From Whence I Came
Let us look at our lush forest one last time. Is it any less beautiful
if we remove the hand of a Creator God?
Imagine yourself standing alone in a lush forest under a tree. It is an old tree. The massive trunk soars to dizzying heights, terminating in a canopy of branches and leaves that seem to stretch to infinity. The broad, green leaves shelter you from the glaring sun.You reach out and touch the tree. The fissures in the rough bark swallow your fingers. You are startled by the snap of a twig and turn to find a deer staring back at you with large brown eyes located on either side of his head. His majestic visage is only enhanced by the projections of the antlers he wears like a crown.Relief floods in; deer have no sharp teeth or claws. With a snort and a flash of his white tail, he bounds into the underbrush and vanishes as quickly as he appeared. A ray of sunshine has fought its way through the leaves to illuminate a glittering object at your feet.Bending down, you pick up a beautiful gold pocket watch. Its cover is laced with intricately carved scrolls. As you open the cover, some questions come to mind. How did this forest and its creatures come to exist? Am I separate from nature and can do with it as I please, or am I a part of it? Why do deer have hooves instead of claws? What is this watch doing in this forest?
The beauty of nature often inspires feelings of awe and evokes questions such as these. However, depending on your beliefs, the answers may be radically different. Over the last few centuries, science and Christianity have become increasingly embroiled in conflict. This conflict has only intensified since 1859, when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Darwin's theory of natural selection poses an unparalleled threat to the core of Fundamentalist Christian beliefs. The debate centers on the origin of life. The theory of evolution states that species change, or evolve, gradually thorough the accumulation of random mutations over a long period of time. Natural selection is the mechanism through which this happens. These changes are not directed towards any end product. Fundamentalist Christians, or creationists, believe that the Earth and all life on it was divinely created in its present form, and that species, man in particular, do not change.
In the memoir, Night, author Elie Wiesel portrays the dehumanization of individuals and its lasting result in a loss of faith in God. Throughout the Holocaust, Jews were doggedly treated with disrespect and inhumanity. As more cruelty was bestowed upon them, the lower their flame of hope and faith became as they began turning on each other and focused on self preservation over family and friends. The flame within them never completely died, but rather stayed kindling throughout the journey until finally it stood flickering and idle at the eventual halt of this seemingly never-ending nightmare. Elie depicts the perpetuation of violence that crops up with the Jews by teaching of the loss in belief of a higher power from devout to doubt they endure.
In Charles Darwin’s life he had helped make a significant advancement in the way mankind viewed the world. With his observations, he played a part in shifting the model of evolution into his peers’ minds. Darwin’s theory on natural selection impacted the areas of science and religion because it questioned and challenged the Bible; and anything that challenged the Bible in Darwin’s era was sure to create contention with the church. Members of the Church took offense to Darwin’s Origins of Species because it unswervingly contradicted the teachings of the book of Genesis in the Bible. (Zhao, 2009) Natural selection changed the way people thought. Where the Bible teaches that “all organisms have been in an unchanging state since the great flood, and that everything twas molded in God’s will.” (Zhao, 2009) Darwin’s geological journey to the Galapagos Islands is where he was first able to get the observations he needed to prove how various species change over t...
As a child, Black Elk was blessed by his grandfathers with a vision. In this vision he saw the fate of his people. There were many symbolic creatures and elements in this vision. There we...
the idea of the wild and its importance and necessity of human interaction with the wild.
At one point in our lives as human beings we began to draw mental lines between ourselves and nature. This is something that has gradually been increasing throughout their years. Most people do not seem to notice all of these constant changes simply because we are used to the type of world we live in now. I believe that in order for somebody to understand what's happening these negative changes need to affect us as individuals. For example, many people don't realize cutting down trees to build businesses will eventually cause the world to be unsustainable. Nature is something very necessary. "Wilderness" in old English was something that had its own will, just like you mentioned in paragraph three. The Wild is a place where wild undomesticated animals should be allowed to roam
While the man is thinking about the wolf and the impact it had on its surroundings, he knows that many people would be afraid of the it. Realizing that something can be both “terrible and of great beauty,” the man's sense of awe is heightened. While laying under the moonlight, the man thinks about the wolf both figuratively and literally running through the dew on the grass and how there would be a “rich matrix of creatures [that had] passed in the night before her.” Figuratively, this represents the wolf running into heaven. However, the man imagining the wolf literally running and the beauty of her free movements across the “grassy swale” creates a sense of awe that he has for the wolf. A wolf running towards someone would be terrifying, but a wolf running with freedom is magnificently beautiful. After imagining this, the man knows that even though wolves can be terrifying, “the world cannot lose” their sense of beauty and
Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution, transforming the thinking of the entire world about the living things around us (Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)). After working on his theory for nearly 20 years, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. As soon as the book was released, the controversy began with each sides gaining followers until the climax on July 10, 1925. The idea that animals could “evolve” and change into new species, including humans, was one that challenged not only how people thought about the natural world, but challenged the story of the creation from the Bible itself. Even though Darwin himself never said that humans “evolved” from apes, everyone took it as a logical extension of his new theory. It went against the idea of argument for design that had unified theology and science for decades (Moran 5). This new threat to Christianity and the social culture of the time was one that would transform state laws on their educational curriculum.
The theory of Evolution was developed by Charles Darwin throughout his life and published in 1859 in a book called "The Origin of Species." In brief, it states that all living things on earth evolved over time and that natural selection is how they evolve. Natural selection is the process by which entire populations change in response to their environment. It works because those who are better adapted to the environment reproduce at a higher rate than those who are less suited for the environment (Biology, 2001). It is widely accepted that humans evolved from primates. That is why the trial had the nickname of "Monkey Trial". In contrast, the theory of Divine Creation states that the universe was created in seven days by God and that animals have not evolved since. One can see clear differences between these two theories.
In the novel Night, by Elie Wiesal presents the readers with many theme’s throughout the long journey of Elie, and his miraculous survival of one of the toughest experiences known to man. The major theme throughout the whole story is Elie’s struggle to maintain any sort of faith in god or a god like figure. As we meet Elie in the beginning, we see that God is a constant in this young boys life. He even stated “Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesal) Here we see that there is no second guessing his faith in god and how strong it was. But after few experiences during the Holocaust it becomes apparent that his “faith” in god seems to be lessoning day after day. After his first days in the camps, Elie wonders how God could make life this terrible for people. The cruelty he witnessed and the hardships he fought made an impact on his faith and beliefs. Questioning is fundamental to the idea of faith and belief in God. The Holocaust forced Elie to ask terrible questions about good and evil and about whether God really does exists. But just him asking these questions shows his true belief in God. So Elie questioned whether he really was faithful to God, but as he did this, he soon realized questioning belief makes him know God is really there.
I tracked over to my favorite spot on the edge of the wood: a clearing encompassed by thick trees. The area had many sweet-smelling balsam trees that reminded me of Christmas back home. A few of the remaining leaves fell from the branches of the maple trees above me.
In 1859, Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking Origin of Species, which would introduce the seminal theory of evolution to the scientific community. Over 150 years later, the majority of scientists have come to a consensus in agreement with this theory, citing evidence in newer scientific research. In an average high school biology classroom, one may imagine an instructor that has devoted much of his life to science and a predominantly Christian class of about twenty-five students. On the topic of evolution, one of the students might ask, “Why would God have taken the long route by creating us through billion years of evolution?” while another student may claim “The Book of Genesis clearly says that the earth along with all living creatures was created in just six days, and Biblical dating has proven that the earth is only 6000 years old.” Finally a third student interjects with the remark “maybe the Bible really is just a book, and besides, science has basically already proven that evolution happened, and is continuing to happen as we speak.”
I have seen it all over the news. NSA, this. NSA, that. The talk of government surveillance has been stirring up some arguments among the people of America. As a US citizen myself, I am a bit concerned that I have government officials following my every move on the computer. Then again, it is all in effort to prevent terrorist attacks, such as the horrific 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, from happening again—or so they say. Some skeptics believe that there is a dark side to our government, one that was just recently leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. According to Justin Brookman, the government has been fishing out data from companies who already have large amounts of data from users like us (“Privacy in a World of Persistent Surveillance”). But what is NSA going to do with all the miscellaneous data they collected from us? What kind of information have they found? And what about foreigners inside the US—how does the government deal with them? Where do we draw the line? How much is too much?
The name Buddhism comes from the word "budhi" which means "to wake up." This philosophy originated from the life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha. “At his naming ceremony, priests foretold that his life could go in one of two directions”( Molloy 125). He would either follow his father's footsteps and become a world ruler or he would become a spiritual leader, if he got exposed to the sight of suffering. As Siddhartha grew, his father kept him away from all the suffering of the outside world. He got educated and trained inside a luxurious palace, preparing to eventually become the ruler his father wanted him to be. All was going as planned until Siddhartha decide to visit a town close to his palace without...
Evolution views life to be a process by which organisms diversified from earlier forms, whereas creation illustrates that life was created by a supernatural being. Creation and evolution both agree on the existence of microevolution and the resemblance of apes and humans but vary in terms of interpreting the origins of the life from a historical standpoint. A concept known as Faith Vs Fact comprehensively summarizes the tone of this debate, which leads to the question of how life began. While creation represents a religious understanding of life, evolution acknowledges a scientific interpretation of the origins of life. The theory is illustrated as the process by which organisms change species over time.
Tobacco has been used, enjoyed, and abused around the world for centuries. Originally tobacco was produced for pipe smoking and chewing (chewing tobacco). The first cigarette was made around the 1600’s, but didn’t become popular in America until the end of the Civil War. The invention of the Cigarette rolling machine in 1883 sparked a tremendous surge of production and sales of cigarettes around the world. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that health risks from long-term tobacco use became a real issue in the world. In 1966 the American Surgeon General demanded warning labels be put on cigarette cartons warning users the possible health risks associated with tobacco use. Tobacco use has been a growing epidemic in the United