Monday, January 27, 2020

Jesus Rejected At Nazareth Theology Religion Essay

Jesus Rejected At Nazareth Theology Religion Essay 54  Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue,  and they were amazed.Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers. they asked.  55  Isnt this the carpenters son?  Isnt his mothers  name Mary, and arent his brothers  James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  56  Arent all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?57  And they took offense  at him. But Jesus said to them,  Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.  58  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Introduction: The aforementioned verses are from Matthew of New Testament and the authorship of the book weather it was written by Mathew himself or not is in question itself. Matthew was tax collector in his early life. Harrington(1991, pp.8) mentions though this Gospel is called anonymous but we still can find the evangelist and his community to be from Jewish background. In the above given verses, it talks about Jesus being rejected at his home town when he returns from his ministry. If we follow the accounts in synoptic gospels, Jesus rejection has been mentioned in Mark 6:1-6, Matthew 13:54-58 and Luke 4:16-30.France (2007, pp.20) states that it was widely accepted Matthew was first Gospel until middle of nineteenth century and for more than a century it was considered Mark as first and Matthew and Luke drew on Mark, along they had access to some source called as Q. The incident takes place in Nazareth. The verses includes Jesus and the people of Nazareth as parties of communication. Before rejection story Matthew mentions about Jesus using parable to teach his disciples. The above passage are full of implications, people were in tolerant of his visit due to his ministry at the place. He is pointed not as a messiah rather as a common labor, they were not ready to accept him anything else than a common carpenters son. Mathew 58 sums up he did not performed many mighty works because of their unbelief. Whereas Mark 5 says he could not do many might works but heal some people there. Both agree that Jesus did performed some miracles in his hometown. Mathew put it as Jesus did not performed much miracles because of their unbelief irrespective of what they saw. it is not that he could not rather limited himself because of their unbelief. Body: In this part we try to scrutinize the rejection from different perspective. This is a unique pericope where Jesus does not stand as a central theme rather other characters are dominant in the story . View of pericope through Mark : Mark talks about parables in 4:1-34 and the rejection story in 6:1-6, but the middele of those two incident are filled with Jesus miracles ,Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41), restoring Demon-possessed man (Mark5:1-20) and raising a dead girl and healing a sick woman (Mark 5:21-43).As Rudolf Schnackenberg, In Mark 6:1-6, Jesus rejection in Nazareth is recorded by way of intentional contrast with his cures in Mark 5. In Mark the rejection story starts after Jesus healed the lady and little child (Mark 5:21-42). So through this verse Mark tells us Jesus can do miracle and had worked. But when he visits Nazareth, the people there cannot accept the wisdom and miracles of Jesus with the ordinary Jesus they knew as. So Marks writes about Jesus not being able to do much miracles. Mark here tries to show the emphasis on importance of relationship between faith and miracles View of pericope through Matthew .Whereas Matthew talks less about miracles. There are no supporting miracles ahead of these above verses. In Mark, the people ask about numerous question at a time about wisdom, origin and miracles as they cannot relate this with common man. While we go through Matthew we come to the verses appear after parable discourse. Also it focuses on teaching of Jesus rather than miracles. Here Matthew tries to show Jesus himself chooses not to show miracles to people because of their unbelief. 54: When he visits Nazareth he teaches people in synagogue and gives them messages of God when he delivers it people are taken in surprise but they lacks the faith to believe it was Jesus who did it. Nazarens asks. Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous power? Here we can read people knew what Jesus was saying is wise and he had miraculous power but they can only remember him being carpenters son. 55-56: The mention of Jesus family and its members is to disrespect or to show that he was from socially lower origin. And when the verses it to complete Matthew states, Where then did this person get all this? (which we cannot read in Mark). 57: 58: Matthew focuses on unbelief of people of Nazarens for less miracles of Jesus whereas Mark only concerns about Jesus lack of miracles. Conclusion: Unbelief is negative attitude and it is always disheartening. Jesus after his long ministry out of his hometown comes back to home with remembrances of friends and family. But his town mates at Nazareth refuses to acknowledge his wisdom, his teaching and his mission as they identified Jesus with his ordinary childhood. When Jesus limits himself with miracles its not because he could not rather it was his will. Now we can see the significance of the whole story. It is narrated as a rejection story in midst of miracles and wisdom. But the vitality of the story lies in part of Jesus and his reaction to whole rejection. Matthew convinces us that despite what Jesus has to hear from his hometown folks he stands strong and confronts the rejection. He wins a battle of rejection with a rejection to show many of his mighty deeds. He does so because he Jesus knew its not worth to change unbelief through miracles. This pericope on the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth is followed by rejection and death of John. Immediately after rejection by his people, Matthew tells us about death of John in Matthew 14:6-10, here we can also see how the teaching of Jesus have been rejected by a ruler of his home town.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family :: essays research papers fc

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family How would you feel if I told you that I am the new proud owner of you and your family? That is, that I have been granted a United States patent on the DNA sequence particular to your line of descent because I have identified a unique property of your genetic material. A few cultured cells with your genetic makeup, added to lotion and rubbed on the skin, allow one to look younger, wrinkle-free, and be less susceptible to skin cancer. Of course this does not mean that I have control over yours and your family’s actions – only over the application of your DNA to skin care. If you feel like you may have hit the jackpot, then prepare for another disappointment – you are not entitled to any portion of my profits, nor are you rewarded for having such supple genes. Under current patent law, living entities are not patentable in their natural state, which means that you cannot patent your own body1. Other requirements for a patent is that the invention or design is novel – no one else made it public; innovative – it can’t be a development which is obvious; and useful – it has to aid a practical human activity. British woman, Donna MacLean found out that she can’t patent her own body when she became the first person to try to patent herself in early 2000. Her patent application was titled â€Å"Myself† and her reason for trying to do it was as good as any. â€Å"It has taken 30 years of hard labour for me to discover and invent myself, and now I wish to protect my invention from unauthorized exploitation, genetic or otherwise,† MacLean told the British newspaper â€Å"The Guardian.† So Donna and your family will not become wealthy from your respectable DNA, but let’s not discredit our legal system yet. Perhaps the system is accurate after all, and the issues are more complex than they appear at first glance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No matter where your family is from, the US, Britain, or Kenya, the controversial race of biotech companies to own human DNA is having its affect. For example, imagine another family from a third-world country, let’s say somewhere in Africa, and that bioprospectors from the US have isolated an HIV immunity gene from the father’s saliva. The bioprospectors then develop a revolutionary treatment for AIDS, which costthem millions of dollars to research.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Western Union Seeks East and Central African Market

‘WESTERN UNION SHIFTING FOCUS TO TRANSACTIONS WITHIN AFRICA. ’ INTRODUCTION This article under review is taken from the outlook section of The EastAfrican newspaper as for the dates between 19th to the 25th September 2011. It is a Q&A article with Western union’s present regional director southern and East Africa, Karen Jordaan. It was chosen in line with other online articles published two weeks prior that informed of the change in strategy being adopted by the global money transfer company in terms of their operations within the African continent. ARTICLE OVERVIEW With the ever growing number of immigrants standing at around 250 million globally with 30 million of these being from Africa and better still 19 million of them being migrations within Africa and with the ever growing number people moving within the East African region for leisure, business or seeking job opportunities, it was clear that the potential number of transactions within the region was increasing and Western union identifying this decides to apply their marketing mix in terms of place or location by changing their strategy by focusing on the East African region and the African continent as a whole. To cement their operation in the region, western union has taken to invest to train more agents to reach a wider population and enhance service delivery in the region. With over 23,000 locations in 50 African countries and only 3,600 of this being in the East African region, western union is facing a challenging ‘motor and brick’ situation where they have been unable to reach the 39 million Kenyans with most adopting informal ways of money transfer coupled with low penetration of mobile transfer in rural areas. The 700 locations in Kenya coupled with differing data as provided by the local government and international bodies has left western union without proper information of where to invest and that is why they are taking charge and repositioning themselves to grow in the regional market. Besides investing in their people to reach a wider population, they are also running promotions geared to stimulate local money transfer through their formal channels. Some of this are such as changes in pricing as seen in the charges if $1. for transactions between Kenya and Uganda aimed primarily at the foreign students learning there across the other east African region. Articles implication on the economy and general business environment. The move by western unions displays a lot of marketing characteristics that are bound to affect the economy positively. Western unions newly defined market or constituency of potential customers who are willing and able to engage in exchange will drive economic deve lopment up in terms of the pace of doing business due to western union agents offering more places to access their services. This can bring about more investment in the region with the three countries recording a strong balance of trade and balance of payment statements. The economy stands to benefit from the fact that a lot of unrecorded transactions or ‘black market economy transactions’ are avoided realizing a situation where the government is able to raise more money through proper taxation of all transacted amounts. The expansion of western unions outreach will prove to provide and facilitates   inter? ersonal   transactions,   it   could   improve   the   allocation   of   savings   across   households   and   businesses   by   deepening   the   person? to? person   credit   market. This   could   increase   the   average   return   to   capital,   thereby   producing   a   feed? back   to   the   level   of   saving and by   making   transfers   across   large   distances   trivially   cheap, western uni on could   improves   the   investment   in,   and   allocation   of,   human   capital   as   well   as   physical   investment. Households   may   be   more   likely   to   send   members   to   high? aying   jobs   in   distant   locations   (e. g. ,   the   capital),   either   on   a   permanent   or   temporary   basis,   and   to   invest   in   skills   that   are   likely   to   earn   a   return   in   such   places   but   not   necessarily   at   home. Electronic funds transfer as offered   could   bring a situation that affect   the   ability   of    individuals   to   share   risk. Informal   risk? sharing   networks   have   been   found   to   be   an   important,   although   not   fully   effective,   means   by   which   individuals   spread   risk,   making   state? ontingent   transfers   among   group   members. By   expanding   the   geographic   reach   of   these   networks,   western union   may   allow   more   efficient   risk   sharing,   although   the   risk? reducing benefits   might   be   mitigated   due   to   issues   of   observability   and   moral   hazard   when   parties   are   separated   by   large  distances. Risk? related effect arises if western union facilitates timely transfer  of small amounts of money. Instead of waiting for conditions to worsen   to evels   that   cause   long   term   damage,   western unions money transfer  might  enable   support   networks to   keep   negative   shocks   manageable. For example a   household   head   with   access   to   money transfer   who   suffers   a   mild   health   shock   might receive   a   small   amount   of   money   via any western union agen t   that   allows   him   to   keep   his   children   in   school. If   this   money   was   delayed,   or   the   sender   waited   until   the   recipient   Ã¢â‚¬Å"really   needed   it†,   the   children   might   have   quit   school,   the   effects   of   which   may   be   hard   to   reverse. Money received through such electronic channels as western union might and   could most likely   conceivably   alter   bargaining   power   and   weaken   incentives   within   households   or   other   networks. Economically   weaker   family   members   might   expect   larger   and   more   regular   remittances   from   better? off   city? dwelling   relatives,   who   themselves   might   find   it   hard   to   justify   not   sending   money   home. This   could   weaken   incentives   for   rural   household   members   to   work   or   innovate,   offsetting   some   of   the   efficiency? nhancing   benefits   of   improved   geographic   labor   allocation   and   risk   sharing. Money received by certain households   could   have   the   effect   of   empowering members   who   have   traditionally   had   less   bargainin g   power,   in   particular   women. Especially   among   poorer   segments   of   the   population,   remittances   and   transfers   received   (and   sent)   via   western union are   less   visible   than   those   transmitted   by   other   means,   such   as Delivery by a friend or relative. Granted   this   information   advantage,   recipients   could   be   in   a   position   to   keep   more   of   the   funds   they   receive. Evidence   suggesting   the   spending patterns   of   women   and   men   differ   then   implies   that   the   advent   of   western union along other electronic fund transfers   could   have   real   effects   on  the   allocation   of   household    Spending. Articles implication on the market competitiveness. The article address the strong link between marketing and strategy whereby in the marketing strategic mapping of western union, after defining their marketing objectives they carried out a SWOT analysis of their current structure realizing that the potential of the growing east African market is only hindered by the lack of agents within the region. It is this that led them to the need to build competitive marketing strategies that involves segmenting, targeting and positioning themselves closer to their target market. Western union strategy has been seen to change its marketing mix within the region interms of price, place, promotion and its people (agents) though retaining most of its product offering and process. The case analysis its presence in the east African region and business position across its countries of operation though not highlighting much of its distinct competences and competitive advantage with its rival companies such as money gram and the new threat that has been brought about by mobile money transfer systems such as m-pesa and tangaza that have a close to 49% penetration rate due to the high adoption of mobile phones across the region over the last nine years. Western unions improved agent presence is a threat for moneygram which is still operating locally through banking and financial institutions as agents and with increased presence has the distinct advantage of eating into the market share of moneygram due to better presence that is key in such a service driven industry. Presence means access to more people within more regional blocks meaning more transactional volumes for the organization. In terms of whether or not it will be able to able to make a dent on a hold a share of the mobile money transfer market is a question of wait and see. This is due to the fact that the regions for penetration have not being clearly addressed to weigh such factors as to the access of mobile phones and subsequent mobile money transfer penetration, though western union distinct advantage over the regions mobile transfer market is that it can transact across boarder within the east African and central African region unlike m-pesa and the like which have had long standing operational battles on their limitations with central bank and other formal banking institutions, though all in all westerns union change of strategy to better serve the region will bring along with it changes in marketing tactics for established and potential new operators in the money transfer industry.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Pros And Cons Of Technology - 1137 Words

Technology in the past three decades has developed at such an increasingly rapid rate that the last decade’s generation is defined as â€Å"being born in the technological age†. People born in the 1990s are considered the last kids to have known a life without smartphones and computer technology creeping into every aspect of their lives. There are pros and cons to technology, with most of the cons being discovered ever increasingly as people become more and more intertwined with their own personal devices. Overall, technology is good, but it has become the bane of developing friendships, increasing feelings of loneliness, isolation, and inability to focus and communicate properly. The internet opened a doorway which allowed people to connect with someone on the other side of the globe and with this came vast pros and cons. We’re able to search something up on our phones in the blink of an eye; find the answer to a difficult math problem or research the depths of the stock market all on one device. We don’t have to scour through dozens of books to find our answers anymore. We can learn anything at any time. We can also talk to anyone at anytime. We can do both of these things at the same time almost anywhere. However, too much of anything is a bad thing. According to the Huffington Post reporting on research done by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, â€Å"The researchers analyzed and compiled the data, and the results revealed that intensive use of cell phones and computersShow MoreRelatedThe Pros And Cons Of Technology733 Words   |  3 PagesTechnology is a distraction â€Å"Among the worst offenders were students at Queen Mary University of London, where there were 54 instances of  cheating  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ two-thirds of which involved technology. 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