Social Sites Training for a Social Psychological Deficiency

I use to be a big myspace fan, but one day when I was browsing this popular site, I came to the realization that this little site has huge impacts on not just myself, but numerous people around the world. We see young females, and even young males, taking countless pictures of themselves to flaunt to gain some sort of social and self-acceptance. My point is, that social sites, such as myspace, facebook, facebox, are all more or less, a fashion show online. It’s a popularity contest about who looks the sexiest, most beautiful, or hell most emo. Whatever suits your fancy. People already have to compare themselves to other people on an everyday basis just by stepping outside their house. These social sites are just another door opener to the cruel world of lack of self-confidence. Now, I am sure for some of these people, it boosts their self-image when they look at other’s that they feel are inferior to them. But I think it would be fair to say even those that feel superior because of these sites, from time to time come across a profile in which they are the ones finding themselves feeling inferior. So which is worse, feeling superior then BAM, all of a sudden you are at rock bottom, feeling less of a person than before. Or always feeling inferior and not progressing in life. These social sites are amusing, good for contact with friends, and addicting. However, what they do to a person psychological state, is an entirely different story. Now, I do not mean to sound like a myspace-nazi. But I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. In fact, I am very aware that I could not possibly be the only one.

The Holocaust, Suffering and the Presence of God

The Holocaust, Suffering, and the Presence of God
Joy L. Brander
A00267870
1-(902)-491-8668 EXT 4812#
REL 1211.2 A. Reflection Paper #4
Introduction to Religious Experience
Wendell L. Eisener
March 13th, 2007.

"Even if we could justify the suffering of those directly guilty of backsliding, there are enormous difficulties in explaining the suffering of the entirely innocent."1 The Holocaust was a horrendous event which took the lives of 6,000,000 Jews. Even though I could not comprehend all the theories that I have come across in my research regarding the meaning of suffering, I was driven to question the presence of God during the horrors of the Holocaust.

"If I believed in God as the omnipotent author of the historical drama and Israel as His Chosen People, I had to accept… that it was God’s will that Hitler committed six million Jews to slaughter."2 I can widely accept this concept. After such events, I fail to see that there is an unlimited powerful, almighty God that looks after us. "He is the Lord of all the world, creating evil as well as good, but He desires the good."3 Hypothetically, if God created both good and evil, I understand this as creating equilibrium within humankind to give sustainability and order to the world. This process must include opposites working together to create a balance within life. For example, some psychological disorders such as depression, bulimia, and social phobias in relation to the brain, are due to serotonin deficiencies. Therefore, a doctor or licensed psychiatrist will give their patient a form of medication that contains serotonin, to create the appropriate balance of serotonin within the brain. This characteristic of God I can greatly appreciate. But, if God desires the good over the evil he created, then I do not understand how the Jews were subjected to the misery and torment of the Holocaust during WWII.

God created mankind with freedom, though in some instances, freedom can lead to the ‘cruel and irrational actions’ of humans.4 Therefore, this theory indicates that God could not interfere with events such as the Holocaust because then he would be disrupting our gift of freedom. This concept is entirely foreign to me since I cannot fully understand it. I do not comprehend why God would not halt the irrational and cruel actions of humankind. If God only desires the good and is powerful enough that he could successfully intervene then the world would have never seen the tragedies that have happened to the Jewish population throughout their history. On the contrary, I would expect a powerful and merciful God to put a stop to the evil deeds and unnecessary deaths of his creations. In this sense, God is given a humanly characteristic in which mankind can relate to. By not intervening with the Holocaust, God wanted us to exercise our freedom which seems to me a way of saving face so that he would not be labeled as a hypocrite. Therefore, God may be protecting his image which he may or may not have to maintain. Though this conclusion may be entirely incorrect, it is the only one which I could understand.

"The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger…"5 Through my research I found this quotation to be very striking. It drove me into a frenzy to determine how God treats humankind. God created evil and through events such as the Holocaust, did not intervene with our freedom even though humankind may take advantage of it from time to time. To me, if God is angered so slowly, then maybe this is a negative characteristic of God. I feel that God is too tolerant of evil actions since he forgives many of his creations for their sins which vary greatly. This allows the deaths of many innocent lives, such as the Jews in the Holocaust. As far as I am aware, we are all sinful, and are often forgiven by God and should all have the same opportunities of having our evil deeds cleansed. I feel that this is a contradiction because if God is forgiving then those innocent lives which have been taken by murderers were thrown away, yet the murderer is forgiven for the atrocity that they have committed. But, there is no evident justice for the innocent victim whose life has been snatched away. On the contrary, "Hitler is God’s servant in just the way that Nebuchadnezzar was in the past, and the six million Jews who were killed were innocent victims who died because of the sins of others."6 This quote left me dumbstruck. As I previously stated, I have known God to be all-forgiving. Hypothetically, if the Jews were still being punished for a sin of another, such as Adam, then God is inevitably punishing Jews for generations after generations. This concept boggles me and I am left to decipher whether God is forgiving us too easily or punishing us too hard.

Since there is no evidence to prove that God was present during the Holocaust, this suggests that God no longer exists.7 To me, this proposes that although God did not intervene with the Holocaust, he gave the Jews the tools to avoid such a catastrophic event if they were used correctly. God laid out the 613 commandments for the Jews to instruct their lives with and if they did not abide by them then there would be consequences.8 This opens my eyes in relation not only to the Holocaust but to every day life issues. For example, I written some academic tests and came across sections where I did not read the instructions because it seemed straight forward at the first glance. Although I was told to read the instructions carefully, I did not abide. The actions that I choose delivered a negative consequence. Marks that could have been easily gained if I had read the guidelines were lost because of my laziness and stubbornness to abide by the instructions. So, the fact that God has given these instructions on how Jews should live their lives seems to me that they are warnings for situations in their lives and a possible act of caring. Although, I cannot agree that this justifies the Holocaust nor God not being present during the Holocaust. I am intrigued by the concept that God existed once, but no longer does. To me, the 613 commandments are what he left behind for them.

"Only on a very naïve version of religion would one expect God to answer one’s prayers in much the same way as our friends answer our requests."9 This suggests to me that God is not our friend. God might be only our advisor, metaphorically speaking, like a coach. This drives me to the conclusion that humankind and their relationship with God is completely different than what one may expect from him. It is possible that humankind is alone because we have developed and sustained ourselves for generations. Perhaps, God does not think we need him anymore. So, this concludes that the Jews were left by themselves, because God left them when he was finished coaching them. My interpretation for the reason the Jews still faithfully worship God is that they realize their relationship with him is different than that of a friend. This suggests that God is like a parent who sends his children off after creating and teaching them. This constructs a whole new idea in my mind that even though I may wish to have faith in a God that looks after me, I can only hope for him. I cannot fully throw myself into him and lay my life in his hands because those hands may not exist anymore and the let down would be too great for me to recover.

Through my eyes, I have only witnessed poverty, emotional distress and illness as forms of suffering but, the Holocaust has always been and still is very shocking and disturbing for me. I believe if God was almighty, he would have prevented it. Even if God existed once, I do not believe he was present during the Holocaust or he might not be as almighty or powerful as many feel he is. I cannot judge if God is all-forgiving or continuously punishing humankind or in this case, the Jewish, because there seems to be too much of both. Through my research, I have come to conclude that God was absent or did not have the power to stop the Holocaust.

Bibliography

Hertzberg, Arthur. Judaism. New York, New York: George Braziller, Inc, 1962.

Leaman, Oliver. Evil and Suffering in Jewish Philosophy. Cambridge, United Kingdom:

Cambridge University,1997.

The Earth is Dieing - Global Warming

What is Global Warming?
Sunbeams, called shortwave radiation, come from the sun and are driven towards the Earth. The sunbeams are then reradiated back to space from the earth. This is called longwave radiation. However, greenhouse gases, stop the longwave radiation from exiting the atmosphere. This traps the heat inbetween the atmosphere and then Earth, which results in rapid warming. Greenhouse gases are necessary for the Earth's stability but now there is too much of them. There has been an increase of temperature of 0.7 degrees C. This is the fastest change in history. If it reaches 2.0 degrees C, the damage will be irreversible. The two greatest contributors are (1) the electricity generation and (2) transport. About 23 billion tonnes of CO2 is dumped into the atmosphere every year.

What will the effects of Global Warming be?
If the rise reaches to 2.0oC there will be no turning back. There will be severe heat waves, for example in Europe 2003, there was a heat wave that killed approximately 40,000 people, and that's the just the beginning. The Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets are melting and this will result in a rise of sea level up to seven meters. This indicates that any small islands will be completely destroyed. There will be a spread worldwide of tropical disease such as malaria. There will be much more urban smog, resulting in more cases of asthma and respiratory problems. The coral reefs are also suffering which indangers the fish, and sea turtles. Global warming will make extinct around 1 million species in about 50 years. The polar bears will be distinct in 100 years if there are no actions. There will be more frequent severe floods and hurricanes.

What You Can Do : And I Suggest You Do It:
Become more energy efficient! Use flourescent lightbulbs. Yes, they are more expensive but they give off the same amount of light and last 4 times longer than other lightbulbs. Cut down on your use of gasoline and oil. For short journeys, leave the car at home and walk or bike. For long journeys, use a public transpotation system, such as the train or the bus. Shut off your computer, television and lights when you do not need to use them. But the most important thing an individual can do for now is become more energy efficient and spread the word about Global Warming to set an example for everyone else.

If you have atleast read this, Thank you.

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/