How It All Ends...

LOGIC!
MATH!
PHYSICS!
REASON!

SELF-INTEREST!

Torture...Part 2

“Torture Endorsed, Torture Denied” is a descriptive essay written by Marjorie Cohn. The third person article is formally dictated using a pragmatic and pessimistic tone. Cohn uses alliteration in the sentence “Water boarding is largely considered a torture technique.” Personification is used in the phrase “You’re not going to let me lose face on this, are you?” Cohn quotes Rockefeller, who uses metaphor by stating, in response to George Bush’s interrogation methods, “I’m tired of these games.”

“Donald Rumsfeld approved interrogation methods that included the use of dogs, hooding, stress positions, isolation for up to 30 days, 20-hour interrogations, deprivation of light and sound, and water boarding.” What a grotesque measure to ensure freedom. “Torture is a war crime. Those who commit or order torture can be convicted under the U.S. War Crimes Statute.” This is a staggering quote because it furnishes convicts from the way convicts are treated.

Torture testifies that the war in Iraq is a war of American self-interest, not a war for the interest of Iraqi people. Jesus Christ, God himself, had a lot to say about self-interest. If America wants to take the moral high ground internationally, they must avidly try to live lives that are modelled by the life and scripture of Jesus Christ. By modelling political policies after Christ’s teaching, they would not act imperialistically; rather they would act sacrificially for the good of other people and other countries. This is the only way terrorism from al-Qaeda can be subverted; by winning over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi population.

Marjorie Cohn’s message is that torture is an ineffective method of gaining information, George W. Bush is in a perpetual state of lying to the American people, and that councils ought to be set up that investigate and prosecute those involved in torturing prisoners in U.S. custody.

“How terrible it will be for you who get rich by unjust means! You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your families beyond the reach of danger. But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. The very stones in the walls of your houses cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint. How terrible it will be for you who build cities with money gained by murder and corruption! Has not the Lord Almighty promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain! For the time will come when all the earth will be filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.”

-Habakkuk 2:9-14 (The New Living Translation)

Torture...Part 1

“A Tortured Stance on Torture” by H.D.S. Greenway is an expository, formal essay written to inform the American citizen of the human rights abuses carried out by the Bush administration. The third person composition provides a negative, but realistic exposition of the “moral rot” that has been concealed underneath the United States’ war on terror.

“Washington shuddered last week…” is an example of metonymy as well as personification because Washington is merely the location of the American government, and governments don’t shudder. Personification is also used in the statement “President Bush…has allowed his subordinates to gnaw away at the Constitution.” Alliteration as well as metaphor are found in the line “The Bush administration has…drained away much of that reservoir of respect.”

“The trouble with torture is that a prisoner will say anything he thinks you may want to hear.” This undermines justice because false testimony can only lead to false conclusions. “The long-range problem with the Bush administration’s efforts to subvert national and international bans on torture is that it hurts us deeply in the struggle against Islamic extremism.” When George W. Bush sold the war on terror to the American population he argued that the war would decrease terror attacks, paradoxically the use of torture has only decreased America’s internationally reliability and diminished their reputation in the eyes of Islamic extremists. “Even the interrogation methods of the Soviet Union, which surely should have been discredited now, were brought into play.” This is ironic as the United States of America is now acting in the same manner as their cold war adversary.

Is torture wrong? Atheistic belief simply concludes that since we are mere products of evolutionary mutation, derived from nothingness, torture is not wrong because right and wrong are non-existent. Atheism subverts justice and fairness to sheer chemical reactions taking place in the cerebrum. It is only theism that states that torture is wrong because our actions have a direct influence on our afterlife. Therefore, only in theism does accountability exist.

Greenway’s essay assumes a moral law that exists outside of our cerebrum. By affirming morality, Greenway is affirming absolute truth, specifically that there is a God who will hold us accountable for our actions. Without a morality external to personal ideology, Greenway’s argument not only has no weight; it has no significance. Morality and the existence of an omnipotent judge are inseparable ideas.

H.D.S. Greenway’s message is that the Bush administration has poor moral character because of their use of torture. This moral shortfall will continue to exacerbate American relations with Islam as well as curtail their political credibility.

Moral significance of Climate Change

“Scientists Identify ‘Tipping Points’ of Climate Change” is a descriptive essay written by Steve Connor for the Independent newspaper on February 5, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The article is written using formal and technical language with the intention to persuade the reader that climate change is a real and immediate threat worthy of our attention. Connor’s persuasion is enhanced by his use of repetition; especially that of scientific evidence. He repeatedly uses the term “nine ways”. The use of alliteration and personification strengthen Connor’s argument, “Society may be lulled into a false sense of security by smooth projections of global change.”

Connor addresses the issue of society’s false sense of security by using environmental facts to support his argument, “The nine elements range from the melting of polar ice sheets to the collapse of the Indian and West African monsoons. The effects of the changes could be equally varied, from a dramatic rise in sea levels that flood coastal regions to widespread crop failures and famine.” Connor is convinced that small increases in temperature, due to the emission of greenhouse gases “could trigger a disproportionately larger change in the future.”

The irony of climate change is that by and large those responsible for major emissions of greenhouse gases will not suffer to the same extent as those who emit less. If Connor’s evidence is accurate, the wealthy countries of the west are indeed exacerbating the standard of living of those in developing countries. Although it is true that Canada will suffer economically from the loss of our Boreal forest, this loss is minimal in comparison to the lengthening and intensifying of droughts in Western Africa.

Longer and more intense droughts in West Africa will not only cause increased crop shortages and famine, but an additional increase in armed conflict. The Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the present Genocide in Darfur, Sudan are linked closely with a struggle over fertile land. A major cause of the Darfur genocide is the spread of the Sahara desert southwards, desolating previously fertile lands. These African droughts will only cause more bloodshed in the war-torn continent. Therefore not only does climate change create an economic problem, it also generates a significant moral problem.

It is staggering to imagine that Canadian consumerism will have a deleterious affect on the lives of other people. Canadians and the west no longer have the right to expend energy for the sake of luxury and entertainment. But to take this message to heart means that our standard of living must radically change. This change is one that is easy to endorse intellectually, but economically we will find our actions will not line up with our ideals.

In order to reverse the effects of climate change we must be willing intellectually to accept a different way of life, and then initiate ever-increasing measures to reduce our emission of greenhouse gases. The theme of Steve Connor’s essay is that firstly there is a significant amount of evidence backing up climate change and secondly that it is our responsibility to “be prepared to adapt” to a new way of life.

Taking the cross for granted

^“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” ^And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. ^Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

^He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

^Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? ^Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

^Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” ^And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

^So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. ^ Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. ^Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”





-Matthew 26:36-46



Jesus didn't have to go through with it.

What a thought! He could have called it off! There is such weight to our sin. This is why we must turn from sin, because if we don`t we we re-crucify him every day. How many times must we crucify HIM before we repent?

U2 - Please acoustic (live from Elevation Miami)

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."
-1 John 4:7-21


How is Love defined?

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7

U2 - Miss Sarajevo live from Milan

Is there a time for different colours? Different names you find so hard to spell?