The past year has seen a flood of articles commemorating the end of the Cold War, and the fact that "peace" seems to be breaking out in many regions of the world. Most of these analyses lack any larger conceptual framework for distinguishing between what is essential and what is contingent or accidental in world history, and are predictably superficial. Gorbachev were ousted from the Kremlin or a new Ayatollah proclaimed the millennium from a desolate Middle Eastern capital, these same commentators would scramble to announce the rebirth of a new era of conflict.
Bible passages considered immoral by many of today's theologians and secularists: Comparing of the Bible with a secular standard: But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth, or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble. Great and marvelous are thy The conflict essay, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
To read it literally is to believe in a three-tiered universe, to condone slavery, to treat women as inferior creatures, to believe that sickness is caused by God's punishment and that mental disease and epilepsy are caused by demonic possession.
When someone tells me that they believe the Bible is the 'literal and inerrant word of God,' I always ask, 'Have you ever read it'? Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic-cleanser; a misogynistic homophobic racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
The problem with the Old and New Testaments is that they are both dated pieces of literature that reflect the values and mores of those The conflict essay wrote them between BCE and CE.
Many passages in the Old Testament reflect a tribal mentality that portrays God as hating everyone the people of Israel hated.
It also portrays God as killing the firstborn male in every household in Egypt on the night of the Passover, justifies the institution of slavery except for fellow Jewsand defines women as the property of men. Note that even the Ten Commandments exhort us "not covet our neighbor's house, his wife, his slaves, his ox, his ass, etc.
These Hebrew Scriptures, however, also define God as love, justice and as a universal being. In the portrait of the "Servant" in Isaiah the Hebrew Scriptures portray human life as capable of giving itself away and even of acting in such a way as to draw the pain out of others, absorb it and return it as love.
The New Testament portrays Paul as believing that slavery is good if it is kind. Paul also reveals attitudes toward women that are today deeply embarrassing: Of the many thousands of essays on this web site, we regard those in this section to be among the most important.
Almost everywhere else in our essays dealing with Christianity, we compare conservative and liberal Christian points of view. This essay is different.
Here, we compare various passages in the Bible with current standards of morality -- both secular and religious. This section lists many events in the Bible that are immoral by today's secular standards, including: They are sometimes called "hard passages" because they seem to portray God as behaving in a way that would be considered highly immoral by most people today.
Some of the early Christian groups, including many in the Gnostic tradition were so offended by what they viewed as profoundly immoral actions attributed in the Hebrew Scriptures a.
The purpose and intent of this section is to show there are some profoundly violent, immoral and unethical passages in the Bible when it is compared to today's secular and religious ethical systems.
These passages are casting Christianity and Judaism a bad light. They are causing many potential Christians and Jews to reject the Bible, and may be contributing to the legitimization of violence throughout the culture, and the rapid abandonment of Christianity by older teens and young adults.
Perhaps the most serious passages advocate the punishment of innocent people for sins perpetrated by the guilty.
Solving this problem is difficult. Most religious liberals have long asserted that the Bible was written by humans who were influenced by their tribal culture, regional violence, and lack of scientific knowledge.
Most liberals accept that the passages did not reflect the will of God at the time, and are not the will of God today. However, most conservative Christian and Orthodox Jewish leaders take a very strong stand that the entire Bible reflects the will of God.
Further, many believe that God does not change his mind. If they were to teach that some biblical passages actually violate the will of God then their followers' faith in the validity of the rest of the Bible might dissipate. Included below is a link to a companion essay which discusses why it is important to either change, reinterpret, ignore, or remove those passages in religious holy books that are considered violent and unjust by today's standards Topics covered in this section:The more conflict there is in literature, the more captivating the story line.
All Conflict Essays Examples Embrace Lively Dialogue. To bring in the element of conflict in literature, it is important to use dialogue.
The dialogue should not be flat but rather interesting. Destructive conflict; also known as Affective or A-type conflict (Leigh Thompson, et al. ), is personal, defensive, and resentful in nature. A-type conflict causes the person to lose focus of team goals and issues while closing the mind to new ideas and opinions.
If you print or download from this site, please consider making at least a $ donation through PayPal. Sandra Effinger [email protected] DropBox Access -- Binder from summer workshops ( pages), various lists and handouts housed on my r etired AP English page have been migrated.
An invitation will be issued to $ donors. Amid failing UN peacekeeping efforts, South Sudan's long and difficult rainy season is the only reprieve from ongoing civil war. This report by Joshua Craze, with photographs by Jérôme Tubiana, offers a rare glimpse into the everyday struggles facing the ravaged country.
CountryReports provides over 35, pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world. With unique content from around the world, our members rely on . Albrecht Dürer: The Genius with a Great Soul.
Albrecht Dürer was not only the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance, but also a unique personality, his genius coexisting with a pure, noble character.