Alive in Christ

Just a 15 year old girl trying to get through high school!

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL // UTILITARIANISM VIDEO

Watch the Biola Ethics video and reflect about Utilitarianism.  Explain the Utilitarian responses to these situations.  Comment about the difference of foreseen and unintended vs. intended.  What would you do? (Why?) 

In the video we watched in Bible class, the man gave us a few situations of difficult choices to make.  The first situation was the one about the trolley car rapidly approaching five children sitting on the tracks of the train, there was an option to pull the lever and change the track to another pathway to avoid.  However the other situation the speaker brought out that particularly stood out to me was about getting a knee injury and going to the hospital.   When you go to the hospital it just so turns out that 5 other people are looking for transplants and you are the perfect match.

Through these situations, the professor points out all the flaws in utilitarianism.  He shows that inevitably, people will get left out.  Using the first one as an example, the fat man is not happy in this situation because well, he is dead.  He also shows us how quickly the tables are turned in different situations, like the hospital one.  Technically, it would be the most beneficial to everyone if you were to die because you could donate your organs but it's simply not fair.   

The one thing that stood out to me the most was that the intention matters quite a bit in this situation.  He uses abortion as an example.  In typical abortions, women do it INTENDING to terminate the baby.   However, if the baby's birth has complications and could potentially cause the death of both the mother and the child it is justified because you are not intending to kill the baby.   

If I were to be in this situation, I hate to say it but I think I would shove the man in order to save the children.  The man has lived his life but those five children have their whole life ahead of them.   However if I was the patient with knee surgery I would definitely not let them take my organs and botch my surgery.  Yes, it would be most beneficial but I don't know those people and those people could be horrible people.  I know it’s not a very good excuse but hey it’s all I have.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 14//”BAD CHRISTIANS”//

Today, I’d like to reflect on the topic of “bad christians”.  You know what I mean, people who give a bad name towards Christianity that say certain things that are completely opposite of ACTUAL Christian teachings or that don’t make any sense.  Although this happens very often all around the world and in churches or at school, I’m talking about this on a large scale.  Specifically, the organization called the Westboro Baptist Church.

The Westboro Baptist Church is a church known for its hate speech. homophobia, antisemitism, and more.  They are a cultic congregation of about 40 people and believe that only they alone have truth.  Part of my own personal morals is that I believe in respecting other people’s religions, beliefs, ideas, etc. (unless it is detrimental on someone’s behalf) though I may not necessarily agree with them.  This “church” goes against this and uses extreme methods to get their point across such as picketing and targeting certain people. 

These people not only claim that they are Christian and portray Christianity as a hateful unforgiving religion and yet it’s not against the law to do such heinous crimes.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 13//MONEY ON THE FLOOR//27/01/16

After P.E, I was changing in the changing room with my class and I noticed 20 dollars lying on the floor.  I picked it up and asked my whole class if they dropped it but none of my classmates said it was belonged to them.  I didn’t know what to do so I pocketed it.  

I don’t think I felt as guilty as I should have for taking the 20 dollars because it wasn’t a GIGANTIC sum of money like $500 or $1000.  Another point is that, if I theoretically turned the money to the office they would’ve probably done the same because who would go their to find a measly 20 dollar bill?  Maybe I should’ve felt guilty because taking the money is considered a form of stealing which is against the law. But I don’t consider this a form of stealing so at the end of the day, finders are keepers.

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 9//THE OLD WOMAN ON THE TRAIN//21/01/16

Today I was riding the train home, my usual routine after school just reading my book and listening to music.  When the train arrived in the station, I was about to leave but I saw an old woman slowly carrying a heavy looking trolley with extreme difficulty.  The staff was nowhere to be found and everyone else had either already left the train or ignoring her completely and in that moment I had to make a decision 1)  To help the lady and ride to the next station or 2) Leave the old woman to herself.  Morally, I’m supposed to help her, it’s the right thing to do.  She’s an old woman dragging a trolley and I’m a young teenager.  However is there any law that requires me to do so?  A horrible person could still be innocent ethically.  Despite this internal conflict, I choose the first option because even if I had to ride an extra station at least my conscience would be at rest and I would have helped an old woman in need.  So I told her in Chinese to let me do it and helped her drag the extremely heavy trolley to the nearest seat as fast as I could and still left the train on time!  I don’t know how I did it because I’m not particularly strong or fast but maybe Jesus helped me out a little bit and I don’t regret my decision one bit

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 12//ARE WE IN CONTROL//26/01/16

In Class we watched another Ted Talk by Dan Ariely about whether or not human beings are truly in control of their actions and decisions they make in life.  I found this topic intriguing, I would like to think I am in control of all my decisions. For example when I want do something, like let's just say eat a chocolate bar Ill eat it.  But then after I watched the video I began to wonder whether I was truly in control of all my decisions.  

The experiment that impacted me the most was probably the organ donor one.  You could clearly see how easily people were "tricked" in the experiment just by switching a few words.  Another experiment I liked was the Tom and Jerry one but that one was because it was 1) really funny and 2) made me rethink all my friendships ;)  

I think that the concept of moral code can be implemented in this video because of the illusion part.  Sometimes you may think you are making the right decisions and doing the right thing because it looks like you are, but in reality you’re.  The moral code in this analogy is like those black indicator lines that tell you the tables are the same length. I feel like this video really caused me to rethink my perspective on making decisions.  I should be more aware of everything I'm doing, like whether what I’m about to do is right or wrong according to my moral code.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL11//POVERTY//25/01/16

Today Mr. Ward came back and gave us an interesting talk regarding the topic of Poverty.  He asked a lot of really probing questions like what we, as members of a middle class or just decent human beings, should do in order to help.  It took me a while to think about an answer.  I mean I’m only a teenager, my family is not fabulously rich and can't really donate thousands of dollars to UNICEF or a local non profit organisation.  Does it necessarily make me a  bad person if I can’t or don’t really donate to charity? I’m not saying that not donating money is okay but if you can’t donate monetarily you can donate in other ways.  I came up with a few that I do or feel like I should do like doing service in a nonprofit, spreading awareness, talking about these issues on social media, etc.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL10//SERVICE//22/01/16

Today it was Friday, usually that means heading home and sleeping until Saturday morning which is what I usually do.  But this Friday was different because we had a jazz band concert on Sunday therefore an extra rehearsal.  The rehearsal wasn’t going well and long story short I was frustrated, grumpy, and exhausted.  However, I had signed up for a service in the Shek Mun government housing estate with the ICS service club where we’d play games with the kids there. However, I was feeling pretty tired and the whole time in jazz band I debated on whether or not to go.  I found out after jazz band that the service was cancelled due to the rain.  I know it may seem bad that I was going to skip a service but in reality, I’d rather go when my heart is more open and when I’m in a better mood rather than forcing myself to do so just because it is a service.  

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JOURNAL 8//THOUGHTS ON ABORTION//20/01/16

I was scrolling through facebook when I saw a post a teacher posted regarding abortion.  As you know, abortion is legal in America as well as many other countries.  This teacher posted about his stance against abortion and calling it (I directly quote) “a worldwide holocaust”.  As this is one of the highly debated morals vs ethics hot topics, I decided to reflect on this today.

Abortion is the act of ending a pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo from the uterus before it can survive on its down.  Many people, especially Christians and Catholics believe it to be a sin and politicians have very fixed sometimes radical stances in relation to abortion.

Making abortion illegal will cause many problems, such as effectively close all abortion clinics where abortions are performed safely by doctors. Illegal abortion rates will increase again, as women have done so in the past and currently the present in countries such as India, South America, and parts of Africa may even result in the death of the mother as well as the baby.   

I also think that there are different circumstances and reasons that lead to having an abortion.  For example, what if you’ve been raped?  What if the mother simply cannot provide their child with money and resources? What if the baby within a pregnant woman is killing the woman?  I just think that these are real things that happen to real people and we should think clearly about this before taking a stance.

While I personally do not think I would ever get an abortion, I don’t think that it is for other people to decide whether or not they have a say in this except for the mother.

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 7//JAYWALKING//19/01/16

Today it was raining, and pretty heavily I might add.  I was drenched in the cold rain but luckily I had the initiative to pack an extra change of clothes (not ics uniform) when i went inside the mtr station.  Remember on the outside I do not look anything like a student) And when I left the station like I usually do, I was impatiently waiting for the red light to turn green, waiting any second now for my brain to decide “screw it, let’s jaywalk”.  In my excuse, I had homework to do, things to buy, places to be, etc.  But standing besides me was a bunch little kids staring at me, probably just finishing school as well.  These are little kids, probably around my age, young and impressionable.  What if they saw me, a teenager which they look up to, breaking the law and walking even though the pedestrian sign was red?  This thought made me stop and rethink what I was about to do and decided not to jaywalk.  I know it is against the law to jaywalk and I usually don’t because I’m wearing school uniform, essentially representing ICS. But often, I’m in a hurry and don’t really care if I’m not in uniform.  However, this does not excuse my behavior and I should probably stop jaywalking especially if young children are around.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 9//WALLET BLUES//21/01/16

On Tuesday afternoon, I lost my wallet in city one.  Knowing my amazing luck and people these days, I was fully prepared to say goodbye to my octopus, money, polaroid pictures, school ID, Hong Kong ID and more. You can imagine I was not very pleased.  But then the next day, someone found my wallet and brought it to the City One center.  To say I was beyond shocked was an understatement. Someone found my wallet and didn't even take any of the money from it, I couldn't believe it!  When I was signing the papers to get my wallet back, I felt so grateful that God actually returned my wallet to me safe and sound.  However, I couldn't help but feel sad about my initial reaction.  Instead of thinking "oh someone will return it because that would be the ethical kind thing to do!" I was filled with negativity and cursing my bad luck and more of "great I lost my wallet and now ill never see it again or if I do all the money will be gone".  This experience made me think of how I should react when bad things happen and perhaps not judge people so early.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 5//HOMEWORK HELP//18/01/16

During Chinese Class on Monday, my good friend Sarah (I don’t want to point fingers so let’s call her Sarah) asked me if she could copy my homework for Asian Studies.  Initially, I was going to let her because she was my good friend and always tutored me for math but then I thought “would it be cheating?”  If I let her copy, I would be letting her cheat off me and get off without doing any work but then if I didn’t she would get mad at me because I am her friend.  This is an example of ethics and morals because ethically, I shouldn’t let her copy but morally I believe in helping my friends if they are in need. So instead of doing either, I explained the concept of the question and let her answer for herself.  I’m not sure if that counts as cheating but I think it’s a small step forward from improving.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 4//BUGGY MORAL CODE

I really enjoyed the TED Talk that Dan Ariely gave about cheating.  I felt like the topic itself was interesting and unique, I never really thought about the reason people cheated until after watching the video. I liked the fact that he didn’t just speculate and say that”this happens because.......etc. but rather did social experiements to back up his words.  I feel like fundamentally cheating is a bad thing, we’ve been taught this ever since we were kids.  But it’s certainly not the worst thing you could do in terms of doing bad things.  However, everyone does it occassionally. 

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JOURNAL 3//COLOGNE NEW YEARS ATTACKS

On new years eve, hundreds of women were sexually attacked and robbed in Cologne, Germany by a mob of around 1,000 drunken men with minimal police intervention.  After, the police reported that everything went well and only a few days later did media suspicion uncover and bring up these events.  Recently, some of the men were accused of the assault were rumored to be foreigners namely the refugees who sought refuge in Germany.  The mayor issued a new law that said women had to stay an arms length from dangerous looking men.

This event has multiple problems regarding morals and ethics.  Ethically, the police should’ve done something and not have lied about everything going well.  This event should have been publicized and the police should’ve reported that this incident happenned sooner and intervened sooner and called for back up.  Morally, the mayor is victim blaming the women for being assaulted and telling them to stay an arms length away from men rather than chastising the men.  This problem also leads to dangerous rumours involving the new refugees that entered Germany a few months ago that could potentially jeopardize the already unstable support of the refugees. 

I feel like ethically, the police should have done more to help the women on new years eve and they shouldn’t have covered their mistakes up and came clean rather than hiding it.  Also morally, the news reports and tabloids should hesitate before spreading extremely dangerous rumours without proof.  The mayor should’ve also did something rather than placing a law on the WOMEN who were the victims in the situation.   

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 2//KIM DAVIS

 Kim Davis was a county clerk who was arrested and tried by the Supreme court for refusing to sign marriage licenses of same sex couples.  2 same sex couples and 2 opposite sex couples filed a lawsuit against Davis due to her incompetence in fulfilling her job.  Davis defended herself by saying that she was doing God’s work by not issuing licenses.  

This is a clear example of ethics VS morals.  According to the law, it is her job to issue marriage certificates on anyone who wishes to marry.  However, she let her personal feelings and morals get in the way.  I think that Kim Davis should not have done what she did because of a number of reasons.

Firstly, she is a GOVERNMENT official, if not an average citizen under the law and should follow the law.  She refused to issue people's marriage licenses and disobeyed a direct court order and was put under arrest for doing so.  She was jailed for a period of time As a citizen, she is entitled to her own beliefs but she is NOT entitled to forcefully impose her beliefs on others and abuse her right as a government official in doing so.  Ethically, what Davis did was wrong and I believed that everything done to her was deserved and should’ve been done.  She was imprisoned only after receiving numerous warnings from the supreme court, her boss, etc. and after gay marriage has been legalized, people of the same sex should have the right to marriage.     

Morally, I disagree with her stance and actions as well.  She is hailed as a martyr against gay marriage as well as a role model who stands up in what she believes in.  I disagree with this because she is the last thing I would consider to be a martyr.  And although she has a right to religion, she is taking away the rights of others purely for her beliefs.  I believe that she shouldn’t have let her religion interfere with her ethics and signed those marriage certificates.  

A viable solution to her problem is to quit her job, if her morals are that important to her.  Or if not, find another method to get the certificates signed.  

[free-from-sin]

JOURNAL 1 // MORAL ETHIC

1. Parents

2. Friends 

3. Religion

4. Society 

5. Law

I think that my parents are a big part of where I get my moral ethic since they raised me since I was a child and taught me how to treat people and everything like that.  I also think my friends impact my morals too because I spend the most time with them and I respect and listen to their opinions.  Religion also affects my morals because the Bible dictates how people should live and how people should act.  The law also tells us what is right or wrong and what is legal or illegal.  Last but not least, society impacts our social lives both positively and negatively which is related to morals, a good example being peer pressure or bullying.  

[free-from-sin]

Inductive - Hebrews 11

Key Ideas: 

Hebrews 11 is basically a record of what happened as a result of faith to the people in the Old Testament.  Through faith, many miraculous things happened (eg: The Flood, Noah’s Ark, the Exodus, Issac’s birth, etc.). 

However...

- Faith is not only a mental thing, it is also a physical thing that requires actually doing action rather than just believing

- Faith also requires a lot of trust in God, some things that God told his chosen people were quite ridiculous and out of the world.  Build a gigantic 450 feet long ark?  Lead an entire enslaved nation out of a country? Become King at the age of 12-16?  

- Faith is more focused on heaven rather than earth.  Though most of the people didn’t get to live and see the result of their actions (eg: Abraham and his descendants, Moses and the Promised Land, etc.)  

Biblical Statements:

I wouldn’t call this a confession since I don’t think f I’ve done anything wrong but I guess I do have something to tell.  I’m not really religious, at all.  Which is ironic, being raised in a Christian family, and a Christian school.  I always felt like it was a routine, reading the bible every night, memorizing verses, doing assignments.  I don’t know when I first realized I was treating my religion like a grade but when I did I kind of panicked, I didn’t want to believe in something to please or for academics.  It didn’t feel right.  I haven’t denied religion completely, so I wouldn’t call myself an atheist.  I guess for now I’m agnostic, which is I believe in a higher power but doesn’t necessarily have to be God.

I almost forgot to do this assignment and I asked my good friend if she had any bible passages.  She said she liked Hebrews 11 (jokingly) because it talked about her (her name’s Faith).  So I checked it out and here I am.  

I think the Bible is trying to tell me that it is important to have faith in this current day and age.  I feel like it’s telling me to see how the people in the Old Testament struggled but still believed and in the end it was very worth it.   I feel like it’s telling me to do the same and hold out and open my eyes to him.

I feel kind of encouraged since I always read about how people would see God in scripture and it’s weird because it’s kind of actually happening?? Maybe? I’m not sure? 

Questions:

I want to know how to strengthen my faith and build up a strong relationship with God that will last for time

[free-from-sin]

Simplicity

I chose simplicity to do for my mission.  According to the dictionary, simplicity means freedom from complexity, intricacy, or division into parts and the state of being simple.  I also have a bad habit of always making things very complicated especially when I’m nervous (exams week!!!!) So I decided to just cut out all the complicated “add ons” to my life and set out on very simple things like:

- Eating correctly

- Staying hydrated

- Sleeping early, 7 hours +

- Not using my phone/social networking/aside from music

After a week, I began to really feel the effects of this mission.  I’m a lot more awake and alert in class, also I’m improving in my P.E..  Without my phone, I’m a lot less distracted since no social networking and I’m able to get all my homework done without rushing it during lunch.  

Though there wasn’t really a religious aspect for me in this thing, I feel like this is a good thing to do and I should keep doing it since God wants us to be healthy and take care of ourselves!