Plowshares and Pruning Hooks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plowshares and Pruning Hooks - Essay Example The mode in which prophecies have been presented continues to hinder many people from understanding prophecies. The figurative languages used do not show any relevance and meaning even if confirmed from the dictionary1. Another problem that faces people who try to interpret prophecies is emotional language used in the prophecies. Most prophecies are full of emotions, exaggerations, excitement, and shock and this affects the manner in which different people interpret and understand prophecies. Another problem that affects prophecies is that God does not mention conditions in promised blessings. God in form of visions and dreams sends most prophecies. The ability to interpret the symbolic visions and dreams from the figurative language to words and writings also affects the level of interpretation of the prophecies. Interpretation ability therefore depends on the feelings and temperaments of the prophet in question. Most prophets in their writing employ the use of apocalyptic literatur e, which is quite different from prophecy but just a sub-genre under prophecy. The use of apocalyptic literature is full of emotions, which are aiming at attracting and capturing the interest of the reader or the audience. This literature has helped me in understanding the scriptures more. Most of us read this prophesies and expect that things will happen exactly the same way as indicated in the scriptures. This piece of literature has changed my interpretation and understanding of the prophecies. I now understand why God does not give conditions and exact timeline as to when His promises will take place. Proper understanding of the descriptive and figurative language has also contributed to my understanding and interpretation of the scriptures. Part 2: The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 by Darrell L. Bock and Mitch Glaser Isaiah 2:1-22 The second chapter of Isaiah is written in form of a poem from the beginning to the fifth verse. Isaiah is praising God and giving his promises to Go d concerning the people of Israel. Poetry is amongst the seven key features that Isaiah uses in order to communicate his message and make the people of Israel to repent their evil ways and go back to God. The theme that Isaiah uses in his prophecy is the theme of anger. From verse six Isaiah is unhappy with the people of Israel for their continued disobedience to God. To express his anger, Isaiah goes to an extent of telling God not to forgive His people. Verse 9 â€Å"everyone will be humiliated and disgraced. Do not forgive them Lord†2. Isaiah also uses hyperbole in this prophecy in order to make people repent. In his prophecy he says that the Lord will destroy all the tall cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks of Bashan Isaiah 2: 13. In verse 14 of the same chapter, he says that the Lord will level all the mountains and hills due to His anger. In addition to this Isaiah uses exaggeration to communicate his message. He tells God that the Israelites land is full of silver and g old and therefore there is no end to their treasures. He also continues by arguing that their land is full of horses hence no end to their chariots. Just already discussed in part of this assignment, Isaiah does not give exactly the date when God’s wrath will inflict the people of Israel. Isaiah says in verse 11 that â€Å"a day is coming when human pride will be ended and human arrogance destroyed.† The scripture does not identify exactly when this will happen. It is

The Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Final Project - Essay Example The argument of the author evolves in the following manner. In Chapter 1, Zakaria presents a main thesis of the book, according to which we will witness the emergence of a â€Å"post-American† global order, within the framework of which the USA will retain its predominance but lose an ability to determine the attributes of international system unilaterally (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 1-5). He compares the change in power dynamics that is taking place currently to the shift in predominance from the Oriental empires to the proto-capitalist West in the 15th to 16th century, arguing that a similar process can be identified nowadays with regard to the rise of Asian nations (Zakaria, 2008, p. 2). Somewhat counterintuitively, Zakaria claims that globalization which led to the dissemination of Western models of capitalist system and mass consumption culture allowed the potential contenders of the U.S., such as China and India, to increase their competitiveness and present an economic challeng e to the American role in the world (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 20-21). Nevertheless, according to Zakaria, the political limitations will not allow either India or China to become real rivals to the U.S. in the short-term future, as the uneven economic development and internal social tensions undermine their potential (Zakaria, 2008, p. 97; p. 132). ... Zakaria ends the book with guidelines for the future U.S. foreign policy that may be summarized as commitment to multilateral policies, creation of broad alliances with the other great powers, and an emphasis on legitimacy as a ‘soft power’ of the USA (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 235-250). For all the arguments presented by Zakaria in his book, the over-optimistic assumptions about the continuing political predominance of the United States in the new globalized world seems the weakest. Zakaria seems to overlook the fact that the loss of economic hegemony was invariably followed by the corresponding weakening of the political role of respective nation in the world, as the examples of Holland in the 17th century and Great Britain in the 20th century demonstrated. His optimism on the alleged lack of strong competitors to the U.S. dominance seems misplaced as well; even if no single state would match the economic and military-political potential of the U.S., the coalition of them cer tainly might, and the rise of BRICS (Brazil, India, China, Russia, South Africa) nations shows that some newly industrialized countries, together with the former contender to the U.S. might, may be not too much content with the global order determined by the Western geo-economic and geopolitical interests. In addition, Zakaria’s naive enthusiasm about the financial globalization as the driving force of supposedly even economic development may be seen as the greatest problem of the book, as his praises for neoliberal restructuring, especially in India, were contradicted both by the events of the Lehman Brothers crisis of September 2008 and the overheating processes in the economies of India and China that led to inflationary pressures and rising social