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The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament. According to dictionary, the word Exodus means, “departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people.” (Dictionary.com). Exodus is the continuation of the book of Genesis; it picks up where the other one left off. Genesis ended when God chose his people, the Jews of Israel. The book of Exodus can be classified into three sections: the beginning, the middle, and the end.

In the beginning, the book of Exodus explains what the circumstances where the enslavement of Jews under the Pharaoh. With all the difficulty and sacrifice the chosen people of God had to go through, a Levi man married a Levite woman and gave birth to a son named Moses. During that period, the Pharaoh of Egypt had ordered, “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live”(Exodus 1:22). Being a mother, she tried to hide her baby as much as she could and then she had to let him go. After three months of hiding the baby, Moses’ mother put him in a papyrus basket and let him float away in between the weeds of the Nile. Moses ends up being raised by the daughter of the Pharaoh. Moses grew up and became chosen to be the deliverer of God’s people. Moses went to Pharaoh to release the Jews. Pharaoh refuses and God through Moses brings forth the ten Plagues. Each Plague did more damage than its predecessor, the last one with the death of the first born in the family, these even t lead to the first Passover. Moses showed the Pharaoh how power full the God of Israel is, by the partition of the Red Sea to deliver the Israelites from Pharaoh.

The middle segment of the book is about journey to the land of the free. During which God gave people His Law carved on to a thick slice of stone. In spite of all the amenities given by God, the people fought against Him by making a statue of Gold and started worshiping it. The Last portion of Exodus is how God created the Ark of the Covenant, with its different aspects that He wants the people to follow including the forms of worship.

RESPONSE

The idea of going to church came from the book of Exodus and it is very clear. The picture being painted about the various sacrifices the Israelites have to give was part of a master plan. The Passover Lamb of God, which is the utmost sacrifice humanity, could give. The sacrifice of the Lamb is seen in various parts of the Bible. For Instance, in Genesis Abraham ends up sacrificing a ram, in Exodus, during the last plague, a lamb was sacrificed and its blood were marked on the door frame so that the Israelites would not be affected by the Plague. Imagine this, if lord had to kill the first born, how angry must have he been in order to do such a terrible thing. On another note, it is interesting see how God give the people the Ten Commandments; know which they would not be able to keep. It shows us that we are not able to abide by even the simplest of laws. God’s involvement in the people of Israel is clearly shown, through their deliverance from slavery to the food and water in the desert. I believe that it shows that God will provide with all our needs as long as we love him with all our heart. An example of this concept is, “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6: 38). From the book of Exodus, we understand that sin is something that never gets unpunished. God’s does punish you for our sins, sooner or later. It is implied that if we are relieved of a situation we shouldn’t be in, it means that we shouldn’t go back to it. Especially, it is said in Exodus about not going back to other God’s. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me.” From this it is very evident about the concept of going back to your old self. On a separate note, why did the Lord harden the Pharaoh’s heart? So does that mean he was showing that he was on both sides, or simply put a way to prove us that we had free will? If it was the latter than the former, why go through such extreme circumstances? Could He have made the point with less causality? Something to definitely make us think and analyze about is the way I look at it.

God’s power and authority cannot be contained or measured by any human or natural standard. He knows all things, even the thoughts and actions of mankind. His knowledge is without limit and His wisdom perfect. No secret is hidden from God as He is in every imaginable and unimaginable place at any time at the same time. He is the only true steadfast being one will ever encounter. Hebrews 13:8 confirms God is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Bonnke 2007:51-52)

The Nature of God

God’s nature is clearly evident in His love for His creation and especially His concern for those who don’t know Him. He calls mankind His children to whom He gave the gift of life through the ultimate sacrifice by crucifixion of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

God also declares that He is spirit, He is everlasting, He is light and He is love (Bonnke 2007:53-54).

The Old Testament Provision for Sojourners

God’s love and compassion for His creation and His desire for all to be saved is evident even in the Old Testament where various accounts of salvation from destruction can be found. The usual way of salvation was brought through the yearly sacrifice of an innocent lamb that needed to die in exchange for the sin of man. This ritual was to be replaced by the future promise of a deliverer who would bring about eternal forgiveness for sin, once and for all. (Bonnke 2007:55)

Old Testament prophets prophesied regarding this messiah and coming king who would fully restore Israel in relationship with God. (Bonnke 2007:56)

The New Testament

In Bethlehem a sinless boy of promise was born. He came to be entitled Jesus Christ and His destiny was to die so that the guilty might live. His ministry completed God’s plan of redemption. He promised His followers the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who would enable them to boldly proclaim the everlasting good news of salvation, through Jesus Christ, to the entire world. (Bonnke 2007:57)

Peter and Paul are two examples of how the power of the Holy Spirit enabled them to proclaim the gospel. Fearful Peter denying his affiliation with Jesus Christ was now fearlessly proclaiming the gospel. In the name of Christ Paul faced many sufferings and even death. Beyond all rationale they were compelled with the responsibility to tell the world of what Jesus had done. “With the blessing and assurance of salvation comes the responsibility of evangelism” (Bonnke 2007:58)

Power for evangelism

Jesus was aware of his disciples’ weaknesses and that they needed anointing and power through the promised Holy Spirit baptism to tell all about the good news of Jesus Christ. (Bonnke 2007:58)

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples. This once unknown power has now equipped these simple, weak and fearful fishermen with boldness, power and a new desire for evangelism. Pentecost marks the beginning of God’s plan for the proclamation of what Jesus’ death and resurrection means to all mankind. A message to be shared with the whole world (Bonnke 2007:59)

The disciples had to be witnesses unto Jesus “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In application this suggest that the first field of witnessing was to be their own, then nationally including those rejected by society, and then to the entire world (Bonnke 2007:60).

Through the evident power of the Holy Spirit, three thousand people received salvation after hearing this first sermon brought by Peter. The impact of what the disciples had received was clear and the flames of evangelism was burning bright. “The purpose of the Great Commission was a reality” (Bonnke 2007:61).

Models for personal and public evangelism.

Modern day evangelists have the privilege of learning from the works of those who laid the foundation of evangelism. Although strong military movements influenced various religious views, Christianity remained steadfast in its viewpoints and even continued to grow in influence even under adversity and persecution (Bonnke 2007:64)

Philip

Philip was the first recorded evangelist in the New Testament and appointed to oversee the welfare of widows and children in the church at Jerusalem (Bonnke 2007:64).

He became a very active preacher in Samaria where he cast out demons and healed the sick. Simon the magician was highly impacted by Philip’s public ministry in this town.

Afterwards Philip was guided by the Holy Spirit into Gaza where he ministered on a personal level to an Ethiopian eunuch. Philip found this eunuch reading the writings of Isaiah and explained to him how Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of these prophecies. The eunuch accepted the message and was baptized (Bonnke 2007:64-65).

Paul

Paul ministered in Macedonia, far beyond the borders of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. He was once a persecutor of the Christian believers, but now filled with the Holy Spirit he had an intent to tell the world about the gospel of Jesus Christ . He did so against any Satanic resistance. Even being imprisoned for his beliefs did not stop his mission. Prison just became another venue. Paul also had fears like any normal human being, yet by the power of the Holy Spirit he overcame his fears and preached with authority and conviction, knowing God was with him (Bonnke 2007:65)

The curch and evangelism

Evangelism and mission will always be stimulated with the church’s emphasize on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They have become a new people identifying themselves using the Greek term ecclesia which translates as assembly or congregation. Although division have been caused at times through different viewpoints within the church, the unifying purpose of evangelism still stands.

Conclusion

Fr. Horacio Dela Costa, in his work The Background of Nationalism and Other Essays, made an effort to help the Filipino find strengthen his own sense of identity, questioning the shallowness of the usual Filipino’s claim for national identity. He says, “It is easy enough to say, ‘I am Filipino’.” but then asks what saying it means when “the very word itself is a foreign derivative with no exact indigenous equivalent”. The truth is that, as Father Dela Costa says, we do not even have a name we can call our own. Father Dela Costa’s essays in this text concerns to “clarify the Filipino’s sense of identity and purpose as a nation.”(p. vii)

In this text, Father Dela Costa gave light on the responsibility of the writer in contemporary Philippine society. Here he writes about the concerns the writer must keep in mind. The writer as an artist, he says, is responsible for conveying the right ‘memorable’ experience in his text.

The writer must be aware of the Filipino’s sense of identity. Startling, in fact, that Father Dela Costa started proving the Filipino’s cultural identity by doubting it. He asks, “Do we have a cultural identity?” (p.83) He wonders because what is apparent is that Filipinos have cultural diversity “far more pronounced than any other Asian nation”. He recognizes that our neighboring Asian nations have been subjected to Western cultural influence but he observes that none of them have experienced such interpenetration as the Filipino. This is the reason why he questions the Filipino identity. The influence of the West have seemingly been so much mixed with the Filipino’s own that it might, in a way, have dominated what remains to be originally Filipino.

Father Dela Costa contends that Filipinos cannot just accept it as a given that the Filipino is culturally diverse, a mix of Asian and Western. He wants the Filipino to be aware of his own and claim just one, it cannot be both. So much of the culture may be influenced by the West such as the constitution and religion but Father Dela Costa contends that still, we cannot be both. We must be one or the other, Asian or Western. He says that the Filipino who accepts both might be accepting so because he subscribes to the Aristotelian concept of orderliness wherein he likes to see things fit neatly in categories. To those who accept both, the Filipino is Asian because he is geographically from Asia but also Western because of so much Western things he does culturally. However, this new category of being both might be disorderly after all. Father Dela Costa suspects a rough kind of unity here. (p.84)

All in all, Father Dela Costa encourages the Filipino writer to be aware of his identity thru enlarged consciousness and refined sensibility of the present and past. This work of his aims to empower the Filipino to be aware of what he truly is and truthfully claims his culture as his own.

The Rizal Bill of 1956

Horacio dela Costa was asked to draft for the Church a pastoral letter on the writings of Jose Rizal (particularly Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo) being included in the reading curriculum of students in the Philippines. It is not something many know, but he actually expressed a positive view of Rizal, hailing Rizal as “builder of a nation”.

In draft A, he reinforced that Rizal was not someone with an “unthinking love” for the country, meaning that the Filipinos suffered under colonial rule but this was not the only cause of their suffering. He went on to say that Rizal’s books, contrary to popular belief, were in fact not looked upon unfavorably by the Catholic Church since the Church would never get in the way of the “legitimate political and social aspirations of any people” (Schumacher), which were expressed in Rizal’s novels. However, a closer inspection of the novels reveals that his writing did not lambast the Church but rather brought attention to the abuses and issues surrounding the institution such as the reality of “unfaithful priests” and excessive veneration of saints. Though it must be realized that these issues do not in any way render Catholic doctrine as a whole null and void. Therefore, in Dela Costa’s view, it can be seen that Rizal was not targeting the Catholic Church with his novels but the crimes that its members commit in order to tarnish its principles.

The “way” of Jesuit Education entails that a person has morality closely intertwined with intellect, “an integral relationship between the life of faith and the life of the mind”. (Donahue 1992) This therefore implies that one may display the values of his Jesuit education by making sure that his sense of morality permeates his intellectual endeavors, that he is able to discern well with reason but also able to see goodness, to see God in all things, no matter how difficult it might seem to be.

In this case, Horacio Dela Costa incorporated morality into his analysis of Rizal and his two novels by discerning Rizal’s motives through his writing. It would be all too easy to go with the opinion of the majority of the bishops who hired him to write the pastoral letter by just condemning the inclusion of Rizal’s novels in the reading curriculum of schools. However, Dela Costa wrote out a letter with a more positive view of Rizal according to what his intellect, as well as his sense of morality and goodness told him, which in turn gauged the morality that he could see in Rizal and his writings.

Rizal’s novels tell of some negative aspects of religion, such as corruption in the character of Fr. Damaso and Salvi or even the religious complacency of Tiago, who prayed as much as a saint in the story but might not have reflected this religious sense in terms of his actions. It would have been all too easy for Dela Costa, or for anyone, for that matter, to dismiss these examples as plain criticisms of the Church, aimed at providing those who do not support the Church as an institution with the fuel to rip them apart. However, Dela Costa was able to use his keen intellect and sense of morality and goodness on Rizal’s writings in order to pinpoint insights that went much deeper. He was able to surmise that Rizal was not anti-Church; his writings did not reflect a negative image of Catholic doctrine, but rather revealed the abuses and crimes being committed by the members of the Church, whether these be in the higher ranks such as the priests or ordinary laymen.

Dela Costa was able to recognize Rizal’s examples of excessive veneration of saints, malicious behavior of religious figures, and other such unholy matters as expressing a stand against how religion was presented to people during his time; how religion existed in people’s lives back then. Dela Costa was able to recognize Rizal’s morality and sense of goodness through his writing when others could only see bald-faced accusations and criticisms of a powerful institution.

It is important to possess a realistic picture of the world, a world where suffering exists. In the world today, it would be so easy for a person to block things out if they should find something unpleasant. However, a Jesuit education, in order to let people see that there is goodness and God in everything must also groom people to accept and face the reality of a suffering world. Dela Costa would not have taken Rizal’s exposure of the negative aspects of the Church as he did, if he did not choose to see the world for what it is, negative aspects and all. He was also able to understand Rizal’s intentions to tackle suffering at its source because he was also able to take the time to discern the dirty, painful picture of reality and avoid putting blame and accusations on Rizal, who the bishops thought had a negative view of the Church itself.

On Free Trade and Poverty

“Free trade between an industrial country and an agricultural country is to the detriment of the agricultural country aˆ¦ Our negotiating position aˆ¦ cannot be other than based on our national interest aˆ¦ and at the same time, on social justice.” (Trade between the unequal, lecture 30 August 1968). According to Gatdula these assertions made by Fr. De La Costa, based on recent findings by several international organizations, were deemed correct and still very much relevant in today’s free trade market. His works from the past are still some of the main frameworks of today’s society.

On poverty this is Fr. Dela Costa’s perspective: “We must now make our own decisions and must take the full consequences of the decisions we wrongly make, or weakly make, or cravenly fail to make. We no longer have a mother country or a colonial master to blame for our shortcomings; we only have ourselves.” (Philippine Economic Development, 27 January 1966) Although not specifically directed towards the poor and impoverished, Fr. Dela Costa believes that we have full control over our lives and he wants the poor to take control to try to get themselves out of the hole they are currently in. They have to make a stand and not just blame whomever for their situation.

Another insight is that this phrase was written forty years ago for it most likely was a problem back then that Fr. Dela Costa saw, truly enough this is still applicable in our lives today, especially with our Filipino culture of blaming others for the shortcomings or negative outcomes in our lives. Clearly seen in our electoral system wherein we are the ones who vote for and decide who our government officials are but when they don’t perform up to par we blame them but in reality the one to blame is us, for we are the ones who voted for them. Fr. Dela Costa also asserts that for our country to gain economic development all the people must contribute, it must be a joint effort. Undoubtedly this is true but the question that he raises is that are we all willing to do this?

Some technological inventions have affected our life greatly for the past decades, especially computers. It’s true that computers really provide us more convenient life. With computers, we can deal with many documents even faster, we can use computer to control machines to work, and we can also buy what we want through the Internet on computers. Nevertheless, computers also brought some bad effects to our life; here are some examples of the bad effects that computers have brought to us.

One of the bad effects is the impact for art. There are more people tend to create art works by computers, for, those created by computers are neat and tidy. In my opinion, however, they are only squares, straight lines, and other boring things, which are supposed to be called art works. From art works, we can see what an artist wants to deliver to us; we can feel the passion, the eager or even the suffer just like what the artist felt from his/her work. For example, in Renoir’s paintings, we can easily find the tenderness and his pity for people because he had given his spirits to his paintings. Even though computers can also make paintings in Renoir’s style, we can’t see any emotion or spirit in them at all since computers can only imitate rather than create.

Another bad effect is that computers have brought much solitude into people’s life. For instance, there are more and more people would like to stay home using computers rather than going out to have interaction with people. This is because these people are poorly educated in a holistic manner. Thus, your viewpoint has caused some misunderstanding. It’s not a good phenomenon, for everyone has to know how to get along with others; there’s no one can live on his/her own.

What’s more, we can’t deny that, with the help of computers, we become lazier than we used to be. For example, many students tend to find information simply on the Internet instead of going to libraries for their homework, and if their teachers ask them to hand their homework in type form, the only thing they have to do is copy the information. Therefore, students won’t get anything from their assignments.

When it comes to technology, some people will lose the original treasure in human beings, like diligence and sociability. We can’t rely on technology too much. After all, technology is used to help us. We should take advantage of technology instead of being taken advantage of by technology.

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Robert J. Barro & Jong-Wha Lee, 2000. “International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications,” CID Working Papers 42, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
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Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January 1863 in Kolkata to Vishwanath Dutta and Bhubaneswar Devi .Swami Vivekananda’ s childhood name was Narendranath Dutta. His father was an Attorney-at-low in the Calcutta high court. He was proficient in English and Persian .he had also in depth knowledge of bible and Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit. His mother was a deeply religious lady, well-versed in the art of story -telling .swami Vivekananda was very much attached to his mother. She used to tell him mythological stories which he heard with great concentration and interest. He often said that it was his mother who had been the source of constant inspiration in his life. He had learnt epics and Purina’s from his mother.

Since his childhood Vivekananda was very intelligent and had great attraction for spiritual matters. Vivekananda retained everything he was once told. He always spoke the truth and always wanted to test the truth of whatever he was told. He was very bold and courageous even in the middle of danger. He was equally good at singing and sports. He was born leader.

Narendra passed his entrance examination from the metropolitan institute. He did graduation from Christian college Calcutta .Hastie, the principal of the college was highly impressed by him. Mr. Hastie was known to have made his remark about Narendranath,”Narendranath is really genius. I have travelled far and wide, but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German Universities among philosophical student. He is bound to make a mark in life.”He had a wide range of interests ranging from sports and music to wrestling, philosophy and poetry. He had great love for the poetry of Shelley, Wordsworth Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill. Narendra did not enjoy worldly pleasures. He was always on the look for something beyond worldly and materialistic world. His life completely changed when he met with Sri Ramakrishna. He became Swami Vivekananda from Narendranath Dutta after he met Sri Ramakrishna for the second time.

As a child, Vivekananda was strong -willed and restless. as a student of philosophy ,he had various questions related to god such as ,if there was any God ,how He looked ,why he created this world ,what relationship does He has with the people and the like , but there was none who could satisfy his queries. Narendra loved and admired Ramakrishna, but never surrendered his independence of judgement. Sri Ramakrishna suffered a deadly disease and very soon passed away. Before his death Ramakrishna brought his young disciples under the leadership of Narenda. He also transmitted his power to Narendra and said,”By the force of the power transmitted by me, great things will be done by you.” When Sri Ramakrishna passed away in august 1886, all his young disciples under Narendra laid the foundation of Ramakrishna brotherhood at baranagore. It was during this time that Narendra along with his disciple brothers took the vow of sannaysa and renunciation and felt the need of wandering life of the sannaysa. And towards the close of 1888, Narendra too began to take temporary excursions away from the monastery. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission, one of India’s leading charitable institutions.

Narendra wanted to have a good understanding of Indians, Indian cultures and traditions. For this he undertook extensive travelling, taking leave of his brother monks with the firm resolve to cut himself free from all ties and to go into the solitude of the Himalayas. This was a great departure .like a diver he plunged into the Ocean of India and the Ocean of India covered his tracks. He was an unidentified monk with exceptional genius. He met many leading personalities’ lawyers, teachers, and rulers .He appealed them all to do something for the suffering masses. A few among them came forward and provided him financial support so as to take a journey to the west and make them known of the eternal religion of the modern world.

Carrying forward his noble mission, Narendra, with the help of subscription rose by some of his young disciples, visited America to attend the parliament of religions convened at Chicago. At the young age of 30, he reached Chicago to represent Hinduism there. The appeal of his simple words of burning sincerity, his great personality and his bright countenance were so great that the next day the newspaper described him as the greatest figure in parliament of religions. When this quite unknown young man of thirty appeared in Chicago at the inaugural meeting of the parliament of religions opened in September 1893, by cardinal gibbons, all his fellow members were forgotten in his commanding presence. The thoughts of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark upon the United States. This simple monk had become the man of the hour. His address to the parliament of religions established him as an exponent of India’s age old values. Overnight he became a great national hero of India. Suddenly it brought to the Indians that there must be something in the Indian thought that the Western intelligentsia feel compelled to admire. It is for the first time that they awoke to the richness of their heritage .His visit to Chicago was a tremendous success. After he made visit to England and Switzerland. He spread his message there .He got the chance of meeting and lecturing various kinds of people .Swami’s lecture at these places aimed at raising big funds to help relieve the suffering and poverty of Indian masses as well as to bring to the West the ancient Indian wisdom of Vedanta and practices of classical yoga.

Vivekananda stayed in America for more than three years. This long stay was full of intense activity .Vivekananda began to offer classes, free of any charge to his sincere students. After delivering numerous lectures and classes in New York during this time, he founded first Vedanta Society in America. He also trained a group of close disciples at Thousand Island park. Swami saw in Margaret a great future in the work for India. Swami’s lectures in England form Janna yoga. The results of his work produced such an impression that he was offered the chair of Eastern Philosophy at both Harvard University and Columbia University. He had laboured hard to give this message to the West that Vedanta forms the universal principle basic to all religions and his efforts resulted in the establishment of the first centre for yoga work on a permanent basis in the United States. He returned to India at 1896.At madras he delivered public lectures which was a call to rise and build a new India.

He described India’s neglect of masses as a national sin. The social status of women in India was also a matter of grave concern for him. India’s ethnic and religious diversity for him was never a matter to be worried about, for India had always sought her unity in love and respect for different sects and communities .He aspired for a new social order and new civilization in which best spiritual traditions of India would be combined with the latest advancement in the field of science and technology. He preached “Jive is shiva”, meaning every being is a part of God. He gave this call to Indians to “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”

This great man of India died at the young age of 39 on the 4th of July 1902.He established two monasteries in the name of Sri Ramakrishna, one at baronage and the other at blur, near Calcutta. Till today his work is carried out in these Missions. He said to his followers, “It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body-to cast it off like a worn -out garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God.”Tagore once advised Romaine Rolland,”If you want to know India, study Vivekananda”. In a short life of 39 years, he produced classics such as Janna yoga, Bhatia yoga, Karma yoga and raja yoga. He delivered numerous lectures, composed many poems and was spiritual guide to many seekers who came to him for instruction.He organized Ramakrishna order of monks. Swami Vivekananda once spoke of himself as a “Condensed India”.

Swami Vivekananda said that “Mukti and all else appear of no consequences to me”. And “sell it, if necessary we are Sanyasins, We ought always to be ready to sleep under the trees and live on what we beg every day”.

The Vedic fire ritual is a Hindu ceremony of sacrifice to the Gods. This ritual is considered to be a big part of the Hindu religion and traditions. This ritual originated within Hinduism since it first began which was over 300 years ago. From such a historical time to now the ritual has changed and adapted over the many years. There is a caste system within India which the ritual varies in terms of exact methods and measures. Also depending on what part of India (the north or south) the sacrificial ceremony has different ways of being performed. In all parts of India what remains the same is the sacredness and purpose of the sacrifice which is an offering in honour of the Gods (Klostermaier, 2008). The sacrificial ceremonies have in modern times become less important compared with Vedic times (Sen, 2005). The time frame of the Vedic period cannot be placed on an exact time frame however has been predicted to begin between 1700-1100 BCE (Britannica Encyclopaedia, 2012).

Within the Hindu religion there are hundreds of Gods. However there are the main three which are Indra, Shiva and Vishna. All the other Gods are reincarnations of these Gods. Agni is the God of fire, he is considered to be the most important God within the Vedic Period. Indra is closely related to Agni and it has been suggested that they are twin brothers (Encyclopaedia Mythica, 20012). The story of Agni is uncertain as there are many different interpretations to where he is from. “…another time he is the son of a queen who keeps his birth secret from her king. He was born, like Indra, in full power and vigor. Agni is also said to be the son of ten mothers who are all sisters; these are the ten fingers of man. Another story tells that he consumed his parents when he was born, as they could not provide for him; this is symbolic of the fire born when two sticks are rubbed together which quickly are burned up by it” (Encyclopaedia Mythica, 20012 ‘Agni’). Agni holds great importance within the Vedic fire ritual; as his role is to be the messenger from mankind to the higher power; the great gods (Britannica Encyclopaedia, 2012). In current time Agni is not acknowledged as frequently as he had been in the Vedic Period. Agni is now described as an “older Vedic God” (Walsh, 52).

During the Vedic Period the Vedic Fire Ritual was performed on a regular basis within Hindu communities in India. The ritual is a sacrificial ceremony. The Sacrifices are offerings to the higher powers. The offerings are to the Gods through the fire. There is a fire pit that is the way in which the sacrifices are offered to Agni and all the other Gods. The exact method of this ritual varies from caste and regions of India. It was then later believed if songs of praise were to accompany the sacrifices they might be showing a further element of respect to the gods. There is the Vedic Samhitas which is a collection of prayers and ritual formulae that has been put together in order to assist in the teachings to younger generations. This text ensures that the ritual will not be altered due to misinterpretation. There is a belief that if the procedures are not followed correctly then this could bring about disaster such as death.

Traditionally the Vedic fire ritual was performed by the people in society, and the way in which the rituals were taught was by word of mouth from generation to generation. It was formally a duty of the king to arrange public sacrifice for the well-being of the people (Klostermaier, 2008). As the ritual began to grow so did the necessity of Vedic rights. In order to ensure that the procedures were correctly formed a Vedic Samhitas were created. The Vedic Samhitas is a collection of prayers and ritual formulae for the Vedic Fire ritual (Sen, 2005). The complexity grew so greatly that now only highly trained Brahmans can carry out the processes correctly. A Brahman is a Hindu priest, and is highly respected by all castes. Before being titled a Brahman they must undergo many years of training. They are considered to be highly prestigious and with this status they obtain many privileges (Britannica Encyclopaedia, 2012). The need for a highly trained Brahman to perform the Vedic fire ritual is due to belief that if the procedure were to be incorrectly performed that they could offend the Gods. With this did occur they would fear that there would be serious repercussions such as illness or even death.

Initially the Vedic sacrifice had no need for a temple and was performed in an open space. The spiritual space was referred to as a Vedi which was marked by either being slightly raised or hollowed. Gradually the space where the ritual takes place has changed bringing the ritual inside a temple with fire-alters. The construction of an alter is built in a particular way with bricks (Klostermaier, 2012). Originally there were no images that were associated with the ritual or even the religion as a whole, though today there are many images. There are pictures of the gods that allow you to have an image of who you are worshipping. Agni the god of fire has been illustrate with two faces, seven sharpened fiery tongues, golden teeth with seven arms and three legs. His skin is red and is often accompanied by a ram (Encyclopaedia Mythica, 20012).

Sacrifice is very symbolic as it shows that the worshippers are willing to give something up. Sacrifices are offered to the lord. The idea with these offerings is that they give something to receive something in return (Britannica Encyclopaedia, 2012). Animal sacrifice was traditionally very common with the horse being the most elaborate form of sacrifice. Many other animals were offered as well such as a goat, ram or meat to symbolise. There were times in which human sacrifice has taken part in the ritual, as an offering; however this was not common and happened very rarely. Butter, milk and rice are alternate offerings that were given to the sacred fire which is what is used in more modern times. Some animals were excluded such as the camel, as they did not contain medha. Medha is the substance that makes the sacrifice work. (Klostermaier, 2012).

The main ambition of performing the Vedic fire ritual is in hopes of receiving a long life and good fortune. This ritual was viewed as indispensible by the Vedic people (Klostermaier, 2012). This fire ritual took place for a great number of reasons. The ceremonies took place in acknowledgement of stages in a person’s life from conception to death. Some of these ceremonies include; conception, during pregnancy, birth, to dedicate infants astrology sign, birthdays, puberty such as a girls first time of menstruating, initiation into adulthood, marriage, asking for good health due to illness, death (where the body is cremated in the fire) (Britannica Encyclopaedia, 2012). These are called samskaras and can also be referred to as sacraments, which are required in order to make a Hindu a full member of the community. Not all of these are performed by each caste as different casts had different traditions. The importance of these sacrifice hold high importance particularly to higher caste-Hindu. The most important sacrament received is the rituals performed in order to receive your name and establishment of horoscope which is performed after birth however formerly during conception. Another crucial samskara is referred to as the second birth which is the initiation into Hinduism at the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. Marriage is the most important samskara which is to ensue fidelity, happiness and progeny. It is common if a marriage fails that people will look for flaws in the sacrificial ceremony. There are also another number of reasons sacrifices are performed such as religious events, full moons, if there were a lack of cattle (Klostermaier, 2008).

The Vedic fire ritual has had a large influence on the culture within Hinduism. However the custom on the elaborate sacrifice is gradually becoming less important since the Vedic age. The main goal of this sacrifice is to invoke good Karma Vidhi from the governors of human destiny. Meaning they are making an offering to the Gods in order to receive a good life -good karma. Over time the ritual grew to become only performed by an expert Brahman. Many of the rituals and prayers have been recorded in the Vedic Samhitas however some have been lost due to being passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth (Sen, 2005). Even though the sacrifice has lost some of its importance it is still acknowledged and performed due to having such a rich historical importance.

The government of South Africa has called in an expert in community development to assist a group of individuals who have created an NGO (Non- governmental organization) to help deal with the alien landing that has happened 20 years ago. The humans ‘salvage’ the aliens and put them in a restricted zone on the outskirts of the city called District 9. In the beginning the MNU (multinational united), a multinational cooperation was in charge and was recently disbanded from service because the company ill-treating the alien group. It is the experts’ job to help the NGO better manage the aliens and treat them the way a typical community in South Africa would be treated, as many say that the very fact that they have traveled here means this particular species (or synthetic intelligence) is so far beyond us. The idea that the human race regards them, as low-grade life forms is not quite realistic. In summary, the main aim of the MNU was around the forced relocation of the aliens from District 9 to District 10, moving the aliens even further outside the outskirts of South Africa. Besides being constricted to the township and being forcibly relocated, they suffer various other kinds of oppression by MNU, very closely to the way blacks were treated during the time of apartheid, making the aliens fearful and unable to trust the human race further.

According to Flora and Flora (1993) Community development unites the knowledge of “community” with “development.” Community being a group of people who share common characteristics, identity, Interests and perceived itself as separate in some regard from the larger society it exists. For this reason, community development depends on interaction between people and combined action, rather than individual activity. Cavaye (2000) added that putting the two terms together – community development – means that a community itself participates in a procedure intended to recover the social, economic and environmental situation of the community. While on the other hand development is the process of choice, different ways of thinking, anticipate change and try to improve quality of life for those living in the community.

2. The deprivation trap

The concept of the ‘deprivation trap’ (Refer to the Appendix) shows clusters of groups of deficiency that interact with each other (pentagon of interactive links between each) to form the trap the people find themselves in and trying to survive it. This traps framework consists of the following:

Powerlessness, this purely means someone who does not have any power, who is helpless as they are lacking the necessary legal authority. People who fall in this heading are fearful to express their needs and are trying to hold on to what little they have without having that taken away from them, Heywood (2007) In short stated it is the lack of social and economical influence.

The aliens are stranded in South Africa, as they are unable to find the necessary object needed to start their ship to take them back home. Therefore not only are they in a foreign place with no knowledge of the customs they are also unable to help themselves because they do not have the necessary resources. The humans therefore take advantage of this by forcing them to relocate to district 10 without giving them notice before hand. If the human did not like the answer, the aliens gave to their questions they would shout and threaten to shoot them and in some instances gloat at them.

Isolation, people who live in remote, inaccessible, secluded and quarantined areas, where assess to health care facilities, job opportunities, clean water, security, education etcaˆ¦ is either out-of-the-way, scarce or in some cases non-existent. Therefore, their geographical area secluded them from the rest of civilization, where help is not easier to come across.

There is a special section of Johannesburg that frosted the aliens (district 9), this keeps them away from the human civilizations; the humans do prefer it this way. An individual from the community says, “They must fix the ship and go.” Another state “at least they kept away from us”

Poverty, Swanepoel and de Beer (2011) in short stated that poverty can roughly be seen as the lack of having necessary land, assets, jobs, money, skills etcaˆ¦ to be able to function properly to meet abstract (e.g. Human dignity), concrete (e.g. Clean Water) and most importantly basic needs (e.g. food) needs to function in society healthy both financially and mentally.

They do not have money, human education, resources therefore they are taken advantage off and are treated like animals (served cat food as meals).

Physical Weakness, a person is in a state of being weak; therefore, they do not have any physical strength to improve their lives. In some cases chronic illnesses are contracted which affect physical weakness even more.

They are placed in an area that is not hygienic, there are piles of litter everywhere, they urinate in the opened, there are meat chopping in the middle of the road, over all the area looks like the slums. Therefore, they are not physically strong or have the energy to do anything about it. The only proper source of food that they could possibly purchase is cat food, if they are unable to afford that which are given in exchange for the aliens advance weapons, they have to eat the pile of dirty leftover food

Vulnerability, this is where a person has limited choice and engagement, which makes them easy candidates to be intimidated, and taken advantage off.

Since they had no power, and are living in poverty and isolation this makes the aliens vulnerable, Humans knowing this used ways of manipulations to get the aliens to do what they needed, they bribed with cat food and other occasions threatened to take way their children if they did not cooperate with what they wanted. In other cases, we see that they destroy the alien’s eggs, which they call “abortion.”

The deprivation trap is an interconnected trap, the only way a CDW (Community developer worker) can break the hold the trap has over the people is, according to Swanepoel and de Beer (2011) is to figuratively break the links in the chain and then the trap shall be broken or at least loosen that hold. With the above information, it is clear to see how easy it was for the humans to coerce the aliens into doing as they please.

3. Ethical and practical principles
3.1 Ethical Principles

Van Heerden (2005) states that ethics is a set of rules or a standard that regulates the lives of people and are used to make decisions in some instances. Each individual have their own personal ethics and this helps them determine the rightness and wrongness of things. Swanepoel and de Beer (2011) mentioned six districted ethical principles that every community developer should consider when going into a community:

3.1.1. Human Orientation

People who have fallen into the deprivation trap have not been successful in meeting their daily basic needs, therefore a CDW should help enable the community to live fulfilling life with all their needs met. The most important abstract need is human dignity; this is where they are aware that they are able to make decisions for themselves making them feel self-relevant and self-efficient. As they meet their internal potential, it motivates the community to fulfill their physical needs

Human dignity according to Kleyn and Viljeon (2010) is one of the essential needs for individuals. Looking at the way the aliens where treated its clear that their human dignity has not been met. They aliens where unable to reach their full potential as the humans restricted their movements, this discouraging them even further. They where also treated as barbarians, given names such as “prawn”, constantly being swore at and treated as punching bags and humiliation around every corner, they are also shown publically urinating, savagely ripping meat apart, and fighting with each other constantly.

3.1.2. Participation

When the community participate they become part of the decision making and planning process, which on return makes them feel empowered and in control of their surroundings. The humans avoided at all cost getting the aliens to be involved in maintaining the environment and having some say about their circumstances, thus encouraging the submissiveness of the aliens.

3.1.3. Empowerment

Simply stated by Heywood (2007) empowerment refers to the political power, not having the necessary skills to complete a task but instead have power to make decisions.

The aliens had no power in any circumstance, they where always watching their back and worried about a human encounter. When a human approached they had to go down on their needs to show that the humans had the authority, they where always being belittled and mocked and if they showed a sign of emancipation they where gun downed.

3.1.4. Ownership

This helps people gain power to make decisions in their own life. According to Swanepoel and de Beer (2011), they mentioned that it is the persons own future and development no one else, as they are the main role- players. Mobilization is used to help trigger the people and allow them to take responsibilities of ownership and management in their future and future projects.

Mobilization was not implemented at any point in the handling of the aliens. Humans preferred that they took the ownership away from the aliens so that they could be in charge of the alien community at all time, giving the humans a sense of authority.

3.1.5. Release

The real goal of developmental projects is eliminate poverty, not to address poverty or deal with some of its manifestations of poverty. Therefore trying to release the hold the deprivation trap has on the community. They try to gradually improve the communities situation, as a result releasing them from poverty not relieving.

As stated on the top, the goal of release is to try and rid the community from poverty, by the looks of the way MNU maintained district 9 it seems as if they where trying to keep the aliens in poverty. They did not try to produce means of improving their living circumstance, such as providing education so the aliens can learn necessary skills to help themselves. Instead, they left them living in slum-like living condition.

3.1.6. Sustainability

If the natural environment is under threat or damaged, then individuals who are integrated part of the environment will also be under threat or in harm. Healthier natural environment means a gradual improvement of the community’s health.

The aliens living condition proves the top true. The environment in which the aliens lived was constantly threating their ability to survive. It was rubbish dumb with aliens urinating everywhere, meat being cut in the opened, alien tug-of-war happening in the middle of the road, aliens fights, aliens vomiting in the opened etcaˆ¦

3.2 Practical Principles

Swanepoel and de Beer (2011) mentioned four districted practical principles that every community developer should consider when going into a community. These practical principles need to be pursued and regarded in order to carry out the ethical principles (mentioned above):

3.2.1. Learning

The learning process has an aim to meet needs for an adaptable, continuous, investigational, action-based and assistance. This helps the Community and the CDW to exchange knowledge and resources. Van Heerden (2005), states that people can lead their own change processes of learning, because of some of the success stories that she have taken note off. The main aim is to emphasis autonomy as the community is very capable to make their own decisions, as this would also give them a sense of empowerment.

Firstly, MNU provided no learning opportunity for the aliens thus not giving them an opportunity to try to make a difference in their community and the human one. They had no autonomy or empowerment so they where unable to be adaptable and make decisions in their own lives. Secondly there was no CDW’s or projects implements in attempts to help better their stay and encourage knowledge building in district 9 for the aliens.

3.2.2. Compassion

CDW should pursue being able to be sympathetic or empathetic, this is especially useful when the community is in that deprivation trap and have lost hope. Baron, Branscombe and byrne (2009) states that Compassion helps them build trust, gain friendships and co-operation with the community members.

Considering the other particle principle discussed it is accurate to say that compassion was one of the main practical principle that MNU fell short off. There was no compassion was so ever shown to the aliens, the aliens where constantly being called derogatory names, blasphemed, threatened usually for no reason, being captured, their baby eggs being burned, Nigerians kill and eat the aliens, the aliens held at gun point or being shot at from the sky.

These principles are undeniably essential to make community development works as it works on freeing the people from the deprivation trap.

3.3 Conflict

Van Heerden (2005) wrote that conflict is when two or more values, perspectives and options are contradictory in nature and have not been aligned or agreed about yet. The main reason conflict arises is by miscommunication, meaning messages that have been carried across wrongly. Since communication arises from miscommunication, the way to overcome it is by good communication. There are varies causes of conflict that Mersham and Skinner (2009) mentioned such as unclear boundaries which are definitions not being understood clearly, Clashing interests and personalities, situation, consensus needed, misunderstanding and unresolved prior conflict with the receiver. Cavaye (2004) went on saying that values are another reason why conflict arises. Community values are diverse and inherently involve conflict. Community members maintain very unusual values based on their own experience and background. The expression of values involves managing conflicting views and community power.

There was definitely a communication barrier that arise between the humans and the aliens, which did in fact cause conflict which lead to hundred of aliens being killed.

3.4. Rights violation

Each individual on this planet when born is entitled to rights. According to Kleyn and Viljoen (2010) rights are the core to humanity and is therefore inviolable, no one can take these rights away, people are born with them. Human rights are the formulation of the requisite for fairness, acceptance, mutual respect, and human dignity in all endeavors. Grech (2006) states ones human rights are not granted by the state and instead is an innate quality that each human been is granted when they are born.

When it came to the handling of the aliens there where regrettably numerous areas of the rights that where violated, for instance the right that was most violated was the right of human dignity, this is according to Kleyn and Viljoen (2010) is having respect for the individual and regarding their self-respect. The aliens where treated with no respect, the humans manipulated them on many occasions and demoted them as individuals, there was even a derogatory names for them called “Prawns”, referring to them as bottom feeders and those who scavenge the leftovers and made the aliens basic food supply being cat food. Other right that where violated was the right to life, as the humans killed the aliens without second guessing and in one instance burned a house of eggs that was soon to hatch with baby aliens. The right to privacy, the aliens had the right to do as they please in their homes but the humans rampaged in their houses and accusing them of unnecessary allegations. The right of freedom of movement which was demolished when the aliens where restricted and detained to living only in district 9 and where not allowed to move from that area or they would be killed. The right to nationality and a free and fair world, meaning everyone has the right to be a certain colour, gender, age etcaˆ¦ the aliens where alienated because they where a different nationality from what the average human race is used to therefore being treated as felons and excluded from civilization. There was no free or fair treatment taken into consideration toward them. The right to food, shelter, and education, shelter was provided but not sufficient or safe enough. Food supply was only cat food, which is only appropriate for cats. In addition, education at no point in time was offered to help teach the aliens about the human customs. The right to live free, the humans killed the aliens without hesitation and made some of them into experimental lab rats. Freedom of expression, if the aliens Questioned the human authority they where held at gunpoint or manipulated in to giving in.

The violation of rights leads to suffering and devastation which most of the time arises from conflict ( discussed in the previous section), in some cases it can cause physical and psychological harm and in the instance of the aliens political oppression of discrimination arise which made their basic needs easier to deny. Maises (2003) states war crimes as the laws of armed conflict forbid acts of hostility on people in a community and the use of firepower that triggers unnecessary suffering or long-term environmental damage, exactly what happened with the aliens in district 9. Lastly, genocide was is also an issue that arises especially with the aliens, when the humans coldly burnt the alien’s baby eggs.

5. Recommendation for better handling of the aliens.

It was clear that MNU handling of the aliens were cruel, vicious, brutal, merciless and appalling which made the aliens untrusting, fearful and skeptical of the humans. The new NGO group is trying to overcome this circumstance and make the planet livable for all. By doing this, the following recommendations should be taken into consideration:

5.1. The organization as an enabler of community development

The main goal of any Community developer is to make the community enablers and an enabling environment. This simply means that it enables the community to adapt to the ever-changing environment that they live in.

The aliens where unable to be involved in development previously, so it is essential that a CDW gets the aliens to be involved in community work, this contributes to helping them feel welcome and at the same time facilitating confidence building within.

5.2. The local development environment

The local environment helps CDW become aware of the global context, as the existing situation being the environment is fundamentally valuable. By knowing these environments, it helps aid towards support and strengthens it. These environments also play a key role in communication, also being one of the fundamental aspects of an enabling community and improvement of the community. The following are the different environment that would be useful to the alien community we have:

Social Environment, Baron, Branscombe and Byrne (2009) notes that this environment consists of bodies such as families, churches, clubs or formal institutions such as friendships. All communities are organized differently and a CDW should consider those when entering one. Some of the negative factors in this area could be power struggle, different group formations and crime.

By understanding the way the aliens gather and group to form entitles it would make the CDW able to better communicate and make the necessary change that is needed. The social environment is very important and should be stable so that adaptation is successful to eradicate the negative aspects.

Cultural Environment, this consists of society’s values, morals and the person tradition. It is essential that a CDW creates an environment where the individuals space is true to the values they where brought up in. Cavaye (2004) states that values regulate progress significances. Additionally by understanding these traditions, it forms a framework of understanding the reasons behind the way people act and react to actual life.

The aliens have come from a different cultural background therefore the CDW should broaden their knowledge on the aliens culture so that the aliens can feel part of a bigger picture. It is also important for the aliens to understand the South African culture if they would like to reside on the planet comfortably.

Psychological Environment, every persons experience to life would be different from each other. Willian and Sheffe (1989) writes that abstract manifestation of their experience of reality is know as the psychological make-up of people. The negative aspects could be stress, psychological scars, fear, and feeling of rejection, lack of self-esteem and empowerment and apathy from outside community.

Due to the unfortunate circumstance that the aliens had to deal with during MNU rein, which left the aliens scared, battered and fearful of any future endeavors. It is important that the CDW beings working on those abstract feeling so that trust can once again be integrated in their lives, which will motivate them into helping create a better future for themselves and the community alike.

5.3. Community as the main actor

According to the Oxford study dictionary (2002) defines Community as a body of people living in a distinct place considered as a whole, they have common interests and values. According to the definition, it is easy to say that the community should be the main-role players as they have the expert community knowledge about their specific area they live in.

The aliens where treated submissively since their arrival 20 years ago, therefore by creating a space where they feel they are in charge can bring some of their confidence back. It can also help the humans gain trust from the aliens and finally help the aliens to have some authority in terms of the living conditions they preferred, this would to help make them feel comfortable, as they are far away from their home.

5.4. Communication and Motivation

Communication is a very intricate process that is unpredictable because different people use different codes of communication, hence why there can be barriers of communication that can arise. Swanepoel and de Beer (2011) mentioned some barriers that can arise is the receiver ( The target person) might be afraid of the sender (where the message originated), receiver may have expectations, the receiver at the moment may be preoccupied, there could be a physical disability, environmental interruptions

If communication was done from the beginning, there would have never been that conflict between the aliens and the humans. Communication would have created understanding on both parts and thus interventions could have been installed to help sort out the novelty that has arise. Communication would of also made the human community a bit more open minded to the arrival of the aliens, therefore CDW aim should be to communicate effectively so that both side without a doubt understand each other till the very end.

Motivation, communication is implemented for various reasons, one of those reasons are to motivate people. Van Heerden (2005) said that motivation could contain hope and a positive outlook on life, being enthusiastic and keen and help change the communities’ attitude in a progressive way. In summary motivation can lead a person to change their mindset in a positive and innovating way such as feeling a sense of triumph, being entrusted with responsibilities and achieving them.

It is noted that due to the harsh after effects of MNU the aliens have lost all hope in the human race. It is the CDW job to try to change their perception about the human race, hence why motivation is the best tool for this instance. Motivation in all occasions in the aliens life can help push the aliens to start getting smart and adapt to the South African environment, and with the efforts from the aliens would push the humans to become more productive in trying to understand and fully accepting the aliens.

5.5. Goals of contact making

The main goals are to get to know the people and being accepted in and analyze exactly what the community needs. Getting to know the people is all about understanding the circumstance of each person. The needs are what the individual want introduced to better their circumstances e.g. schools for the children.

The needs of the aliens are to be accepted unconditionally and to live a normal life free to pursue their human rights and meet their basic needs on a regular basis. By making this possible, they shall gain a sense of empowerment that will help motivate them for further development in their lives and in the community.

5.6. Outcomes of community development

Most CDW fail in their attempt to help develop the community, mainly because they are approaching the approach wrong. There are couple of positive attributes that needs to be followed to create a positive outcome for the community as stated by Swanepoel and de Beer (2011):

Awareness creation, this approach is used to help the community become aware of their surrounds and therefore understanding it better.

When the aliens becomes aware of themselves in terms of the environment, needs, resources etcaˆ¦ there are able to make some changes to their situation, and with that gaining knowledge.

Further development, by becoming aware the community is able to recognize what needs to be done, therefore goals are set, some are reached, and therefore further development can be done

When the Aliens become aware and are able to further develop they are able to fulfill abstract needs and gain confidence and optimism to approach new horizons.

Demonstration effect, successes in certain places have influence on other areas and outside observes to participate in leading a hand. By a community accepting the aliens and attempting to bond with them, other would follow in their steps, according to Baron, Branscombe and Byrne (2009) this know as social influence.

Community Building not only does the concept of community development aid in strengthening a community but is also helps support abstract and concrete needs and help them become more aware, creating dignity in which they can be self-sufficient and self-relevant.

This helps the aliens become more involved and for that reason can teach them skills such as being adaptable, organized and becoming their own community developers.

5.7. Education and human rights

As discussed in Part 1 by assigning human rights to the aliens and living up to those promises it would help the handling of the aliens become easier and developmental run smoothly. Rights are important as it provides the framework of security, which would give the aliens piece of mind knowing they have their rights to fall back on so a repeat of MNU’s behaviors shall not be impose on them again.

Education is also on of those very essential aspects of growth in any community. By educating, the aliens they will be better able to function in the community thus reduce their fighting among each other, their disempowerment and submissiveness, their demotivation, and lack of survival skills. With the correct education there are able to find jobs, better looks after their family, homes and better handle the community and the human race. Education can be seen as their green card into living and making it on planet earth.

6. Conclusion

It was clear that MNU approached the whole situation wrongly from the beginning, not only did they violate the rights of the aliens, but they also did not attempt to effectively communicate and implement a peaceful society for all. Society was quick to judge and isolate those that where slightly different without attempting to make means to understand the aliens better. The aliens have arrived in a new planet many are unsure whether it was planned or not but it has happened so if positive interventions are laid out it shall be a interesting challenge to combine the alien and human races. This time using effective method to get the aliens educated and to get the human informed so that better communication is done and there will be no repeat of MNU’s behavior.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not of seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

Daniel L. Migliore in the book he authored, the 2nd edition of Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, made an effort to “strengthen the ‘fullness of Trinitarian faith’ and its relational understanding of God, creation, reconciliation, and consummation”. It is an expanded and updated version to the earlier edition which presents a foreword to “Christian Theology that is both critically respectful of the classical theological tradition and critically open to the new voices and emphases of recent theology”. As an introduction to Christian Theology, Faith Seeking Understanding contains fundamentally theological themes which are “catholic” in nature and critical of the beliefs and way of living of the faith community. Its basic coverage makes it suitable to first readers in theology and its criticism from the liberal theologians’ point of view recommends reflection to renew and rethink the beliefs and practices of traditionalists or of those who observe the beliefs and practices they had but have totally forgotten the core message of what they believe and practice.

In line with the spirit of optimism, humility of heart and open-mindedness, the criticisms employed, having their respective criterion, entails a challenge to rediscover the journey of faith. Upon reviewing it, one was reminded that a believer in the true sense is a learner who constantly looks for the truth and searches for the way.

As the impetus of various theological movements became obvious, the first edition of the Faith Seeking Understanding was born in the immediate context of the mainline Protestant church in North America. The author’s reflections on the inseparability of faith and practice were formed in a small Presbyterian congregation in Pennsylvania. Unsatisfied with its inadequacy in the present human situation of widespread anxiety and insecurity, Migliore brought to existence these updated and expanded edition. This was done to respond to the need of the church especially in times of crisis where clarity of conviction and purpose is certainly necessary in this time of uncertainty.

In order to obtain a better understanding of the values it points, one needs to notice where the author with his reflections is coming from. Three methods were utilized and influenced its contents in one way or another. First, theology was presented in a way that highlighted the Word of God posing questions to man. Second, theological questions were “formulated by an analysis of the human situation in a given period as seen in its philosophy, literature, art, science, and social institutions.” Lastly, praxis approach of liberation theology is apparent.

Faith Seeking Understanding discusses the importance and purpose of the pursuit of faith for understanding. “Here and now, faith sees only dimly and the questions of faith abound.” There are events that will challenge our beliefs and practices which may, at the same time, open us up to a praxis that may overcome evil and suffering, violence and ambiguity. Faith seeks understanding not for the sake of obtaining knowledge but seeks wisdom that will illumine life and practice of Christian virtues. It is not speculative knowledge! Quoting various philosophers, theory without practice is empty, practice without theory is blind. When faith is rethought and understanding of it is sought, its purpose and meaning gains clarity.

The author provides sources from which believers may claim to have knowledge of God in relation to human condition. It does not confirm what we already know about Him rather utterly surprises and disturbs a believer. God reveals himself but remains hidden. As Tersteegen states, “A God comprehended is no God.” Understanding of faith does not mean to know all the known and the unknown but the application of what was understood in service of God and his creation. Although man can’t fully understand God or faith, the seeking is not a waste but leads one to become a better person with better understanding and better witnessing with an open mind and a humble heart.

The Triune God revealed and celebrated in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit attested by the Sacred Scripture viewed through the eyes of those who are suffering and weak connects the main points. It tells the reader that the understanding of God is always an initiative of God! Man’s is a response. The tradition of faith is interpreted from its center, in Jesus Christ, allowing Him to become a transforming power in human life. Faith seeks development not in theory but through personal encounter and witnessing of God sought through faith. This lays down the liberating love that creates a new community.

In this time of crisis, in a world characterized by violence, nuclear threats, ecological crisis, spiritual confusion and what not, “a right understanding of the confession of faith in God the Creator is perhaps more important today than ever before.” A Christian faith that seeks understanding clearly emboldens, sharpens and makes patent its identity respecting the character of other religions. Understanding may be achieved through attentive and trustful reading and hearing of the witness of scripture in company with other members of the people of God.

Faith Seeking Understanding truly captured its purpose of reexamining faith in order to appreciate it fully and become an active and responsible believer who consciously recognize our identity as we freely respond in faith and in joyful hope of discovering the truth of what was handed to us and what was hidden from us. This will help us posses a new perspective and a new criterion of understanding. There is so much to discover in faith thus the use of intelligence is essential to avoid reducing faith into a euphoric feeling. There is lot of things to learn about the Triune God thus we are in need to intensify our witnessing of charity. As Pope Benedict XVI states in his Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei, “Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him, this standing with Him points towards and understanding of the reasons for believing.” Faith’s real prize is not realized until its worth is examined.

Faith Seeking Understanding by Daniel L. Migliore proves to be a timely response to the signs of the time as the world encounters crisis of ambiguity and precariousness. The honesty of the author is to be commended for there is no pretension as he acknowledges that some topics remain broken and incomplete. However, it is also just to subject the criticism of the author into criticism for he is also doomed to human condition. In addition, Catholic readers should remember the background of the author to reconsider the apparent biases towards Catholicism.

Introduction

The report states that the author (one of the consultants) uses the Soft systems methodology (SSM) tools and techniques to get the analysis and find the recommendations at the case study. As it is known, a SSM IS used at the analysis stage of developing an information system. SSM is an approach for dealing with messy or ill-structured problematic situations that are involving the human activity. Before beginning the use a SSM to analysis and modeling the case study problem situation, it must be known that this case study is about the Births, Deaths, and Marriages at the Salford Council. At this case study, the SSM can be considered an appropriate methodology to use, whose contents (details are given below) are that:

An explanation of the reason that the SSM is used in this case study.
A rich picture for the context and problem situation.
Two root definitions for two different relevant systems.
A conceptual model for one of the root definition.
A comparison of the rich picture and conceptual models.
A set of recommendations for change that address the problem situation.
Explanation

There are enough reasons support that to provide a SSM for this case study as an appropriate methodology. Soft Systems Methodology attempts to foster learning and appreciation of the problem situation between the group of stakeholders rather than set out to solve a pre-defined problem (.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk). Firstly, the case study requires the consultants use the information (given in the case study) to analysis and modeling problem situation, meanwhile, the SSM refers to problem situations rather than problems. Secondly, the CATWOE tools can help the consultant to prepare the root definitions of relevant systems. Furthermore, this case study is related to the complex human activity, such the births, deaths and marriages. However, a SSM is much harder to model human activity systems. Fourthly, SSM aids analysis rather than design and implementation, as rich pictures are largely designed to be a communication tools. Lastly, the seven steps can help the analyst to master the case study problem situations well.

There are also other reasons for the consultants to choose a SSM to do with this case, for example, SSM can work both the real world activities and the system thinks about the real world, the SSM’s backtracking is possible, and so on. These advantages would help the consultants to analysis and modeling the problem situation well for this case study.

Rich picture for the context and problem situation

As it is known that, rich pictures are largely designed to be communication tools, to increase the understanding of the analyst and problem owner. The rich pictures are the first step in the system design process. Rich pictures used to show people, their roles, key interactions, problems and concerns. The rich pictures of Salford Council Case Study can be shown like bellowing:

Two different root definitions for two different relevant systems

A root definition is a short textual description that captures the nature of the system, meanwhile root definitions are used in both SSM and Multiview. Before drawing the root definitions, the people must make the knowledge of CATWOE, because the CATWOE mnemonic helps produce root definitions. The CATWOE can be interpreted as the Client, Actor, Transformation, Weltanschauung, Owner, and the Environment. The bellowing contents would introduce two root definitions of two different relevant systems for this case study:

THE CLIENT

CLIENT : Me

ACTOR : Staff member

TRANSFORMATION : Query or copy the BDM information(may including the Family History)

WELTANSCHAUUNG : I’ve pay my taxes and the payment so I have the right to use it

OWNER : ‘The system’ or the BDM Officer

ENVIRONMENT : The BDM Office

A BDM Office is a place that I get the government service by the Staff member who works at the BDM Office. I have the right to do it because I make the payment for this service. Meanwhile, this system make a possible that I can get the accurate and timely BDM information one time for engage with the government service.

The Staff Member

CLIENT : Clients

ACTOR : Me

TRANSFORMATION : Query or copy the BDM information(may including the Family History) (probably by specialized equipments, public service

WELTANSCHAUUNG : It is important to enable the provision of government services to the client as soon as possible, it is responsible to service the accurate information

OWNER : The BDM Officer

ENVIRONMENT : The BDM Office

The BDM Office is a system that I can service enough BDM or family history information for as many as clients as soon as possible. I do the work with the specialized equipment (electronic equipments, such as the computer, printer, and so n). The organization decisions are made by the BDM Officer of the the Salford Council Officer.

A conceptual model for one of the root definition

The definition of a conceptual is that descriptive model of a system based on qualitative assumptions about its elements, their interrelationships, and system boundaries. Conceptual models model the required activities, as well as show activities are related to others and how the activities should be arranged and linked. The conceptual models have four steps that support to serve these three purposes:

It is essential element in the architects’ design activities;
It is medium of communication between architects and clients to enable the right design to be selected;
It is a set of instructions to the builders.

Returning to the case study used for the obvious purpose in two sections, the main activities in the BDM would be shown bellowing through the conceptual models.

The comparison of the rich picture and conceptual model

The rich picture and conceptual models are complementary in a SSM, they plays the important roles in SSM and Multiview at the same time. They can provide a completed analysis of a system, meanwhile, they can help we to model the case study’s problem situation.

The common grounds between rich pictures and conceptual:
They are both a technique and tool for a SSM, and they both use to analysis a case study.
They are both concluded in the modeling techniques’ category – Business modeling oriented techniques.
They both show the human activities of the case study. For example the major people who related to the case study.

The differences between the rich pictures and conceptual models:

Comparing rich pictures and conceptual models, it can be seen that the rich picture is more useful to prove a way of getting the users to talk about the problem situations. The rich pictures give more details for the case study, and provides the clearly relationships among the Staff Members and the Clients and the managers.
Comparing these two things, it can be said that the conceptual give a bare facts for the human activities processes in the case study.
The conceptual models come from the root definitions, and the root definitions come from the rich picture.

Comparing the rich picture and the conceptual modes in this case study, we can know that if many people get the BDM services not in the peak time, that will decreases the conflict between the Client and the Staff Members. Also, if the BDM Office can make a solution for the problem of servicing the Clients themselves not allow their relatives or friends just one kind of information in one time, which would make the changes the problem situation. In addition, if the staff members can provide an answer or make an email for the telephone callers when client s phone to make an appointment with the officer or the visitors ask the family history, which would bring the changes for the problem situation. Finally, if the BDM Office provide the Online Payment for the clients and use the current technology, it would face the changes, such as the email to communication with the clients. However, there are some other possible changes for this case study.

A set of recommendations for change that address the problem situation
The BDM Office release from the restricted use of the current technology (on-line service, etc.) and assimilate the experiences of the Salford Council main offices.
As the case study’s proposals said that the clients can engage with the government just one time during this particular event (life event with BDM events) and the consultants work as a partner in the sections of the public sectors.
Incensement of email communication in the call center to help the staff member to solve the problems for the telephone callers. In addition, the BDM Officer should provide a schedule of the officer for the staffs who can give an answer for a phone caller timely and do not need to wait the answers of an appointment.
The consultants try their best to persuade the two managers who has the conservative views for the changes of the BDM Office to accept the changes by the benefits the changes bring.
The staff members list some benefits (not need wait for a lone time, more details data, etc.) of the clients come to the BDM Office to get the services for avoiding the peak time.

Except above recommendations for change that address the problem situation, a training of the staff members to master the new technology and adapt the new environment (changes). Although these changes would increase the cost, they are suitable to deal with the current problems (conflict, long queues, staff members’ leave, etc.) and the future benefits are very optimistic for the BDM Office. As we known that the 21st century is a technology society, so the management of BDM Office to try the best to get accepts the changes to satisfy the clients’ needs in this case study.

Conclusion

In general, this report according to the information that case study provides analysis and modeling the problem situation by using the SSM techniques and tools. The report’s content comprises the explanation of the reasons of why a SSM is suitable for this case study, a rich picture, two root definitions, a conceptual model, a comparison of the rich picture and conceptual model, and recommendations for the changes that address the problem situation. Through the use of SSM in this case study, it can be seen that a SSM is useful for a system’s analysis. A SSM can help the system managers to analysis a system well, so that they can develop a system well.

References
Conceptual model definition Copyright©2010 BusinessDictionary.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited

2010-4-15

SpringerLink – Journal article

2010-4-17

——-Methodologies, techniques&tools

4th Edition David Avison Guy Fitzgerald

Soft Systems Methodology a-z site index | about the IfM | the Institute for Manufacturing is a part of the Department of Engineerin

2010-4-17

Rich Pictures

http://www.technologystudent.com/designpro/richpic1.htm

2010-4-18

Today we think of slavery as condemning humans to lifetime bondage, working without wages and maltreated. However, slavery seems to have been a common phenomenon in many ancient civilizations such as Babylon, Egypt, and China. Most slaves were war prisoners, kidnapped or obliged to pay for debts. They were the property of the master, with little or no rights or status. Many of them were treated cruelly even though most ancient civilizations had some laws to regulate slavery, such as the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi. This kind of slavery also existed during the lives of Moses, Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad. Most of the slaves, at that time, were prisoners of wars. They could be killed, raped and sold at any moment. The three Abrahamic religions dealt with the slavery institutions in different ways, they didn’t not abolish it, but each one them regulate it in a way that goes with the norms of the society.

Slavery in Islam

Islam tried to solve the problem of the slaves that were in the Arabian Peninsula by encouraging people in different ways to set their slaves free. The Muslims were ordered that in reparation of some of their sins they should emancipate their slaves. As a start, and because it is harder to change a cultural habit, Islam regulated the institution of slavery and improved the treatments of the masters toward their slaves. In many verses of the Quran, it is clearly stated that all the human are the descended of one ancestor, that no one is superior to the other regardless of the race, ethnicity or the social status.

The prophet Muhammed also ordered his Umma (Community) to threat the slaves and the servants as they were their brothers and to give them from what they eat and what they wear. He also ordered that the slave shouldn’t be given any work beyond his capacity and if it is necessary the master must help him. This good treatment of the masters had a positive consequence on the attitudes of slaves to their masters. The slaves kept their humanity and moral dignity and become a member of their master’s family. Moreover, the slaves also enjoyed the right to keep their religion and to have a family, to earn money and to own a property.

According to Islam teaching, humans are free and were born free. It is the natural and proper condition which must be considered as the norm. Therefore, to liberate a slave is one of the highest virtues. To emancipate a slave is considered equal to save its own life from the wrath in the next world. In Islam people were encouraged to enter into agreements and contracts which enabled slaves to earn or be granted their freedom at the expiry of a certain term or, most typically, on the death of the owner. At that time, there were occasions when groups of wealthy people, acting together, would buy and set free many slaves in order to obtain thereby the favor of God.

Islam has commended humanity in the treatment of slaves, and encouraged their liberation. We can see from the history of many different peoples in the Islamic world that slaves quickly integrated into the main society and achieved positions of great status and power, some of them even gained their freedom.

Slavery in Christianity

In the early Christianity, slavery was considered as natural phenomena. In the Old Testament there is no specific condemnation of slavery. On the contrary, it does approve and regulate it and ensures that the traffic and ownership of human beings proceeds in an acceptable manner.

In the New Testament, it is stated that Jesus did not express disapproval of the enslaving of people.

However, in spite of some critics against Jesus claiming that he didn’t abolish slavery, it undeniable that he explicitly stood against every form of injustice. The mission of Jesus was

Furthermore, in the New Testament it is clearly indicated how a good Christian must treat slaves: the Christian masters must call Christian slaves “brothers”. It also stated that masters must how kindness, justice, and tolerance toward their slaves and that their position, as master, meant responsibility and duty.

Paul, in his letters, also reminded Christians to treat their slaves as brothers and sisters. He emphasized on the justice and fairness toward slaves. Paul also asked Christians to consider them as morally responsible human beings who are also a part of the body of the Christ and asked the slaves to obey to their masters. He also explained that spiritual status is more fundamental and important than social status. Paul was not opposed to the freedom of slaves if the opportunity arose but believed that God had called people to different positions in life and they were to live out the Christian life in the position in which they were called.

Slavery in Judaism

At the time of the Old Testament, there were two types of slavery; the ownership of foreign captives or war prisoners and the type of contractual servitude, where an Israelite is for a certain time a “slave” to another Israelite, usually because he has become poor and has no other option. An Israelite, in biblical law, is guaranteed certain rights both while a slave and upon liberation.

The first possible reference to slavery in the Old Testament is in Genesis where Noah cursed Canaan for the sin of his son Ham and predicted that he would be the servant of his brothers. Both the prophets Abraham and Isaac had servants; however, the first clear example of slavery is in Exodus where the Israelites were made to work as slaves. According the Exodus, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and their situation was clearly unacceptable to God, judging by their rescue and the regulations regarding slavery in the Mosaic Law.

Slavery in the Mosaic Law

After the Israelites had left Egypt the acquisition of slaves were organized by the Mosaic Law which permitted them to make slaves of Jews and Non-Jews people. The law states clearly that the Jews must treat their Hebrews slaves as if they were their servants. They must also give them the possibility of their freedom in the 7th year of their service, and provide them the resources to start a new life even though they can remain a slave if they want. In the exodus it is declared that anyone who put a man to slavery against his will must be killed. Furthermore, there were many laws dealing with violence against and the slaves and the ones who ran away from their masters must be protected and not returned. The Israelites were also allowed to buy slaves from other nations and to keep them for an indefinite period as slaves, nevertheless they were included in the commonwealth of Jewish community, and they could participate in festivals and were given the Sabbath rest.

In the twenty one century, slavery is considered as a violation of human rights and it is abolished by all the nations and the majority of religions. However, the texts of the Abrahamic religions( Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) refers clearly to the slavery institutions as common one and it is viewed as acceptable at that time. Indeed, all the three religions regulated the slavery, developed laws for it and organized it in a way to preserve the slave’s dignity and life. This pushes us to wonder, why the Abrahamic religions that value the life of a human being didn’t abolish slavery in their texts.

It is clear that the three religions were born at a time where slavery was a common practice and most of the societies were against any reforms that could change their habits and cultural practices. For these reasons and according to some explanations, the three religions didn’t abolish slavery at the beginning, however they were against the inhuman treatments and try to regulate in order to improve the life of the slaves and to preserve their human dignity. In Islam, slavery was at first regulated and then abolished by the time of the caliph Omar Ibn Al Khatab, however, it didn’t ended the slavery in the Islamic world. In Christianity and Judaism, slavery was justified by the curse of Ham and for some Christians and Jews it is God’s will on earth.

In spite of the religious regulation and abolishment, the human rights and worldwide organization, slavery still exists in the twenty-one century but in a modernize form. Some scholars claim it is neither the outcome of cultural practices nor the consequences of a certain religions. According to them, slavery is a part of the human nature that seeks to have power on another human being and to control it in order to satisfy the human ego.