Sex In The Bible Essays (1554 words) - Religion,

Sex In The Bible For my book report I chose the topic of sex in the Bible. I thought that it would be a very interesting topic because in many churches discussion of sex and sexuality is taboo. I thought that by reading this book I could become more informed of what the Bible truly says on the subject. I also chose this topic because I felt that it would be easier reading a book about the bible on a topic I was interested in. Most subjects pertaining to the Bible are not interesting to the average teenager, and I felt this book would be fun to read. The name of the book was Sex in the Bible by Michael R. Cosby. Cosby discusses five parts of the bible in which sexual relations are discussed. First he discuses the laws that apply to sex in the Hebrew culture according to the book of Dueteronomy. Secondly he discuses the wisdom advice of the book of proverbs. Cosby then discuses the actual act of sex in the book of songs. Next he writes about the topic of sex and sexuality in the synoptic gospels. Finally he discusses sex in the books of Corinthians and Paul's letters to the Romans. Cosby's goal is to interpret the true beliefs of the early Jews and Christians. The book of Deuteronomy is a book of laws directed for the Hebrew. They are laws given to them by their god Yahweh. The book of Deuteronomy has several rules and laws pertaining to sex. The book was written within a society that was very male oriented. Thus the book makes the assumption that the wife is property of the husband. This did not give the husband the right to treat his wife as a slave, however only he had the option of divorce, and he only had the option of verifying his wife's virginity. The basic two principles behind the laws of sex in Dueteronomy are that: sex was to be only had in the confides of marriage, and that the women must be a virgin going into the marriage. Pertaining to the act of premarital sex, either by free will or by force, the punishment is death by stoning. If it turns out that the women was raped, then that man which committed the crime will be forced to marry the women, and is forbidden to divorce her ever. As far as a women not being pure when she is married, Dueteronomy says that the husband has the right to bring this claim to his new wife's father. If the accusation is true than the women will be stoned to death in front of her father's house. Having an impure daughter was an ultimate disgrace to a father, in that it was his resposibility to prevent that. If the claims turned out to be false then the husband was beat in public and charged one hundred coins to be given to the bride's father. There are also several other topics involving sex that are mentioned Deuteronomy. The act of polygamy is considered an acceptable practice, and in many cases expected. Under Hebrew law if a man died his brother was obligated to take his brother's widowed wife's hand in marriage. If the brother were already married then it would be expected of him to now have two wives. There are two other laws mentioned in Deuteronomy that are seen as sins to Yahweh, but are not punishable by death. Those two acts would be prostitution, and transvestitism (or the act of men dressing like women and vice versa). These acts, although not punishable by death, were seen as sins by God, and anyone who partook in the act of prostitution or transvestitism would be accursed. Moving on, Cosby goes to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs, unlike Dueteronomy, does not dive laws about sex, but rather advice about it. Proverbs is not based on a covenant motif but rather on accumulated wisdom that has resulted from many years of observation. It is similar to Deuteronomy in that it addresses a great number of different aspects of life, but the way it is presented is much different. There is no emphasis on the Hebrew people's covenant with God. In fact proverbs is not specifically written for the Hebrew people, but rather as advice for the people of all nations. The main emphasis in Proverbs is to explain why it is better to stay away from women of poor morals. Proverbs says that there

The Galapagos Affair

The Galapagos Affair The Galapagos Islands are a small chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean off the western coast of Ecuador, to which they belong. Not exactly a paradise, they are rocky, dry and hot, and are home to many interesting species of animals found nowhere else. They are perhaps best known for the Galapagos finches, which Charles Darwin used to inspire his Theory of Evolution. Today, the Islands are a top-notch tourist attraction. Normally sleepy and uneventful, the Galapagos Islands captured the worlds attention in 1934 when they were the site of an international scandal of sex and murder. The Galapagos Islands The Galapagos Islands are named after a sort of saddle which is said to resemble the shells of the giant tortoises that make the islands their home. They were discovered accidentally in 1535 and then promptly ignored until the seventeenth century when they became a regular stopping point for whaling ships looking to take on provisions. The government of Ecuador claimed them in 1832 and no one really disputed it. Some hardy Ecuadorians came out to make a living fishing and others were sent to penal colonies. The Islands big moment came when Charles Darwin visited in 1835 and subsequently published his theories, illustrating them with Galapagos species. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch In 1929, German doctor Friedrich Ritter abandoned his practice and moved to the Islands, feeling he needed a new start in a faraway place. He brought with him one of his patients, Dore Strauch: both of them left spouses behind. They set up a homestead on Floreana Island and worked very hard there, moving heavy lava rocks, planting fruits and vegetables and raising chickens. They became international celebrities: the rugged doctor and his lover, living on a far-off island. Many people came to visit them, and some intended to stay, but the hard life on the islands eventually drove most of them off. The Wittmers Heinz Wittmer arrived in 1931 with his teenage son and pregnant wife Margret. Unlike the others, they remained, setting up their own homestead with some help from Dr. Ritter. Once they were established, the two German families apparently had little contact with one another, which seems to be how they liked it. Like Dr. Ritter and Ms. Strauch, the Wittmers were rugged, independent and enjoyed occasional visitors but mostly kept to themselves. The Baroness The next arrival would change everything. Not long after the Wittmers came, a party of four arrived on Floreana, led by Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet, an attractive young Austrian. She was accompanied by her two German lovers, Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz, as well as an Ecuadorian, Manuel Valdivieso, presumably hired to do all the work. The flamboyant Baroness set up a small homestead, named it Hacienda Paradise and announced her plans to build a grand hotel. An Unhealthy Mix The Baroness was a true character. She made up elaborate, grand stories to tell the visiting yacht captains, went about wearing a pistol and a whip, seduced the Governor of Galapagos and anointed herself Queen of Floreana. After her arrival, yachts went out of their way to visit Floreana; everyone sailing the Pacific wanted to be able to boast of an encounter with the Baroness. However, she did not get along well with the others. The Wittmers managed to ignore her but Dr. Ritter despised her. Deterioration The situation quickly deteriorated. Lorenz apparently fell out of favor, and Philippson started beating him. Lorenz started spending a lot of time with the Wittmers until the Baroness would come and get him. There was a prolonged drought, and Ritter and Strauch began to quarrel. Ritter and the Wittmers became angry when they began to suspect that the Baroness was stealing their mail and badmouthing them to visitors, who repeated everything to the international press. Things turned petty. Philippson stole the Ritters donkey one night and turned it loose in the Wittmers garden. In the morning, Heinz shot it, thinking it feral. The Baroness Goes Missing Then on March 27, 1934, the Baroness and Philippson disappeared. According to Margret Wittmer, the Baroness appeared at the Wittmer home and said that some friends had arrived on a yacht and were taking them to Tahiti. She said she left everything they werent taking with them to Lorenz. The Baroness and Philippson departed that very day and were never heard from again. A Fishy Story There are problems with the Wittmers story, however. No one else remembers any ship coming in that week, and the Baroness and Wittmer never turned up in Tahiti. Additionally, they left behind almost all of their things, including ( according to Dore Strauch) items that the Baroness would have wanted on even a very short journey. Strauch and Ritter apparently believed that the two were murdered by Lorenz and the Wittmers helped cover it up. Strauch also believed that the bodies were burned, as acacia wood (available on the island) burns hot enough to destroy even bone. Lorenz Disappears Lorenz was in a hurry to get out of Galapagos and he convinced a Norwegian fisherman named Nuggerud to take him first to Santa Cruz Island and from there to San Cristobal Island, where he could catch a ferry to Guayaquil. They made it to Santa Cruz but disappeared between Santa Cruz and San Cristà ³bal. Months later, the mummified, desiccated bodies of both men were found on Marchena Island. There was no clue as to how they got there. Incidentally, Marchena is in the northern part of the Archipelago and not anywhere near Santa Cruz or San Cristà ³bal. The Strange Death of Dr. Ritter The strangeness did not end there. In November of the same year, Dr. Ritter died, apparently of food poisoning due to eating some poorly-preserved chicken. This is odd firstly because Ritter was a vegetarian (although apparently not a strict one). Also, he was a veteran of island living, and certainly capable of telling when some preserved chicken had gone bad. Many believed that Strauch had poisoned him, as his treatment of her had gotten much worse. According to Margret Wittmer, Ritter himself blamed Strauch. Wittmer wrote that he cursed her in his dying words. Unsolved Mysteries Three dead, two missing over the course of a few months. The Galapagos Affair as it came to be known is a mystery that has puzzled historians and visitors to the islands ever since. None of the mysteries have been solved. The Baroness and Philippson never turned up, Dr. Ritters death is officially an accident and no one has any clue how Nuggerud and Lorenz got to Marchena. The Wittmers remained on the islands and became wealthy years later when tourism boomed: their descendants still own valuable land and businesses there. Dore Strauch returned to Germany and wrote a book, fascinating not only for the sordid tales of the Galapagos affair but for its look at the hard life of the early settlers. There will likely never be any real answers. Margret Wittmer, last of those who really knew what happened, stuck to her story about the Baroness going to Tahiti until her own death in 2000. Wittmer often hinted that she knew more than she was telling, but its hard to know if she really did or if she just enjoyed tantalizing tourists with hints and innuendos. Strauchs book doesnt shed much light on things: she is adamant that Lorenz killed the Baroness and Philippson but has no proof other than her own (and supposedly Dr. Ritters) gut feelings. Source Boyce, Barry. A Travelers Guide to the Galapagos Islands. San Juan Bautista: Galapagos Travel, 1994.

Aristotle and the Appeal to Reason,the author refers to topos Assignment

Aristotle and the Appeal to Reason,the author refers to topos - Assignment Example Topoi are referred to various categories that help to delineate different relationship among ideas. In those important group of â€Å"topoi† within the Rhetoric, certain instruction for arguments are contained that does not pertain to a certain form but it come with a certain predicament. While those â€Å"topoi† material are still used in argument building, there is also implementation of â€Å"topos† in the context where the non-argumentative persuasion is implemented. Modern writers and students widely use and are benefited by the topos. The topos in the present context is used for placing on things such as scientific facts, statistics and various other hard evidences. Classical rhetoricians viewed topos as the area of investigation and inquiry which is envisaged in the present context purely in the domain of logic. Topos is used in present academic domain to develop syllogism, find contradictions and cater various needs of logical development and inquiry. A good argumentative essay has number of benefits and positive aspects. It helps to come to a conclusion through logical interpretation and syllogistic contention. The framework of an argumentative essay is always strong. There are always less lacunas or vague propositions in an argumentative essay. There are logic and space for points on both the sides. The book â€Å"To the Point: Reading and Writing Short Arguments† is a series of essays that presents such strong argumentative and short essays that cater issues ranging from cell phones to terrorism. This is also an effective point that can be displayed for the support of the argumentative essay. Argumentative essays can be written on any facets of life and can cater a wide range of topic under broad heads. Affirmative or negative essays limit the space for cognition but with argumentative essay more and more cognitive ideas can be implemented. Since the ancient period, the arguments