Monday, January 27, 2020

How the economy was affected by the bubonic plague.

How the economy was affected by the bubonic plague. Medieval people called the catastrophe of the l4th century the Great Pestilence. The Black Death is the name later given to the epidemic of plague that took Europe by storm, between 1347andl35l (C. Warren Hollister). The Black Death is categorized into three specific types of plague: bubonic plague (infection in the lymph nodes, or buboes), pneumonic plague(the infection in the lungs),and septicemic plague(the infection in the blood and the most deadly of the three). Scientists and historians at the beginning of the 20th century assumed that the Black Death was an outbreak of the same diseases, caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas with the help of Animals like the black rat. Once infected by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, Death could be very quick for the weaker victims. It is estimated that victims would die within three to seven days(Knox). However, this view has recently been questioned by some scientists and historians, (Kelly)and some researchers believe that the illness was, in fact, a viral hemorrhagic fever based on epidemiological interpretation of historical records of the spread of disease. (Lavelle) The plague affected every part of life. Depopulation and shortage of labor rushed changes already built into the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid (Knox). Psychological illness affected the arts; in religion, the lack of educated personnel among the clergy gravely Reduced the churchs hold. [n less than four years the disease carved a path of death Through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain and Normandy, made its way over the Alps into Switzerland, and continued eastward into Hungary(C. Warren Hollister). After a small break, the plague continued crossing the channel into England, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually made its way into the northern countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and even as far north as Greenland. In other words, the plague touched almost the entire known world. (C. Warren Hollister) So much death could not help but tear economic and social structures apart. Figures for the death toll vary widely by area and from source to source as new research and discoveries come to light. It killed an estimated 75-2OO million people in the l4th century (Philipkoski). Lack of peasants and laborers sent wages soaring, and the value of land took a serious downfall. For the first time in history the odds were against wealthy landlords as peasants and serfs gained more bargaining power. Without architects, masons and artisans, great cathedrals and castles remained unfinished for hundreds of years. Governments, lacking officials, floundered in their attempts to create order out of chaos.(Knox) Those that were still alive lost all sense of morality and justice, and a new attitude toward the church surfaced. Many saw the plague as a form of punishment from God. Medieval people could find no Divine reason for the four-year nightmare, and dissatisfaction with the church was the driving force to reform movements that, in the end, broke apart the amalgamation of the Catholic Church.(Knox) The middle l4th century was not a good time for Europe. The European economy was already seeing hardships. It was inching towards the limits of expansion, both on its frontiers and in regaining land from forest and swamp (Knox).The entry of the Mongols and the Ottomans caused confusion in trade routes, and certain areas of Europe were on the verge of depression. The Church was also in poor shape. The popes resided at Avignon, not at Rome, to the scandal of many. Blasphemy could be found in England and Bohemia and southern France, and the Church seemed unable to control it. (Kelly) The Holy Land had been lost in the 1290s and efforts to recover it had been Dismal failures. The Black Death intensified the strains of war and a tightened economy. (Knox) There is a relationship here, of course. The effects of the plague were made worse because of these other problems. And the problems themselves were redoubled because of the plague. The Jewish population was another problem. In multiple villages, the common people placed the blame on the Jewish community. Hundreds of Jews were accused of poisoning wells and put to the question, medieval code for torture, and burned. When the Black Death raged through the German lands between 1348 and 1352, over 300 Jewish communities were either destroyed or expelled from their homelands. (class lecture) There was a substantial change in Europes demography because of the Black Death. Birth rates were also at an all time low. The net result was that by 1400, Europes population was half what it had been in 1345. Many medieval church, census, and tax records that have survived show some accuracy of this. Europes population took about six generations to recover.(Knox) The cities were really affected by the plague. Financial business was disrupted as those who borrow died, their creditors have no one to pay them back. There was simply no one to collect from. Construction projects stopped for a time or were abandoned altogether. Guilds lost their craftsmen and could not replace them. There was no industry unaffected by the plague.(Knox) The most immediate effect of the plague here was the severe shortage in labor, consequently, wages rose. Because of the mortality, there was an oversupply of goods, and so prices dropped. As a result the standard of living rose for those still living. With the post-Plague labor shortage, many nobles tried to reverse the process in order to keep their land under cultivation and their income up. Free tenants were taking advantage of the labor shortage to demand better terms from their landlords and that the nobles were reluctant to see their incomes but the labor reduced. Governments tried to fix wages, shortage was irresistible. (The plague video) The Plague caused many peasants to demand a restructuring of society, often religious based. Democracy was in high demand and with it a limit of aristocratic rights and privileges. When ideas of democracy were dismissed, many commoners rose in rebellion. All of the rebellions were unsuccessful A land rent system, with the freedom of the peasants was organized. This system still exists in many parts of Europe, although the desire of peasants to own their land eventually led to migration to places like Russia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas centuries later. Never was there enough land, and dividing it among the sons soon led to economic situations that were left unattended to.(Lavelle) Governments also had to adapt. Land was abandoned, rents were not paid, and tax Revenue declined. This had a drastic effect on the war, as the wages of mercenary soldiers increased while available tax revenue decreased by more than 50 percent. There was fewer trained soldiers available and those that were still around wanted a lot more money or simply had better financial prospects doing something else.(C. Warren Hollister) As a result of the Plague, the French converted to a system of paid, professional, army, whereas the English had been there and done that for quite sometime. Smaller armies were a result of lower taxes. The world after the plague was one of with more opportunity for the creative and capable individuals. While the Black Death killed off medieval society, it gave birth to the beginnings of our own industrialized consumer society.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

It is not possible to be a disciple of Jesus in the modern world Essay

â€Å"It is not possible to be a disciple of Jesus in the modern world† I disagree with this statement, although I recognise that it is not always easy to be a disciple I believe it is possible for those who have faith. We are first called to discipleship at Baptism where the father of the child lights a candle from the Pascal candle as a sign of his responsibility to enable his son/daughter to grow in full faith. I believe that faith makes everything possible, if we have faith in God and his teaching we can achieve our hopes and dreams. If we have faith then living, as a true disciple is part of our way of life, we as Christians in today’s world should try to live our lives as Jesus lived his. Without faith what meaning would life itself have for us, what would be the use in perusing life if it had no meaning to us. If we believe then we can reach goals and discipleship can bring joy and purpose to our lives we can achieve goals and targets we set for ourselves. â€Å"Nothing is impossible to he who believes† Faith in God is not always easy to maintain; if we pick up a newspaper what headings do we usually see? Usually something related to drugs, alcohol, kidnapping, and murder. What example is this setting to children? While there parents are teaching them about how caring we should be, and how we should love our neighbour as ourselves, these children look at the newspapers or even the news and see people who have lost arms or legs as someone has shot them. What kind of example is this of loving your neighbour? What affect is this going to have on these children in the long term? They will grow up with the opinion that this is acceptable and everybody does it why should they be different to the rest? To be a true disciple we must have immense faith in God, if we have faith nothing is impossible. But there are many difficulties which disciples of Jesus have to face when trying to carry out the work of God, one of the most difficult to deal with is peer pressure. Many people, particularly the young people, feel unable to resist the pressures put upon them by their peers and therefore behave in a way which goes against the teaching of the gospel. There are many pressures maybe to smoke, drink, vandalise others property, tell lies, use foul language, and have a sexual relationship before marriage. If enough pressure is put on these people it is very difficult to say no! And therefore they are going against the teaching of Jesus not because they want to it is because they are not strong enough to resist temptation, and they are afraid others will treat them differently. Other pressures come from the media we usually get a picture from the media of very anti-Christian values and standards. Take magazines for example they tell stories of unmarried people having a sexual relationship or young people smoking and drinking, and this is all classed as â€Å"Normal† and acceptable in our world. They do not present the Christian way of life as being worthwhile and â€Å"Cool† or up to date. We also get a lot of anti-Christian standards from the television, films, and videos. These can have a very powerful influence on the lives of many people; most soap operas and films present a non-Christian way of life. How often do you see a Christian family in a soap opera, and if there is Christian families do you ever notice that they always seem to be laughed at by the rest of the families as they are seen to be out of date and definetly not trendy. Television I believe influences many people, who is going to get up early on a Sunday morning to watch the Christian services carried out in different chapels, while they could be watching Eastenders or a popular music show! There are many ways television influences us they give us pictures of what is normal in our society such as sex before marriage, abortions are acceptable, divorce is a fact of life, the only purpose in life is to search for pleasure, and violence is acceptable and part of everyday life. Media can make Christians feel confused and unsure of their own beliefs The way of life presented by the media is often made to seem more attractive, more enjoyable, easier, and more glamorous. However we as Christians should always remember that Jesus never promised that being a disciple would be easy, in fact we must deny ourselves take up our cross and follow him. We should make up our minds whether we want to be a disciple; many people are unable or incapable to make such decisions in life because of addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and solvent abuse. Becoming addicted to any of these can make people lose all sense of reality of right and wrong, of what being a Christian really means. If a person is not in total control of their life then being a Christian is almost an impossible task. The family is an extremely important unit and source of Christian discipleship in our society, it is within the family that children first learn about the love of God, right and wrong and acceptable and unacceptable modes of behaviour. Parents are the first teachers of their children and the church relies on these parents to pass on the faith to their children by what they say and through their actions. There are many broken families in today’s society and many children do not receive the Christian teaching and example, which they need, such as love and understanding and therefore grow up not using the example in their life. So to be a good disciple is extremely difficult but not impossible. In today’s world there are many distractions and other Gods, which can lure us away from love of the one true God. Things such as money, possessions, wealth, search for pleasure, and success, laziness, indifference, friends, and Greed. These things all tempt us in many different ways, it is as if they are trying to make us forget our first priority which is God. The easier route in life is often to give into these temptations, to become distracted by worldly and materialistic values and to become neglectful to our Christian duties. If we consider all the pressures people today face we see that it is not always an easy task to follow Jesus through thick and thin, but it is not an impossible one. When Jesus chose his first disciples he knew that it would not be easy for them, nor is it easy for us in the twentieth century. The world as we know it is becoming less and less accommodating to the Christian way of life and it is not going to get any easier, this is why we should never give up and our faith should see us through even the worse times in life. We should not become what society wants to become and is encouraging us to become we should not be lured away from God so we can fit in and act like people want us to. This is the challenge of Christian discipleship.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Life Princibles

Chris Murray box 75 Dr. Gilbert Parker BIBL 3111 25 November 2012 Life Principles to live by from the book of Romans In the book of Romans Paul gives us some really helpful tips on how we should live our Christian life. Our relationship with Him and how we treat others. Here are some of the life principles that I would like to follow in my life. The first one and perhaps the most important is I want to live a life that is in obedience to the Lord. I want to have the power and privilege that obedience to the Lord offers.Paul wrote in Romans 8:7-9 â€Å"for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You however are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. † In our culture we are very big in having control over everything. I want to be in control of my li fe, the master of my fate, and the captain of my ship. But the true power comes when I can hand over that power to God.In order for me to be truly obedient I need to first be able to submit my will to God’s will, having the ability to admit when I do not know what is best for myself. Once I have admitted that I do not know what is best for me I then need to trust God because he does know what is best. Through that trust in Him I then should be obedient to what he tells me to do. If I am obedient to God then my mind will not be on the things of the flesh and I can have the â€Å"spirit of Christ† and belong to him. Another principle that I find important is not to pass judgment on someone else, especially when concerning the grey areas of life.Romans 14:4 â€Å"who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord will be able to make him stand. † I need to be careful not t o condemn my brothers and sisters in Christ when they do things that I might think is wrong, especially if it is a grey area. One example of this is that I have many Christian friends who drink alcohol, I personally do not believe as a Christian we should drink. I really have to try harder to not judge them and just understand that God is in control.The next principle goes along with the last one. This one states that I cannot cause my brother and sister in the Lord to stumble. Romans 14:13 States â€Å"Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. † Some things that I consider ok in these grey areas might not be ok to some of my friends. I need to be more aware of their spiritual state so I don’t temp them to sin. Then in vs15 Paul wrote â€Å"for if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Chri st died. † If I am doing something that is causing my brother to be grieved I need to stop for his sake. An example of this is that I find no problem listening to some secular music, but I have a friend that will only listen to praise and worship music. His belief is that listening to secular music takes you away from the Lord. I need to honor that when I am around him and only listen to praise and worship music. My next life principle is Loyalty. Romans 12:10 states â€Å"Love one another with brotherly affection.Outdo one another in showing honor. † Loyalty is a word that we do not here in our fast paced, self-centered, impatient world. Loyalty is about giving time and energy to another person over the long haul. It’s about being committed to someone even when those tuff times come. I need to be loyal to God, my wife, and my children. I made a commitment to follow God and I need to honor that fully. I also made a commitment to my wife to love her through good t imes and bad times, and to be loyal only to her. I do not take my loyalty vow that I made to my wife on our wedding day lightly.But I also realize that if I am not loyal to God there is no way that I would be able to be loyal to my wife. Generosity is also such an important life principle found in Romans. In Romans 12:13 Paul writes â€Å"contribute to the needs of the saints† This means that I need to give abundantly. There are a lot of needs in the body of Christ; some of them are money, time, energy, compassion, wisdom, friendship, and prayer. I need to be more willing to share more than just money with the saints, for me that is the easy thing to do. To share my time or friendship would mean that I would have to make myself vulnerable.At the end of Romans 12:13 Paul wrote â€Å"practice hospitality. This is a principle that I fall really short on. Having a wife and five children I get so busy in life that I do not visit people like I should, like people from my church in the hospital. I don’t open my home like I should. There were times that we had teens coming to our church for a conference, I have a big house and I could have put some of them up, but I didn’t. Having friends over is like squeezing them in it probably makes them feel unwanted. We can’t live by ourselves, we need one other.Hospitality provides a welcome space for our busy lives to relax in one another’s company. Empathy is another life principle that I would like to be better at. Romans 12:15 states â€Å"Rejoice with those that rejoice, weep with those that weep. † We live in a very self-centered world and I am consumed by my own problems, or totally involved with my own happiness. Whether good or bad my thoughts are on me. As a Christian I need to be different, my thoughts need to be focused on other people. Just as Jesus focused his thoughts on me, he empathized with me, so I need to empathize with others.I have to do a better job at putting my self in other people’s shoes. Ask myself if I was in that situation how that would make me feel. My next life principle comes from Romans 13:1-5 â€Å"let every person be subjected to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been institutes by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good, but too bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bare the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. † When Paul uses the word power he is referring to earthly governments. I am to submit to every legitimate earthly authority without bitterness. I should be able to do this because we know that God is working all things together for our good if we trust him.This sounds so easy written on this page, but for me this is a real struggle. I find it hard to want to listen to people who have no clue who God really is and how He would want things done. I need lots of help with this principle. In Romans 12:14 Paul writes â€Å"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. † This might be the hardest principle of them all. What God is telling me through Paul is that no matter how bad someone might hurt me I need to continue to bless them. As much as my flesh rises up in me I should not be provoked to anger, or cursing.When Paul used the word cursing I believe that he was denoting destruction, so when someone says something to hurt my feelings I have two choices, choice one I can curse them, wish destruction on them. Or the better response that I hop e to master one day is I could bless them, pray that God would bless them. The last principle is found in Romans 12:1-2. Paul wrote â€Å"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, and perfect. † I would read this verse every day when I was first saved, this was my prayer that God would transform my drug addicted life, my pornography addicted life, and that my new life in Him would be acceptable. There are a few lessons that I have learned from these two verses. The first one is that presenting my body as a living sacrifice has to be voluntary; if it is not voluntary that is not a true offering.Second I need to offer my entire being to God not just me eyes, or ears, but everything that I a m must be offered to God. Third his mercy towards me should be the motivating factor that makes me want to devote me life to Him. And last it needs to be done now! I cannot delay on this issue. This is something that I need to do every morning. The book of Romans is such a powerful book full of directions on how to life a Christian life. My life principles that I wrote about are so important in my walk with God. I pray that one day I would be able to follow these more than I do today.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Why The Price Of Filling Up Has Been Going Down - 1252 Words

Introduction: This article â€Å"Why the Price of Filling Up Has Been Going Down† written by Alan Neuhauser stated that back in 2012. The article analyse fighters with the Islamic State group have seized oil fields, huge swathes of territory and major cities in Iraq and Syria, threatening oil supplies. On normal situation, this is going to threaten markets as it is threaten the supply of oil. Despite of the global unrest the prices at the pump in US are currently at their lowest levels in the year of 2012. According to the article there are several reason which make the price of oil fall, but the main reason which is causing this is the less use of oil crude after the Labor Day. After the end of the so-called summer driving season, demand†¦show more content†¦One of the biggest reason the price of Oil didn’t change because after the end of the so-called summer driving season, which make the demand to drop and prices typically drop after Labor Day, because it is also mark the end of summer driving season. It will be easier if the demand and supply curve are used, to get further understanding. The position of the demand and supply curve will shift to the left or right following a change in an underlying determinant of the market. The number of oil people consume during this period decreased because after the change of the season, there will be less number of people willing to drive in winter. Complementary good, is a good s demand is increased when the price of another good is decreased. Conversely, the demand for a good is decreased when the price of another good is increased. As transportation and Oil are complementary goods the demand of oil will also fall, which lead to the fall in price. It mean that the demand shifted to the left. Refer to Figure 1. Simultaneous Decreases in Demand and Supply (Rittenberg, L, Tregarthen, T, 2012, figure 3.11) The figure show the event where the amount of demand and supply deceased simultaneously. When the both demand and supply move simultaneously like that the price of equilibrium can be higher, lower or stay the same. In this article the best way to describe the situation is panel ‘A’ where is both supply and demand curve are shifted to the left where it show theShow MoreRelatedTo Meat Or Not To Meat?. If You Picture The Stereotypical1408 Words   |  6 Pages(Hill). While there is a notable increase in the amount of meat consumed, it should also be noted that there has been a gradual shift in the diets of people throughout the world. 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