Author: Andre Coleman

The movie Amazing Grace is all about an extraordinary man named William Wilberforce. In 1784 when he was twenty-one years old, Wilberforce was elected into the British House of Common where he became a politician. A few years later, William Pitt, a close friend of Wilberforce’s, became prime minister. Together these two came together and introduced a bill banning slavery. Although Wilberforce has the help of anti-slavery activists, there were many people that supported slavery and as a result the bill was not passed. Unfortunately in 1797 Wilberforce was forced to leave his career in politics due to his poor health so he moved into a country home of one of his friend’s. Here he then meets a woman named Barbara Spooner. Spooner encourages Wilberforce to not give up his goals so he then launches a second campaign to convince England’s lawmakers to end slave trade.

William Wilberforce was a very strong Christian and he put all of his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Wilberforce had very strong foundational values as can be seen throughout the movie through his actions and choices. Wilberforce’s faith changed him from being a careless wealthy politician into a public servant that was compassionate and caring towards everyone. He used his gifts and skills in order to help create a better society. Wilberforce was very strong in character as he had very strong morals and always knew the right thing to do. While most of society at that time accepted slavery as being a necessity, Wilberforce did not conform. Most people back then has been brainwashed into believing that slavery was okay, but that’s not how Wilberforce thought. He saw that slavery was a cruel and evil thing. He knew that it was against God’s will so he did his best in order to end slavery in England. Unfortunately his bill was struck down, but even this did not stop him. He later came back with another attempt at banning slave trade. Wilberforce obviously had very strong faith and character, and as suspected he was very much a servant and did all that he could in order to abolish slavery. Wilberforce literally did everything that he could do in order to end slavery in England. This introduces another question: why would Wilberforce go into so much trouble for something that didn’t affect him? This is because he was an excellent servant. Although Wilberforce himself was not a slave he still saw the harm it was causing and he knew the suffering many people were going through because of it. He saw this and knew that he needed to do all that he could in order to help. Although he may have not reached the desired outcome at first, he did everything that he could and worked extremely hard and in the end he was able to abolish slavery.

William Wilberforce was uniquely designed by God and therefore has both numerous strengths and weaknesses. One of Wilberforce’s strengths was that he was a very strong faith. Although there were many difficulties and struggles that Wilberforce was forced to encounter, he always put his trust and faith in God. This ultimately led to his success in abolishing slavery. Although things got difficult for William he never lost his faith in God and because of this incredible faith and persistence he was then able to abolish slavery in England for good. Wilberforce was very passionate about two main things in his first: God and abolishing slavery. Both of these passions were very closely connected together and they both had major impacts on his life. William believed in God and wanted to do everything that he could for Him, and that is where slavery became involved. William knew that slavery was contrary to God’s will and as a result he dedicated his life to abolishing it, but he knew that he couldn’t do it all by himself. Wilberforce had a few friends to help him, but God is where most of the help came from. One major experience that had an impact of Wilberforce’s life purpose was when his bill was declined the first time. Wilberforce was obviously devastated and didn’t know exactly what to do. He then moved out to the country where he was then convinced by Barbara Spooner that he had been fighting for a very noble cause and never should have given up in the first place. In my opinion, this is when Wilberforce truly understood his life calling. Up until this point he had been very passionate about the cause, but now his passion has been restored and is even stronger than it had been before. He then realizes that it is his duty to end slavery and as a result he starts up a second campaign. This campaign is much more successful than his previous one and he ends up abolishing slave trade in England. Overall, William Wilberforce was uniquely designed by Jesus Christ and this can be seen all throughout his life. Wilberforce was able to do incredible things because of God’s help and these experiences that helped strengthen his faith and trust in God.

Because William Wilberforce was uniquely designed, he was different than everyone else. This means that he had his very own unique personal mission or life calling. Wilberforce’s life calling was to make the world a better place. This included getting rid of slavery in England. God opened his eyes in such a way that Wilberforce was able to see the horror of slavery and all of the tragedies it was causing. Wilberforce then realized that slavery was against God’s will and he did the best that he could to get it abolished. He worked restlessly trying to abolish slavery even though he faced many hardships. When his first bill was not passed Wilberforce was crushed, but that did not stop him. William kept on going even after his bill was struck down. He was definitely discouraged at this point but he didn’t give up all hope. He persisted and kept on going with his attempts to abolish slavery. In the end, all of these attempts were successful and slavery was then abolished. William Wilberforce had finally fulfilled his life calling. Wilberforce was drawn to helping those in need and those who were treated unfairly which is why he was so passionate about making slavery illegal. He knew it was bad and he wanted to make the world a better place. Wilberforce’s vision of a better world was not only one without slavery, but also one where people had freedoms and liberties. He was a very strong Christian and as a result he wanted the world to reflect God’s desires for mankind. He wanted everyone to serve God and each other so that the world would be a less sinful place. Wilberforce’s main strategy for accomplishing these goals was by putting all of his faith and trust in God. William knew that he couldn’t accomplish anything by himself and the he needed help. This help came from God and from numerous other individuals that helped him. He put all of his trust in God even when it seemed like there was nothing that could be done. Because William was able to completely rely on God, God was able to work through him and accomplish what needed to be done. William, with God’s help, was able to then abolish slavery and make the world a better place.

One very obvious roadblock that William Wilberforce had to overcome was when his first bill was rejected. Wilberforce was very frustrated at this point and he started to lose all hope. Wilberforce became sick and as a result he moved into one of his friend’s country house. He lived her a while as he was recovering, but then he met someone very special. This need friend of his was Barbara Spooner, and they shared very similar views. Spooner also believed that slavery was a bad thing and that it needed to go. She then encouraged Wilberforce to try again and she told him he should have never given up such a noble cause. Finally, Wilberforce started to overcome this gigantic roadblock in his life. It took much encouragement from Barbara as well as a large amount of faith in God. Wilberforce was already discouraged so he ended up relying on God more than ever and as a result God let his will be done and Wilberforce was successful in the end.

Wilberforce put all of his trust and faith in God, and the way that he lived out his life and trusted in God is a great example for the rest of the world. William worked tirelessly and devoted his life to a cause because he knew that it was wrong and contrary to God’s will. As a result he did everything that he could in order to abolish slavery. He went through many struggles and difficulties, but never gave up. This is a great example of how we should be leading out lives. Although times may get tough in our lives, we need to realize what God’s will is a fight through it. Life will throw many roadblocks in our way and sometimes they will seem impossible to overcome. However, if we put all of our faith in God we will then be able to overcome even the most impossible struggles and make the world a better place. William Wilberforce went through many difficulties and struggles in his life, but he never managed to lose sight of what he was doing it for. He was not only doing it to help those that were enslaved, but also to make the world a godlier place. He saw that the world was a very sinful place and he sought to change that. This is how we all need to live our lives. We should see the sinfulness in the world and despise it. We should then do everything that we can to destroy evil and make the world a better place so that through everything we do we serve God and do His will.

South Asia particularly, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan has billions of population who follow and practice Hinduism. Hinduism, today’s oldest living religion, is practiced by most of the natives of above countries as well as the people who have migrated from these nations to other parts of the world. Alone in India 82% people are Hindus (Moore 487). Hinduism is a unique religion without fundamentals. It is an agglomeration of religious, cultural, and philosophical ideas and practices. Thereby, Hinduism, a heterogeneous mixture of numerous traditions has its own value and set of beliefs. Hinduism, one of the oldest religions in the history, is a blend of various cultures and is legendary for its controversial origin, religious beliefs, and multiple deities.

“Hinduism” or the “religion” of Hindus, has largely unknown origins because of its great shape and unclear authors of its sacred texts. There is always a controversy regarding the origin of Hinduism since centuries. The term “Hinduism” derives from the Persian word that refers to the Sindhu (or Indus) river which is situated in northwest India. “Hindu” was first used in the 14th century by Arabs, Afghans, and Persians to describe about the people of that region. In spite of this lack of definitive origin, there are two theories, “Out of India Theory” and “Indo Aryan Theory” that deal with the history of Hinduism.

As per “out of India Theory”, Hinduism is entirely born in India. The original house of the Hindus was India; later they spread out to central Asia and thence to Europe (Modi 11). Historians, of this theory, generally hold that the origin of Hinduism can be traced to the ancient civilization of Indus Valley. Fairy extensive archeological evidences support this theory of origin before 4,000 years. Found aged rock paintings and depictions in the caves at Northern India are main bases to conclude that Hindus were in India who migrated to north and west later.

The second theory or “Indo Aryan Theory” basically says that a group of nomads called Aryans moved to the India and mixed with the natives. However, this theory of origin has been under contemporary scientists’ belief and increasing challenge. According to this theory, the Artic, of all places w as the original home of these people who migrated to India in course of centuries. Initially, these migrants populated central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and finally India. These pre-historic migrants or Aryans were considered as honorable and noble people, who invaded the Indus valley civilization and invented Hinduism along with the natives. These Aryans spoke a language that in its refined form came to be known as Sanskrit, which is believed to be the oldest language in the world. Due to the lack of supporting proof, this theory has now been proven to be flawed one and is considered nothing more than a myth.

According to scholars, the evolution of Hinduism may be divided into three periods: the ancient (6500 BCE-1000 AD), the medieval (1000-1800 AD), and the modern (1800 AD to present). About 1500 B.C. the Indus valley was invaded from the east by the Aryans. By the year 1000, the basic doctrines of Hinduism had been formed, and the ancient period of Hinduism gave way to the medieval period. The modern period of Hinduism began about 1800 with the introduction of British rule into India.

In addition to the unclear origin, another reason of Hinduism to be a unique is its basic tenets. Hinduism embraces a great diversity of beliefs about the universe, God and the path to liberation. In Hinduism, the cosmos is represented by the various elements which represent the mass. In Indian mythology, the whole universe is consists of strong radiation represented by the term OM which is the essence of all mantras, the highest all mantras and the divine word. OM consists of three sounds: the vowel a, the vowel u, and a nasalized m. It is said that OM of Hinduism and Amen of Christianity have similar sound and meaning as well. In case of God, for Hindus, he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent beyond any attributes of shapes, color, and formaˆ¦.In general, Hindus consider God not just as the supreme and almighty one, but also the personal one whom the individual can worship. Basically, the divine trinity of Hinduism is formed by Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh who possess the characters corresponding to creation, preservation, and annihilation. Hinduism considers diverse aspects of God, in multifarious form. Thereby, it is sometimes viewed as polytheistic or believing in many gods (Rosen 33). As, Hinduism is a cluster of diverse belief and traditions, the prominent themes of Hinduism include the authority of the Vedas (the oldest Indian sacred texts), the Brahman (the ultimate reality), law of karma, right actions, reincarnation, and liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

The Vedas are the most ancient religious texts of Hinduism-indeed; they are the oldest religious texts in an Indo- European language. All the religious realms and divine pantheons are described in the vast corpus of mythological and ritual Vedas. Vyas, a holy priest wrote all these Vedas, that Hindus believe. Even, Lord Krishna mentions about the importance of Vedas in Bhagavad Gita (part of Hindu largest Epic Mahabharat):

I am seated in everyone’s heart and from me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness. By study of Vedas, the goal is to know only me; and it is only I who truly know these texts, indeed, I am the creator of the final truth (The Bhagavad Gita 15.15).

There are four main Vedas where whole Hinduism is elaborated: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharwaveda. Except Vedas, Hindus believe in caste system too, where Brahmans or Brahmins lie on top. A Brahmin is a member of the highest priestly caste in Hinduism who performs priestly services. Brahmins as well as Vedas are two concepts that are fundamental to Hinduism and differentiate the faith from Buddhism and Jainism.

Hindu scriptures explain the ultimate reality as Brahman which is obviously the source of all things. It is said that Brahman is the ultimate mystery without any attributes and qualities which is behind the universe and all the Gods. It is pure, indivisible, infinite, incorporeal, and all pervading likewise the sky. To know about life, it is necessary to know the Brahman and the Atman which is the self, the soul, the principle of individual life. Some people feel that a message of Hinduism is, through meditation and contemplation; an individual must come to realize the fact that the Brahman is Atman.

The idea that human’s soul transfer into a new body after death is a main theme of Hindu tenet and this process happens over and over in a continuous cycle known as Samsara. Throughout these lives, Karma is the one which keeps an individual imprisoned by trans-migratory cycle and determines the quality of next reincarnation. Karma means “deed” or “action”. Each soul’s unique destiny is determined by the universal law of Karma. Hindus also believe that by good Karma the cycle of Samsara can be escaped when a soul reaches a stage known as moksha (liberation). One who is free from ignorance and sins is eligible for Mokshya and after this point; the soul will reside in heaven. Moreover, truth, meditation, yoga, piousness, honesty, celibacy, prayers, penance, cleanliness, non-violence are other tenets of Hindus.

Hindus perform different religious practices and rites according to the age of an individual with the help of trained priest or chaplain serving family. Naming, weaning, hair cutting, marriage, death are different rites throughout a Hindu’s life. The most important and never a-parting relationship and most engrossing event of a Hindu’s life is marriage. It is subjected to be the most prolonged and an endless conversation however; those who remain unmarried are also treated with the upmost respect, if he has a pious motive. The bride and bride groom start their lives together where fire is taken as witness. The couples make seven rounds around the fire and each round has its specific promise which they are supposed to keep throughout their married life. In case of remarriage, the Hindu society allows a widower to remarriage however, widows are never allowed to remarry and have affairs throughout their lives. After marriage, the funeral or death ceremony comes second important and this differs from caste to caste. The closing moment of a Hindu’s life is associated with number of actions. After death, the body is destroyed, ideally on the bank of river with fire. Afterwards, Hindu mourning lasts one year, during which a large number of ceremonies have to be performed for the Mokshya or liberation of the Soul.

Hinduism is generally associated with multiple deities and does not advocate the worship of one particular deity. Home is the center of religious practices for Hindus. Deities are represented by a complexity of images and idols symbolizing divine powers. Each home has an idol, a picture or at least an image to worship. Cleaning and sprinkling the holy water are common ways to make the house holy and livable for God. In addition, Hindus go to different temples very frequently to worship different gods. Hindus view the Supreme Being’s cosmic activity as comprised of three main tasks: creation, preservation, and dissolution. There three tasks are associated with three deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva which are fundamental deities of Hinduism and they stand as creator, preserver and destroyer respectively. Lord Brahma brings forth the generation and represents the creative principle of the Supreme Being. Where, Lord Vishnu maintains the universe and represents the eternal principle of preservation. Lord Shiva represents the principle of dissolution and recreation. All future characters in Hinduism are connected somehow with these three deities. A Hindu deity represents a particular Supreme Being. These three deities together form the Hindu trinity. One must clearly apprehend that these three gods present the same power, the Supreme Being in three different aspects and are not independent. Bansi Pandit says, “The oneness of the three gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva or Mahesh is brought out by the mystic symbol AUM where ‘A’ represents Vishnu, ‘U’ Shiva and ‘M’ Brahma.”

After deities, Hindus also worship planets, trees, animals, and even spirits. As per Hindu scriptures, living beings are not apart from God, since, he resides in each and every one of the creatures in the form of atman (BG 10.39). Hence, each living being is a solitary manifestation of God. In addition, Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy and contains the earliest messages for sustentation of environmental and ecological balance. Thus, Hindus worship nine planets as God because it is believed that these angelic bodies in the cosmos affect every aspect of human lives and are responsible for all the good or bad times one faces in life. Among them, the sun has a major role and is worshipped in different forms. The holy Gayatri mantra is solely dedicated to the sun:

Let us mediate on the adorable splendor of sun; may he arouse our minds with his golden beams.

After the solar system or planets, Hindus also worship animals and plants such as cow and holy basil. The priests say that just looking after a cow in itself is a form of worship. Holy basil which is often called “Queen of herbs” is the mother medicine of nature. Generally each Hindu’s home has a basil plant in courtyard and the house is considered incomplete if it does not have a basil plant somewhere in residence. In India this plant is hallowed for more than five thousand years as a healing balm for body, mind and soul.

As Hinduism is a mixture of different castes, cultures, and is comprised of many varying beliefs such as pantheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism; it seems very unique in comparison to other eastern religions. Even though philosophers and historians have controversy regarding Hinduism, Hindus do not have any contradiction among their beliefs.

Having a baby and changing your life with a new being is a very important part of life. Regardless of culture and traditions, it is a very special process for most mothers, fathers and families in all cultures around the world. This essay will look in depth into the ways the Hindu culture views child bearing, infant feeding, post partum beliefs and in general how their beliefs differ from our Canadian modernized culture.

Child-bearing

The Hindu religion in itself is a very tight-knit culture, relying a lot on the power of their God’s and finding enormous strength in the faith itself. The child-bearing process is no exception. “Ceremonies are usually performed during pregnancy to ensure the health of the mother and growing child” (Hindu, 2012). Initially at conception a ceremony called ‘samskar’ is performed and this involves prayers of hope that a child will fulfill the parent’s obligation to continue the human race. There are rituals that the father practices with the mother such as the father parting the hair of the pregnant mother three times upward from the front to the back, this is believed to assure ripening of the embryo inside. Also, charms may be placed on or around the mother that ward off evil eyes and witches and demons.

As the pregnancy advances there are a set of prayers that are held during a ceremony to continue the blessings of the mother and child. Between the fourth and seventh months of pregnancy a ceremony called ‘Simantonnayana’ is held in which the father combs his wife’s hair and expresses his love and support for her. Traditionally in the seventh month of pregnancy Hindu’s have another ritual that is performed which would be compared to a modernized Canadians version of a baby shower, this is called ‘Seemantham’. This event is organized by the family members and involves gift-giving and religious rituals. “A prayer to fire is recited to sooth the expectant mother. Light instrumental music is played, and it is believed that this will refine the development of the baby’s ears” (Hindu, 2012).

“During pregnancy the mother usually assumes a passive role and follows directions of the trained professionals” (Leifer, 2011). During all examinations and the actual birthing process a female couch is usually preferred and they value the teachings of professionals. While the woman is in labour, her head is usually covered and if any examinations are to be done to the mother the husband must always be present.

Rituals immediately following the birth of the child are practiced as well. “Prior to the cutting of the umbilical cord, the father may touch the baby’s lips with a gold spoon or ring dipped in honey, curds and ghee. The word ‘vak’ (meaning speech) is whispered three times into the right ear, and mantras (prayers) are chanted” (Leifer, 2011). This ritual is normally called ‘Jatakarma’ and is viewed as a sacrament or samskar. This ritual is given by the father to welcome and give blessings to ensure a long life, peace and to continue the generation of talent for the newborn child. After the newborn is delivered the sex of the child is not revealed until the placenta is delivered. This information is with-held to delay stress of the mother if the gender of the child is not of her preference until after the placenta is delivered.

One of the last rituals in this category includes the performance of ‘Namakarana’ (a ceremony done to name the child). This is held between the tenth and forty-first days of life. This particular ceremony marks the child’s formal entry into his or her seat of Hinduism. “Names are chosen according to astrology” (BeliefNet, 2012) and a consultation is done in deciding the name of the child and usually names of Hindu gods or goddess are chosen and preferable. Hindu’s believe this tradition is special and a blessing because you will have an added benefit of remembering how your child was named.

Infant Feeding

Typically a newborn baby in the Hindu culture is breastfed; the belief is that by feeding the child breast milk, mothers are worshipped by the Hindu goddess ‘Durga’ (the mother goddess). It is believed that breast milk is thought to have special powers which are in their religious text as the ‘Sushrauta Samhita’. These texts also recommend delaying breastfeeding until ‘true milk’ comes in.” (McKenna, 2009). Following religious beliefs a mother’s colostrum and prelacteal feeding is discarded. Among some Hindu’s “colostrums is discarded because of a belief that its thickness and viscosity may be difficult for the newborn to swallow. Also, there are beliefs that the first breast milk is ‘stale’ or ‘old’ from being stored in the breasts for the duration of the pregnancy” (McKenna, 2009). Mothers ensure that their breasts are washed and all colostrums are discarded for the first day until the true milk comes in. Hindu’s also believe that by discarding the colostrum they are ‘purifying the tubes of the mother’s mammary glands. Prior to the mothers giving their child the true milk, Hindu’s give ‘prelacteals’ which their religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds state they are to have positive effects on the baby’s gastrointestinal and genitourinary systems. “Hindu’s use prelacteals like honey and ghee, which are thought to evacuate meconium, reduce colic and act as a laxative” (McKenna, 2009).

When the infant reaches an age of six or seven months an ‘Annaprasana’ ceremony is performed for the first solid foods. Annaprasana’s meaning is anna= rice and prasana= to enter, thus the reasoning why rice is typically the first food given, and is given at this ceremony. The difference of the month for the ceremony depends on the gender of the child. A girl child’s ceremony is held on an odd month, while a boy’s ceremony would be on an even month. When a baby gets solid food for the first time numerous prayers are offered to the child. It is believed with Annaprasana that the flaws that arise due to intake of impure food are removed. At the ending of this ceremony different articles such as books, fruits, toys and money are spread in front of the child. The baby is allowed to touch these items and it is believed that what the baby touches first will be his interest for rest of its life.

Post Partum Beliefs

Typically in most Indian cultures after a baby is born there is a lot of family support for the mother and many believe that the baby is to be handled as little as possible to allow its spine to grow normally. For the post partum women “sponge baths are usually done” (Leifer, 2011) in the Hindu culture. Usually the woman who delivered the child is “kept in seclusion for 40 days postpartum” (Leifer, 2011). This time of seclusion allows for bonding of the woman and child and immediate family. After this bonding time is complete then other family, friends and presents are welcomed into the home of the child. A traditional art of painting the skin with Henna is also performed on the woman after having a baby. “Hennaing a woman after she gives birth is a traditional way to deter the malevolent spirits that cause disease, depression, and poor bonding with her infant. The action of applying henna to a mother after childbirth, particularly to her feet, keeps her from getting up to resume housework. A woman who has henna paste on her feet must let a friend or relative help her care for older children, tend the baby, cook and clean. This allows her to regain her strength and bond with her new baby” (Cartwright Jones, 2002).

Personal Reflection

The process and importance of having a child in the Hindu religion really intrigues me. Although every culture finds importance and happiness in the process of a new child being welcomed into their family, the Hindu religion has opened my eyes into how special and meaningful this process can be. All the ceremonies and special activities that are done to embrace this beautiful time in life made me wish some of these special events were incorporated in modernized Canadian cultures. I truly believe that having this much culture and religious belief incorporated into having a child makes it even more special.

It is very important as a nurse that you take the time and consideration to value all the different areas that cultures around the world celebrate and embrace different parts of life, such as having a baby. As a nurse you must be respectful of each and every person’s beliefs and be culturally aware that every person regardless of race, color or culture may choose to embrace this part of life in their own way. It is the responsibility of the nurses and health professionals to make this the best possible experience for them and in turn being respectful to their wishes, regardless if they are different than your own.

One of the first ways we can be assured of Gods continued presence in our lives, even when everything seems in chaos, is that God himself has promised it. Look at the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples before he ascended into heaven: he said, “..and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This is straight forward assurance of God not ever letting us alone. In Psalms 139, David plainly states that not only does God know us completely and never leave us, but that the converse is true as well; we can never be away from God. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold You are there” (Psalms 139: 7, 8 NKJV). Again in Psalms 55, David says, “As for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice” (Psalms 55: 16, 17 NKJV). These scriptures are but a fraction of God’s explicit words telling of His presence always, no matter what is going on in our life. All the biblical narratives are full of the same message, implicitly. God cares for his people, so when you feel like you’re all alone, seek the promises of His Word first and take comfort in the fact that He is there.

Another way of knowing God is always there is to recall personal experiences where you have felt the same way in the past, and yet in hindsight you are able to clearly see God was with you all along. Sometimes circumstances of life can bring us to the point of feeling overwhelmed so that we miss the voice of God due to our own anxieties. I can certainly point to a period in my life where it seemed as if God had gone on vacation and everything was crumbling around me. I remember beginning this time in my life by crying out, yet I still felt crushed as I began to focus on my circumstances and not on my Saviour. In short order I came to the conclusion that God had left me alone and I began to drown in my own self-pity, circumstances of life and erroneous thinking. This went for about six years. During that time, God seemed very distant indeed, and I struggled with whether I’d every really known Him at all. As I look back upon that time however, I’m able to see moments where God was definitely present, and active in my life. My focus was just in the wrong place and I missed it at the time. Particularly, I remember God bringing to mind certain chapters of scripture I’d memorized as a child. These scriptures would replay in my mind at the strangest times, and even though I didn’t see it in the moment, God used His Word to begin drawing my focus back to him. I had peace for short spells amidst the storm of life, but I only know that for certain now as I look back. I believe God allows us to use our past experiences of life to draw on and affirm His presence. Much in the same way as He constantly commanded the young Israelite nation to remember Him and what He had done for them, we are to remember what He’s done for us in our life, in order to draw strength, comfort and assurance of not being alone in future storms of life.

Other people can also, through their testimonies, provide us comfort and assurance that God is always there. A clear example of this can be seen in some of the men I counsel at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. Many of the guys who come in and enter the year-long Men’s Ministry Program come from lives of unimaginable hardship and brokenness. It is not uncommon at all for a man to be sitting in my office and with tears in his eyes say that as he looks back across his life, he can come to no other conclusion for his still being alive, other than God has watched over him the whole way! I hear the testimony of one man who was shot by his own mother and sold to her drug dealers as a prostitute at the age of eight, who then had an entire childhood of unspeakable pain, come to the conclusion that despite all he’s been through and every terrible thing he’s also done in his life, that God was with him and spared his life. He then can begin naming specific instances from his chaotic life, where he now sees clearly that God intervened and spared him. This man’s story is not uncommon. The point here is that through his testimony, others will be able to know that no matter how rough things may be, or how far their own focus is distracted away from God, He is always there. Such testimonies are powerful reminders to God’s presence, as David says “even if I make my bed in hell, you are there.”

The next time you come to a place in your life where you feel like God isn’t there, that He doesn’t care or isn’t listening, please remember to seek out His promises in His word. As you do read His Word, think back to other times in your own life where things were turbulent and look for the evidence of His presence in those situations, and listen to the testimonies of others who can point to the faithful presence and activity of God in their lives during hard times. God is with you always, you can bet on it.

As we go through life, we travel to countries or meet people from dissimilar cultures, and we naturally question our new environments. By questioning these new societies, we are able to understand more of one’s personality and identity. Cultural identity is when certain traditions, customs, beliefs and values are shared through traditional cultural practises and become meaningful and important to oneself1. It contributes to how we see ourselves and the groups with which we identify1. Ethnic foods offer a rich set of metaphors through which individuals can express their cultures. Food is one custom that strongly connects people to their traditions, and has been not only important in Jewish culture and history, it has been central to the Ashkenazi Jews’ ideas about themselves and about others, as well as their social and communal practices2. Ashkenazis or Eastern European Jews are defined as those who, from long before 1500, lived in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia3. This essay explores how food is source of cultural identity for Ashkenazi Jews living in Australia, concentrating on the connection between food and festivals, ceremonies and the Bible. As well as the contrast of how food is not the most identifiable aspect in some Ashkenazi Jews lives.

Festivals and Ceremonies:

Formerly, Jews came together around a core of religious and ethnic traditions, such as synagogue affiliation, lighting of Shabbat candles and giving charity to Jewish foundations9. However today, Australia’s Jewish population has encountered an internal breakdown of both the concept of community and the family unit, which have united the Jewish people for so long. Ashkenazi Jews use food as a way to unify family and friends, and reconnect with traditions and culture4. Ashkenazi cuisine tends to use oil, potatoes, inexpensive cuts of meat and simple seasonings4. The importance of food to Ashkenazi Jews can be learnt from the celebrated festivals and rituals. Foods related to festivals are more based on traditions and symbolism passed down generation-to-generation, rather than the Bible. A very special celebration that occurs on the seventh day of the week is Shabbat. Good and homely food is a crucial part of the mitzvah, or good deed, of oneg Shabbat, meaning ‘enjoying Shabbat’. Traditionally, Ashkenazi Jews start the event with a small serving of a fish dish; gefilte fish, poached jelly fish or pickled fish, served as an appetizer before hot soup. A chicken main dish is then served accompanied by cooked vegetables and a kugel4. Finally, dessert is usually fresh or stewed fruits followed by tea and small cakes4. This strongly contrasts the Sephardic Jews take on Shabbat food. Sephardic Jews reflect the foods more typical of many Mediterranean countries since Sephardic Jews are descendents of settlers from the Near East. Meals include fish with avgolemono sauce, chopped eggplant, roasted lamb, stuffed vegetables, rice and, to finish the meal, a honey-soaked cake or pastry nibbled with strong and sweet Turkish coffee4. The ceremonial bread, Challah, is surrounded by folklore and tradition and laden with symbolism. On festive occasions a blessing or Motzi is said over two loaves of challah, symbolising the manna given to the people of Israel during the Exodus from Israel on Fridays5. Two portions of the manna were distributed, so the Israelites did not need to work and prepare food on the Shabbat5.

Similarly to Shabbat, foods consumed on Rosh Ha’Shanah are symbolic to certain aspects to the event, and are created by the Ashkenazi cultural traditions. Rosh Ha’Shanah means ‘head of the year’; it is the New Year’s festival of the Jewish calendar and features foods to celebrate the hope of a sweet year. A hearty main meal of fish, appetizers, meats and honeyed vegetable (Tzimmes) is conventional4. The iconic foods that signify and rejoice the Jewish New Year’s are apples dipped in honey and honey cake for a good and sweet year, and the round challah and the head of a fish which represents the circle of life and marks the cyclical nature of the course of a year4. The representations of Rosh Ha’shanah and Shabbat foods are significant to a majority of Ashkenazi Jews in Australia, because it enables them to link to their ancient religion physically and spiritually3.

However, during the most important and solemn holiday in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Torah (Jewish scriptures) commanded “You shall afflict your souls” (Leviticus 16:29)6 and “For a soul which is not afflicted on that day will be cut off” (Leviticus 23:29)6. This has been interpreted, as Jewish people need to fast from sunset to sunset to atone for the sins of the past year4. It is one of the few holidays that is not dependent on food. Thus it is one aspect which food is not a source of cultural identity. It is also an event when many Ashkenazi Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day. Instead of using food as a source of cultural identity, it is the sacred religious day. Although, it is customary for Ashkenazi Jews to make a feast for breaking of the fast. Normally consisting of cakes and hot drink to break the fast, then light salads and dairy foods to aid with digestion3. Proving that Ashkenazi Jews return to food in order commemorate important events that are momentous in the Jewish culture.

Impact of Ashkenazi foods on the non-Jewish communities:

Jewish foods don’t only give Ashkenazi Jews themselves cultural identity, but allows non-Jewish people to recognise the Jewish culture. Australia prides itself as being a multi-cultural country. In 2011, the Census revealed that 26% of Australia’s population was born overseas and an additional one fifth had at least one parent born abroad7. Throughout the 100 years since the first National Census in 1911, a large component of the Australian population have been made up of migrants7. Even though only 0.5% of Australians identify themselves as Jewish7, this hasn’t swayed the impact the Jewish culture has on the Australian diet. After World War II, Jews all over the world, especially in Australia identify the bagel with the Old World and with immigrant Jewish culture10. The bagel was brought to Western societies by the Eastern European Jews from the 1890s and have become one of the most iconic foods that gentiles identify with the Jewish culture8. Most of the other foods mentioned so far, are mostly restricted to those of Jewish faith and hardly are consumed by the wider community8. Other Ashkenazi foods readily available in the main cities of Australia, are baked goods like babka and rugelach, fried potato pancakes known as a Latke and the blintz4,10.

Jewish Dietary Laws – Kashrut:

Jewish people are supposed to follow an intricate system of procedures and taboos in relation to food, derived from a set of commandments said to have been given to Moses by G-d6. These commandments prohibit the eating of particular animals, the most recognised pig; they are prescribed definite methods for the slaughter and preparation of animals that are not banned10. The directives have been augmented by a code of practise, known as Kashrut, intended to ensure that they are never defied9. However, the observance of Jewish Dietary rules have declined sharply, with many Jews observing them only partly and many others rejecting them completely9. This situation has not, however, made these dietary rules irrelevant; on the contrary, it has made them one of the most important ways through which ideas about contemporary Jewish identity and membership can be expressed. Ashkenazi Jews needed to adapt some of the Dietary Laws due to the food accessibility in some areas3. Several changes that have been made are the mixing of fish and milk products, more leniency with the Kashrut for meat than Sephardic Jews and refraining from eating legumes, grain, millet and rice during the Passover festival10. In Australia, Ashkenazi Jews still continue to observe these altered rules because of the strong traditional aspects connected to them, which individualises them as a certain type of Jew.

Today, Jews from all different areas and streams, can deem the Kosher Laws to be an ancient form of food regulations that doesn’t need to be performed in today’s society, because of the new modern methods of cleaning and preparation of foods. Other reasons are some are not informed well of the laws, and/or consider it an added expenditure and inconvenience. More recently, animal rights groups and the Australian media have exclaimed their outrage of the ill-treatment of animals during the process of Koshering meat by companies who do not provide prior stunning11,12. This has strongly influenced Jews to disassociate themselves from obeying Kashrut, and in a few circumstances reject their Jewish identity12. This is because they think the Jewish culture doesn’t respect animals12. However, this contradicts what the Jews and the Torah believe. Ritual slaughter, known as shechita, is a fast, deep cut across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade with no hesitations or unevenness12,13. This method is regarded as painless by Rabbis because Jews believe that God, would only provide for a merciful and compassionate method of send off for his creatures6,12. The Torah is the first methodical legislation, which prohibits cruelty to animals and authorises that they be treated with consideration and value. Judaism exigencies the humane treatment of animals6,12. As well shechita has been scientifically shown to be painless. Dr. Stuart Rosen MA, MD, FRCP discussed the behavioural responses of animals to shechita and the neurophysiologic studies relevant to the assessment of pain, and concluded, “shechita is a painless and humane method of animal slaughter”13. Jews should be proud to observe Kashrut and to identify themselves as Jewish because of the humane and clean ways of preparing food.

Conclusion:

Cultural identity should be meaningful and personal to oneself, as well as an open exploration that should be shared. In multi-cultural societies, like Australia, recognising certain cultures can be done by looking at their foods. Ashkenazi Jews are now identifiable by non-Jewish societies, because they relate the Ashkenazi community with iconic foods, such as bagels. For Ashkenazi Jews, the saying “You eat what you are”4 applies perfectly. They have special foods and diets for their sacred occasions, and ritual eating at festivals and ceremonies allow Ashkenazi Jews to reflect on and identify with their culture and religion through the symbolic representations of the traditional foods. However, you are what you don’t eat as well. The solemn festival of Yom Kippur , is one of the most important Jewish festivals and requires Jews to fast from sunset to sunset4. Also the laws of Kashrut have strict guidelines of forbidden foods, and precise manners of food preparation that need to be obeyed9. Kosher eating is a essential part of food being a source of cultural identity, even though not every Jew observes all the laws.

In 1981, as a result of a Synod of Bishops specially devoted to further awareness of the (then) current understanding of marriage and the Christian family in the modern world, Pope John Paul II promulgated an apostolic exhortation entitled FamiliarisConsortio (On the family).

The well-known biographer of John Paul II, George Weigel, claims that in private conversations held with the holy father he came to learn that the pope regarded Familiaris Consortio as one of his favorite letters he had ever written as pope to the family of God (Witness to Hope, 385). The document is a wide-ranging and broad one in terms of the sheer breadth of the content covered therein, and it is therefore hardly any wonder that a prominent Catholic encyclopedia should say of the apostolic exhortation that it is one of the most important sources for the theological meaning of the sacrament of Marriage (Stravinskas, Catholic Encyclopedia, 628).

Many writers who have taken this exhortation as their springingpoint to launch into various issues, which are ancillary to marriage per se,have nevertheless been able to employ specific portions of FamiliarisConsortio, owing to its vastness of content. What we will focus on in thefollowing pages is a kind of reception of the document by Catholics (whetherclergy or laypeople) and its teachings over the more than two decades since itspromulgation. There are certainly areas of overlap among those who havecommented on the document, and these ought to be paid attention to in coming toan understanding of an authentically Roman Catholic awareness of the variousaspects of married life among Christians.

Opening Observations Made in Familiaris Consortio

Sectionone of the document expressly opens up the contents and applications of thedocument to a broad audience. It is written for (1) those living in fidelity tothe Church’s extant teachings and practices in the area of matrimony, (2) thosewho have become bewildered by the contemporary challenges encroaching upon thefamily, and even to (3) those who live in unjust unawareness of the freedom andhuman rights guaranteed to them to have all the fullness that marriage mightoffer. In other words, the intended audience of the document is anintrinsically ecumenical one. It is not merely addressing Catholics in goodstanding with the Church, but the holy father reaches his hand out to assisteveryone struggling with the sundry difficulties in contemporary married life.This is significant, since most prior documents, whether Casti Connubiiof Pope Pius XI, Humanae Vitae of Pope Paul VI, or even documents of theSecond Vatican Council, the intended audience has been, if not exclusively,certainly mainly Catholics.

PopeJohn Paul II notes in section six of the exhortation that the situation ofmarriage and the family in contemporary life is an ironic one in the sense thatthere are both commendable advances being made in Western culture and enormoussetbacks. It is not so simple a situation as to claim that Western culture isdoing nothing other than attacking and hindering the family and married life.Some of the good understandings reached by the contemporary Western world arethe following: an appreciation of human freedom for both sexes, a promotion ofeducation and love for children, and a promotion of the dignity of women andresponsible procreation. However, some of the setbacks against the familyshould also be noted. They include the following: the respective freedom of thespouses has been carried to an extreme sense of autonomy, the misconstructionof authority and the handing on of values with respect to the relation ofparents to their children, and the ongoing scourges of abortion, growingdivorce rates, sterilization, and an overall contraceptive mentality. It is forthese reasons and many others besides that the Synod of Bishops met and wishedPope John Paul II to be the primary spokesperson for their conclusions reached.Everything is not well for the contemporary family, and Pope John Paul IIreasons that the family is not merely a part of an overall society(rather, it is the very foundation of all society, as we shall explore later),any attacks on its welfare must not go unanswered. Social injustices toward thefamily must be dealt with directly, and this is a primary reason for theappearance of Familiaris Consortio.

Building on Prior Teaching for Fundamental Precepts

Prior to the appearance of this apostolic exhortation, there hadappeared two very important documents on the nature of marriage and the family.They were the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae and an authoritativedocument coming out of the Vatican II Church Council called Lumen Gentium.Pope John Paul II, as all popes throughout history have done, takes the priorteaching on marriage and the family (especially that seen in the twentiethcentury) as his starting points on which to build. He references several timesthroughout his apostolic exhortation the encyclical Humanae Vitae (HV),especially when the content of his teaching has to do with the most explicitportions of HV on the conjugal act and contraception.

Freedom Versus Autonomy

There appears in this succinct encyclical Humanae Vitae a veryprofound line, which undoubtedly could be expounded upon. In section 21 of theencyclical, Pope Paul VI declares that selfishness is the enemy of true love. This recalls an earlier pointmade in our essay. John Paul II notes the dangerous tendency of contemporaryspouses to exemplify an isolationist and autonomous attitude in marriage (FC,6). In fact, for the problems listed above which are antithetical to marriageand family life, the Pope believes there is one problem most fundamentally thecause of the others. He writes, At the root of these negative phenomena therefrequently lies a corruption of the idea and the experience of freedom,conceived not as a capacity for realizing the truth of God’s plan for marriageand the family, but as an autonomous power of self-affirmation, often againstothers, for one’s own selfish well-being. And if selfishness is thought to bethe enemy of true love, then any spouse acting almost exclusively in his ownself-interest is destructive toward the very bond of his marriage to hisspouse, which bond is love itself.

There is an interesting irony involved in selfish individualismversus a flourishing and mutually reciprocating action of love toward anotheroutside of oneself. Whereas one would suppose that, as is often franklyadmitted, couples will tend to not want to marry because they simply want tocontinue enjoying the other person in the relationship without giving over to aserious commitment (Cf. Barbara Markey, Cohabitation: Response over Reaction).Or, further than this, some married couples will either put off childrenindefinitely or decide to not have them at all for the expressed purpose ofwishing to sexually enjoy the spouse in an uninhibited manner. The strangeconsequence though, as Pope Paul VI noted in Humanae Vitae, is that thiseventually leads to becoming overly self-centered sexually, which eventuates inman (or woman) coming to see the other as a mere instrument of selfishenjoyment and no longer as the desired companion for life (HV, 17).

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo notes that the having of a family ina natural and ordered way (such as the Church teaches couple to do) does leadto the exact opposite of selfishness and isolationism in a marriagerelationship. And this is a necessary consequence (as in, it is intrinsic innature itself) of having children. Cardinal Trujillo offers some examples thatit is the nature of family to be other-centered in even the simplest ways. Henotes, Everyone has to help everyone else in thefamily, (FC and the Family, 3). It is simply a matter of beingpractically impossible to be rapped up in oneself in the context of a familywith numerous children. The older children will have to help the younger onesat times (e.g., to put on their shoes before they go outside), and the adultswill constantly have to help all of the children to grow into responsibleadults. It is simply intrinsic to the nature of having a family that one growsto be concerned with the well-being and interests of others around.

In these comments by Cardinal Trujillo there isan explication of the fundamental doctrines expressed in sections 42-43 of Familiaris.In these sections, Pope John Paul II notes that the daily life of a good familyis characterized by sharing and deep communion. The community of a family isthe very answer needed to thwart selfish isolationism. This type ofother-centered communion is seen in various aspects of which the Cardinal haselaborated. For example, the family is guided by an overriding principle offree giving, and this free giving takes the form ofheartfelt acceptance, encounter and dialogue, disinterested availability,generous service and deep solidarity (FC, 43). Children helping youngerchildren whenever there arises a need for such help is a ready example ofdisinterested availability. The older child helps the younger not because he isgaining something for it, but rather because when a child needs help,especially your own sibling, you simply help that child. This also fosters arecognition of the intrinsic value in each individual human being.

Love and Life the Very Foundation of Marriage and Family

In his recent speech Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo agreed with Pope JohnPaul II in seeing the family as that which forms societies. According tothe Pope, the family is society’s foundation, which continually bolsterssociety by being its continual giver of life (FC, 42). Cardinal Trujillonotes that this thinking is in opposition to current worldly sentiment mostreadily embodied by the United Nations in their recent conferences. The generalattitude expressed in these U.N. conferences has been to think that societiesare simply collections of individuals (Familiaris Consortio and theFamily, 3). But, nature seems to argue against this mistaken idea. Societiesare not the ones producing and nurturing and giving the individuals to thesociety. These duties are fulfilled by families, and the individuals producedusually repeat this fundamental cycle of nature by creating their own familiesand producing and nurturing their own offspring.

Underlying the teaching of the family as the ultimate antidote toisolationism, are the two most fundamental realities of marriage: love andlife. The two are hardly mutually exclusive, reasons John Paul II. On thecontrary, conjugal love expressed as it out to be expressed according to thenature of man tends toward the creation of life. Procreation is a naturalfruit of the conjugal act, according to Humanae Vitae. Many thinkerssince have latched on to this fundamental Catholic point, including John PaulII in this exhortation. According to Catholic teaching, man is a hylomorphicunity. That is, he is composed of matter and form, which for man correspond tothe body and soul, which are fundamentally united. That is, what it is to bea human is to be a soul-body unity (FC, 11). But, man is also created inthe image and likeness of God, who is love. It follows that Love is thereforethe fundamental and innate vocation of every human being, (11). In marriage,the love that man longs to express is done so most fundamentally in conjugallove, the mutual and complete self-giving of a man and a woman. So sexualitycould never be seen, on this understanding as something purely physical, norpurely psychological either. It is the whole human who engages in the sexualact, so the act itself is intrinsically physical and spiritual. This is how onecommunicates his or her love for another, by the mutual self-giving in theconjugal act.

However, love is not the only principle intrinsic to conjugal acts.This fact is easily demonstrable by noting that birth control contraceptionamounts to little more than artificial means of birth prevention. But since itis ever thought that this or that birth is needing to be prevented, it must bethe case that there is a natural product of conjugal love. So, Donald Ascireasons, this is the other aspect of Pope John Paul II’s theology of theconjugal act. The body by its very nature in sexuality is fecund – it is opento fertility (The Conjugal Act as a Personal Act, 138). Totalunion occurs with the giving of one’s body and all of its finalities. In maleclimax, a finality is the releasing of semen, in which is contained thepossibility of forming a new human life (if united with the gift of thewoman-the ovum). There is a principle of totality inherent in this reasoning -the giving of one’s total self – his spiritual, physical and (innatelycontained within the physical) his fecundity.

But, if by some various means the conjugal act is not completedaccording to its intrinsic order something like a contradiction takes place,according to Christopher West who cites section 32 of Familiaris Consortio.West argues that one cannot possibly hold that he gives his entire self to theother if at the most important (i.e., climactic) moment of intercourse – thevery moment when the unity between the two ought to be felt most of all – onewithdraws him or herself from the union. Fecund is what adults are bynature. Therefore, when one does such a thing as what West describes, he isengaging in a type of lie – a serious contradictory statement which says, Igive you all of myself except my fertility. I receive all that you are exceptyour fertility, (Good News about Sex and Marriage, 108). Thus, as JohnPaul II reasons in this section of FC cited by West, the innatelanguage of the total and mutual self-giving inherent in the conjugal actbecomes overlaid with a contradictory idea when man acting as the ultimatearbiter of his own being and sexuality decides in a moment to nottotally give of his self (since his whole self includes, as Asci has shownabove, his fecundity as well).

The Essential Tension of Becoming What You Are

The discussion thus far leads naturally to what many later came tosee as a profound and highly important teaching of Familiaris Consortio:Families, you are to become what you are! This passage so often quoted runsthus,

The family findsin the plan of God the Creator and Redeemer not only its identity, what it is,but also its mission, what it can and should do. The role that God calls thefamily to perform in history derives from what the family is: its rolerepresents the dynamic and existential development of what it is. Each familyfinds within itself a summons that cannot be ignored and that specifies bothits dignity and responsibility: family, become what you are” (FamiliarisConsortio, 17).

Of course, such anexhortation is paradoxical at first blush. As David Michael Thomas remarksconcerning this papal principle, This pope is a complex blend of realism andidealism. The tension between the two is not relaxed for a minute (Pope JohnPaul II’s Advice for Families, 7). And Cardinal Trujillo asks, how cansomething become what it is? (7) More specifically, how does a family becomewhat it already is?

Donald Asci has some insight to share on this front. It isessentially a cart-and-horse dilemma. It is not always easy, in terms ofaction, to identify which is the horse that is pulling the cart. The family hasa nature, and it is given this by God. However, it also has a mission, which isalso given by God. These are two dimensions of the same reality: namely, the family(Asci, 126). The family has a static nature, but it also has a dynamic mission,which is to be realized. But the mission is never realized without an alreadyextant family, which has the necessary nature to realize the mission. Nofamily; no mission. However, part of the mission is the having, nurturing, andpromulgating of good families. No fulfillment of mission; no families. It is ascenario of interrelation and reciprocation. Each gives rise to the other.

Ecclesia Domestica

A phrase that first appeared in recent times in the Second VaticanCouncil document Lumen Gentium with reference to the nature of thefamily was that of ecclesia domestica (the domestic church). As DavidMichael Thomas notes, the Council got this phrase from the writings of theChurch fathers, and rightly so since from the very beginnings of the Church ithas always been comprised of those who wished to convert together with all[their] household, as the official Catechism of the Catholic Church states onthis matter (413). The metaphor to describe this in the Catechism is that thefamilies of converts were as little islands of Christianity lived out in apagan world. Leon Suprenant offers the biblical metaphor of the body of Christ(which is the Church, according to St. Paul) being comprised of the littlecells of families. Furthermore, for those Catholics living in fidelity to theteachings of the Church and having children as the natural result of conjugallove, they have as their primary responsibility the education and formation ofthese children according to the Gospel of Christ (The ‘Real Presence’ of theMarriage Bond, 253). Surely, individual parishes in union with the Holy See ofthe Catholic Church contribute to the education and formation of children, butthis is primarily to be done in the home – which is one of the qualities thatmake it the domestic church.

In continuity with all this, Pope John Paul II in FamiliarisConsortio employs the phrase with some frequency and further elaboration. Itis a result of parents begetting in love and for love that they procreate newoffspring, for which they in turn take the responsibility of educating thesenew beings who stand in potential of great growth and development (FC,36). It is their duty, but more to the point of love, it is their solemnprivilege to be able to take the sacred product (i.e., their own child) oftheir mutual love for each other and see its development through to completion.In this way, the parents fulfill their own duty and honor to be the firstevangelizers of their own children in teaching them of the love of Christ.

Concluding Thoughts

As wasstated at the outset of this brief essay, the apostolic exhortation FamiliarisConsortio is a document rich in depth and broad in the topics to which itextends its teaching. However, we have only tried here to give what seem to besome of the most important and widely commented on portions of the text. Itcertainly seems to have had a welcome reception by many of the most well-knowncontemporary Catholic writers on marriage and the family. It also appears tohave filled a void that existed to some extent in the wake of Catholic teachingon conjugal love and marriage prior to the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.One can reasonably expect that future pontificates will continue to focus onthe theology of the body so ably developed by Pope John Paul II in FamiliarisConsortio.

Bibliography

Asci, Donald P. The Conjugal Act as aPersonal Act: A Study of the Catholic Concept of

the ConjugalAct in the Light of Christian Anthropology. SanFrancisco: Ignatius Press, 2002.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2d ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.

John Paul II, Pope. The Theology of theBody: Human Love in the Divine Plan. Boston,

Pauline Booksand Media, 1997.

Familiaris Consortio.Vatican Translation. Boston: St. Paul Books, 1982.

Markey, Barbara. Cohabitation: Responseover Reaction. The Priest, November, 2000,

19-24. Availableonline from Catholic Culture.

Thisencyclical in its entirety is contained within a work listed in ourbibliography. The Theology of the Body, which is a compilation ofvarious teachings of Pope John Paul II on marriage and conjugal love, has HumanaeVitae as its first appendix. The reader may freely find the encyclical hereand many places elsewhere (including the Vatican’s official website).

Lanoh is one of the ethnics of Orang Asli original people from Malaysia. Previously, Lanoh used to be nomads but now many of them stay permanently in Hulu Perak,a district of Perak. Lanoh people are officially classified under the Negrito subgroup but in term of the language they use the Temiar language. Most Lanoh are dark-skinned and have frizzy hair. Their features resemble the Papua New Guinean or east African people.

Location

Lanoh as well as other Semang people remained in low-land areas, Near Malay’s settlement. They prefer to live near river valleys, which is the most foot-hills, The low population density of Lanoh people in pre-resettlement time has caused them to spread between a few principle villages and campsites (basically in Perak area. Among their villages are Air Bah, Tawai, and Cenawi village. Last time, the Lanoh villages and camp[s were small, with a population rarely exceeding thirty or thirty-five people. Last time, they were also had a mobile lifestyle but it ended after Malaysia’s independence (1957). On 1993, Air Bah’s status as resettlement village was finalized when a two-storey mosque was elevated to house Muslim proselytizers during their intermittent to the village.

Within the plan of Malay nation state, the Lanoh way of life , like that of Orang Asli , had undergone remarkable changes , many due to land loss, logging, deforestation, new forms of subsistence and commercial activities. Since 1980’s , the Lanoh people were regrouped and permanently resettled ,primarily in the village of Air Bah. They have been struggling to reconcile these changes with their cultural values and customary of life. Their house has Temiar-style structure which is more stable than their Lanoh-style lean-to-shelters . They prefer to stay in those houses compared to the large government-supplied plank houses. The size of the houses does not necessarily reflect people’s status or ethnic affiliation. In term of life style, people in Air Bah prefer to spend time with whom they feel close , not necessarily their conjugal family members.

Beliefs .

Most Lanoh people practice ethnic religion (66%), 33% of them are Muslims and 1% of them are Christians http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=12987&rog3=MY .They have a belief of naturalism:

Plants and animals energize the own spiritually bestowing upon humans

a humbling experience of bondage and love for nature.

They also practice an unwritten law that all of the animals caught in the forest should suffer no pain in captivity. According to people in Air Bah, a ‘shaman’ is a person who can teach the young people stories and good things about Lanoh. Previously, Lanoh shamans also believed to posses invaluable powers such as they could talk to elephants, the guardian father of the Lanoh, and as guide people in spiritual roads.

Marriage and family

For Lanoh people, they don’t restrict marriage between ethnics or subgroups and they are more linear. They get to choose their own partner and their parents will not interfere in their relationship. If a couple are living together, they are consider married. There is no wedding celebration, but the bride will just have to give some presents to the bride groom and his in laws. Only young couples get divorce and usually, the Lanoh people do not get divorce if they already have a child. They belief that after labor, a woman cannot touch the ground for two weeks and salt cannot be added into their food for two to three months after labor. They also cannot consume oily food.

Death

When someone died, the chief of the village and nearest family members will be told about the news. After the dead body is cleaned, for women, they will put on their jewelries such as ring, necklace and bracelets. Then the dead body will be wrapped in a clean new cloth and then wrapped in a mat. The same procedure applies to a man’s body except they are wrapped without jewelries. At the cemetery, a 2 meters hole will be digged and the dead body will be buried with their belongings. Then two sticks will be placed on their grave to represent where is the head and where is the legs. At the head part, relatives will light a fire so that wild animals wont come near the grave. If the husband died, the wife cannot wears make up for 7 days.

KENSUI TRIBE

At the edge of the Baling district area, there is an indigenous settlement known as the Perkampungan Orang Asli Lubok Legong. It is located at the Mukim Siong, 13 km from Pekan Baling and 188 km from Bandaraya Alor Setar. This settlement is own by the indigenous people of the Kensiu tribe. Based on the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (2003) information, this settlement is the only one available for the indigenous people of the Kensui tribe, this is the sole Negrito exist in Kedah and generally the peninsular of Malaysia. Due to their resemblance to the Negro in Africa, they are classified as the Negrito.

History

Based on the research done by Dr. Iskandar Carey (1970), from his visit to the Perkampungan Orang Asli in Kampung Lalang around 1968 and 1969, the Kensui tribe has their own settlement. Even though the early history had stated that they lived in norm. This tribe was said to have the smallest number of people compared to the other orang asli tribes in Malaysia. There were also said to be the oldest tribe.Basically the Kensui tribe was said to have family relations at Kampung Rai, Yala, Thailand.While based on the facts, the Kensui people orinigated from Kuala Kedau and Ulu Legong. During the Japanese invasion to Tanah Melayu between 1941 and 1942, the Kensui tribe had escaped all around the Baling district mostly to the Parit Panjang, Kampung Bendang Man di Sik, Kampung Sg. Celak and Kampung Tiak di Kupang, Baling. Nowadays, settlements have been build by the government which is the Perkampungan Orang Asli Kampung Lubuk Legong. The Kensui tribe has been residencing there since 1957 at the No 3623 lot which was offered in the year 1958 as the Rezab Orang Asli with an area of 428 acres.

According to M.W. Tweedie, a historian had stated in his book “Pre-History”, those who live in the peninsular which are known as the Negrito had existed since 8000 BC living in caves and hunting animals. During the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic period around 5000 BC, Kedah was used to be inhabited by the Austronesia which became the ancestors of the Negrito, Sakai and the other tribes. It’s hard to describe the physical characteristics of the Negrito due to their division into 4 subgroups of the Kensui tribe known as Mos, Nakil (atau Dalem), Hetot and Tanjen. Overall they have fine-small curly hairs, dark in colour skin and average height of 5 feet below, they have wide iris similar to the West African and most of them are similar to the New Guinea indigenous, Papuans.

The identity of the Kensui tribe can solely be described by their culture, material and their life style. They show little to none agricultural practise. This may be due to their origin as one of the fully nomadic indigenous people. Their culture includes the practice of nose piercing and residence build for temporary shelter from the weather and wind. The Kensui tribe moves from one place to another for hunting and scavenging food as well as forest materials. They would move to another place if they found that the area is no longer productive.

Work arrangements

For the adults of the Kensui tribe, rubber tapping is one of their daily routine. The Projek Getah Mini Estet Fasa 1 dan 2 conducted through RISDA was a success for them. The society gained interest of RM200.00 per month for each family. But there are still among them that are unable to perform the work. Besides that, The Kensui tribe are still practice scavenging forest material to be sold to the outside society and for their own usage. They also have skills producing various handcrafts form the forest materials. Some of the people also work as labour in farms.

The society of the indigenous people from the Kampung Lubuk Legong are under the supervision of the pentadbiran Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) Perak dan Kedah operating in Ipoh, Perak. While at district level, it is under the pentadbiran Pejabat Hal Ehwal Orang Asli Daerah Hulu Perak dan Baling operating in Grik, Perak. In every village, a leader was appointed as the ‘penghulu’ among themselves to hold the responsibility of governing the village and a Jawatankuasa Kemajuan Kampung (JKKK) was established to help the government. For now, the title ‘penghulu’ is hold by Encik Rosman Bin Isa. He is the fourth appointed ‘penghulu’.

Education level

The education levels among the Kensui tribe are extremely low compared to the other indigenous tribes. The numbers of educated people are too little. According to the ‘penghulu’ of the tribe, the year 2005 has been a history to them for one of them had successfully graduated from a form 1 level education which was the highest level of education until now.

Marriage customs and family institutions

The life concept which prioritised equality and similarity reflects from the whole life style of the society. Most of the Kensui societies in the settlement have a close relation with each other. There are only two people that had married a Malay woman from the ‘Kampung Baru’ and one had married an Indonesian. Those who are Islam in the Kensui tribe gets married based on the ‘syariat’ and the law of the Islamic family.

Their marriages were conducted by the religion officer from the Jabatan Agama Islam Negeri Kedah. While for those who are practising animism, their marriages are based on their believes. There are no ceremonies held for the marriage. When a man reaches a time of age where he would like to be married, he just need to get the approval of the women he wants to marry without needing the blessing of both of her parents. If the woman agrees, the man would send her materials in the form of cloth, knife and tobacco to the woman’s father as a sign that the marriage was on. Later on they would live together as a sign they have married. In the family system of the Kensui society, the family relations are bilateral meaning that it is based on the decent of both parents based on the men’s generation

There are still abstinence ban practices until now in the family institution of the Kensui society, such as bride is not allowed to interact with the groom and vice versa. The groom is also forbid to interact with the mother-in-law, while the male and the female relatives which are not married are forbidden to interact with their sister and brother-in-laws, nor to speak of their names. They would use an intermediate for any interactions required with the father and the in-laws. Marriages between people of the same tribe are normal but there are some that had married with the Temiar tribe from Perak. Most of the Kensui people are Muslim, 163 of them had convert to Islam while 80 of them remains with animism. They have their own tradisional cultural performance know as the ‘Sewang’ dance. During the performance, they would wear clothing made out of plants a head ornament made out of coconut leaves.

Social organisation

The traditional life of the Kensui combines five to six families forming a group. In most cases, all of the family members in a settlement or a camp have close family relations or cognate tribe. Each of the group is led by the oldest member, but he does not have any specific title, one of the leaders will be chosen based on the age, experience and knowledge in faith healing care and mysticism factor. The chief will have the power to make decision such as where so set camp and the time to move but it is still subject based on the view and advice from the member that he is leading.

Generally the concept of having a leader is less stressed in the society at group level, they are more concentrate on egalitarian and solidarity. The important element in a social organisation is the family nucleus consisting of husband, wife and child. The settlements for the Negrito are called the “kumpulan tabir angin” where the society would live under a roof as a momentary shelter. They babies would be would cradle in turns during the moving, with every group consisting a husband, wife and child but only the little ones can stay with them. For boys who are older than 7 years old will have a separate shelter not far from their parents, as for the girls will live in the same shelter with their parents but separated by a bond fire between their beds. All of the decision which are made falls under the father’s decision for he is the head of the family

The social organisation of the Kensui tribe in Baling has changed a lot. They have live in kampung Lubuk Lenggong for a long time that the nomad life style has been less practised nowadays. This is due to the existence of a permanent settlement build by JHEOA and supervised by the entire agency. The organisation has also changed, replaced by a settlement unit under the leadership of a ‘penghulu’. The ‘penghulu’ still has his authority to maintain their traditions, but the mode of his appointment has changed based on 2 categories which are descendent and election

The basic requirement for a ‘penghulu’ is that he should be able to read and write the allowance given to the ‘penghulu’ is based on categories which are A, B and C. these categories are based on the development of the members in the academic and so on.

Beliefs

The Kensui people believe are the same as the other Negritos, a large number of them still holds on to their traditional believes. This believes promotes the importance of ‘Tok Batin’, ‘Karei’ and ‘Menoi’ as beings with a ultimate power. The symbol of this power has an eternal nature and it is also regarded as the existence of a supernatural power or a living soul known as the “orang hidup” or the human that lives forever. The symbol of power and the depletion of power between human and those that live forever are called Cenoi. Cenoi tapn has been regarded as the same level with god or sultan. Cenoi Tapn has the characteristics of a mawas (tawo). The top part of his body is young while the bottom part is old. Cenoi Tapn was said to control the life of the Kensui society and that his anger would be conveyed through thunder and lightning (Kaei). This system was preserved and controlled by the authority known as the Halak, which plays a part as the intermediate between the Kensui people with the one that holds the ultimate power in their believes.

Halak also plays a role in the traditional medicine practice. Both system of medicine and religion consist of ceremony known as the panoh, which involves dancing and singing. Another ritual conducted for the same purpose is called sawan, which also combines singing and dancing in the process. The obedience to both of the system is also reflected through the respect, taboos, values and norms of society. The Halak also known as the ‘Tok pawang’ are believed to be able to enter the spirit world by making themselves high. ‘Tok pawang’ was believed to be able to connect with the ‘Chinoi’ and sometimes becomes the intermediate for help in their agriculture. But nowadays, almost half of the Kensui society has convert to Islam.

Language

The Kensui have their own language to communicate. But nowadays Malaysian language has been the language used among them. Almost all of the Kensui people are able to speak in Bahasa Malaysia. Even though the old folks are still rusty in speaking in Malaysian language they do understand the language. There are also small children that are unable to speak in their original language due to the mix marriage and the interaction with the outsiders. Some of them can also speak in Thai language. For those that ave relationship with the Temiar tribe they can also speak their language. Burenhult (2001) states that the commonly inherited words of Kensiu would include basic semantic categories including body parts, certain animal and plant terms, natural phenomena like ‘fire’, ‘stone’, ‘water’, basic activities and states like ‘die’, ‘eat’, ‘stand’, ‘walk’, basic qualities such as ‘big’, ‘small’ , personal pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘you’ etc. Some of the native Kensiu words for jungle, hill, water tree, leaf and fruits are ‘kaheb’, ‘laheb’, ‘betiu’, ‘tom ihuk’, ‘helik’ and ‘kebek’ respectively. The Kensiu also have rich and diverse lexical items associated with their natural environment particularly, the flora and the fauna. Some of them include ‘awei’ (rattan), ‘ihuk peng’ (gaharu), ‘sieh’ (betel leaves), ‘peyang’ (tapioca), ’emet’ (tiger), ‘pelik’ (bats), ‘ikop’ (snake), ‘kensen’ (fox), ‘jelong’ (flies), ‘nguak’ (butterflies) and ‘awai’ (tortoise), just to name a few. Among the exotic animals caught by the Kensius include the protected species, the Malayan Pengolin, Kensiu term, ‘mantei’. They are normally exchanged for cash to the local Chinese in the nearby town. Known for their aphrodisiac property, they usually fetch a good price.

Malay loan words

Beside those commonly inherited words of flora and fauna, there is also evidence to suggest substantial borrowing of words from Malay language. The findings of this study show that Kensiu language has a high number of lexical items that have been borrowed from Malay. Out of 255 lexical items given to the respondents in the study, 149 (58.4%) of the elicited lexical items were Malay loan words. In addition to this, there are also extensive Kensiu words which are code mixed with Malay words e.g. ‘kutip kebek’ (kutip buah), ‘kumpul awei’ (kumpul rotan), ‘tom bungak’ (pokok bunga), ‘bilik betew’ (bilik air).

The findings of the study also reveal that lexical items that are associated with modern living and technologies are all Malay borrowings. They include ‘pensil’ (pencil), ‘radio’ (radio), ‘telefon bimbit’ (hand phone), ‘bas’ (bas), ‘doktor’ (doctor). This extensive Malay borrowing suggests their ongoing interaction with Malay speakers. It should be mentioned here that the Kensiu community in this study are in constant interaction with the Malays as their settlement area in Lubuk Legong is in close proximity with the Malay villages.

SEMAI TRIBE
Background

The Malay Island had been inhabited by human that were known as Austronesian or Malay-Polynesia around 5000 years ago according to the historical researchers. They were said to have originated from South of China and Taiwan. Their migration to south was done starting from the Philippines heading towards the Indonesian Islanad until the edge of the mainland Asia, Pacificislands and Madagascar.

The Semai are a semi sedentary people living in the center of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia , known especially for their nonviolence. The Semai is one of the tribes that belong to the Senoi ethnic group. It is thought that the Semai are the remnants of the original, ancient and widespread population of Southeast Asia. According to Keene State College’s Orang Asli Archive, in 1991 there were 26,627 Semai living on the Malay Peninsula. Northwest Pahang and south Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, central mountain area. This number has increased in recent years with the advent of better nutrition as well as improved sanitation and healthcare practices. These numbers, however, does not include other peoples of Semai or mixed descent, most of whom have assimilated into other cultures and have abandoned their ancestral tribal lands in order to seek better employment and education opportunities, especially in the larger cities.

Language

The Semai people speak Semai language, an Austro-Asiatic language belonging to the Mon-Khmer language family. But most of Semai people in Malaysia have knowledge of Malay language and they can speak well in Malay. Semai people are very tolerant person and they did not force other people to do things that they do not like it. For example, the word ‘Bood’ has a very interesting meaning. It means “not feeling like doing something, for any reason, for example, sickness, shyness or laziness”. If it is translated into today’s language, it is simply one of our fundamental rights, ‘the right to say no!’. The children of Semai are taught the concept of ‘bood’ from an early age. If a parent asks a child to do something and the child replies “I bood”, in other words, “I don’t feel like doing”, the matter is closed. The parents would not force their children to do something that they do not want to do.

The Semai’s children

Spirituality and beliefs

Most of Semai people are animist but but a large minority profess Christianity. They are still gripped by their old beliefs. The Semai’s main festival is the Genggulang. It is a festive ritual to appease land spirits for a good harvest where the people worship the rice spirit. In this ritual, the spirit is offered with sacrificial chickens, flowers, and unhusked rice. Nowadays, the festival has lost much of its religious meaning, as it has become more of a cultural event similar to the way Chinese celebrate Lunar New Year or Westerners celebrate Christmas.

Besides that, Chuntah is another festive ritual that is performed to make the evil spirits leave.

Chuntah is performed in the middle of a storm where a man collects rain in a bamboo container until it is full, he then gashes his skin and lets the blood run into the container. The Semai usually have restrictions on eating animals that straddle two groups. Snakes are usually not eaten because moving menhar (animals that lives on the or in the trees) have legs, but snakes live on land, so the Semai consider this “unnatural”.

CULTURE
Marriage

The day of their marriage, there are several things that the bride and the grooms need to do, which are :

-both of them need to ‘berinai’ at their own houses.

-the grooms needs to cut their hair

-both of them needs to take a bath with a water that contains a few slices of lemon that have been spell for a good reason.

After that the bride and the groom will wear their beautiful wedding dress in their respective houses. The bride will be wearing the wedding dress that have been given by the groom which are called ‘salin tiga’ dress.

Because they have been bath with spiritual lemon water, there are a few orders that mst be followed by both of them ,

-in a duration of 3 days they are not allowed to leave their village because they might be disturbed by the evil spirits.

-in a duration of 7 days also they are not allowed to leave their village for the same reason.

C:UsersfarhanDocumentsstudysem 2H.Eru_01.2.jpg

The bride

Birth

When the wife is pregnant, there are a few things that both of the parents must not do to protect the baby and to get a healthy babies.

-They can’t get close to animals that they believe can harm the baby such as tortoise, monkeys, and snakes.

-The father’s family members are not allowed to installing or nailing any part in the house.

-They are not allowed to be near to death people.

-Not allowed to eat venison, pork and partridge meat.

To determine the date of the baby will be born and the health of the baby, the mother will meet the village midwife. The midwife will be the responsible person to stay with the mother until the baby are born. After the baby had born, the mother will abstain for a month. In confinement, the mother are not allowed to eat vegetables, fish without scales , fish that are venomous, chillies, cooking oil, coconut cold water except coffee and warm water. The mothers are only being served or only eat rice with grilled fish or fish that are cooked without oil. They are also not allowed to take a bath with cold water. They can only bath in river after the confinement but need to have a talisman. The ingredients needed for the talisman are a few of small stones, flour and turmeric. The half of the turmeric need to be chew by the mother and spit in the river while the small stones will be seeding in upstream and downstream of the river. Then the mother can take a bath in the river.

Death

When there is a death in the village, all the members of the village will gather around the house of the person who had died and stop their other work because they are afraid that the spirit of the person will get angry. The body will be buried the next day, so at night all the villagers will stand guard at the house of the person who died until morning to make sure that the bad spirit will not bother the dead person. Flame will be lit around the house to chase away bad spirit that cause the dead of the person. The children will be given talisman by smudging charcoal on both of their eyebrows or on both of their sole.

Before the body was buried, it will be wash and wrapped with a new cloth or white cloth then with a mats and it will be buried into a grave of one meter deep. Before overlain, 3 clod of soil that have mix with charcoal will be placed on both of the ears and at the chest of the dead man. It is to cut off the ties between the dead man and his family. If it is not done, they believe that the family of the dead man will fall sick and eventually die. After being buried, a crafted wooden block is placed on the grave as marker then food, water and cigarettes that have been light up are paced on the grave for 6 days. On the sixth day, the crafted wood that were place on the grave is burnt to show that the spirit of the death person has gone to another world. It is then replace by tombstone and one of the family members will hold the tombstone and speak out the death person name to wake up his spirit to fete the food and drinks that have been placed on the grave.

Home and taboos

There are 4 different kinds of houses that the Semai people have in one village, which are :

Yeau Home (Deg Yeau)

Ran Home (Deg Ran)

Bunch of Banana Home (Deg Pisang Sesikat)

Ordinary Home

Furthermore, for Semai people there are a few taboos that they should follow to make sure that they are not being harm by the bad spirits or the Nyanik (demons) and to have a peaceful life.

MAH MERI TRIBE

The Mah Meri is one of the 18 groups named by the Malaysian government “Orang Asli”

living in West Malaysia. They are of the Senoi subgroup. Most of the members of the Mah Meri tribe live along the coast of South Selangor from Sungei Pelek up to Pulau Carey, although there is at least one Mah Meri Community on the other side of the Klang River. According to the Orang Asli Office of the Malaysian government, they numbered around 2200 in 2005.Most of the Mah Meri live in small villages (kampungs) on the fringes of other cities and on Pulau Carey, which has five separate villages of Mah Meri. There is no information on their origin, but the Mah Meri tribe claims to have walked the earth for as long as one can remember. They live in the states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, and Johor. The Mah Meri language, sometimes also called Besisi is one of the Mon-Khmer language groups but has also borrowed from Malay.

Mah Meri Villages

Name of Villages

The Nearest Town

Kampung Orang Asli Bukit Bangkong

Sungei Pelek

Kampung Orang Asli Tg Sepat

Kampung Orang Asli Sungei Kurau

Pulau Carey

Kampung Orang Asli Sungei Judah

Pulau Carey

Kampung Orang Asli Sungei Bumbun

Pulau Carey

C:UsersFaizDesktopmah meriimages (2).jpgC:UsersFaizDesktopmah meriZA (34).jpgC:UsersFaizDesktopmah meriimages (1).jpg

Lifestyle

Living in small wooden houses set in harmony with the surrounding forces of nature, the Mah Meri prefer to remain “forest people.” Hence in their villages, life seems relatively untouched by modern progress. They are known for their woodcarving skills, yet their economic activity remains rooted in agriculture and fishing. They resist employment outside of their community.

The Mah Meri are soft-spoken and trusting with a propensity to laugh in the face of adversity. While the adults carry out their daily economic activities, the children often ride their father’s bicycles and play their favorite games with sticks, seeds, and other objects. Surprisingly, the Mah Meri community has managed to preserve a tradition of spiritual woodcarving that is truly world class in terms of quality of its craft and artistry. The art, which has rich mythological meanings behind the images and symbols, is handed down from father to son. As not many people seem interested in such animistic carvings, the young Mah Meri do not see it as a profitable trade.

C:UsersFaizDesktopmah meriimages.jpg
Religion

Primary religion : Ethnic religion

Major Religions: C:UsersFaizDesktopmah meriimages (3).jpg

Buddhism

0.00 %

Christianity

0.00 %

(Evangelical: 0.00 %)

Ethnic Religions

67.00 %

Hinduism

0.00 %

Islam

33.00 %

Non-Religious

0.00 %

Other / Small

0.00 %

Marriage

Mah Meri also inquire charity ceremony, engagement and wedding as the Malay community. The difference is only maintained their customary ceremonial demon exorcisms in its own way, as well as ritual held to inform the ancestors that their grandchildren will hold their wedding ceremony. The event was considered important to ensure that the marriage ceremony is safe, secure, blessed and happy until the children and grandchildren.

In the suit, ‘Tok Batin’ will see the groom preparations to carry to the proposal such as gold rings, cosmetics, kidney stone bowl and requirements such as mortar and other ceremonial. The bride undergoes sharpening teeth. Sharpen the teeth is considered an important custom made. Use of black cloth as a marker placed on the tooth to be sharpened tooth spacing. Ring will be used to sharpen teeth flat and then smoked. This aims to make the prospective bride is always radiant and prevent tetanus during the wedding ceremony.

Mah Meri play traditional Aboriginal musical instrument to celebrate the bride on marriage. However, the desire of the men would like to have a girl of his choice will be disqualified even if the proposal and the wedding day is set, if the expenses for the purpose of the event is not sufficient. If only in the past three months, the men failed to provide a tight, self agreement is considered void and the groom are doing fraud against ‘Tok Batin’.

As with any other kind of ethnic wedding, they are also making preparations to provide the dais. They will decorate the dais cooperate by putting various patterns woven palm leaves and brightly colored flowers in every corner stage. Touch use palm leaves used by indigenous peoples Mah Meri quarter of uniqueness and difference is displayed with other indigenous tribes in the country. At the ceremony, the wedding ceremony begins with the groom shaman leads a group of girls together turn circles around the bride and smoked nets covered with incense. Ceremony was to cast out demons and avoid bad things. Rotation seven times and on the last lap, the groom should get the bride and flower turns.

When the wedding ceremony, a ritual performed as a symbolic coin toss to determine the direction of freedom bride living in the household. During ‘makan beradab’, monitoring will ensure the bride eat and ended simultaneously so that they live a happy and long lasting household coped. If one of the bride in advance of their meal, it is believed that the commission will invite accidents in the household in the f

This term paper was titled Ethics from Islamic Perspective which is including a morale and akhlaq. This paper was conducted because to give awareness about the important of ethics in Islamic perspective. Suitable with the papers aim’s whereas to give some of information and knowledge from an Islamic perspective about the ethics which is in moral and akhlaq aspect. The paper is sufficient to give the reader a feel for its potential to encourage further research in the area of resolving ethical issues, specifically for those who are calling for universal ethical theories to avoid moral imperialism. The Islamic perspective of the ethics concept should be refers based on the Holy Qur’an from the God and Ahadith of Prophet Muhammad. The ethics concept it must be generally and not too bias for others. The findings of this paper, it can be as a discussion, it is because the Islamic Work Ethics has economic as well as moral and akhlaq dimensions.

Keyword: Islamic perspective, ethics, Islamic Work Ethics, moral and akhlaq

INTRODUCTION

This paper was discuss about the ethics concept from the Islamic perspective, so it should be construct an axiom system that faithfully reflects the Islamic view of ethics. The axiom system here is means by a proposition that either not proved or demonstrated but considered undeniable, or subject to a decision, so, the truth is assumed and became the starting point for concluded to the truth to another.This is an essential first step in determining the rules of economic behaviour in an Islamic society. The Islamic view of life processes is uniquenot only for its predominant emphasis on ethical norms, but also because of its being “complete”. However, to turn it into an operational tool of scientific analysis, an ethical philosophy must be reduced to a set of axioms, which is respect to Islamically valid rules of social and economic behaviour.

1.1 The Concept of Ethics, Moral and Akhlaq

The concept of ethics, moral and akhlaq it can be in various point of view from many resources of our readings. Ethical behavior is an order based on a value system of a particular society. More ethics associated with science or philosophy, because it is the standard of good and bad it is human intellect. When compared with the morals, the ethics more theoretical while the moral is the practical. Moral more local or special nature and the ethical is more to general.

There is many term that use by philosophers in order to give a meaning of akhlaq. But, we can conclude it, akhlaq is much related with the moral and ethics so much so have a opinion that stated akhlak is mean by moral and ethics. Put simply on that, Akhlaq is refers to the nature habits that owned on each individuals. It is includes behavior or nature owned by natural as feeling irritable, quick to laugh, irritability and so on. Also includes in this definition, a person belonging habits through training, education, discipline and fitness to be a flesh and blood character and good familiarity to someone. In addition, akhlaq is more refers to our natural habits.

A while ago, in the western tradition, morals studies has long been exists and spread out before the birth of Islam and it known as ‘ethics’ or ‘moral’ knowledge. In aspect of etymology, the term of ‘ethics’ and ‘moral’ have a same meaning and also refers to the same field of study.

In briefly, ‘moral’ is derived from the Latin word, meanwhile the word ‘ethics’ is derived from the Greek word. The both of term are related with the practical activities relating to behavior, customs, lifestyles, ways of thinking, freedom and the tendency of a person in engaging in an activity. On the other hand, the term of akhlaq was presented by the Muslim that based on the al-Quran and al-Sunah. On Islamic perspective, the ethics and moral was different from the point of conception, objectives and resources, it is called as Akhlaq.

1.2 Current related issues

Ethics is usually defined by a written code of ethics. In the Middle East not many organizations and professions have written codes of ethics (Mudawanat Alsuluk) and violation is the norm rather than exception (AMAN, 2006). Behaviors that conform to those written codes of ethics are considered ethical and whatever violates the written standards is considered unethical.

From that situation, it can be simply, people are not too concern about all this matter, when they talk about ethics, they usually do not remind about the moral and akhlaq. This is because, they are set their mind, the term of ethics just use in the business or information technology such as computer accessibility. As a Muslim, they should also think about that moral and akhlaq.

In addition, the new code ethics was create, which is the Islamic Work Ethics (IWE). This philosophy was create to orientation that shapes and influences the involvement and participation of believers in the workplace. It implies that work is a virtue in light of a person’s needs, and is a necessity for establishing equilibrium in one’s individual and social life (Nasr, 1984). IWE views work as a means to further self-interest economically, socially and psychologically, to sustain social prestige, to advance societal welfare and reaffirm faith. The concept has its origin in the Quran and the sayings and practice of the Prophet Mohammed.

METHODOLOGY

In completing this term paper, the secondary literatures are used to enable in depth understanding of ethics from the Islamic perspective with the moral and akhlaq concept. The secondary resources which is from readings on a book and the web pages, so the major instrument that has been used is literature review. Based on the reading, this topic has many references in a Malay writing, but there is no problem on that, after read in Malay and understand the content, the term paper writing has been continued.

By reviewing the literature, all the information will be paraphrased based on the understanding. The reference to literature review that has been used is article journal about the Islamic ethics that can be obtained from the online journal databases access.

Another method applied for finishing this term paper is data collection from the web page and it is just for back up information if there any lack of data collection. Approach that had been used in completing this term paper is understands from the readings and reviewing from the materials obtained and understand it.

DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS OF ETHICS FROM ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE: MORAL AND AKHLAQ

There are various definitions of ethics, moral and akhlaq. The various definitions are produced from various reading materials, such as book and article journal, so there is many opinions from the philosophers. Ethich from Islamic perspective are more concern to the religion behavior, code and ethics.

Islam is supposed to be a complete way of life. A Muslim is bound by Islamic rules and hence is obliged to follow the instructions as prescribed in the Quran and Hadiths. Islam is a religion based upon the surrender to God (Allah). The very name of the religion, al-Islam in Arabic, means submission and peace, for it is in submitting to God’s will that human beings gain peace in their lives in this world and in the hereafter. Islam is considered to be a comprehensive religion and its ethical system is considered to be one of the major ethical systems. Realize about the importance of establishing an ethical system in the all fields, especially at our present time which is witnessing an ever increasing ethical problems, several specialist organizations have prepared codes of ethics to be complied with by members of those organizations.

By generally, in Islam, ethics have two dimensions; first ethics toward Allah, the creator. A Muslim has to believe in Allah and has to worship Him. The second is ethics toward others; a Muslim business person has to deal ethically with others by maintaining good treatment and good relationship. This paper is of vital importance because people do not know sometimes what is ethical unless they study ethics. Ethics provide an essential foundation for business transactions (Cherrington and Cherrington, 1995, p. 1). They are essential for organizational effectiveness and are necessary for interpersonal relations.

3.1 Definition and Concept of Ethics

Ethics is defined as a branch of philosophy that deals withmoral behavior. Morality refers to whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. Although morality is a complex concept, it can be defined in terms of both means and ends. Means is the process which occurs, while Ends refers to the consequences (Cherrington and Cherrington, 1995, p. 2). Ethics may also be defined as:

[. . .] a systematic inquiry into the beliefs we have and the management we make about what is morally right or wrong and morally good or evil. It is an inquiry that attempts to answer the following questions: What kinds of conduct are morally right or wrong? And what things are good and what things are evil?

(Cherrington and Cherrington, 1995, p. 2)

Ethics is also defined as the code of moral principles that sets standards of good or bad, or right or wrong behavior (Schemerhorn, 2008, p. 32). Ethical behavior is what is accepted as good and right as opposed to “bad” or wrong in the context of the governing moral code.

Islamic ethics is defined as the code of moral principles that are prescribed by the Quran and Sunnah (Hadith or sayings of Prophet Mohammad). Islamic ethics is based on rational methods as well as revelation. Revelation provides the truth which rational methods lead to understanding and appreciation of truth. Hence, Islamic ethics is based on tawheed, or unity principle, which determines the unique relationship between God and man; man and man; and man and his environment (Alhabshi, 1993, p. 83). Within the Islamic culture, the term that is mostly associated with ethics is referred to in the Holy Qur’an as Khouloq (Beekun, 2004, p. 2). Allah in the Quran has described Prophet Mohammad as a Prophet of good ethics.

3.2 Definition and Concept of Moral

According to Peter Baelz (1977), morals and ethics often have the same meaning. However, is very useful if we could distinguish between the both of them, even though we often failed to make such a difference. While the N. Capaldi, E. Kelly and L.E. Navia (1981) stated that. In form of etymology, the English words ‘ethical’ and ‘moral’ is exactly same. Because of that, the study of ethics and moral actually just one and it is a same.

The moral issues are practical issues, but not all belong to the practical issues in the field of ethics. It is because, moral more specifically examine the good and bad, right wrong and how individual should act in a particular situation. Therefore, moral was refers to disciplines knowledge that investigate the various about the human behavioral. Such as the opinion that written by J.L. Mackie (1971):

aˆ¦moral and ethics can analyze the once action whether that is right or wrong; it is can provide a clear line of distinction about acts and of an internal disposition, whether good or bad; or at least, be able to develop a knowledge of ethics guidelines that can be adopted to make various moral of judgments.

3.2 Definition and Concept of Akhlaq

According to Mohd. Nasir Omar, (2010) on his book, Akhlaq is refers to the nature, habits, customs, familiarity, values aˆ‹aˆ‹and lifestyle of the individual or group of individuals. In fact, belief system or religion by a person also often included under the definition of akhlaq by many researchers. It is because of religion greatly influenced the thinking and lifestyle of the individual (Ibn Manzur t.t II: 1244-1248 and Jamil Saliba 1971, I: 49).

While according to Ibn Miskawayh (1966), akhlaq is refers to the situation that forms in a human and it is function as a executive power that was directed that individuals by doing all his habits. Many philosopher was agreed with that statement that akhlaq related with the disposition that create in a person (al-nafs/soul) of a human. Spiritual dimension of the situation is very important because it is the cause of all acts done by humans.

Therefore, akhlaq is does not refer to the act of good or bad done by a person, but to someone spiritual dimension pressing to do an act, whether good or bad. Akhlaq is located in the interior of human’s soul and in the meanwhile, the act are refers to the exterior is made aˆ‹aˆ‹from morality. Hence, a good moral will of course realize that good deeds and vice versa.

PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC BUSINESS ETHICS

According to Hanafy and Salam (1995), classified ethical principles of Islam into six categories, which is: truthfulness, trust, sincerity, brotherhood, science and knowledge and justice.

Principles of Islamic Business Ethics
Justice
Science and knowledge
Brotherhood
Sincerity
Trust
Truthfulness

In order to get a pleasure from the Almighty, as a Muslim, it is should be followed this six principle of Islamic ethics by doing all the business or activities in their daily life.

TRUTHFULNESS: Truthfulness is a basic ethical value of Islam and the meaning of Islam itself is, in a way, the other name of truth. There is no scope for cheating, telling lies, swearing too much, and providing false advertising in the Islamic framework of business.

TRUST: Trust is another fundamental ethical principle of Islam and the essence of the trust is the sense of acountability, which is the sense of having to appear before Allah S.W.T and to account for one’s action. All the activities were conducted well in no case harm or damage the society or the environment.

SINCERITY: Islam attaches great importance to the sincerity of intentions and actions in every walk of life. For example such as ethical code results in more efficiency as well as a high rate of productivity. Sincerity also discourages manipulation or exploitation of others for personal reasons.

BROTHERHOOD: Islam declares all human beings are brothers to each other wihout the distinctions of race, colour, tribe, caste and language of an individual or group. Everyone is entitled to an ethically right behavior irrespective of distinctions of caste, creed, race, or territory.

SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE: Islam makes it obligatory for Muslims to seek knowledge and obtain excellence in performance. Research and development is highly encouraged in Islam. It such concern about science and knowledge in the Islamic code of ethics has been highly fruitful for Islamic civilisation in the past.

JUSTICE: Justice is undoubtedly a prerequisite of business and trade as it encompasses the entire whole series of human life. The whole universe is based on the concept of justice and balance.justice here means that every one should be treated as he or she deserves, without any undue pressure or discrimination.

CHALLENGES IN ENCOURAGING ISLAMIC ETHICAL BEHAVIORS AMONG INFORMATION / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PERSONNEL

Muslims’ unethical behavior is influenced by several factors, such as stage of formal development, personal values and personality, family influence, peer influenceand so on.

The challenges in Encouraging Islamic Ethical Behaviors Among Information / Information Technology Personnel
CHALLENGES
EXPLANATION

Stage of moral development

The lunatic, the sleeper and the child before puberty not responsible for their behavior.

Personal value and personality

One who stresses honesty will behave differently from those who do not respect others’ rights. The locus of control also affects individual ethical behavior (Robbins and Coulter, 2005, p. 112).

Family influence

The home is the place to start being a good Muslim. Children are likely to be ethical if they see their parents and other members of the family consistently adhere to high standards. In Islam, it is easier for a parent to teach his kids what is right (halal ) and what is wrong (haram) than to teach them rules and principles of good conduct and behavior.

Peer influence

Children are influenced by actions of their peers with whom they interact. Islam urges people to be very selective of peers as they have very big influence on companions. This coincides with the Arabic proverb “Birds of a feather flock together” or “A person is known by the company he keeps”.

Life influence

Key events like taking part in Alhajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) for example has a positive impact on Individual behavior. As the Qur’an states: “Whoever goes to Hajj comes back from his journey innocent and pure and white as of the day of birth”.

Situational challenges

It is the situation that sometimes makes one behave unethically, as the only way out. For example, a secretary may lie when answering a phone as the only way to turn away a client. She may simply lie by saying that the manager is not in the office while he is in fact in. On many occasions, the researcher has observed many Muslim secretaries quit their jobs simply to avoid being forced to tell such lies. However, lying is acceptable in Islam under three conditions: first, in wars; second, to solve conflicts between people; third, husband lying to his wife or vice versa for the sake of getting closer to each other and saving the marriage, e.g. saying “I love you” while it is the opposite (Hadith), or “you are the most beautiful woman in the world”. All this is meant to strengthen the ties between couples.

Societal challenges

People try to conceal unethical behavior and always justify their actions as being ethical in order to please members of society. In Muslim cultures, society places a heavy pressure on individuals to practice wasta, so a manager may have to deviate from the rules and regulations of the business in order to please a cousin, a friend or a neighbor. On one hand, wasta is considered as ethical and legal, e.g. in solving conflicts, while on the other hand, it can be viewed as illegal and unacceptable when it is used to override established laws and traditions, e.g. in obtaining favors like jobs.

In Muslim cultures, a business person is more concerned about what others might think of his decision than what he thinks himself.

Table 1: The challenges in Encouraging Islamic Ethical Behaviors Among Information / Information Technology Personnel

(Source: Abuznaid, 1990)

GUIDELINES TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES IN ENCOURAGING ISLAMIC ETHICAL BEHAVIORS AMONG INFORMATION / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PERSONNEL

In Islam, Allah emphasizes the following ethical guidelines as being outlined in the Holy Qur’an. These guidelines govern the Islamic code of ethics relating to a person’s daily life and business dealings. Muslims are required at all times to behave islamically because Allah himself is watching their practices. In response to these challenges, several guidelines are proposed as follows:

Be patient. Islamic business people should not get angry and should not be irritated (Holy Quran, XXV:63) and (Holy Qur’an, III:134).

Be fair and just. A Muslim business person has to be fair and just in all his dealings. He has to be fair with his employees; he has to give fair wages and has to be fair and kind with animals when slaughtering them (Holy Quran, II:278-279).

Be humble. Being humble is the opposite of being arrogant. Being humble is a great characteristic of Muslims. Business people should be humble and down to earth (Holy Qur’an, XXVI:215).

Be complacent. Being complacent is another characteristic of a Muslim. Muslim business people should be satisfied with what Allah has allocated them. To Muslims complacency is not the enemy of progress as the West views it.

Be generous. Being generous is the opposite of being stingy. Alkareem is in fact one of Allah’s magnificent names meaning being generous. Alkaram (generosity) is another characteristic of the Muslim business people. They should be generous in giving money and goods to the needy. Islam urges people to give legal alms or obligatory charity (Az-Zakat). Az-Zakat is an ordinance prescribed by Islamic law. Social responsibility is another important principle in management practices. Sadaqat (donations), not obligatory, are very much urged in the Holy Qur’an (Holy Qur’an, LVI:77) and (Holy Qur’an, XLIV:17,26).

Be dignified. A business person in Islam should not indulge in investments that are not Halal. Halal is the opposite of Haram. Halal is ethical while haram is unethical. Examples of haram earnings for a Muslim include trading in alcohol,

Be trustful (Al Amaneh). Being trustful means giving rights to others. For example, if you borrow some money from someone, you are supposed to return it at the agreed time at no interest. A good loan with no interest is an example of Islamic financial dealings (Alkird Al hasan) (Holy Qur’an, XL32) and (Holy Qur’an, IV:58).

Be friendly. Muslims should be friendly and united at all times. No discrimination exists among Muslims, regardless of nationality, gender or color. The only difference between Muslims should be on the basis of piety (Holy Qur’an, XLIX: 10, 13).

Be equitable. Equity is the opposite of injustice. A Muslim manager should be equitable. In Islam people should be treated fairly and with equity.

Do not be involved in fraud. A Muslim business person should treat others the same way he himself would like to be treated (Holy Qur’an, XVI: 90, IV: 58).

Do not bribe. The practice of all kinds of bribes is forbidden in Islam (Holy Qur’an, II: 188). However, there should be differentiation between sadakat (donations), gifts, and bribes. Gifts are encouraged in Islam because they help gain friendship. The prophet encourages the use of gifts saying “Give more gifts so you be better liked” (Hadith). Bribes on the other hand are unethical. Bribes are used to influence decisions. There are two kinds of bribes: the “lubrication” bribe and the “white mail” bribe. The white mail bribe generally involves an elaborate system for concealing the use of large sums of corporate cash. This type of bribe is used to buy influence in high places (Abuznaid, 1990, p. 319).

From these key guidelines principles of ethics, we can conclude that Islam is a religion of high-moral standards. Muslim business people are urged in Al Qur’an and Al Sunnah to follow certain principles and guidelines.

(Source: Abuznaid, 2009)

CONCLUSION

As stated above, the main purpose of this term paper is to discuss the meaning of ethics from an Islamic perspective. The research has defined Islamic management ethics as those guidelines and principles that are prescribed by the Holy Qur’an and sunnah (hadith). The paper has give explanation on the major determinants of individual ethical behavior in Islam and pinpointed based on the moral and akhlaq. Besides that, the paper has outlined some of the ethical principles which is the principles of Islamic business ethics. This paper has also discussed the challenges in encouraging Islamic ethical behaviors among information / information technology personnel. It further helps non-Muslim people become more aware of management ethics in an Islamic environment by giving them a better understanding of the subject, thus making it easier for them to carry out all the activities in an Islamic culture. However, it must be stated that there is not one united form of applied Islamic teachings among different Muslim countries. It is widely known that Middle Eastern countries have become more active in the global market place by applied their ethics. Moreover, this paper has outlined major commonalities between Islam and other religions on the subject of ethics from the Islamic perspective. Although this paper has presented the concept of ethics from Islamic perspective, hope all the Muslim are together applied all the ethics that are based on the al-Quran and al-Sunah to be an excellent humans. Therefore, it is the duty of all researchers interested in this issue to develop this knowledge. May Allah gives guidance in this new endeavour.

REFERENCES
8.1 Book

Dr Muhammad Sharif Chaundry. (2006). Social and Moral Code of Islam. Batu Caves, Selangor: Masterpiece Publication Sdn. Bhd.

Khaliq Ahmad. (2007). Management from Islamic Perspective: Principles and Practices. Kuala Lumpur: International Islamic University Malaysia Press.

Mohd Nasir Omar. (2010). Falsafah Akhlak. Bangi, Selangor: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi. (1990). Etika dan Ekonomi: Satu Sintesis Islam. Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing Sdn. Bhd.

8.2 Article Journal

Muhammad Arham. (2010). Islamic Perspective on Marketing. The Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 1 Iss: 2 pp, 149-164.

Salam Abdallah. (2010). Islamic Ethics: An Exposotion for Resolving ICT Ethical Dilemmas. The Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society, Vol. 8 Iss: 3 pp, 289-301.

Samir Ahmad Abuznaid. (2009). Business Ethics in Islam: The Glaring Gap in Practice. The International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 2 Iss: 4 pp, 278-288.

ENZYME IMMUNOASSAYS (EIA)Enzyme immunoassay (EIA)
INTRODUCTION

Enzyme immunoassay (EIA) or enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) is a powerful technique used for detecting and quantifying antigens and antibodies in clinical samples. It is widely used in clinical laboratories for diagnoses, prognoses and for monitoring immune responses.

The aim of this essay is to summarise the principle of this technique and to outline the main types of enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and its application in clinical laboratories. Subsequently, it will discuss the application of this system in the haematology field.

PRINCIPLES

The general principle of this technique is based on the binding of conjugated enzyme molecule with specific antibodies to detect and quantify the presence of either antigens or antibodies in the test sample. This is followed by adding appropriate colourless substrate which catalyses the interaction complex to produce a visible coloured product. There are many chromogenic substrates used in ELISA technique but the most common are alkaline phosphatase (AP) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The end product can be determined by using spectrophotometer and the intensity of colour is directly proportional to the presence of either antigens or antibodies in the test samples.

TYPES

There are several types of ELISA which include: indirect, sandwich, competitive, chemiluminescence and elispot assay. Indirect ELISA can be used to detect the antibodies that are present in patient’s serum. With this method, patient’s serum containing antibodies is added to the microtitre wells which are coated with the antigen and the intensity of the end colour product is directly proportional to the amount of antibodies that are present in the patient’s sample. (KUBY) Figure1. Illustrate the different types of ELISA to detect either antigen or antibody.

The second type of enzyme linked immunosorbant assay is called sandwich ELISA, in which the target antigen that is to be detected must be located between two antibodies. The antigen of interest that is present in the clinical sample is added to a microtitre wells which is coated with the antibody and the end product is determined by spectrophotometer to measure the amount of antigen in the clinical sample.(DIAGNOSTIC MICRO. BOOK) Figure1.

The development of biotechnology has become widespread and one example of its progress is the modification of ELISA by using chemiluminescence substrate rather than chromogenic substrate to increase the sensitivity of the reaction. With this method, chemilumescence (CL) substrate and some enhancing agents, which have the ability to bind an antibody or antigen in the reaction, are used to create light emissions which can be measured by specific spectrometry. This approach has been used to diagnose several types of tumour disease, and quantify numerous compounds at low concentration (Baeyens et al. 1998).

Another example of ELISA modification is enzyme linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay. It is a quantitative technique often used to detect cytokines that are secreted from single cell in response to the antigen. During the incubation period, the cytokines of interest is released and captured by immobilised anti-cytokines on the microtitre plate. After washing them and adding labelled anti-cytokines antibody and substrate, the end colour product displays as a “footprint” around each of the secreting cells, which can be estimated. This technique has great potential for monitoring immune responses (Cox, Ferrari and Janetzki 2006). In addition, sensitive ELISPOT assay has the ability to detect low level of secreted IFN-? compared with other IFN-? assays (Lion et al. 2009).

APPLICATION

There are many applications of enzyme immunoassays in clinical laboratories and the largest application is related to the detections of viruses. For example, the screening and diagnosis of hepatitis virus is routinely used in the lab. These include the detection of HBsAg and HBeAg by direct ELISA, anti-HBc antibody and anti-HBe antibody by competitive ELISA and anti-HBs antibody by indirect ELISA (Tsitsilonis et al. 2004).What is more, ELISA can detect HCV antibodies in serum samples as screening tests and the positive samples are conformed by molecular HCV RNA (Erensoy 2001).

The beneficial effect of using an enzyme immunoassay in clinical hematology is that it has the ability to identify alloantibodies in patients who frequently receive platelet transfusions for therapeutic purposes. It has been demonstrated that ELISA is more sensitive to the detection of alloantibodies than other immunoassays, such as lymphocytotoxic test (LCT) and the platelet immunofluorescence test (PIFT), and it is performed in a short period of time (Levin et al. 2003). Furthermore, enzyme immunoassays are able to detect anti-platelet antibodies, platelet associated IgG (PAIgG) , HLA and circulating antibodies in patients with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) (Schiffer and Young 1983).

There are several pieces of evidence which suggest that a ubiquitous herpes virus, in particular Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), is implicated in many types of lymphoma such as Hodgkin’s disease and Burkitt’s lymphoma, so the early detection of EBV antigen specific T cells is essential and therefore ELISPOT assay can be used to analyse T cell responses (Yang et al. 2000).

Another of its feature is related to acquired von Willebrand syndrome, which is caused by autoantibodies against von Willebrand factor (vWF). This plays an essential role in hemostasis and is characterised by prolonged bleeding due to the defect in vWF activity. Detection of anti-vWF antibody can be performed by ELISA (Mohri 2003), and (Stewart et al. 1997) mention that competitive ELISA is a useful technique in the detection of anti-vWFA antibodies in a clinical samples.

Despite the benefits of ELISA in the detection of HLA class I specific antibodies, it is less sensitive than flow cytometry, so before platelet transplantation, flow cytometry must be used (Worthington et al. 2001). Although chemiluminescence immunoassay has great sensitivity in detecting HBsAg in blood donor samples, it has less sensitivity than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)(Sato et al. 2001), so to increase the safety of blood from HIV-1 , HCV, and HBV, the nucleic acid amplification technique (NAT) has been applied for the screening of blood donor samples (Weber, Muhlbacher and Melchior 2005).

CONCLUSION

Enzyme Immunoassay is one of the most significant techniques to have been used in clinical laboratories to analyse the antigen-antibody reaction in a short period of time. It is sensitive to screening a large number of clinical samples and therefore has been applied in many clinical laboratories for diagnoses, prognoses and for monitoring immune responses.

REFRENCES

BAEYENS, W. R. G., et al. (1998). Chemiluminescence-based detection: Principles and analytical applications in flowing streams and in immunoassays. Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, 17 (6-7), 941-953.

COX, Josephine H., FERRARI, Guido and JANETZKI, Sylvia (2006). Measurement of cytokine release at the single cell level using the ELISPOT assay. Methods, 38 (4), 274-282.

ERENSOY, Selda (2001). Diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and laboratory monitoring of its therapy. Journal of clinical virology, 21 (3), 271-281.

LEVIN, M. D., et al. (2003). Screening for alloantibodies in the serum of patients receiving platelet transfusions: A comparison of the ELISA, lymphocytotoxicity, and the indirect immunofluorescence method. Transfusion, 43 (1), 72-77.

LION, E., et al. (2009). Quantification of IFN-? produced by human purified NK cells following tumor cell stimulation: Comparison of three IFN-? assays. Journal of immunological methods, 350 (1-2), 89-96.

MOHRI, H. (2003). Acquired von willebrand syndrome: Its pathophysiology, laboratory features and management. [online]. Journal of thrombosis and thrombolysis, 15 (3), 141-149.

SATO, S., et al. (2001). Comparison of the sensitivity of NAT using pooled donor samples for HBV and that of a serologic HBsAg assay. Transfusion, 41 (9), 1107-1113.

SCHIFFER, CA and YOUNG, V. (1983). Detection of platelet antibodies using a micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). [online]. Blood, 61 (2), 311.

STEWART, M. W., et al. (1997). vWf inhibitor detection by competitive ELISA. Journal of immunological methods, 200 (1-2), 113-119.

TSITSILONIS, Ourania E., et al. (2004). Serological detection of hepatitis B viral infection by a panel of solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, 34 (4), 811-822.

WEBER, Bernard, MUHLBACHER, Annelies and MELCHIOR, Walter (2005). Detection of an acute asymptomatic HBsAg negative hepatitis B virus infection in a blood donor by HBV DNA testing. Journal of clinical virology, 32 (1), 67-70.

WORTHINGTON, J. E., et al. (2001). A comparison of enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays and flow cytometry techniques for the detection of HLA specific antibodies. Human immunology, 62 (10), 1178-1184.

YANG, J., et al. (2000). Application of the ELISPOT assay to the characterization of CD8(+) responses to epstein-barr virus antigens. Blood, 95 (1), 241-248.

Here is the good news for today from today’s gospel A word of great encouragement and hope. Hope is the unique signature of the Christian gospel. What makes a Christian a Christian is this inability to quit hoping. A new gift from God is at work on our behalf, at all times in all circumstances.

The crowds had pressed Jesus right up to the edge of the water at the Sea of Galilee to hear the Word of God. There he came upon three defeated men. They had fished all night and had only an empty boat to show for their efforts. They had worked hard but had failed. It was a terrible, horrible, a very bad day.

There is a short story called about a young man who had just signed for his favourite football club, at his first football game, he beats three men before scoring from 25 yards. His teammates looked at him with awe. His coach said, “You’re going to have quite a future around here.” His girlfriend awarded him with a kiss after the game. This young man Shaw has the feeling that life is completely satisfying and rewarding.

But nothing in the rest of his life ever lives up to that day again. His football experience is equally disappointing. His marriage sours. The pain of failure is even greater because he remembers thinking on a perfect day many years before that life would always be that pleasant, satisfying and rewarding.

Life does not stand still. There isn’t a once-for-all experience. It was Winston Churchill who said, “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.”

There are going to be bad days. Sometimes we are going to fall on our respective faces. These failures don’t have to be endings. They can be the avenue to experience God’s grace more widely and more deeply.

Jesus of Nazareth gets into the boat with the three defeated men. He sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had ceased teaching, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Put out into the deep our lives are often fenced in by low expectations. The worst sin is to aim too low.

We have to learn to make room for God.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come as he chooses Expect him to come, but do not expect him only in a certain way. At any moment he may break in Always be in a state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come as he likes.

Life is anything but predictable! Human nature is not fixed and settled. We live under hope. That hope is rested in God, not the situation.

At the outset Simon is reluctant — “We toiled all night and took nothing!” The words of a person who has already made the effort and failed. Why should he want to put himself in the position of failing again? How useless this all seemed.

Many times quitting is the easiest thing to do once the challenge has lost its glamour in tedious endurance. But to his credit, Simon was willing to take the risk. “at your word I will let down the nets,” he replied.

To their utter amazement, there was churning of the waters as the nets were drawn up, with all the silver bellies flip-flopping in the air and spraying foam everywhere. There was such a catch that they had to signal the men in the other boat to come and help them. Now both boats were loaded with fish.

No matter how many times a person has failed there is always the chance that the next attempt will succeed. “Victory belongs to the most persevering,” said Napoleon.

I can’t explain it but I know there are powerful kinds of good that can come into a life of a person who continues to trust, and love, and holds on.

Simon Peter saw beyond the miracle. He realizes the holiness of the One in his boat. He gets a glimpse of the power and knowledge of Christ. He falls before Jesus saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord.”

Now, we come to the real meaning of the story. There’s more to life than “full nets.” One can have full nets and still have an empty life.

Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed Jesus.

You and I have been put on this earth for a more important purpose

In Jesus Christ, God loves more than we can mess up. He wants us to return that love. The same power that caused Simon to fall at Jesus’ feet lifts him into God’s service. What a lesson!

Three defeated men moved from empty nets to a full life by the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus invites you to follow him. When you say yes to that invitation, you, too, will discover how much he has to offer. Launch out into the deep and let down your nets and follow me. You’ll be amazed at what God will do.