The sacrament of marriage Essay Example

The sacrament of marriage Essay The Roman Catholic Church has a very specific interpretation of marriage and how it should be accepted. Marriage is one of the sacraments. It is one of the ceremonies that the Roman Catholic Church expects a devoted catholic to go through. It is believed to bring you one step closer to God. Marriage is also a covenant, a promise to one another. It is an eternal agreement between two people to allocate themselves to each other.The Catholic Church believes that the relationship between two people should be like the creation story. Adam and Eve are model parents and set an example to all couples. God wants all Catholics to have a bond between each other shown in the creation story.Jesus had a different view to the Old Testament which was that two people become one once they unite. Jesus said No human being must separate what God has joined together, meaning that it is not our job to choose to separate. Jesus was completely against the idea of divorce.The Pope has a similar opinion to Je sus that a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another in an unbreakable alliance meaning that a marriage is unbreakable and that they are choosing to enter an alliance, a life long commitment.Hosea emphasised that marriage was a symbol of Gods covenantal love.He said show your love for a woman who is committing adultery with a lover. He is trying to say that we should be able to forgive if we have sinned against one another. The love between two people should help their marriage survive through a crisis.The Catholic Church believes it is unacceptable for two people to divorce as this is emphasised in the New Testament although it does conflict with Moses teachings who said that divorce was acceptable. Although a marriage can be annulled if it is proven that it was never real or happened for the wrong reasons.One of the main views of the Catholic Church is that marriage is there for two people to become one. There is a special union that a couple shares in a marriage, sexual in tercourse is a sign of this union where two become one. If both partners choose to separate they are still joined after becoming one and God lets no one divide. In a marriage sex is seen as a proper expression of the love of a man and a woman only within marriage. They are able to have children with the encouragement of the church. The churches teachings explain that the sex and the possibility of having a child should not be separated. The church teaches that marriage is the only appropriate relationship, within which sexual intercourse should take place.In a marriage ceremony, two people make a commitment which is done by the marital vows. These vows include what their duties are and what they are expected to do as husband/wife. For richer for poorer is one of the vows meaning that they must stand by each other if they are experiencing any financial difficulties. In sickness and in health meaning that if one partner unfortunately is sick, the other must support them and continue t heir marriage. There are many other vows which explain their responsibilities.The Catechism is a book on moral issues which explains the Catholic Churches views on society. One of the categories that are highlighted in the catechism is that adultery, divorce, polygamy and free union are all offences against the dignity of marriage. Masturbation pornography and homosexual practices are also considered to be sins. The Catholic Church is strongly against any one that does not follow the creation, the uniting of a man and woman.Polygamy is another category that the church does not approve of where some one is married to more than one person. This is explained in 1 kings11: 3 that Solomon had married 700 princesses and also had 300 concubines. Solomon had disobeyed Gods laws and was lead astray by these women.The Catholic Church basically believes that when two people are married they have made a promise and are united. They are able to have sexual intercourse and then be able to have a child. People are expected to keep their vows and accept the moral issues mentioned in the catechism.AO2: Explain how in the course of their marriage the couple would apply these beliefs and highlight specific instances where Christian belief makes a real difference to a healthy marriage, you may include a variety of Christian responses to the beliefs andProblems that arise in marriage (598 words)Many marriages are successful and do not experience any serious problems whereas there are many marriages which do experience serious problems. These problems can be related to their vows or other social problems. Many things can be done to help save a marriage during a crisis with help from the church or groups.When a marriage is going through problems they can often reflect on the vows by keeping them. These marital vows can help resolve problems. For richer for poorer is one of the vows that we are expected to follow. Marriages can run through financial difficulties which can lead to pr oblems. One partner may feel they are unable to live with the other if they are not being supported financially. Marriages running through these difficulties are expected to love each other even if they are experiencing financial problems.Another vow that is expected to help resolve problems is in sickness and in health. This vow means that if either partner is having health problems, the other should support them. Many marriages can break down as one partner may feel they are unable to love and care for them. Using this vow they should be able to continue loving each other and enable them to resolve the problem by making time to care for the person. Two people in a marriage are expected to be together till death do us apart. People can reflect on this vow and help them want to continue the marriage and love each other until either partner dies.A marriage can experience many problems and pressures in society. Marriages can break down for many reasons. Some times there could abuse in the marriage leading the victim to feel the only way out it is to separate. A large percentage of marriages fall out due to one partner committing adultery and the other may feel they cannot forgive. In these situations divorce can be inevitable. A couple may have an annulment if they prove that the marriage was either rushed or one was forced or it happened for the wrong reasons. Once a marriage has been annulled it has the advantage of completely being eradicated from the churches records and are able to re-marry in a catholic church.When a couple is experiencing problems they can get help from the church where there are certain groups organised for marriage problems. They can all receive help from counselling groups such as Marriage and Relate.A couple may feel that they must stay together no matter what due to certain reasons. If children are involved the couple may feel that they have to stay together for them and to prevent the family from breaking up. A couple may stay toget her for religious reasons. They may be religious and determined to keep the marriage together to obey the Roman Catholic views. After having marital problems it could make a relationship much stronger between two people.In an R.E video, R.E collection, I learnt about couples who have truly kept the vow in sickness and in health. Anita and Glenn were together for five months and then married for 6 months. Unfortunately Glenn suffered in an accident and became disabled. Anita was enable to care for him and had to look after her child. She did not divorce Glenn and visits him very often feeling that her marriage is still very alive and true even though she is no longer able to have a sexual relationship with him. This is an example of a true Christian who continues to love her husband in sickness and in health.AO3: Life long marriage is too much for Christians to live up today. The church should be willing to drop this vow. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer showing that you ha ve thought about more then one point of view. (462 words)I disagree with this statement and that this vow should not be dropped. I think people need someone they can rely on and be able to share the rest of their life with as this is essential in a fast changing world. They can have a future together that they can look forward to. When getting married a couple speak out their vows. The vow death do us part should not be broken as the Roman Catholic Church says. Jesus wanted marriage to be permanent just like his love for the church, which is permanent. He made it clear that he did not like the idea of divorce. A couple should not be parted until one has died.Getting married is necessary to show the couple is ready to make a commitment to each other. A couple needs this security, this commitment to show the eternal unity between two people. Marriage can enable a couple to have stability therefore a couple are able to provide a loving home for children. It gives the couple and childre n security. If the couple have a strong lasting relationship it can prevent adultery. A couples relationship can grow and their love deepens.Jesus made it clear that when two people are joined it is not up to us to decide to separate. Having a divorce is a direct violation to the vows and Jesus teachings. He wanted us to work through what ever problems or difficulties we have in relationships which could help make a couple stronger.How ever in many situations it could help if this vow were to be dropped. Couples might be having serious problems such as physical abuse. If there is abuse in the relationship it may be extremely difficult to get through and divorce could be inevitable. Some relationships could be experiencing insoluble money problems. They could be in debt and the relationship is just not progressing. There could be serious sexual problems in the relationship. One partner may desperately want a child whereas the other may not or one partner may be unable to have childre n. Either way it could cause serious problems leading to divorce.Sometimes relationships have no trust where one partner maybe committing adultery or one partner may not be able to trust the other leaving a very weak relationship as trust is essential in a marriage.Many people feel the love between two people dies out after a while making it impossible for them to be able to make an honest commitment. As people seem to be living longer we are expected to love our partner for a long time the rest of our lives, which can be difficult, and divorce maybe necessary. If children are involved, divorce can have a big impact on their lives.

The Execution of Stoddart and Conolly in Bukhara

The Execution of Stoddart and Conolly in Bukhara Two gaunt, ragged men kneeled beside the graves they had just dug in the square before Bukharas Ark Fortress. Their hands were bound behind their backs, and their hair and beards crawled with lice. In front of a small crowd, the Emir of Bukhara, Nasrullah Khan, gave the signal. A sword flashed in the sun, severing the head of Colonel Charles Stoddart of the British East India Company (BEI). The sword fell a second time, decapitating Stoddarts would-be rescuer, Captain Arthur Conolly of the BEIs Sixth Bengal Light Cavalry. With these two strokes, Nasrullah Khan ended Stoddart and Conollys roles in The Great Game, a term that Conolly himself coined to describe the competition between Britain and Russia for influence in Central Asia. But the Emir could not have known that his actions in 1842 would help shape the fate of his entire region well into the twentieth century. Charles Stoddart and the Emir Colonel Charles Stoddart arrived in Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan) on December 17, 1838, sent to try to arrange an alliance between Nasrullah Khan and the British East India Company against the Russian Empire, which was expanding its influence south. Russia had its eye on the khanates of Khiva, Bukhara, and Khokand, all important cities along the ancient Silk Road. From there, Russia could threaten Britains hold on its crown jewel - British India. Unfortunately for the BEI and especially for Colonel Stoddart, he offended Nasrullah Khan constantly from the moment he arrived. In Bukhara, it was customary for visiting dignitaries to dismount, lead their horses into the square or leave them with servants outside, and bow before the Emir. Stoddart instead followed British military protocol, which called for him to remain seated on his horse and salute the Emir from the saddle. Nasrullah Khan reportedly stared pointedly at Stoddart for some time after this salute  and then stalked off without a word. The Bug Pit Ever the supremely self-confident representative of imperial Britain, Colonel Stoddart continued to commit gaffe after gaffe during his audiences with the Emir. Finally, Nasrullah Khan could bear the affronts to his dignity no more and had Stoddart thrown into the Bug Pit - a vermin-infested dungeon under the Ark Fortress. Months and months went by, and despite the desperate notes that Stoddarts accomplices smuggled out of the pit for him, notes that made their way to Stoddarts colleagues in India as well as his family in England, no sign of a rescue appeared. Finally, one day the citys official executioner climbed down into the pit with orders to behead Stoddart on the spot unless he converted to Islam. In desperation, Stoddart agreed. Pleasantly surprised by this concession, the Emir had Stoddart brought out of the pit and placed into a much more comfortable house arrest in the chief of polices home. During this period, Stoddart met with the Emir on several occasions, and Nasrullah Khan began to consider allying himself with the British against the Russians. Arthur Conolly to the Rescue Busy propping up an unpopular puppet ruler in Afghanistan, the British East India Company had neither the troops nor the will to launch a military force into Bukhara and rescue Colonel Stoddart. The Home Government in London also had no attention to spare a lone imprisoned emissary, since it was embroiled in the First Opium War against Qing China. The rescue mission, which arrived in November of 1841, ended up being just one man - Captain Arthur Conolly of the cavalry. Conolly was an evangelical Protestant from Dublin, whose stated goals were to unite Central Asia under British rule, Christianize the region, and abolish the slave trade. A year earlier, he had set out for Khiva on a mission to convince the Khan to stop trading slaves; trade in Russian captives gave St. Petersburg a potential excuse for conquering the khanate, which would disadvantage the British. The Khan received Conolly politely but was not interested in his message. Conolly moved on to Khokand, with the same result. While there, he received a letter from Stoddart, who was just under house arrest at that particular time, stating that the Emir of Bukhara was interested in Conollys message. Neither Briton knew that Nasrullah Khan was really using Stoddart to lay a trap for Conolly. Despite a warning from the Khan of Khokand about his treacherous neighbor, Conolly set out to try to free Stoddart. Incarceration The Emir of Bukhara initially treated Conolly well, although the BEI captain was shocked at the emaciated and haggard appearance of his fellow countryman, Colonel Stoddart. When Nasrullah Khan realized, however, that Conolly did not bring a reply from Queen Victoria to his own earlier letter, he grew enraged. The Britons situation grew even more dire after January 5, 1842, when Afghan militants massacred the BEIs Kabul garrison during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Just one British doctor escaped death or capture, returning to India to tell the story. Nasrullah immediately lost all interest in aligning Bukhara with the British. He tossed Stoddart and Conolly into prison - a regular cell this time, though, rather than the pit. Execution of Stoddart and Conolly On June 17, 1842, Nasrullah Khan ordered Stoddart and Conolly brought to the square in front of the Ark Fortress. The crowd stood quietly while the two men dug their own graves. Then their hands were tied behind them, and the executioner forced them to kneel. Colonel Stoddart called out that the Emir was a tyrant. The executioner sliced off his head. The executioner offered Conolly the chance to convert to Islam in order to save his own life, but the evangelical Conolly refused. He too was beheaded. Stoddart was 36 years old; Conolly was 34. Aftermath When word of Stoddart and Conollys fate reached the British press, it rushed to lionize the men. The papers praised Stoddart for his sense of honor and duty, as well as his fiery temper (hardly a recommendation for diplomatic work), and emphasized Conollys deeply-held Christian faith. Outraged that the ruler of an obscure Central Asian city-state would dare execute these sons of the British Empire, the public called for a punitive mission against Bukhara, but the military and political authorities had no interest in such a move. The two officers deaths went unavenged. In the longer term, the British lack of interest in pushing their line of control into what is now Uzbekistan had a profound effect on the history of Central Asia. Over the next forty years, Russia subdued the entire area that is now Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Central Asia would remain under Russian control until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Sources Hopkirk, Peter. The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Lee, Jonathan. The Ancient Supremacy: Bukhara, Afghanistan, and the Battle for Balkh, 1731-1901, Leiden: BRILL, 1996. Van Gorder, Christian. Muslim-Christian Relations in Central Asia, New York: Taylor Francis US, 2008. Wolff, Joseph. Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara: In the Years 1843-1845, Volume I, London: J.W. Parker, 1845.

Study skills Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Study skills - Term Paper Example Mind, body and the environment plays an important role in the learning process. Apart from the facts stated above learning can be affected by the study skills like note taking, reading, comprehension, time management, preparing for and taking exams, learning styles etc. Recent brain based researches has shown that our ability to generate new brain cells accounts for the brains plasticity or its ability to continue to learn and update its database. Moreover, body and mind work together to help us pay attention, solve problems, and remember solutions (Weiss). A sound mind is important for the proper learning purpose. An agitated or restless mind cannot concentrate on studies and effective learning will never take place in such minds. For example consider a student coming from a restless family; he cannot concentrate on his studies even at schools since his bitter experiences at home will haunt him even at schools. Same way sound health or body is also important for learning. A sick person or a handicapped person may not be able to concentrate on his studies because of his bad health. Most of the times the body needs may dominate his study needs and he cannot concentrate on studies. Moreover our physical health and mental status are connected each oth er. Generally, a sound mind will rest on a sound body. Environment has an important role in memory retrieval as per the studies conducted by University of Toronto. The above study also concluded that animals absorb information about their environment and modulate their behavior accordingly (Bio-medicine) Heredity and environment are the two main parameters which affect learning. A positive environment is essential for effective learning. It is foolishness to think that effective learning may takes place even if the school is situated in a market place. Calm and quiet atmosphere and healthy atmosphere are essential for learning and that is why most of the schools and colleges are located in isolated regions away