the reproductive cells are produced by a type of cell division called meiosis. Most prokaryotes reproduce asexually and some through a process called binary fission. During binary fission, the single DNA molecule replicates and the original cell is divided into two identical daughter cells. Some eukaryotic organisms also reproduce asexually through processes such as budding, regeneration, and parthenogenesis. Cellular Respiration Both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms get the energy they need to grow and maintain normal cellular function through cellular respiration. Cellular respiration has three main stages: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and electron transport. In eukaryotes, most cellular respiration reactions take place within the mitochondria. In prokaryotes, they occur in the cytoplasm and/or within the cell membrane. Comparing Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Cells There are also many distinctions between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell structures. The following table compares the cell organelles and structures found in a typical prokaryotic cell to those found in a typical animal eukaryotic cell. Cell Structure Prokaryotic Cell Typical Animal Eukaryotic Cell Cell Membrane Yes Yes Cell Wall Yes No Centrioles No Yes Chromosomes One long DNA strand Many Cilia or Flagella Yes, simple Yes, complex Endoplasmic Reticulum No Yes (some exceptions) Golgi Complex No Yes Lysosomes No Common Mitochondria No Yes Nucleus No Yes Peroxisomes No Common Ribosomes Yes Yes Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Cell Structures

Barclays Dark Pool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Barclays Dark Pool - Essay Example Another lesson that can be learned is the importance of transparency and accountability in a company. Fraudulent activities can last for a while but in the long run they always get detected. Failure of an organization to be transparent can be costly in terms of finances and reputation. The case for instance discouraged retail investors from investing in the company due to the tainted reputation. Broker dealers such as Royal Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank and Investment Technology Group cut ties with the company’s dark pool system (McCrank and Slater 1). This already is an indication that the company will incur significant losses. Having the best interests of customers at heart is very important for a company. This is yet another lesson to learn. According to the case, Barclays deceived its customers that they would be protected against high-frequency traders while in a real sense the traders were being favoured (McCrank and Slater 1). Breach of trust is a costly endeavour as witnessed in the case. Ethical breaches are also costly based on the fact that some employees were fired after the case implicated some individuals. McCrank, John and Steve Slater. â€Å"New York attorney general accuses Barclays of dark pool fraud.† Reuters.com. Web 17 April 2015.