Prompt: Human Rights V. Majority Rule
The Declaration of Independence says “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Human rights refer to “the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, which often are held to include the right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression and equality before the law.” These unalienable rights are considered to be gifts from the creator to the individual and cannot under any circumstances be surrendered or taken and all individual’s are considered to have unalienable rights. If we say the rights are inalienable, it does not mean they are absolute or can never be overridden. To say they are inalienable means that the holder cannot lose it temporarily or permanently by bad conduct or by voluntarily giving these rights up. Some may even say human rights are not inalienable, but they are hard to lose. Human rights were designed to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal and social abuses.
Many times in our society when we discover that a person is a homosexual we find ourselves wanting to strip them of all rights. People have the right to do whatever makes them happy according to the rights we have been given, as long as these rights do not infringe upon the rights of any one else. I do believe that we have a moral obligation to raise future generations with clear cut, moral beliefs. According to the 19th chapter of Genesis, God destroyed the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, because of their depravity (men lusting after men). Homosexuality is contrary to the natural laws of God. While in the Garden of Eden God said that it was not good for man to be alone, so he created Eve to be his help meet. As one of the elderly ladies at my church will tell you, God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve nor Eve and Eva.
If we then allow people to have the right to live as they desire, (as long as it is within the legal perimeter of our land), to continue to have freedom and to pursue happiness is their right. I believe that we should not discriminate against homosexuals or anyone but I believe certain positions should be even more closely monitored, especially if it is an occupation that involves young impressionable children. Instead of making homosexuals feel they have some type of disease or should be ostracized, we need to treat them with kindness and pray that they will come to the realization that homosexuality is wrong.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Right or Wrong
Prompts: Right or Wrong
Godly Right or Inherently Wrong
As a child I was raised in a Christian home, around Christian relatives were my siblings and I were taught that according to 1 Peter 1:15 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation(living)”. Holy means to live according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system.
I try to live my life as much as possible according to the word of God, so I would like to think or believe that I am a moral absolutist. I believe in the 10 commandments and try to abide by them. I also believe in the Golden Rule that was instilled within me as a child which states that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
I was raised to know the difference between right and wrong. Some people would say that it is right to allow a lie to be spoken if it is going to allow peace instead of war. Every one needs to adhere to some type of “code of conduct” for their life because if not, the world would be in more chaos than what it is in at the present moment. As a veteran of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, I think about what the American people were told concerning weapons of mass destruction. This “lie” as some would consider it to be, has caused a lot of unnecessary deaths and sadness for many families both in America and overseas.
When I consider the other side of life, in many instances or situations I might have played the role of a moral relativist. Since being given this assignment, I have asked myself and delve deep within to really think about where I fit or belong. I want to be a moral absolutist but I can think back to times when I have been a moral relativist. Those times have been when I have allowed a lie to be told when I knew the truth would be devastating to that person. Many times I have allowed things to be said or done to keep peace within the family or between various loved ones. I ask myself “Am I morally wrong for wanting to keep the peace and not allow confusion ?” since I serve a God of peace and not of confusion. I realize that I cannot straddle the fence so to speak. I must say that at present I am a moral absolutist that finds herself at times for the sake of love, peace and harmony, turning to the role of a moral relativist for a minute or two.
Godly Right or Inherently Wrong
As a child I was raised in a Christian home, around Christian relatives were my siblings and I were taught that according to 1 Peter 1:15 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation(living)”. Holy means to live according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system.
I try to live my life as much as possible according to the word of God, so I would like to think or believe that I am a moral absolutist. I believe in the 10 commandments and try to abide by them. I also believe in the Golden Rule that was instilled within me as a child which states that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
I was raised to know the difference between right and wrong. Some people would say that it is right to allow a lie to be spoken if it is going to allow peace instead of war. Every one needs to adhere to some type of “code of conduct” for their life because if not, the world would be in more chaos than what it is in at the present moment. As a veteran of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, I think about what the American people were told concerning weapons of mass destruction. This “lie” as some would consider it to be, has caused a lot of unnecessary deaths and sadness for many families both in America and overseas.
When I consider the other side of life, in many instances or situations I might have played the role of a moral relativist. Since being given this assignment, I have asked myself and delve deep within to really think about where I fit or belong. I want to be a moral absolutist but I can think back to times when I have been a moral relativist. Those times have been when I have allowed a lie to be told when I knew the truth would be devastating to that person. Many times I have allowed things to be said or done to keep peace within the family or between various loved ones. I ask myself “Am I morally wrong for wanting to keep the peace and not allow confusion ?” since I serve a God of peace and not of confusion. I realize that I cannot straddle the fence so to speak. I must say that at present I am a moral absolutist that finds herself at times for the sake of love, peace and harmony, turning to the role of a moral relativist for a minute or two.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Perception
prompt: Perception
Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world' (Belch and Belch 2007). As a child, I was raised to believe that anything worth having is worth working for, therefore, the welfare system was there for those who only wanted a "hand out" and not a "step up". During the course of my life I would perceive those who were receiving welfare to be lazy and not wanting to better themselves. My perception was that the system was rewarding failure by saying it is okay to become pregnant at an early age and drop out of school. It appeared that people in the "system" just wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter. I believed that it was not fair for those of us that were working hard to have to pay for those who did no work at all. I also perceived that children of the "system" would become adults of the "system".
Since I have reached the early adult hood stage, I see that many of the perceptions I have, were derived from my family. When you are growing up, you receive the information given to you by your family as though they were legal and binding laws. When I began to really look at the welfare system, I realized that all of my perceptions were not correct. Everyone that is on the welfare system is not necessarily looking for a handout, neither are they being lazy. Many people are there because of jobs being discontinued, major health problems and various other reasons. Do not misunderstand me, there are some that do abuse the system and are truly lazy and just looking for a hand out. I also realize after having an opportunity to speak with some children who were children of the system and are now adults, that the perception that children of the system become adults of the system is not necessarily true. My beliefs and perceptions were those given to me by my parents and other strong independent adults that played a major role in my life. My great-grandparents owned a restaurant and my grandfather even built his own brick house, therefore, my parents were taught that laziness was not an option and that nothing in life was free and it was passed down to my generation. As a result of this, we were always given small jobs to do which increased as we grew.
Since I am a little older, I realize that my values and morals were shaped by my parents and grandparents, whether they are considered to be right or wrong. I see know that many of my opinions on the welfare system were based on perceptions I received while growing up. We must realize that our perceptions need to be objective ones because everything is not always as we perceive them to be.
Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world' (Belch and Belch 2007). As a child, I was raised to believe that anything worth having is worth working for, therefore, the welfare system was there for those who only wanted a "hand out" and not a "step up". During the course of my life I would perceive those who were receiving welfare to be lazy and not wanting to better themselves. My perception was that the system was rewarding failure by saying it is okay to become pregnant at an early age and drop out of school. It appeared that people in the "system" just wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter. I believed that it was not fair for those of us that were working hard to have to pay for those who did no work at all. I also perceived that children of the "system" would become adults of the "system".
Since I have reached the early adult hood stage, I see that many of the perceptions I have, were derived from my family. When you are growing up, you receive the information given to you by your family as though they were legal and binding laws. When I began to really look at the welfare system, I realized that all of my perceptions were not correct. Everyone that is on the welfare system is not necessarily looking for a handout, neither are they being lazy. Many people are there because of jobs being discontinued, major health problems and various other reasons. Do not misunderstand me, there are some that do abuse the system and are truly lazy and just looking for a hand out. I also realize after having an opportunity to speak with some children who were children of the system and are now adults, that the perception that children of the system become adults of the system is not necessarily true. My beliefs and perceptions were those given to me by my parents and other strong independent adults that played a major role in my life. My great-grandparents owned a restaurant and my grandfather even built his own brick house, therefore, my parents were taught that laziness was not an option and that nothing in life was free and it was passed down to my generation. As a result of this, we were always given small jobs to do which increased as we grew.
Since I am a little older, I realize that my values and morals were shaped by my parents and grandparents, whether they are considered to be right or wrong. I see know that many of my opinions on the welfare system were based on perceptions I received while growing up. We must realize that our perceptions need to be objective ones because everything is not always as we perceive them to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)