Negative Consequences Of Pollution

Negative Consequences Of Pollution Externalities are known as the third party effects evolving from the production and consumption of goods and services in which the third party does not receive any appropriate consumption. Externalities are the root to market failure if the pricing system does not consider the social costs and benefits of production and consumption. The provision of the incorrect quantity of goods and services to customers by the market mechanism sources a deficit in social welfare in an effective working market society ought to disperse property rights. If no individual is the owner of a specific good then nobody has an economic incentive to safeguard that good from being harmed. This is directed towards the tragedy of commons where, for instance no particular person owns the ocean or the fish in the ocean therefore the deficiency of the population of living fish is annihilated by the fishing industry. Resulting from the absence of clearly defined property rights, markets are unable to completely ac count for them, assigning prices of goods and services. Studying a scenario that lacks government intrusion, as no one owns the air, polluting industries do not raise their prices to recompense for correcting their pollution because they fail to undo air pollution and this will ultimately result in health difficulties among third parties and these third parties ought to then pay for the rectification of their health. According to the World Health Organizations three million people are killed around the world and this is attributed to outdoor air pollution (annually) by motor vehicles and industrial emissions and 1.6 million indoors from the usage of solid fuels. There exists a range of studies that estimate that 7-20% of all cancers are caused by air pollution (only). Waterborne diseases are accountable for 80% of infirmity and deaths in developing nations, claiming a childs life in every eight seconds. Contaminated water is the sole cause of the deaths of 2.1 million humans who fal l victim to diseases that are linked to contaminated water sources. Contaminated land is a severe problem in developed nations as industries and power stations dispose of heavy metals in the soil. One shocking feature of agriculture is its potential to poison land with pesticides, nitrate-rich fertilizers and faeces from cattle and this is coupled with the fact that contamination that reaches rivers harm various life-forms. To the economist the problem that arises from externalities is not that the activity occurs, but that a surplus of it occurs. To locate the market outcome we begin by using supply and demand. The market price and quantity are represented by Pmkt and Qmkt in figure 1 below However, the market outcome is not the efficient result. The supply curve illustrates only the private costs of production, mainly the costs occurred by those firms producing the good. Costs are inflicted on innocent bystanders due to negative externalities therefore it does not symbolize all costs. Therefore we draw another curve the social cost or SC curve. This diagram signifies all costs of the product including private production costs and external costs. The efficient level of outcome occurs where the demand curve and SC curve intersect which is depicted by P* and Q*. Qmkt > Q* meaning that the market produces greater levels of amounts of this good than the efficient amount, this phenomenon is known as over production. Another notification of Pmkt < P* means that the market price is less than the efficient price. Reason being that the market outcome is so inefficient is due to the fact that the private market leads suppliers to produce some units of the good (between Q* and Qmk t) whose cost of production exceeds their value to consumers. It is believed that this is true because the units of the good between Q* and Qmkt, the demand curve (measuring value to consumers) is below the SC curve (measuring all costs). The overproduction of goods with negative externalities transpires because the price of the good that the buyer does not fully cover all of the costs of producing or consuming the good. If all costs were taken into consideration, then prices of these goods would be superior and people would utilize of them. If the costs of the negative externalities, the harm from pollution were put on the good as a tax, then people would become conscious of the full cost of producing and consuming that good and the efficient amount would be the smaller amount demanded. From the above graph we can come to the conclusion about all market allocations of commodities causing pollution externalities. ie.the output of the commodity is too large, too much pollution is pro duced, the prices of products responsible for pollution are too low, as long as the costs are external, no incentives to search for ways to yield less pollution per unit of output are introduced by the market and recycling and reuse of the polluting substances are discouraged since release into the environment is so inefficiently cheap. A property right is the restricted authority to resolve how a specific resource is used whether a resource is owned by government or individuals (Alchian, 2008). Property rights must clearly be defined, their use must be scrutinized and possession of rights enforced (Alchian, 2008). Transaction costs are the costs of defining, monitoring and enforcing these rights (Alchian, 2008). There are four different types of property rights mainly open access, common property and private property (Pearce, 1989). Open-access property does not have an owner, is non-excludable, that is no one can prohibit another individual from making use of it, and is non-rival, the use of the property by one individual will not restrict of prevent its use at the same time by another individual. Open- access property unsupervised and access to it is not restricted. The existence of open-access property arose from the fact that the ownership of the property has never been established, either because the state has legislated it, because no efficient controls are in place, or it is not considered feasible because the cost of exclusion overshadows the benefits. Open-access property can be converted by the state into private, common or state property through legislature, clearly defining rights and enforcing them. Examples of open-access resources which the state may convert include the atmosphere and ocean fisheries. State property, is owned by everyone however, access to the property and the use of it is controlled by the state, example a national park. Common property is controlled by a group of individuals, who are responsible for access to, use of and exclusion from the property. Private property grant strict control to the owner, who has control over the use, management and access of property, the owners may prevent another individual, if they want to, from using the property, and they can also restrict the simultaneous use of the property. The polluter-pays-principle and victim-pays- principle is dependant on the provision of property rights for environmental goods. The costs of pollution are to be borne out of those who instigated it stated by the polluter-pays-principle. Its goal is to determine how the costs of pollution prevention and control must be assigned: the polluter must pay. Its objective is the internalization of environmental externalities of economic activities so prices of goods and services completely depict the costs of production. Bugge (1996) acknowledged four types of ppp; economically, it promotes efficiency; legally it promotes justice; it promotes harmonization of international environmental policies; as well as it defines how to allocate costs within a state. The ownership of environmental goods rights are undefined and by default it is the polluters that are usually favoured. If no appropriate bylaws are put in place to ban polluting activities and property rights are indeterminate, polluters will implicitly have the upper hand. As these polluting activities are aggravated and societys welfare becomes more pretentious, the victims of these activities will band together to maintain their right to a protected environment. This will eventually lead to regulation being put into practice which will shift property rights towards victims until equilibrium ie. between optimal pollution and optimal pollution abatement is reached. This equilibrium is shown by the intersection between the marginal abatement cost and the marginal damage cost schedules, .Coase illustrates this result by using the example of a farmer cultivating his land and another who breeds cattle that needs that needs land to graze on. Both individuals have adjoining land which is not enclosed. There are two possible consequences depending on how property rights are allocated; case1, the law is in favour of the farmer breeding cattle. Nothing prevents the cattle from grazing on the other land. The latter will have an incentive to bargain with the farmer and try to get him to reduce the damage done to his crops by reducing the herd. Case 2; the law is in favour of the farmer with crops. The farmer with the cattle is responsible for the damage his herd causes to others crops and must pay for these damages. It is in his interest to negotiate to try and reduce his costs. The effectiveness of this bargaining process rests on assumptions regarding the economic definition of environmental property rights. Tietenberg (1992) states that the structure of the property rights is characterized as follows: universitality, all existing resources are allocated; exclusivity, all costs and benefits from the possession or use of resources are attributed to the holders of the r ights either directly or indirectly; transferability, all rights are transferable through voluntary exchange between agents; protection, property rights are protected from voluntary or expropriation. According to the coase theorem everyone has perfect information, consumers and producers are price-takers, there is a costless court system for establishing, producers maximize profits and consumers maximize utility, there are no income and wealth effects as well as no transaction costs. The initial allocation of property rights does not matter for efficiency but if any of the conditions do not hold then the initial assignments of property rights matter. When property rights are apportioned to polluters, the victims of pollution will be enthused to bargain. If the victims are in possession of the property rights then polluters will instigate negotiation. Optimal pollution and optimal abatement must be taken into consideration to determine the situation where rights are optimally allocated. Figure 2 The above diagram depicts the process. The vertical axis illustrates the level of costs involved and the horizontal axis depicts the level of reduction in pollution. MDC is the marginal external costs and the MDC illustrates the level of reduction in pollution. The equilibrium is determined at Z* where MRC intersects the MDC curve. The polluting firms will produce its maximum level of output when there is no reduction in pollution. In contrast the level of production will be the lowest when there is a complete reduction in pollution. This figure can be linked up back to the preceding cases in respect to the establishment of property rights. At Z0 the level of pollution is maximized hence there is no reduction in pollution. This implies that that both the polluter and the victims are given the rights. At the reduction in pollution is at its maximum hence the rights are given to victims. When the polluters activity influence the welfare of a sufferer an external cost is generated and the sufferer should be compensated. Ronald Coase (1960) pointed out that sufferers and polluters are incorporated in negotiating incentives of an efficient level of unfavorable impacts regarding of the assignment of rights when the transaction cost is negligible. The illustration above portrays the output level a firm will operate at (Qà Ã¢â€š ¬), where profits are maximized, however the social optimum is at Q*. When the sufferer has the property rights, the polluter does not have the right to pollute and the sufferer has the right not to be polluted. The sufferer chooses not to have any pollution at the starting point and at the origin the two parties begin to bargain. If they moved to d, the polluter would obtain Oabd in profit and the sufferer would lose Ocd. There is a chance that bargaining could occur as OABD is greater than OCD. The polluter will make a proposition of compensation to the sufferer since Oabd is greater than Ocd and less than Oabd. If this bargain happens, there is a movement to d which is known as a Pareto optimal allocation as one party is better off, (sufferer lost Ocd but gained more in compensation) and no party is worse off (polluter still has net profit). A move to the right of Q* is not plausible because pollut ers gains are less than the victims losses. Therefore the polluting firm wont compensate the sufferer to move beyond Q*. Now if the property rights are assigned to the polluter, start at Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ because its the point at which the polluter can take advantage of his right to use the environment to dispose of his waste products. It is again possible for the two parties to bargain and move from Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ back to f. Here the sufferer can compensate the polluter to give up a certain amount of economic activity or output level. The sufferer is willing to tolerate a loss fhi Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ if the move does not take place and will offer an amount less than this to get the polluter to cut back pollution. The polluter is prepared to accept an amount greater than fgQà Ã¢â€š ¬. i.e. the profits will be relinquished as long as there is a probability of bargaining between the polluter and sufferer the market will take us to the social optimum ie Q. The commons can be referred to as a society composed of the population. According to Hardin the idea that everyone born with equivalent rights to the commons in sharing resources, concurrently with overpopulation will destroy the commons, therefore tragedy of the commons. Overpopulation and pollution are the contributing factors that facilitate the commons not being sustainable. The South African population was 40.6 million in 1996 and is persistently growing at 2 percent per year. A continuation of this trend by the year 2035 will result in 82 million of the inhabitants relying on an equivalent level of natural resources which are already under strain in sufficiently meeting its demands, therefore escalating the production of pollution and waste. The burdens of overpopulation on natural resources uniting with cooperate greed leads to detrimental consequences. A case in point is one of the Toxic water rising below Johannesburg. Twenty miles North West of Johannesburg, the water from the spring runs blood red. It is toxic, highly acidic and bursting with heavy metals, so foul those animals in the Kruderdorp Game reserve downstream say no to drinking the water causing them to die of thirst therefore not one living organism is able to endure this venomous water. Millions of gallons of this toxic water lie beneath Johannesburg, a municipality with a population of nearly four million citizens. The water is rises at fifty feet a month. If this persists, in roughly two years time subterranean parking garages will be filled up with this deadly red water. Tunnels for electrical cables and underground railway stations will overflow. Unnatural crimson water pours out from the ground leading into the suburbs and eventually fleeing into the east of Johannesburg. Due to Johannesburgs gold rush, mining companies extort enormous holes under its city and s uburbs. When it rains much is soaked up in the earth and the water becomes toxic when combined with heavy metals underground. Terry McCarthy, a geology professor of the university Witwatersrand warn that existing mining operations in other parts of South Africa were on their part to destruction and it would eventually poison some of Johannesburgs main drinking water resources, causing future generations to be imposed with greater costs of the Vaal Dam and Vaal river. The tragedy of the commons relates to almost every commonly held property. Individuals and firms accept a hundred percent of the gains of easy disposal of waste into air or water but only sustain a fraction of these negative impacts of pollution. It is therefore necessary for government to control pollution, providing incentives to prevent pollution or inflicting penalties should pollution occur. Another example is that of national parks where the parks can be accessed by everyone without limits to visitation. As the number of visits multiply degradation of parks become more plausible. The finite number of parks combined with increasing visitation and population growth makes conservation efforts difficult. In order to avoid the tragedy of the commons population control is a need. Hardin proposes that laws, legislators, beuros and watchers who watch the beuros to legislate and enforce laws are the key elements of controlling the population in the commons. He also emphasize that conscience and sense of guilt are not enough to restrict the population. People can freely make choices between the options offered by the laws, but are compelled to choose the options that brings themselves under control. Reason being if they choose the unrestrained option they will have to pay more prices or run more risks of losing something valuable. For example people believe that if the accept compulsory taxes because they understand voluntary taxes would favor the conscienceless people who dont pay taxes at all. Hardin ends with establishing that education can put an end to the tragedy of the commons. There are numerous reasons as to why a coasian solution may not work; ie. transaction costs, state of competition, the free- rider problem, identifying polluters and victims and people unwilling to trade transaction cost include information and measurement costs, negotiation costs, contracting (legal costs) and monitoring and enforcing costs. The cost of setting up the contract between polluter and victim becomes excessive because of the countless polluters and sufferers. The many questions become controversial including who is suffering, whose polluting and by how much? How much will resolve the bribe or payment and will defer among individuals. A coasian solution works well when there is perfect competition, on the contrary it is feasible to get such a solution under imperfect competition but the analysis is much more complex. Due to environmental goods being classed as public goods, the free- rider problem poses a dilemma as the provision of public goods would not be sufficient if left to the private sector. Since convincing everyone to play a part in diminishing incentives to cheating on agreements remain intricate. Predicted by the game theory models, bargaining would make vulnerable. If there are clearly defined property rights and contracts are drawn up then those rights that are allocated to may be unwillingly to trade. Some government intervention is needed in environmental conflicts by inflicting either liability or property rules. Property rules stipulate the allocation of the entitlement. Example entitlements include the right to pollute the air or on the other hand, the right to fresh, clean air. When applying the property rules the court decides on which right is paramount and places an injunction against the infringement of that right. The Coase Theorem involves establishing property rights as a means to solve the creation of externalities. This essay has been based on the negative externalities of pollution, the formation of property rights, bargaining in addition to a critique of the tragedy of the commons. It has been found that although there are no government interventions in a free market economy, courts are still required to intervene in the establishment of the property rights. Furthermore it has included a discussion on the main consequences of over pollution and ways in which government could solve this problem. It went on to give reasoning as to why the coasian solutions may be falsified which was illustrated by examples throughout the essay.

Trials and Tribulations in James 1:12-18

Trials and Tribulations in James 1:2-18 The Epistle of James is one of the books of the New Testament that deals with the Christian character and how to deal with daily Christian life. The author of James identifies himself in the opening verse as â€Å"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ†. Many speculated that the author was the attributed to the apostle James, brother of John and the son of Zebedee. The text refers to present persecutions and the time of writing is consistent with the persecution in Jerusalem during which the apostle James was martyred and put to death by Herod (Acts 12). There seems to be evidence that the author was the other James, the son of Alpheus and the half-brother of Christ. He was also one of the twelve apostles. I will in this paper attempt to expound on the trials and tribulations in James 1: 2-18. After research and study, I have found that in the first eighteen verses James is teaching Christians how to conduct themselves when under the cross. He is giving comfort to Christians who are under the oppression of temptation and trials. He pronounces that blessings and rewards are assured to those who endure their trials and afflictions as the walk throughout this Christian life. James also points out that all of those sins that bring sufferings and the temptations that men endure are not created by God. God cannot be the author of sin; he is the author of all that is good. James is allowing us to understand in these verses that we will endure trials and we will endure tribulations. As Christians our trials and tribulations works for a purpose and not just as a punishment in our life. This concept should help us even today to know that our suffering is purposeful and that God rewards us for bearing our own cross as Christ bears his cross. As we break down these verses let us look at who James was writing to. This will give us an understanding of the message. In the first verse James mentions the condition of those to whom he writes: The twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. The greatest part of, ten of the twelve tribes, were lost in captivity; but yet some of every tribe were preserved and they are still honored with the ancient style of twelve tribes. These however were scattered and dispersed. They were dispersed in mercy. Having the scriptures of the Old Testament, the providence of God so ordered it that they were scattered in several countries for the diffusing of the light of divine revelation. They began now to be scattered in wrath. The Jewish nation was crumbling into parties and factions, and many were forced to leave their own country. Even good people among them shared in the common calamity. These Jews of the dispersion were those who had embraced the Christian faith. They were persecuted and forced to seek for shelter in other countries, the Gentiles being more merciful to Christians than the Jews were. Now let us breakdown each verse from verse 2 through 18. The overall breakdown of verse 2 through 12 shows us the suffering of the Christians in this world is that of an instructive manner. As we can see from the original Greek language, that James uses imperative commands that is illustrated through this Epistle. James is implying that troubles and afflictions may be the result of being mature Christians, even those Christians who have been serving well and being faithful unto the Lord. The devil embodies faithful Christians in trials and tribulations in order to cause separation between Christians and God. The devil expects that temptations and trials will result in sin which will cause further separation from God. It is the duty of Satan to cause doubt in the mind of the Christian so that they will believe that God is incapable of delivering us from those situations. James is instructing us not to look at our trials and tribulations as hopeless but hopeful because we know that we are fulfilling a greater purpose by enduring those trials and tribulations in our life. As we, as Christians, go through our storms in our life it causes us to understand and gain a greater trust in the Lord because we are yet spared by his grace and we are made advocates of his mercy. The twelve tribes that James is writing to have been dispersed from their land and are going through difficult hardships and persecution. James is reassuring them not to give up but to rejoice because their persecutions and hardships are working a greater purpose in their lives. These temptations, as James points out, are â€Å"divers† temptations. The word â€Å"divers†, in the Greek, means that it is varied or of different kinds. James lets us know that the temptations that you may endure, the afflictions you may endure, will be of different nature, stature, size and makeup. They may be more than one or more of the same. Since our trials may be of many and different kinds we have to put on the Armor of God as Paul states in Galatians. In the second verse of James he tells us to â€Å"Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations†. In order for us to count in all joy we must not fall into a pitiful state of mind which would make us vulnerable while we are in our trials. The world would have you to believe that you should just throw in the towel when you have endured pain and suffering. The world is not set up as a vehicle for grace. When is despair, the world presses down even further in order that hope is a mere distant idea. The world would have you to believe that weakness is a disease that should be cured. But God lets us know that we should not be conformed to the world or that of the world but we should live knowing that He is there for us. In the third verse, James says that when you endure your trials and tribulations you must know that the testing of your faith produces patience. In other translations it mentions that the testing of your faith produces endurance or perseverance. The word produces lets us know that it is brought forth or manufactured. James is saying that every time your faith is tested – it will cause you to increase your patience, endurance or perseverance. The faith that is spoken of here as tried by afflictions consists in a belief of the power, and word, and promise of God. Many readers of the New Testament feel as though Paul and James contradict each other on the issue of faith. They have differences in the emphasis on faith but the fundamentals are the same. Both Paul and James agree that both faith and works are essential parts of the Christian life. They each have different roles. They also agree that salvation comes from God and it is not based on works. We cannot do anything to earn salvation. The difference is that Paul and James are writing to different audiences so their letters have different interpretations. Paul needed to deal with the fact that people thought that Gentiles needed to be circumcised and adhere to other works of the law in order to be converted to Christianity. James on the other hand had to deal with the fact that people thought the faith in God is enough for salvation and he wanted to stress that we have to put that aith into action. As Christians, we have to possess patience, endurance and perseverance. Too often we believe that those adjectives are not popular in our daily lives. Once again, as Christians, subscribe to the concept that we have to humble ourselves and not allow pride to be visible in our lives. When we are tried, we are tried of our grace but that trying of our grace produces another gr ace that we give. Christian patience is an active process in the life of the believer. That patience should outweigh our passion. We should not allow the indulging of our passions to hinder the operation and effects of patience. When we allow patience, endurance and perseverance to have its perfect work, we train ourselves to increase our handling of future situations. As a football player I can remember in practice running plays over and over again. My coach said that we will run the play until it is perfect. As the coach, his job was to prepare us for the battle, team vs. team. He was perfecting us so that when we get into the battle we can execute without having to think about the fundamentals. When we go through the testing of our faith, it is allowing us to mature and grow our faith so that the more we are tested; the better we should be able to handle the situation. When we bear all that God appoints, and as long as he appoints, and with a humble obedient eye to him, and when we not only bear troubles, but rejoice in them, then patience hath its perfect work. After the work of patience is complete is will allow the Christian to want for nothing. The Christian will be endure and possess all that is needed to get through and persevere through the end. In verse 5 James tells us that if we lack wisdom all we have to do is ask God and He will give it to us liberally and generously. When the child of God has to endure trials and tribulations they do not have to endure it alone or confused. James imperatively tells us that we can ask God for the wisdom to understand what we are going through and why we are going through it. Like the Christians in James’ time they had the opportunity to ask God for the wisdom that they lacked. This was different because before Christ they did not have direct access unto God. Because of Christ we now have direct access unto the father and now we can go to God and ask Him for the things that we lack. The key is that we ask for the understanding and not ask for the removal. Like Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, he had a thorn in the flesh and he did ask God to remove it but God’s answer to him was that he wasn’t going to remove it but He will supply Paul with enough grace to see him through his thorn. In this way we don’t have to solely desire to be delivered, we can embrace our presence in the trial and tribulation which gives us a greater understanding of the purpose of God in our lives. I believe that going through the storms and coming out of the storms gives us a better advantage in our Christian walk than if we just went in our storms and was pulled out immediately. God does not want to keep anything from us. He will reveal to us the â€Å"Mystery of the Kingdom of God†. This word mystery is not our human interpretation of the word but divinely it is what is not known but will be revealed. If you ask God for understanding he will give it to you without reproach. God doesn’t get tired of us asking nor does he limit us to our asking. I can see how we as humans can get irritated at children who continuously ask over and over for things. God is the opposite. He wants us to ask and be totally dependent on Him. As we look at verse 6, James lets us know that there is a requirement to us asking God for wisdom. He states that we have to ask God in faith and not waver. This is critical in our approach to God for wisdom. The children of Israel went back and forth with God, in one instance they believe after God has done something for them, in the next instance they are doubting God and worshipping other idols. The children of Israel exemplified a wavering attitude. This is critical for us today. James is once again imperatively telling us that when you approach God you must have faith in God and have faith in the wisdom that God will provide through the trials and tribulations. James is telling us that as a Christian when we approach and pray to God for wisdom we have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has the power to do whatever He wants to do and we must not waver in God’s word. The additional idea of that verse is that a man that wavereth is like a wave of the sea that the wind will toss to and fro. As Christians we cannot be like a wave from the sea that depending on which way the wind blows that is the way we go. James gives us more insight on the path of the man who is wavering in his faith unto the Lord. James lets us know that the man that wavereth will receive nothing from the Lord because a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. This is crucial because the proclamation is that the man is unstable in all aspects of his life. If you are not strong in your faith unto the Lord, He will not give unto you the wisdom that you need to live a strong Christian life. Such a distrustful, shifting, unsettled person is not likely to value favour from God as he should do, and therefore cannot expect to receive it. In asking for divine and heavenly wisdom we are never likely to prevail if we have not a heart to prize it above rubies, and the greatest things in this world. As we journey into the latter verses of this passage we start to see similarities of language with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the sermon on the plain in Luke. In verse 9 James gives a comforting insight that the people who is of a low degree can rejoice in that he will be exalted. This is prophetic language in that James is assuring exaltation after being in a low degree. Once again James is giving assurance that those who are weak, those who are humble will be lifted up by God. It is not a hypothetical uplifting but a commanding promise that those who are low, are weak, and endure through their trials and tribulations will be lifted up by God. Not only does James point out the lifting of those who are humble but he also personalizes them by calling them our brothers. The term â€Å"our brothers† allows us to embrace those who are low and in despair and not to cast them away. As James speaks to the twelve tribes of Israel he is letting them know that all, even those who are not like them, are their brothers and that Christ will raise them up and exalt them. In comparison to the Sermon on the Mount, James gives us confidence and then warns of despair. In the 9th verse he tells those that are rich, in that they will be low, will pass away like the flower that is within the grass will pass away. Take a look at what reason rich people have, notwithstanding their riches, to be humble and low in their own eyes, because both they and their riches are passing away: As the flower of the grass he shall pass away, he and his wealth with him. Trials serve to remind the rich and the high that though they are comfortable in this life, it is still only this life, which fades as the grass grows brown and the flowers fade away. The riches of this world will certainly fade away – but James says that the rich man also will fade away. If we put our life and our dentity into things that fade away, we will fade away also. How much better to put our life and our identity into things that will never fade? If a man is only rich in this world, when he dies, he leaves his riches. But if a man is rich before God, when he dies he goes to his riches. In verse 12, James again resembles the Sermon on the Mount language and gives a blessing for those who endure temptation. In those great statement s of blessing, Jesus wasn’t finished telling us how we can be blessed. Here, we learn we can be blessed as we endure temptation. Temptation is one of the various trials (James 1:2) we face. As we persevere through temptation, we are approved, and will be rewarded as the work of God in us is evident through our resistance of temptation. The crown of life which the Lord has promised reminds us that it really is worth it to endure under the temptations we face. Our steadfastness will be rewarded as we demonstrate our love for Jesus, to those who love Him, by resisting temptation. At the end of the passage let’s look at verse 13 – 16. Temptation does not come from God. Though He allows it, He Himself does not entice us to evil, though God may test our faith without a solicitation to evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James knew that most people have an evil tendency to blame God when they find themselves in trials. By His very nature, God is unable to be tempted in the sense we are tempted, nor can He Himself tempt anyone. God doesn’t tempt us. Instead, temptation comes when we are drawn away by our own fleshly desires and enticed – with the world and the devil providing the enticement. James warns us that when the flesh begins to produce and give birth, it brings forth sin. That sin then will produce death. Springing forth from corrupt desire is sin. Springing forth from sin is death. This progression to death is an inevitable result that Satan always tries to hide from us, but we should never be deceived about. Satan’s great strategy in temptation is to convince us that the pursuit of our corrupt desires will somehow produce life and goodness for us. If we remember that Satan only comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10), then we would resist the deceptions of temptation more easily. James imperatively warns us not to make a mistake and err. In the last two verses in this passage, we see that every good and perfect gift comes from God. From our own fallen natures and from those who would entice us, we expect no true goodness. But every good and every perfect gift comes from God the Father in heaven. Let us also observe that God is the Father of the Lights. The visible light of the sun and the heavenly bodies is from him. He said, let there be light, and there was light. Thus God is at once represented as the Creator of the sun and in some respects compared to it. What the sun is in nature, God is in grace, providence, glory and infinitely more. Every good gift is from him. As the Father of lights, he gives the light of reason. God’s goodness is constant. There is no variation with Him. This means that God never changes. His word is the same yesterday, today and will be tomorrow. God never sways nor is he swayed. He is unlike the wavering man that James spoke of before. He will not change his word to justify our lives. God’s word is there for us. We can see God’s goodness in our salvation, as He initiated our salvation of His own will, and brought us forth to spiritual life by His word of truth, that we might be to His glory as firstfruits of His harvest. James may be speaking of his own generation of believers when he calls them firstfruits. Some have speculated on this even more, saying that James has in mind a wider redemption among unknown creatures of God, of which we are the firstfruits of that wider redemption. In brief summation, James has given us the recipe to deal and embrace the trials and tribulations that come in our life. We as Christians must realize that trials and tribulations will come and we must be ready to count it all joy and to be prepared for God to exalt us even from low places. Bibliography The Bible, King James Version Believer’s Bible Commentary. William MacDonald and Art Farstad. Nashville;Atlanta;London;Vancouver : Thomas Nelson Publishers. Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Walter A. Elwell, Ph. D. and Philip W. Comfort, Ph. D. Tyndale House Publishers, 2001. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 10 Oct. 2006. Grace Online Library, 20 Nov. 2006.

Love the Little Things

Love the Little Things Last summer, I made the mistake of letting my friends, Tyler and Calvin, talk me into going camping for the weekend! While I did feel a tinge of excitement, the overwhelming feeling I had in the pit of my gut what that of anxiousness. I had never been camping before in my life! So many thoughts such as, â€Å"What if it rains? † â€Å"What if an animal attacks our site? † just kept racing through my mind. However, when they guys came to get me that morning and I saw all of the supplies and food they had brought with them, for our three day camping extravaganza, I knew everything was going to be okay.Boy, how wrong I was! Even with the best planning, camping can be an extremely frustrating experience do to uncontrolled factors such as poor weather, encounters with wildlife, and equipment failures. When envisioning the perfect camping trip, it is likely that good, sunny, weather outweighs a vision of a cold, rainy, forecast. However, not every campe r is so lucky. They may begin their journey with clear blue skies, but the closer they come to their destination, the more gray and cloudy the skies become.Once arriving at their campsite, they may be forced to set up their shelter in the pouring down rain! This may not seem like a very hard task to accomplish, but when you have to focus on not only getting the tent set up, but not tracking any mud inside, and getting the sleeping bags set-up without getting them soaking wet, it can become quite a challenge! If the sleeping bags do become wet from the rain, the cold also becomes a major factor. This is because when camping, there are two sources of heat available. One is fire, and the other is a campers sleeping bag.However, if it is already raining and windy outside, the chances of being able to use the first source of heat is highly unlikely. In this case, campers turn to their sleeping bags for warmth. If these are also wet, like the logs a camper would use to start a fire, then the sleeping bag is unfortunately, no source of heat either. While it is advised that campers check the weekend forecast before embarking on their trip, it isn’t always guaranteed to be accurate, and campers should still try to plan ahead for these kind of situations.Another problem campers are likely to be faced with is wildlife. Although not all wildlife the campers may encounter will cause a nuisance. Such as birds, rabbits, or squirrels. Some of the wildlife may be a different story. Wildlife like this may include mosquitoes, raccoons, and snakes. Mosquitoes cause many problems for campers if the proper bug repellent is not used. They bite human flesh, and leave behind an unruly urge to scratch at oneself all night. Only causing the itching sensation to increase even more!While Raccoons may not always directly interfere with campers, it does not mean they aren’t just as capable of causing an equal amount of problems. They often travel in groups of two or three, and become the most active at night. The campsite of an unsuspecting, inexperienced, camper can make the perfect place for these naughty rascalls to find dinner. Especially if this camper has forgotten to seal up their food in its proper containers, or if they forgot to zip their tent completely shut. For raccoons will break into anything they can get into in order to feed themselves.Snakes can also be a problem for the unsuspecting camper if they get inside the tent. Once inside, they will slither into sleeping bags or a pile of clothes to sleep, and hide from the elements. In some cases, the discovery of an animal like this could be fatal. Run-ins with wildlife like this can range from unpleasant, to dangerous, in a matter of seconds. However, the camper must realize that some of these encounters are inevitable. In addition, probably one of the most frustrating, yet least serious, problems a camper may face is equipment failures.Although all campers seem to encounter problems such as these at one time or another. They seem to mostly affect the, â€Å"first time camper. † They may get a late start getting on the road to their campsite, and by the time they arrive it is already getting dark. Then they must begin their attempt to construct the tent they will be using as shelter, while they can barely see what they are doing. While it looks fine in the dim light of the fire, during the night the campers awaken to a loud crash, and then feel something heavy on top of them. It was the tent collapsing.Sleepily, the campers are forced to exit the tent and try to find a way to fix it in the dark of night. However, there is no fixing. The rods to hold the frame of the tent have snapped, and the waterproof seal has been broken from the campers not zipping the doors and windows shut all the way before using it. Totally disgusted form the events prior, the campers decide to just pack up and head on home. Although equipment failures might not seem very serious, for ca mpers who have had to deal with bad weather, and annoying wildlife, these failures can shred any remaining hope of a peaceful camping trip!These three types of problems can be experienced while camping anywhere. Until someone is able to figure out how to control the weather, get rid of pesky wildlife, or not experience equipment failures, all campers will continue to shake their heads in frustration, because these things happen. If you want to be able to enjoy camping and make it a memorable experience for yourself, you need to be able to laugh at bad weather, enjoy annoying wildlife, and accept issues with your equipment, or you will always be frustrated and unhappy.

Mastering the College Admission Essay

Mastering the College Admission Essay Mastering the College Admission Essay College admission essays can be intimidating for a lot of students. The idea that something as simple as a few paragraphs can have such an impact on your future is understandably scary. Putting in the time, thought, and effort into crafting a standout admission essay can seem daunting, but there are a few simple things you can do to amp up your paper. Be You As clichà © as it may sound, you want your own personality to come across in the essay. Dont try to sound impressive. The college administrators read thousands of essay every year, but only one of them is yours. Take the chance to show them yourself, and express your own triumphs. A lot of hopeful students try to make themselves sound better with tales of charity work, or underdog stories. When so many of those types of essays are submitted, its the everyday experience that starts to standout. Language Of course you want to sound smart, but dont overdo it. A college admission essay may seem like the perfect opportunity to crack open a thesaurus and wax poetic, but the truth is that using synonyms and lengthy descriptors only weighs your essay down. Wading through a four sentence description of the scenery is only going make the people reading your essay tired, and possibly confused. Using concise language is far more likely to make a lasting impression. The more you try to shove SAT words into your essay, the more you disconnect yourself from the reader. Generally, you want to write the way that you would speak. Read your essay aloud. If it sounds clunky and unnatural when youre speaking, its going to be clunky and unnatural when they read it. Content Subject matter is another tricky task. Students seem inclined to write about what they think the college cares about dont! Write about whats important to you. Demonstrating the way you think is the exact purpose of the admission essay, in the first place. Kicking that aside to try and please the person reading your essay defeats the point. Your essay is a chance to say what you couldnt express in the application. You want to come off as if youre speaking directly to the person reading your paper, and telling them what your standard application couldnt. Proofreading Once youre happy with your content the next step is to go over it with a strict eye. Any misplaced punctuation, spelling errors, or grammatical mistakes can have a negative impact on how your essay is perceived. If you arent confident in how your own editing, its a good idea to have someone else look for you. has a team of experienced writers to make sure your admission essay is as perfect as possible.

african american lit paper

african american lit paper african american lit paper African American Literature Paper Sarah A. Perkins March 2, 2015 ENG/301 African American Literature Paper African-American literature is literature that was written and published in the United States by African – American writers. Much of this writing began during the American Revolution and has continued to flourish and thrive throughout Western society. Many of the themes and issues explored within this literature include the role of African Americans in society, racism, African culture, civil rights, slavery, and social equality. Many African American writers would expound upon these ideas through various literary conventions and forms to help build their stories and create a relationship with the readers. Some common literary conventions that can be found in African American writing are the use of imagery, character, and language. Some common literary forms were oral forms, visual forms, and auditory forms. Jourdon Anderson, W.E.B. DuBois, and Maya Angelou are three prominent African American writers that composed masterful works using some of the various literary conventions and forms stated above. Jourdon Anderson was a writer during the post – American Revolution era. His work â€Å"To My Old Master† (1865) is a letter that he wrote in response to his former slave owner requesting that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdon- , who was emancipated at the time and had moved to Ohio to find work, responded with this letter which soon became an immediate media sensation after its publication in the New York Daily Tribune in 1865 (Breed, A., 2012). In the letter Anderson tackles two themes common in African American Literature: Slavery and freedom. These themes are clearly seen through Anderson use of tone and language. At first glance the letter seems nothing more than a polite response to his former master’s request. But it is clear as one continues on that Anderson’s harbors antipathy for his former master. In the opening paragraph, he states, â€Å"I have often felt uneasy about you† (Anderson, J., 1865). He applies the word â€Å"uneas y† as a euphemism to disguise his abhorrence for his former master without explicitly stating it. By doing this, he maintains his polite language and demeanor yet successfully drives home his sense of anguish at his former oppressor with his sarcastic tone. Since this work is written as a letter, it is clearly oral in form. Which means that, by design, this work is meant to be read aloud with stress on specific syllables and words to emphasize the meaning. For example, Anderson states â€Å"As to my freedom, which you say I can have† (Anderson, J., 1865). The parenthetical he uses, â€Å"which you say I can have† provides a sense of sarcasm to the reader/listener because Anderson is underlying the fact that his former master still believes that he has control over Anderson’s life. He then continues to clarify his thought by adding the statement, â€Å"there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-Ge neral of the Department of Nashville† (Anderson, J., 1865). When read aloud, this statement is very definitive and final in nature, lending to his thesis: I am free and I never again will be a slave. W.E.B. DuBois was a poet during the early Twentieth Century. His work, â€Å"The Song of the Smoke† (1907) was a poem that was written tackling the themes of African Americans in society and social equality. It is often understood as an affirmation of Black pride and Black acceptance. This poem was first published in 1907 in the magazine known as Horizon, one which he himself edited. (Thompson, E. 2001, p.215). DuBois employs the use of imagery and language to emphasize his thesis: African American lives are important and impactful. He opens the poem with, â€Å"I am the Smoke King/I am black!† (Dubois, W.E.B., 1907, L/1-2). Here he uses the image if back smoke against a grey visage. We can see that DuBois is using the contrasting elements to show that, despite the

Reading Assignment 5 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading 5 - Assignment Example I think this is important because looking at absurdity as springing from anxiety makes one realize that many of the absurd things we do or see happen because of fear or apprehension of consequences and of things to come. â€Å"Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, wheras everything in him ought to reject it. That revolt of the flesh is the absurd† (14). Many people tell themselves that tomorrow will be better only to get through the day. This is another absurdity of life. Everyone hopes for something better but they know that this is just wishful thinking. I think this is interesting because it is consciousness telling itself that tomorrow will be better than today, however, it is as if the conscious mind knows that it is lying to itself. Hence, this â€Å"revolt of the flesh† is absurd because consciousness telling itself lies is absurd. â€Å"But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes the human heart † (21). The world is often irrational yet the heart longs to make sense of it all. Thus what I think is meant here is that incompatibility of the irrational reality of things and the clarity that people desire is, in itself, an absurdity. This incompatibility leads to absurd situations where people try to make sense out of something if only to maintain their sense of clarity.

Case study analysis (report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case study analysis (report) - Essay Example However, the case is surrounded with so many challenges because today’s retailing world is vastly covered by competition. The future will be reshaped by the emerging trends where it illustrates on what the business is experiencing today will surely be changed when tomorrow comes. This is the reason why critical knowledge about fast changing trends must be integrated into the retail strategy to drive opportunities. The business must plan ahead of time before it will lose its competitive advantage. The main thrust of this paper is to analyze the different positions of Simon and Smith in their store’s direction as well as the alternatives that would help in looking for potential changes and opportunities. Simon and Smith had different views in terms of directing their store in order to stay ahead of the competition. Simon seemed to be satisfied with the current performance of the business. Furthermore, he said that as long as they will be using the same retailing strategy for the coming years, the business will remain to be at the top of the competition. He was not in favor on the idea of attracting young customers for the reason that both of them did not have enough knowledge on the nature of the new segment and it might drive away their loyal customers. On the other hand, Smith was less satisfied compared to Simon because he was worried on the foreseen intense competition. He wanted to change the retailing concept and the growth strategy of the business to be more prepared when competition arrived. He presented potential changes in the customer base of the business and discussed important opportunities to develop sustainable competitive advantage. The opportunity was on how to attr act younger customers as the new target audience. Instead of putting all efforts on customers whose profile ranges from 35 to 50, the business will now shift to a larger audience which is the young generation. â€Å"The retail sector is one of the most competitive in the business