The main characteristics and structure of the Acts of the Apostles Essay Example for Free

The main characteristics and structure of the Acts of the Apostles Essay Outline your knowledge and understanding of the main characteristics and structure of the Acts of the Apostles [35] The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament which outlines the events of Apostolic Age of Christianity. Within the book, there is a definite structure behind it with reoccurring and consistent themes and characteristics that continually appearing throughout it. In terms of the structure of the book, there are three consistent themes which consistently appear and develop throughout Acts as the Apostles progress through the journey. The themes I refer to are geographical, biographical and theological. The geographical theme is first made evident by Jesuss final command before he ascended into heaven, in 1:8 of Acts. Jesus said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts then proceeds to tell the story, where the events fulfil this prophecy and the actual book could be divided into sections based on what Jesus said. From the start of the book until chapter 6, the Apostles are situated in Jerusalem and from then to chapter 12 is the story of how the Apostles fled Jerusalem and went out to Judea and Samaria. From Chapter 12 onwards chronicles the missionary journeys and the road to Rome, which was considered by many to be the ends of the earth at the time. The biographical theme is one that has caused many of scholars to dispute the title of the book, for although the book is titled Acts of the Apostles, the book mainly centres around two figures. The first figure would be Peter, one of the original twelve and a Jewish convert whom represented the traditional early Christians who maintained their Jewish traits. The first part of Acts focused on him and his leadership in getting the Church started up. The other figure would be Paul, a former member of the Sanhedrin who persecuted the Church before being converted and becoming a missionary spreading the message to the Gentiles throughout Asia, Europe and to Rome. The theological theme is shown through the spread of the message and the expansion of the Church to include the Gentiles and how such a move caused such controversy and concern amongst the early Christians. In the book, Luke ensures to include all details which state that Gentiles should be allowed to convert so as to solve the problem, for even if the speeches included in the book were not successful, the content was of importance, and thus view is upheld by scholars such as Fernando. Also in Acts are a number of characteristics that are ever-present in most, if not all stories within the book. The Holy Spirit, baptism, opposition, universalism, miracles and prayer, it is generally agreed by scholars and can be seen by most, that these features are often integrated somehow into the stories. The Holy Spirit is the most common reoccurring characteristic present in the book of Acts, and also one that is existent in Lukes Gospel and shows the connection between his Gospel and Acts. As said by the scholar Guthrie, God is seen to be active in the early Church through the Spirits power. The Holy Spirit was a promised gift from Jesus and is shown to have much effect when it came into ones life. On Pentecost, the spirit is shown to have changed the Apostles from being scared and in hiding, to being open and speaking out proudly of their religion, particularly Peter, who became a fearless and insightful leader. It also changed Paul from being one of the persecutors to being one of the persecuted. The general message is that if one accepts the message with enthusiasm, the spirit would change their life, with an example of this being the Crippled Beggar as well. Another common characteristic of the book is the sacrament of Baptism, as Luke commonly writes that baptism is necessary in order to become a part of the Church, for it is not only symbolic of a change of heart or the washing away of old sins and such, it is supposed to give way for a new life where the Holy Spirit actually lives within a person. This is made clear by Paul when he was in Ephesus in chapter 19. Opposition is something which also comes up often in the book of Acts, more often than not actually. From Jesus time, to the actual beginnings of the Church and all the way to when Paul was in Rome, the Christians were facing persecution from others, namely the Jews. The Sanhedrin arrested numerous Christians and even stoned Stephen to death and Paul is rejected by the Jews in just about every town he enters on his missionary journeys. Despite their numerous attempts to spread the message to everyone, including the Jews whom Paul always visited first upon entering a town, they continued to shoot it down and reject them. And that idea of Christians attempting to spread the message to all leads us to the next characteristic and that is, universalism. This is first raised in 1:8 of Acts, as it is said that the message should be spread to all people everywhere, and begins to happen after the Diaspora of the early Christians after Stephens death. Philip is the first to break boundaries as he converts Samaritans (essentially a sect of Judaism) and talks to an Ethiopian, however Peter officially accepts the Gentiles into the Church, beginning with Cornelius. Also, Paul is told in a vision to be the one who preached and spread the message to the Gentiles specifically. Another characteristic which is present throughout the book is the act of Miracles, which as CS Lewis said are what God writes across the sky in capital letters what he usually writes in small letters everyday. The point behind them is to make valid the claims that Jesus is indeed the Lord and that his power and presence is still very much alive. An example of a miracle is how Peter healed the crippled beggar, enabling him to jump up and run about. And the final characteristic of Acts is the importance of prayer in Christianity. Luke uses prayer to emphasise the community aspect of the religion and encourages others to worship in numbers as prayer gives people time to give praise to God, whilst also bringing about fellowship and equality especially after the division between Jewish and Gentile converts. Paul was seen to have prayed often, such as when he was imprisoned and he prayed and sang hymns which lead to divine intervention as he escaped from the prison. Overall, one can see that there are many characteristics that the book is based around and that there is a definite structure which really builds up the story.

Value of Biodiversity and the Preservation of Species Essay -- Nature

Value of Biodiversity and the Preservation of Species As a result of the increasing environmental awareness of scientists and laymen, new issues have evolved around pressing ecological problems. Ecologists have discovered how important retaining biodiversity really is to humanity. While politicians often have other economic agendas, environmentalists are working hard to push this relatively new knowledge through political institutions using economic arguments. The preservation of our surroundings can create new jobs and promote economic efficiency, more so than the jobs which are currently destroying our ecosystem. For example, in a few years, workers in the fishing industry may be out of jobs due to over-consumption of certain species of fish and the lack of management to preserve these animals. For Christians, biblical reasons also apply to this desire to preserve what remains of our biodiversity. Holistic human life depends on the relationship between humankind and species found in nature; thus humankind must develop respect and crit ical understanding of the interaction of human and non-human species, and realize the necessity of preserving the earth's great biodiversity. Biodiversity Conservation biology became a formal discipline in the 1980s. Its aim was to connect ecology and evolutionary biology, as well as conserve biodiversity (Takacs, 1996). The mission of this new field was to document the earth's deterioration and to promote ways of reversing this situation. In 1986 the National Research Council held a National Forum on biodiversity (Takacs, 1996), and from this conscience-raising event, scientists publicly agreed on the importance of saving the different species of the world (Takacs, 1996). Preservation... ... fires says the aim was to help lynx. CNN Interactive . Accessed Oct. 30, 1998. URL: http://cnn.com/TECH/science/9810/22/vail.fire.02/ Rohlf, Daniel J. (1994). Six biological reasons why the endangered species act doesn't work and what to do about it . In Environmental Policy and Biodiversity ed. R. Edward Grumbine. Washington D. C.: Island Press. Sebastian, Matt. (1998, Oct. 23). Arson in vail fires confirmed . Boulder News . Accessed Oct. 30, 1998. URL: http://www.bouldernews.com/news/local/23morvai.html. Takacs, David. (1996). The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of Paradise. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Tuxill, John. (1998). Losing Strands in the Web of Life . Washington D. C.: Worldwatch Institute. Walters, Mark Jerome. (1997). Sanctuary . In Wildlife Conservation . ed. Hillary D. Claggett. New York: H.W. Wilson Company.

Macbeth Appearance vs Reality

Appearance vs. Reality The role of deception and the motif of appearance and reality had a large role in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. The motif of appearance and reality is first introduced by Shakespeare early on in the play when Macbeth must cover up for the murder of Duncan. This motif of appearance versus reality, or deception, appears again when Macbeth fools the murderers that killed Banquo. Macbeth tricks the murderer’s into believing it was Banquo’s fault that they led such miserable lives when in reality Banquo had nothing to do with them.Finally, the reader sees this motif of appearance versus reality appear one last time towards the end of the play when Macbeth believes he is invincible and ends up ignoring one of the witches’ prophecies which ultimately leads to his demise. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth has the knack to make others believe in him although he is ultimately lying to them. This can be first seen during the murder o f King Duncan and his two servants when Macbeth must disguise the fact that he had committed the crime.Macbeth initially feared committing a crime such as killing Duncan because he had no reason to do it and feared the consequences. Lady Macbeth, however, sensing the weakness in her husband’s heart gives Macbeth a piece of advice; â€Å"False face must hide what the false heart doth know. † (I. VII. 92). Lady Macbeth tells her husband to deceive everyone into believing that neither he nor his wife had anything to do with the murder of Duncan or his servants. After the crime has been committed, both Lennox and Macduff knock on Macbeth’s door.At this point Macbeth is feeling extremely guilty. However, Lady Macbeth diverts all attention away from Macbeth by fainting. â€Å"Help me hence, ho! † (II. III. 129) During this brief time span Macbeth manages to collect his thoughts and weasels his way out of a hole by lying about his knowledge involving Duncan†™s death. As the play progresses Macbeth uses his ability to deceive people to his advantage. He uses this ability to remove suspicion from himself when he kills his best friend, Banquo.The motif of appearance versus reality was shown to appear after a murder, but as the play wears on it is possible to see that it also occurs before a murder. An ideal example of this can be seen when Macbeth decides to kill Banquo. Macbeth decides to hire professional murderers to carry out the deed of killing Banquo so that he would not have to get his hands dirty. The murderers, stricken by poverty, lead difficult lives and Macbeth uses this fact to manipulate the murderers into believing his lies.Macbeth blamed the murderers’ hardships on Banquo even though Banquo had nothing to do with it. â€Å"Both of you Know Banquo was your enemy. † (III. I. 124-125). Using the ability to deceive others, Macbeth managed to trick the foolish murderers into believing Banquo was indeed their ene my. He later arranged for a feast to occur on the same day as the murder so that he could have his name cleared from any list of suspicions. Finally, one can also see the concept of appearance vs. reality when the Weird Sisters foretell their prophecies.One of the three apparitions that the weird sisters made appear before Macbeth was a child holding a tree. This apparition told Macbeth that he â€Å"shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him†(4. 1. 105-107) By saying this, the apparition caused Macbeth to gain great confidence, because if taken literally, it then sounds impossible for Macbeth to die. How can a forest move? Well it can’t. The witches used equivocation to deceive Macbeth into thinking that the whole forest needs to move, but reality only parts of the forest need to move.An example of this would be when each person in Siward’s army carries one piece of the forest to Dunsinane and unknowingly Siw ard has completed part of the prophecy. Soon after Macbeth receives word of this, â€Å"As I did stand my watch upon the hill, /I looked toward Birnam, and anon methought/ the wood began to move. † (5. 5. 37-39) Once Macbeth gets word of this, he realizes that what he thought was impossible, has just happened. The second apparition is a bloody child. This apparition tells Macbeth to â€Å"Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn/ The power of man, for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth. (4. 1. 90-92) Because of this apparition Macbeth gains copious confidence. Through his eyes, every man is of woman born, for everyone has a mother. The Weird Sisters, being very devious, do not count being born by a caesarian section as â€Å"of woman born† (4. 1. 91) This causes Macbeth to get a since of false security. So through Macbeth’s eyes he appears to be very safe. But in reality there is a dark future in store for him. The last of the three apparitions would b e the armed head. This apparition says â€Å"Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough. † (4. 1. 81-82) This apparition essentially foretells who will kill Macbeth, sadly after hearing the preceding apparition, Macbeth ignores this warning and makes it seem irrelevant. These apparitions have, through Macbeth’s eyes, been nothing but good news. First he hears he will not die until a forest moves to his castle. Then he hears that he should beware Maduff, but then ignores the warning after he hears that anyone born from a woman cannot kill him. Anyone would have gained confidence after having heard this news.However, the Weird Sisters never speak literally, â€Å"the witches' prophesies are intentionally ambiguous† (Lizhi, Ye). So this since of invincibility that Macbeth gets, will later lead to his inevitable yet heroic demise. In conclusion, the concept of appearance vs. reality is found throughout the whole play. Thi s concept of deception is used, but not limited, to Macbeth. Macbeth takes the idea of deception and enhances it to the point of manipulating other people. This not only causes Macbeth to rise to power, but also once he has gained too much confidence, it causes his heroic and inevitable downfall.

Negative Impact of Tattoos - 1546 Words

Tattoos have decorated bodies for centuries. From religious beliefs, to punishment, to adornment, tattoos have reflected personal stories for each of the bodies it marks. In the modern era, tattoos have become a form of art in which people use to express their individualities. Although one may consider marking their bodies as a positive form of self expression, tattoos can have lasting negative effects on one’s physical, social, and professional lives. Physically, getting a tattoo involves many risks. Even with the technology available in the 21st century and advances made to improve safety, there are still many medical complications that can result after one gets a tattoo. Some risks are minor, while some are more serious†¦show more content†¦Depending on the person’s professional line of work, a tattoo can make or break their career. Some professions may require attire that exposes more skin than other occupations. The company may want to ensure that tattoos are able to be covered in order to present that company’s particular image. These factors need to be considered by those people with tattoos that are active in the job market. When someone is seeking employment, it is important to create a positive first impression. This impression should convince a prospective employer that his or her appearance is suitable for the company’s image. The first thing the interviewer sees is the candidate’s physical appearance. Unfortunately, if someone has a visible tattoo, he or she is most likely going to be viewed as â€Å"trashy† in the conservative, professional world (Business Legal Reports, 2005). A survey conducted by Vault (2007) reveals that 85% of respondents think tattoos impede one’s chances of finding a job (Business Legal Reports, 2007). 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