Destiny Phillips Coats

As young believers in a Christian environment, we often forgot the rest of the world does not think the same as we do. 32 percent of the world is composed of Christians across the globe. 63 percent of Americans claim to be affiliated with a church. That is 247 million people out of roughly 321 million people. With those huge numbers and big percentages, why does it seem like around the world, but specifically America, Christianity is being vehemently opposed? This is because there are strong competing worldviews in direct opposition to Christianity. One’s worldview affects the way he sees himself and those like him, those different from him, and the world itself. Two opposing worldviews to Christianity today are Islam and Marxism. As young Christians, it is extremely important to understand these main worldviews before we enter the adult world so we can be knowledgeable when spreading God’s word and understanding the times.

In examining both of these worldviews, one must know the key terms that build the worldview itself up. When an American hears “Islam,” words like religion, Allah, terrorist, and Muhammad are things that come to his mind. Things like this come to their minds because when America as a nation has interacted with Islam, it is typically associated with these words also. Personal encounters with Islam will cause individuals to have more, less, or different words be associated with Islam also. What is Islam in and of itself? Islam is defined as a theistic worldview centered on the life of the prophet Muhammad that derives its understanding of the world thought the teachings of the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah. Key words to understanding this definition are theistic, Muhammad, Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah. Theistic is an adjective for something that believes in the existence of god. In the Muslim religion, there is one “true” god. Islam originated from revelation given to Muhammad from the angel Gabriel. Gabriel is an angel from the Christian faith. Muslims, Islam’s followers, believe themselves to worship the same god as the Jews. “God” in Arabic is “Allah.” The Quran is the holy book of Islam. It is full of dictations from Muhammad, which Muslims believe is the direct word of Allah. The “Hadith” is the oral history of Muhammad’s teachings, rulings, and the actions of himself and his early companions. The Sunnah is the specific part of the Hadith describing Muhammad’s exemplary actions. This definition of Islam as a worldview explains where the ideas that shape the worldview come from. Muslims view themselves, others, and the world per the teachings found in their main doctrine, the Quran.

Unlike Marxism, Post Modernism, and Secularism, Islam is not only a worldview but also a religion. Because of the religious practices and teachings of Islam, a perception of life itself is also developed. The three perceptions worldviews deal with are oneself and those like him, others, and the world. “Islam” translated to English is “submission to the will of god.” Based upon the Quran, the world itself is divinely created by the one true Allah. They see the world in complete “submission” to Allah. Because everything is in submission to Allah, everyone is a Muslim at birth. Muslims see themselves as inherently Muslim. They are in submission to Allah. If Islam claims everyone is Muslim, how does it explain the lack of the whole world worshipping Allah as one Islamic body of believers? Those who do not believe in Islam are seen to be in rebellion against Allah. Based on the Islamic worldview, the world is divinely created and in submission to Allah; people themselves are born inherently Muslim; those who deny Islam are in rebellion against Allah. If an entire group of people see everyone unlike them, in rebellion to their deity, what is the action to be taken? In the Quran and exemplified in the Hadith, Muslims are to wage jihad or “holy war” against those in rebellion against Islam.

According to Islam, jihad has two meanings. Translated to “struggle” in English, jihad is both the inner spiritual battle of every Muslim to fulfill his/her religious duties and the outer, physical struggle against the enemies of Islam. Just like any other religion, practices and rituals come with being a part of Islam. These include following Shariah Law and participating in the Five Pillars of Islam. This is the inner jihad. The outer jihad is to physically fight against those who do not believe in or submit to Allah. Do all Muslims believe they are called to fight against those who do not agree with their worldview? No. The population of Muslims who actually wage war on “infidels” or nonbelievers is very little, but those who do are simply following the teachings of their worldview. Both forms of jihad are justified in the Quran. Examples are in Surrahs 3-5.

And their Lord hath heard them (and He saith): Lo! I suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost. Ye proceed one from another. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil deeds from them and verily I shall bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow — A reward from Allah. And with Allah is the fairest of rewards (Surrah 3:195).

This passage is one of many that claims those who fight and perish for the name of Allah will be pardoned from all sin and greatly rewarded by Allah. A lot of Americans think because a very small percentage of Muslims are openly radical, the faith of Islam itself is not a threat, just those specific jihadists (those who practice the outer holy war against infidels). However, what is the danger of a worldview that believes everyone is in direct rebellion against god and is to be warred against? The one word answer is terrorism. Does every Muslim seek to destroy the lives of infidels? No. But Muslims look at the life of Muhammad and his followers like Christians do the first century church. They desire to emulate them. Muhammad and his followers spread Islam by military conquest. They used violent force to convert people to their faith, thus creating a culture of people who believe in Islam as a worldview. They used fear to create Islamic societies. Like the Christian religion, Islam shapes the way you think. The way one thinks will have a huge bearing on his actions. Because of the early Caliphs and how they interpreted their religion, they acted violently toward nonbelievers, creating one of the strongest empires the world has ever seen. What is to stop Muslims today from rising and waging war on all the world for the sake of Allah? People around the world cannot afford to think groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and political powers in Iraq are simply all about power. What they are doing is tied to their faith, their worldview. If the rest of the world is not careful, we will find ourselves fighting a battle we welcomed into our own backyard.

Often people think Communism died with Stalin. That is not true. The average person also is not completely aware of what Communism means or where it comes from. Communism is a societal structure that flourishes under the worldview developed by Karl Marx, Marxism. Marxism is an atheistic and materialistic worldview based on the ideas of Karl Marx that promotes the abolition of private property, public ownership of the means of production (i.e., socialism), and the utopian dream of a future communistic state. Key terms to understanding Marxism as a worldview are communism, socialism, class struggle, atheistic, and materialistic. Communism is the Marxist ideal of a classless and stateless utopian society in which all property is commonly owned and each person is paid according to his or her abilities and needs. Socialism is an economic system based upon governmental or communal ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods and services. Class struggle is the economic and social differences between the upper and lower classes. Atheistic is a descriptor meaning a thing does not believe in the existence and or relevance of God. Materialistic is a descriptor meaning a thing believes nothing exists except the material world we can see and observe.

Like Christianity and Islam, Marxism as a worldview tells a
“metanarrative” — a single, overarching interpretation (or grand story) of reality. Christianity and Islam start with divine creation. Because Marxism is atheistic, it cannot entertain divine creation. The only thing left to believe is evolution. Marxism’s “holy book” is The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx himself. Marx starts his metanarrative with the world history of class struggles. In this first portion of the manifesto, Marx explains the historical misfortunes of the world as a struggle between the rich and the poor or the “bourgeoisie” and the “proletariat.” He gives example of master and slave, lord and serf, and upper and lower class. What is the cause for class distinctions? Money! Money is the deciding factor between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. So to Marx, the problem and solution for mankind is economics.

Before Marx’s time, democracies, republics, feudal systems, monarchies, and dictatorships had been tried. None seemed to work because of the corruption of the bourgeoisie from their money. Marx concluded in a society where everyone works, one is paid according to that work and what he needs to live, with nothing more and nothing less; everyone can be happy and equal. This is communism. Communism is a societal structure in which there is no such thing as “mine” but instead “ours.” Everything within society belongs to the people. No matter how much more work one does over another, he walks away with only what he needs. Everything is owned by everyone. The strong make up for the weak and everyone gets their fair share. This seems all good and fine until one stops and thinks. How many people are going to be willing to release all their revenue to benefit those who did not work for it? Not very many. Marx knew this. He knew communist perfection or “utopia” (an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect) could not be obtained without violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat, the oppressor by the oppressed.

The societal enemy of Marxism is the rich or bourgeoisie. The economic enemy of Marxism is capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which capital assets are privately owned, and the prices, production, and distribution of goods and services are determined by competition within a free market. Two words that obviously make capitalism an enemy of Marxism are “privately” and “competition.” Marxism is all about the abolition of private anything and everything. Competition implies there will be someone on top and someone on the bottom. Marxism desires for all people to be on an equal playing field at all times. If communism calls for the equal distribution of wealth always in perfect harmony, how does one get there from capitalism? The answer is socialism. According to Marx, socialism is the path to communism and will inevitably always end up at the communist utopia. Socialism is a word more of us are familiar with. Recent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is a proclaimed socialist. Europe is governed by a social democracy. China and North Korea are governed by a cross between communism and dictatorships with an economic combination of socialism and capitalism as well. We can see from these few examples Marxism is not dead but very much alive and well in influential parts of the world. So as a worldview, how does Marxism view its followers, outsiders, and the world?

Marxism’s view of the world is evolutionary. Evolution is progressive — always moving forward and getting better. If the social end in Marxism is communism, they view the world and people as always progressing toward socialism and eventually to communism. Marxists believe the world will inevitably arrive at utopia through a communist state. Marxist claims those who believe and drive society to this social end is the oppressed, the proletariat. Everyone against this inevitable social end is the rich, the bourgeoisie. The problem with Marxism is not its diagnosis for the world but rather its prescription and treatment. Because Marxism is atheistic, good and evil, moral and immoral do not have a universally understood standard. Instead, good or moral is anything and everything geared toward the advancement of the proletariat and the eradication of the bourgeoisie. Bad is everything in opposition to the proletariat. This definition of good and bad justifies all behavior that progresses the proletariat agenda. This is what must concern the world. Today it might seem like people desiring marriage equality and cheap affordable all-inclusive health care is a simple policy fix. But if a generation of people viewing good as what supports the agenda they have, a violent overthrow like that of Germany during WWII will overtake hundreds of modern day societies.

Unlike Islam, it is not our job as Christians to wage war on nonbelievers. God tells us in Scripture not all of mankind will come to the knowledge of Him. We know there will be those who vehemently deny the faith. We know there will be people who try to manipulate the faith to suit their own ideologies. With that knowledge, what must we do? We are called to love all those who are made in the image of God and spread the Gospel with everyone regardless if they become believers or not. Both Islam and Marxism seek to wrongfully control mankind. Islam seeks to war against all in opposition to it. Marxism claims all actions, no matter how vile, are good if they progress to communism. Moreover, Marxists believe the only way to reach utopia is through violence. What an oxymoron: violence will bring about peace? That goes completely against the current natural order of violence and disorder creating more violence and more disorder. Islam and Marxism believe all who are opposed to them deserve death and punishment. Christianity proclaims those who do not believe are to be loved and witnessed to until the point of death. God does not call us to wage war against His opposers, but rather show them love, thus revealing His character. Scripture contains all the tools necessary to build a case for itself against any argument. God foresaw all the ideas His truth would face. Because God declared we “are the head and not the tail,” we can always come out on top in any argument or situation if we present the truth contained in the Scriptures. However, it is our duty to also understand what we are up against so we might be able to defend the hope within us properly and adequately.

Destiny Phillips Coats

In America today, we are all familiar with the term abortion. We hear about it on the news, in school, on television, at church, and in the public square. We hear the terms pro-life, pro-choice, and Roe v. Wade often as well, especially during last year’s election. Currently in my sociocultural class, we are discussing modern issues that should concern the modern Church (body of Christian believers). These issues include marriage equality, new forms of gender roles, right to privacy, infringement upon free speech, the ACA or “Obamacare,” college discrimination laws, and abortion. Although we are going over abortion’s effect on the country currently in class, I did some outside of class digging to uncover the history of abortion for myself to put my knowledge to the test. During this quest of discovery, I realized I knew very little about the subject.

Per Meriam Webster’s Dictionary, a “simple” definition of abortion is a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus. With that definition in mind, let us start at the beginning, the very beginning. Abortions have been practiced since ancient times. The first recorded abortion dates to 1550 bc in Egypt. The Ebers Papyrus, also known as Papyrus Ebers, is an Egyptian medical papyrus (a material prepared in ancient Egypt from the pithy stem of a water plant, used in sheets throughout the ancient Mediterranean world for writing or painting on, also for making rope, sandals, and boats) of herbal knowledge dating to c. 1550 BC. Abortions at its early points in history were performed through strange physical practices that were not very effective — jumping up and down, the drinking of strange herbal elixirs or potions, and the killing of the baby post-delivery. Overtime the science of abortion has evolved immensely. Since abortion is an old practice like homosexuality, murder, bestiality, etc., why is it within the last 41 years becoming legal in the United States of America?

Most of America 50 years ago would easily say the United States was founded on Christian/Godly principles found in Scripture. Why is this? The Founders were living in a Christian world. One of the big reasons America was founded was for religious freedom. Was this because the Founders wanted to practice witchcraft and such? No, the Puritans and Protestants wanted to live in a new land, free of religious persecution from England. Puritans and Protestants are Christians. They are not a part of the Church of Scientology, the Church of Satan, or Hinduism. They are indeed denominations of Christianity. If most of the world was Christian at this time in world history, that would then also mean many things would be considered horribly immoral. Abortion was included among these things. Psalm 127:3 (ESV) “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Now if most of the world believes children are a heritage or “gift” from God, how many do you think will rally behind those who desire to murder them in the womb? Not very many would. Furthermore, 1 Samuel 2:6a declares “The LORD kills and bring to life.” The Bible is full of Scriptures concerning all aspects of life in the womb and how it is divinely ordained by God. Abortion was doomed to be a forbidden practice in everyone’s eyes. With that said, how did we get to where we are today?

Because of sin — specifically Modernism — we now live in a Secular Western world. Secularism as a worldview is atheistic in nature believes mankind will only progress to something better, and relative/personal truth is what individuals are to be governed by. As American society has moved farther and farther away from Biblical standards of morality, it has become clearer and clearer the intentions of our government to make everything under the sun legal. However, our legal system is way more deceptive than just making something a law on no grounds. They instead have falsely laid abortion’s foundation in our new “living” Constitution. The premise upon which abortion lies in the Constitution is the “right to privacy.” This “right to privacy” was discovered by the Supreme Court in the 1920s in the 4^th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The 4^th Amendment reads

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Reading this personally I see nowhere a direct claim to a “right to privacy” outside of the inability of government to come into your property and unlawfully search it. The argument used for the “right to privacy” is privacy itself is the underlying meaning of all the Amendments. Protection of beliefs, the home, property, personal information, etc. listed in the Bill of Rights are now considered private matters protected by the Constitution. Because of this perception of the Amendments, the Supreme Court named privacy as a “right.” Rights are defined as legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement. Entitlement is defined as the belief one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. The word entitlement is very key in understanding why people now believe privacy is a “right.” Entitlement implies one is deserving of it (the entitlement itself). If a right is an entitlement, and privacy is a right, then everyone is required to have their own personal “right to privacy.” This “right to privacy” is fine when it falls in alignment with what the Bill of Rights has clearly laid out in its text, but in the 1920s the Supreme Court applied it to things not enumerated in the Bill of Rights. The first application of this new right was to a marriage and now has been applied to the practice of abortion.

The two cases leading up to the final decision made by the Supreme Court in 1973, legalizing abortion was Doe v. Bolton and Roe v. Wade. Doe v. Bolton was a case in which a married Georgia woman, Doe, claimed the reasoning behind her denial for an abortion under the current Georgia state laws in 1971 were “unconstitutional.” Doe claimed Georgia state law regarding abortions was in direct opposition specifically with the 14^th Amendment. The 14^th Amendment was adopted in 1868 as a response to the emancipation of African Americans and their rights to all rights and freedoms Whites had from the Constitution. Now one can logically infer taking an Amendment aimed at protecting African Americans from injustice and applying it to a case concerning abortion is a stretch. In this case, the courts ruled in favor of Doe because of what would take place in Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade was a case brought to the Supreme Court concerning a single pregnant woman, Roe, who desired to be granted an abortion outside of the current abortion laws for Texas. Her defense claimed abortion fell under the “right to privacy” that had been discovered and applied to other rulings in recent years made by the Supreme Court. In a majority vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court changed the course of America by making abortion of any kind legal.

At this point in history, abortion was a procedure taken up until the end of the first trimester or first 12 weeks of pregnancy. As of today, abortion is legal up until birth. Matter of fact, partial birth abortions were banned in 2003. To better understand abortion in and of itself, we need to uncover the different types of abortion that must be taken dependent upon the different stages of pregnancy. During the first trimester one can have a surgical abortion: manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), or medical abortion: the abortion pill (mifeprex). After the first trimester, surgical abortions are the only option. Abortions have evolved a lot since ancient times, but no matter how it is done it is all murder one in the same.

Medical abortions are abortions in which a form of medication, a pill, can be taken to terminate a pregnancy. Surgical abortions are a surgical procedure must take place to physically remove the baby from the womb. Surgical abortions range from vacuum procedures in which the pregnancy is chemically terminated and the contents of the child are sucked out of the womb, all the way to partial birth abortions in which the child is killed after she has partially departed from the womb during labor, and her first breath has not yet been taken. Partial birth abortions were determined illegal in 2003; however, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was intent on legalizing it again.

We now know what abortion is, when it started, when it became legalized, and its different forms. But what are the two positions on this issue? Anyone who goes outside her door has heard the words pro-life and pro-choice. What do they mean? Without looking at specific statements made by both groups, we can decipher from the verbiage used “pro-life” means for or supporting life and “pro-choice” means for or supporting choice. Pro-life argues the unborn child is alive and abortion is a form of murder. Pro-choice argues a woman has the right to choose to terminate her pregnancy because she is in complete control of what goes on in her body. These are two very different arguments. One argues for life and the other for choice. Logically we can see why the two groups are at such odds and will never truly come to a decision on the matter. The two groups are arguing different things. They will always butt heads. To better understand how we as believers should feel about the subject, we need first to look at what God has said concerning this issue.

As Christians living in a very secular world, we are constantly hitting road blocks concerning ideas that make us nervous when in the public arena. Often Christians are faced with an opportunity to speak out on subjects of much controversy but do not out of fear or lack of understanding of what God has revealed in His Word concerning it. At the beginning of Scripture, we read God bringing forth life. He created all life known to man in six days. In 1 Samuel, we see Hannah go before God barren, pleading with Him for a child to whom she would dedicate back to Him. God answered her prayer with Samuel and she in return honored her promise to the Lord by giving him to Eli to live under the teachings of the priest. Because of David’s sin with Bathsheba, God took away the life of their son. Because of Pharaoh’s wickedness, the Angel of the Lord took away the first-born son of all the Egyptians who did not cover their doors with the blood of the lamb.  Mary was impregnated by the work of the Holy Spirit and gave birth as a virgin to King Jesus. Throughout the entirety of Scripture, we see God is the giver of life and He is the one who takes it away. To affirm the doctrine implied by pro-life, life begins at conception. God granted Hannah the ability to have a child. God made Mary pregnant with baby Jesus. God declares children are His gifts to us.

Most Christians agree on this topic but many are shaken on the subject of rape. “What if someone is raped and becomes pregnant? Some people cannot bear to carry a product of a traumatic experience.” A lot of reasoning is given in support of abortion after rape by nonbelievers and believers alike; however, believers have no excuse to come to this terrible conclusion. Why? God declares in Deuteronomy 24:16, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death for the sins of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” Rape falls under the category of “sin of their father.” When believers support the “rape argument,” they are going in direct opposition to God being the giver of life and a child is not to be punished for the sins of their father.

Pro-choice I believe is another struggle for believers to negate. The whole premise of a pro-choice believer is the body belongs to the woman and she alone has the right to control all things that occur. “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25). When a believer who dresses inappropriately, uses foul language, practices fornication, constantly breaks God’s laws, etc. is observed by nonbelievers and then claims pro-choice is in direct opposition to the faith, on what grounds are they not to be judged by those who affirm pro-choice? By claiming the faith and then walking completely outside its principles and teachings when it is convenient for them, their witness/words are meaningless. They are a house divided. If we want women to understand our bodies are not our own, we as believers must walk out our day-to-day lives honoring our bodies as God would want us to. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.” This Scripture is not only applicable to abortion in negation of pro-choice but is to be applied in all domains of life on Earth. Our body should reflect God in how we dress, how we talk, carry ourselves, and even what/how we eat. We as believers must walk this principle out in every aspect of our lives so our words against pro-choice are stronger.

Talks about abortion are not few and far between in our society today. It is a divisive subject in which people are often afraid to speak out. Educators even encourage students not to write concerning this subject, because it is so commonly written about. However, I encourage everyone to do some digging about abortion. For this topic, unfortunately there are only two sides — for or against. There is no in between. Our society has lost its moral compass that was once the Church. Of course, there are many reasons why that has occurred. The most basic answer without pinpointing specific times throughout history is sin. Things are going to get worse before they can get better, but it is not our job as believers to retreat into our churches and stand by. We are called to consider the full counsel of the Word and apply those principles to our everyday lives. We are to be the moral compass of society. Therefore, it is so important the church be united on divisive subjects like abortion. For those who think they know about abortion and how they think they are supposed to feel, go on a journey of discovery to uncover the truths of what God says about it. Furthermore, discover what God has said in His Word concerning all divisive topics that burden believers today.

Bibliography

“Abortion: Legal Until Birth — Why Pro-Life?” Why ProLife. World Press, 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 01 Nov. 2016. By an Amendment to Her Complaint, Roe Purported to Sue. “Roe v. Wade.” LII / Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

“Abortion in the Ancient and Premodern World.” About.com. Education. About Education, 28 July 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

“Abortion Procedures During First, Second and Third Trimester.” American Pregnancy Association. American Pregnancy Association, 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

“FindLaw’s United States Supreme Court Case and Opinions.” Findlaw. Find Law, 2016. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

Linder, Douglas O. “The Right of Privacy: Is It Protected by the Constitution?” Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.

Destiny Phillips Coats

As of 2015, 321.42 million people inhabit the United States of America. Of those 321.42 million, about 2.3 million people are active duty military, national guard, or reserves as of 2010. This means less than 1% of America’s population makes up its military. The United States of America has the third largest population in the world following China in first and India in second. America is the number 1 global military power out of 126 militaries in the world but is second in active duty population to China. Fifty-five percent of China’s population is actively serving their military. Why is there such a huge difference between two of the top military and global world leaders in the ratio between population and active military? The one-word answer is conscription. Conscription, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is “compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces.” Data from 2011 lists 64 countries who are under mandatory conscription, 13 under emergency conscription, and 88 not under any form of conscription. China does indeed require all of their citizens, age 18-24, to serve 2 years in the military. The United States does not require their citizens to serve in the military; however, within 30 days of males’ 18^th birthdays they are required to register for selective service in the military. This means under national emergency, all men are subject to draft into active duty military service. Thus, America falls under the category of emergency conscription. This paper will uncover some pros and cons to required conscription and it will also entertain the question of America operating under the construct of required conscription.

“This we’ll defend” and “Army Strong” are both very popular military slogans known nationally in America. “This we’ll defend” is the official motto of the United States Army and the latter, “Army Strong,” is the official recruiting slogan of the Army. These two phrases suggest key aspects of the army branch of the military that also flow over into the other military branches, reserves, and guards. If things like unity, strength, and protection are all implied by these two slogans alone, what does the military actually say about itself and what it stands for? According to the Web site for the United States Army their motto states, “The U.S. Army’s mission is to fight and win our nation’s wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders.” This is the purpose of our army. To protect our nation, the military is purposed to teach certain skills necessary to be learned so those in the military can protect in the best way possible. Amongst learning how to protect the nation at home and abroad, the military teaches values and skills that will never be learned in the same way anywhere else. By requiring all men to serve the military for a 2-year term, we could strengthen our military, increase jobs, teach survival skills, and core values like honor, respect, and discipline on a mass scale like never before.

Probably the most obvious effect of required conscription is an increase in military size. The number of men turning 18 every year is 4.2 million. In just 5 years, the size of the military could potentially increase by 15%. By requiring conscription there would no longer be a need to advertise for people to join the military; it would be a requirement. Each military branch could then save thousands of dollars yearly spent on advertising and spend that money other places where it is needed. Increasing the size of the military also broadens the variety of people to choose from for certain military positions. By having more people to choose from, the best possible candidates can be chosen to perform certain duties. In the military there is a place for everyone, and an increase in the pool of candidates can thus strengthen weaker areas of the military due to possibly a lack of interest to pursue a military career for that field.

By increasing the number of people in the military, job opportunities would then open for people who might not have had plans before. The military has 12 branches including 5 active duty branches, and seven part-time duty of 5 reserves and 2 guard branches. The military offers numerous jobs from medicine to language translation, teaching to combat training. The military’s jobs are differentiated by branch, active or part-time reserves, then by specific trades/skills. People entering the military have many opportunities to learn valuable life skills, how to stay fit, and choose from a variety of jobs available to them based on their skills. The military also offers many training programs to help skilled tradesman learn a desired craft that might not necessarily pursue a college degree, but through that military training can seek and obtain employment in a specific field due to their training acquired while in service to the military. The branches of the United States military do not merely just make jobs available to people in the service, but they also train and equip those who will leave the service and pursue careers in other organizations through great military training.

A real world example of someone who obtained a job solely through their specific military training is my dad. Like millions of teens upon graduation, my father did not know what he wanted to do with his life. He decided to join the Navy branch of the military. While in the military, he showed skills in areas of mathematics. He received special nuclear science training during his six-year service in the Navy. A little while after exiting the military, he landed a job at Dominion Power and has worked his way up to being a Senior Nuclear Reactor Operator, working alongside or over people who went to universities and obtained engineering degrees, amongst other things, and spent thousands of dollars on that educational training. Now, is my father better or less than those who went to universities because he instead got free training from the military and has obtained a position of equal or more authority? No, but it does mean my dad is a prime example of how the military’s specific training in a certain field can equip men and women to obtain good jobs within and outside the service.

Basic Military Training, or BMT, is another way the military equips people for life by strengthening people physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Sandwiched between enlistment processing and technical training, Basic Military Training is an intense training program designed to prepare you for those times when national requirements place duty ahead of self. Getting the most out of basic training demands your highest level of personal focus, effort and teamwork. You’ll hear us calling it BMT, “summer camp,” and a few other things depending on company. Whatever you call it, get ready for eight and a half weeks that will turn you, at the very least, into a well trained and ready Airman. By graduation, you’ll meet the fitness requirements that make airmen physically durable in almost any situation. Basic Military Training is designed to teach you the critical importance of discipline, teamwork and foundational knowledge you’ll need to succeed as an airman. It will also prepare you physically as a warrior in the profession of arms. Successful completion earns you the privilege of proudly wearing the blue uniform of the most powerful Air Force in the world. Prior to reporting for duty, you should begin your training at home. Following a recommended workout schedule, 3-5 times per week for at least the six weeks before you attend BMT will help you get ready for the challenges you’ll face in basic training and beyond. Basic Military Training will challenge you physically and mentally. You’ll learn to follow instructions, help others and work as a team. You will grow with each success, and you’ll gain confidence in your ability to achieve all of your dreams and goals.

This is a description of BMT from the United States Airforce. It emphasizes teaching values like honor, confidence, personal focus, teamwork, and more. It explains how the trainee will be in great physical shape allowing him to be successful in almost any situation an airman could face while in the service. These character traits gained in training and the physical demand of the 8-week BMT period in the Airforce are very similar to the attributes and physical shape attained after the training in the other BMTs of the other branches of military. A similar focus by all branches of the military just from the first 6-8 weeks upon entrance into the service shows the dedication and the great purpose of the military as a whole along with great intent of the individual branches. If these are all the many great things those in the service will learn right off the bat, how much more will they learn if they stick in the service? Intense training aimed at obtaining honor, trust, teamwork, and dedication will stick with a person throughout the remainder of his life. By requiring all men to join the service for at least a two-year period, these qualities can be potentially instilled in every American male life. These positive characteristics would only benefit the individuals, and because individuals make up a society, they would then benefit American society as a whole.

If conscription were in place in America, all men would come from a similar background. All men would be knowledgeable about national crisis procedures, have elite training in survival, combat, or even a specific skill/trade. It also develops valued characteristics like honor, discipline, teamwork, hard-work, trust, and focus among many other emotional and physical skills. Conscription would increase jobs and strengthen/grow our military. It would give men an opportunity to develop a skill or trade they did not know they had or never considered as a possible career path. Required conscription also helps men with no direction after high school, giving them an opportunity to see where they could possibly fit into society.

All of these are the positive side of conscription, but what are the cons to required conscription? The two most dominant cons to mandatory military service (in my opinion) are it interferes with other forms of education and it could greatly weaken the quality of the nation’s military. A less dominant con (in my opinion) to conscription is it takes away free will.

From about age 5 to 18, children are required by law to attend school. During those developmental years, young people are deciding what it is they would like to do with their lives. After secondary education, young adults are presented with a multitude of opportunities: continue their education at a junior college or university, join the military, go straight into the work force, stay home and do nothing, or be homeless. This is a wide range of options for an 18-year-old to consider. For about 14 years of the majority’s life, a person is in required schooling. The big word here is “required.” For roughly 13 years of peoples’ lives they are required by law to attend school. Graduating from high school and deciding the course of one’s life is the first real opportunity a person has to decide what will occur throughout his life. That is a huge deal. America prides itself on being a free nation comprised of a free people who can choose the course of their lives. Mandatory Military Service takes away this free choice after the transition from child to adult, when the full ability to exercise all rights comes into play — including freedom of choice. Those in opposition of this con would say two years in the grand scheme of things is not a lot of time. Also, required conscription can just be looked at as another two years of required schooling for men.

One of the more pressing cons is the interference with other means of education. Mentioned earlier was the process of thinking/determining what one will do with their life all through their required schooling and especially during one’s high school years. Men who desire to make careers in medicine or specific science fields among other things, are hindered in that process to start on that specific education by conscription. Colleges would then be predominantly female for post-secondary education. Men would also have a late start on jumping straight into the industrial/economic system after high school. The counter argument in favor of conscription would be again, two years in the grand scheme of things is not that much time off. Also in the military, skills training and classes offered for certain jobs can be used as transfer credits dependent upon the program offered within the service. Also, by being a part of the military a person could potentially enjoy the service and consider it as a career path he never otherwise would have thought about.

The last con of mandatory military service is it weakens the quality of military service. Because the military is strictly volunteer based, the mass majority of those who enlist are making their own conscious decision to endure the physical and mental hardships that come with the sacrifice of military service. The majority of these volunteers understand the choice they are making to serve and also have a desire/drive to serve their country. This as a result makes the attitude of most people in the service to be determined to serve in the best way they can for the country. By requiring people to serve in the military, the service could potentially lose the mass majority hard-working attitude typically consistent through all of its trainees. Just like in school, some students do not want to be there, but they have to be there. Many students do not participate whole heartedly, and it is shown through their grades and their behavior at school. Requiring those with a resilient attitude toward conscription/military service could potentially cause a rise in military unproductivity and poor quality of certain troops/regimes/branches etc. The counter to this argument is that similarly to school, a set standard must be obtained while in the military during the required conscription. If that standard is not upheld, that person can be dishonorably discharged from the military, similar to being expelled from school.  Similar to the negative repercussions of an expulsion on a transcript, there would definitely be negative repercussions to being dishonorably discharged from the service. This would give incentive to those in the service to at least perform well for that required conscription period out of fear of negative repercussions on their record.

Lots of pros and a few important cons have been laid out to better understand conscription and its benefits to a society. It opens opportunity to learn, develop skills and character traits, build unity within a nation, but it also is a big sacrifice. It takes away two years of a young man’s pursuit of his personal career to serve his country and potentially risk his life. That is a hard thing to come to grips with voluntarily and would be immensely harder to understand involuntarily. This is a situation where a decision can only be made by seeing whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and that is for the American people to decide.

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Destiny Phillips Coats

How many people would honestly say they are always excited to study? From my experience, I do not think many would say they are. For most people, studying is a pain, a hassle, and a boring-but-necessary  activity. If one desires to do well in school, or in a discipline, she must study. Numerous study tips and tricks have been developed over the years to make studying more enjoyable and easier for students. Schools find study tips and tricks so important most schools have implemented in their curricula a “Study Skills” class, purposed to teach students the proper and most helpful ways to study. As a student who has gone through this type of class, studying while listening to music was never proposed to me. Am I the inventor of this crazy study phenomenon? — no, probably not. However, I would love to share my personal experience and research with you, to possibly make future students’ study sessions a little more enjoyable.

Growing up in a home with four other very loud people, it is sometimes very hard to find a quiet place where I can dive into my books. Come do your chores! Where’s my shirt?! MOM! Stop that Tim! All these things and more are screamed outside my door at the most inconvenient of times — when I am studying. Times have definitely changed since I was in elementary with the constant advancement of technology. At 10 years old, all I could think about was getting a CD player for Christmas. Now seven-year-olds are begging their parents for phones, iPods, tablets, and computers. All this is to say, music is readily available to children of all ages through different formats. My favorite type of music growing up, surprisingly, was classical. I was a competitive dancer as a child who listened to classical music constantly in dance class. I eventually learned to love it! Classical music made hard dance classes more bearable because of the soothing tones of classical music. It took me a while to realize this genre of music could soothe and calm my mind during study sessions. Probably due to anger and frustration, I would close my door during my study sessions because of the crazy amounts of noise in my house. I would then turn on my radio to my favorite classical music station. When I studied, I found myself doing this on a regular basis. Pretty soon, I found it difficult to study without music. The music did three things for me: 1) calmed my mind to focus, 2) drowned out noise in the background, and 3) made studying more enjoyable.

In multiple ways people become distracted while doing a task. I like to classify distractions into three categories: auditory, verbal, and thought distractions.  From my own personal experience, I desire a quiet environment to eliminate auditory and thought distractions and a still environment to eliminate visual distractions. As I have talked and observed others’ productivity in different study environments, I have seen this to be true for them as well. Who desires a noisy or distracting background while they are studying? No one does. It has been scientifically proven we as humans are capable of multitasking, but no matter how hard we try, our full attention cannot be placed on more than one thing at a time. Our mind processes everything we hear and see no matter if we want it to or not. It is a natural involuntary brain function; therefore, in a study session it is important to keep the mind focused on as few things as possible. A way to drown out background noise like talking or the clicking of a keyboard is to play soft music through headphones.

Auditory distractions take our attention/focus away from a task because we hear things that do not pertain to what we are doing. I truly believe auditory distractions are the hardest distractions to cope with during a study session. Studying is a voluntary action. We as students must choose to study. Hearing, on the contrary, is an involuntary action. Humans do not have the ability to turn on and off the function of hearing. They can, however, put themselves in an environment where certain noises or verbiage is not used or encountered. Because hearing is something we cannot control, being in an environment where people are talking or making noise can cause students to lose focus during a session, causing them to waste huge amounts of time. For example, I have been in multiple situations where I was writing a paper and people were talking in the background. From their noise, I in turn lost my focus and typed words they were saying instead of my generated thoughts about my paper. In some cases, I have caught myself as this mistake occurred, but there have been times where I have not noticed until I was rereading my paper later. This is an example of how auditory distractions can be very detrimental in our productivity as students as we study, causing us to lose focus and waste time.

Because we are all different, we all are attracted to different things. Similarly, we all like different types of music. Studying to heavy metal probably will not get most people to their goal of memorizing 50 vocab words by the end of their two-hour study period. However, many genres of music could be great background to a productive study session. Within the many genres of music are tempos — fast and slow. Anyone’s favorite type of music can then become the background to a relaxing and enjoyable study session — but which one is the best?

Classical music can be basic in the number of instruments or very complex if played by a large orchestra. Listening to solo piano music relaxes the mind with its smooth rhythms and tones. Neither lyrics nor various sounding instruments are used, so it’s easy to focus on other things while hearing a soothing repetitive noise, like piano, in the background to a study session. This light music in the background would not be some students’ preferred silence, but for others it can be more soothing and easy to study to when their constantly-generated thoughts are the only things they can hear. In my personal experience, my mind constantly thinks about tons of random things no matter what topic I am trying to focus on. Classical music has helped me drown out my random thoughts and background noise, leaving me solely to focus my mind on what is in front of me. This version of a peaceful background has aided me in being the most productive during my study sessions. Some people might say classical is boring, it puts me to sleep, or I cannot sing along. These all might be true, but under different circumstances than purely listening to music, one can potentially find classical to be the most enjoyable and helpful while studying.

In the previous portions of this paper you have read about ways to minimize visual distractions by choosing a prime location to study in. Music as a study aid could be seen to contradict the entirety of my paper, but not if it is classical. Classical minimizes auditory and thought distractions by drowning out random noises around you, your thoughts, and the chatter of others near you.

Now to take a quick step outside the realm of music, the other component to calming the mind for a great study session is to have little-to-no movement surrounding the student. This is an example of limiting/expelling visual distractions. Unlike our ears, ours eyes give us two options: see or do not see. If your eyes are open, you will see everything within your sphere of vision. If your eyes are closed you see nothing. How many people study with their eyes closed? Not many, therefore the only option when studying is to keep them open. For me, kids walking or moving around a lot in a room is just as distracting as someone talking to her neighbor beside me in class or my mom on the phone at home. Like I mentioned earlier, the mind can only focus on one thing at a time completely. Movement is distracting, plain and simple. The question is why? Why is it so easy to be distracted while studying? Ultimately, I believe it is because studying at its core is boring. Studying is not something we want to do; it is something we have to (should) do. Anything outside of studying is distracting to us because it is what we would rather be doing. What can be done to avoid catching your attention on something else within your peripheral view? First things first, find a space that is typically slow in traffic. At school this is sometimes hard to do when you are typically assigned classes or pick a study hall open to other students. In a school environment or environment where people are around I recommend you sit in a seat in the front that faces a wall. Sitting behind other students puts them in your direct line of sight. If they finish their work, or have nothing to start with, them talking to their neighbor or fiddling with their things can be distracting to see as well as hear. Listening to music can drown out this noise and facing another direction where there will be little-to-no movement is the best way to avoid visual distractions.

What do you do if you are at home? A classic study area in most homes is the kitchen table. At my house my brothers and I all brought our homework to the kitchen table after school. Our mother would then join us to act as our stand-in teacher at home. This of course was great when her help was needed to complete a basic assignment. Now that I am older, listening to others get help from a teacher can be distracting while I am trying to work on my own materials. I have now graduated to studying in my room or wherever I choose. In my opinion you need to study in a room with the fewest possible distractions. For me this means I will study in my room, on the floor, with the door closed, facing the other side of my room. Why so specifically in that location, facing that direction? Once again, students need to minimize distraction. The best way to do this is to prepare for the worst. With a family of five who has no respect for personal space, I have learned to take many precautions when preparing to study. In my house, my room is the farthest away from a television. Growing up I was never allowed to watch TV in my room or during the school week. This tradition from my elementary years has stuck with me all the way to my last year of high school. It is extremely important not to study near a TV. If you are near a TV when you get frustrated or take little breaks, the temptation to turn on the TV is so close to you. Sometimes we tell ourselves we will take a five-minute break. If television gets involved, that five minutes turns into a 30-minute show or a two-hour movie we just could not turn away from. Do NOT tempt yourself. Put it as far away as possible and you will reap the benefits of that productive study session later.

I do not have the luxury of have a desk in my room to do work. This is primarily because my room is big enough for one small human like myself and that is about it. The next ideal location to study would be your bed, right? No! Because I am human and a student I love to sleep as much as possible. Throughout the school year I get about 7 hours of sleep per night. That is not enough; therefore, I am tired when I return home from an 8-hour school day. Going to my bed to study is just asking to be unproductive. All I can hear is my bed calling out to me asking me to sleep peacefully and get some rest. How do I avoid this temptation? I instead sit on the floor. Sitting on the floor gives me a lot of space to spread out my notes and textbooks while also keeping me awake. The floor is hard, similar to a chair and in direct opposition to a nice soft bed keeping my focus on the task at hand versus taking a nap.

As of this writing, I am now in my room, away from noise and on the floor, away from my bed. What else can I do to avoid visual distractions? Close the door and face the other direction! I of course would advise locking the door, but some parents do not allow locked doors, which is totally fine, so instead just face the other direction. By closing your door, you are establishing a closed area where it is solely you and your books. You will not be distracted visually by what is going on outside your door because you cannot see it! Stopping there is perfect for some. For me, however, I cannot look at the door. Looking at the door is another form of distraction and temptation. Looking at the door causes me to think about leaving and doing something else, thus I can be tempted to do just that — abandon my study session. So, I have to face the other way. This is a perfect example of calming your mind as best you can to get rid of as many visual distractions as possible to make for the most productive study session possible.

God’s intelligent design of man includes five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. Our senses allow us to interact with/experience things from the outside world. Because there are so many ways to interact outside of ourselves involuntarily visually and aurally, it is very easy to become distracted by things passing over our eyes and through our ears. Another way to be distracted is with our thoughts. God made us intellectual beings, giving us the ability to mentally walk through any situation. These abilities are dually a blessing and a curse when one is trying to study. Hearing random noises, seeing people having fun in front of you, or thinking about what we are doing later are all issues we come across as students trying to study. Do we wish all these distractions went away so we can accomplish our tasks? Of course, but we do not wish our sensory functions to disappear completely. Instead, we figure out ways to work around these distractions and best utilize our God-given abilities. By reading this paper, I hope you have possibly developed new ways to approach your study sessions to eliminate/minimize auditory, visual, and thought distraction as best you can so your future study sessions can be as best as humanly possible!

Destiny Phillips Coats

A popular question amongst people and a topic of much debate is “would the world be better off without religion?” As a believer, one would immediately scream “no” in response. Personally I ask myself why couldn’t there only be one religion, Christianity? Unfortunately, mankind will never be in a position of agreement on “God or no God” until Christ’s return. So the question remains. Three very distinct reasons I believe the world needs religion (Christianity) are because without it, there would be no moral standard, no hope, and no purpose to life.

Society teaches everyone knows right from wrong. They credit this “sense” to one’s conscience — internal awareness of a moral standard in the mind concerning the quality of one’s motives. Our moral code is actually attributed to our craftsman making us in His image. God gave Adam all the keys necessary to be good, but he chose an absence of God that lead to his new nature of evil. Society believes mankind is good. We are beings that strive to do the right thing and want to achieve perfection. This could not be more wrong. This goes not only in direct opposition to Scripture but also with the patterns of humanity. A lie is classified as an untruth. The truth is classified as a part of reality. At a young age, man is instructed on how to be good yet they fall short and act bad without being instructed to do so. Children are not taught to lie, they are taught to be honest; however, they lie anyway. When babies are born they do not think of others. They are selfish. As toddlers learning to interact with other children, they must be told to share. Children will fight over a toy instead of taking turns. These are both examples of how even at the purest form of life, we know how to be selfish and dishonest. We are naturally inclined to evil.

The oldest manuscripts are the Dead Sea Scrolls — Scripture. Regardless of whether people accept Christianity or not, basic moral beliefs were developed out of Scripture. The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 20:1-17. Six of these 10 commandments are still the main part of humanity’s moral code. The only ones not followed by all of humanity are those that talk specifically of loving/honoring God. This is due to mankind’s desire to deny the existence of something bigger than itself to which it “might” be accountable. Genesis 6:5 — “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.”

Hope is defined as desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. Mankind does not look to the future without having some type of understanding of hope or faith. Without God humanity would not have a concept of hope. Mankind is a finite being with finite understanding. Hope does not fit within the confines of “reality.” Hope is enacted when something is unsure. Hope is a desire for something to occur. Hope is not just a desire/wish, but also it is a trust put in something. Hope is an action. Hope is something one does. One hopes for something because of something else — faith. Without faith we cannot hope. These two things coincide. They are married to each other. Society continuously tries to separate them time and time again because they do not want to follow the path hope and faith truly take them on. One cannot hope without faith, and faith does not exist without hope. Everyone puts faith in something and hopes for something. To say they don’t is a lie that would contribute to the evil of humanity. Atheists believe in something. That belief is their faith. The reason they say they have no beliefs/faith is because believing in nothing is a depressing reality they do not want to come to grips with. Mankind will always deny a truth to conform to its own desires because of selfishness and pride.

Without morals, without hope, why live? When a creator creates a creature, he creates that thing with its own purpose. To fulfill purpose, creatures must know why they exist; therefore, they must interact with their creator. The idea creation is here at random intimates there is no purpose to it. It just happened. Without purpose, why should man care about himself, others, animals, or the environment? Chance is not a logical phenomenon, it has no rhyme or reason, it is random.  Order does not follow chaos.

Self-worth is obtained only when that being understands its value. Value is determined by the craftsman. If we are the craftsmanship of chance and chaos, then we have no value. We are a byproduct of randomness. There is nothing exciting about that. This is the reality of Atheism — a life without self-worth, hope, or purpose. Unfortunately Atheists lie to themselves when they say they believe in nothing. They actually believe in chance. Chance logically takes you to a place where self-worth does not exist. If one does not value himself, he cannot truly value others; therefore, valuing others does not truly exist. Atheists would probably deny every claim in this paper about how they feel and believe; I would agree with them. This would probably shock them. I do not believe there is such a thing as true Atheism. Atheists do not believe in God or spiritual being, the only thing left for them to believe in is science. Science is the observation of things that can be observed. Science does not provide hope, values, morals, or purpose, yet Atheists think they understand these things. They don’t. This is because they deny religion (Christianity). God has created us in His image. No matter how much we try to deny His imprint on us, we can’t. Therefore, we all hope, we all value something, we all believe/put faith in something. The difference between Atheists and religious people is Atheists deny someone besides themselves is in control because they do not want to be held accountable for their evil. Deep down they know their “good” will never outshine the evil in their hearts, and for that they wish not to be punished.

To live in a world without religion would be to live in a world of chaos and darkness. The heart of man is full of evil. Children are not taught to be selfish, lie, disobey, complain, and manipulate. They are born knowing how to do these things. Man foolishly claims he is good because he does not want to be accountable for his obvious evil nature.

Coming to the conclusion you are evil is not an easy thing to do, but we must if we are to find a way to fix it. People say “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” This phrase only applies to things that are unbroken. We are broken beings! Instead of denying this fact we need to look for a way out of our broken state. God gives us that way out.

Book after book we have read this year in some way has torn down Christianity. The authors of these books think they have done a sufficient job of destroying a religious practice with their logical truths that are in fact fallacies. These authors wrote in a time of much human discovery and advancement. By observing “man’s abilities” they concluded “logically” over time man was the pinnacle of creation and the supreme being. The multitude of sins listed in this paper goes back to the initial sin that started it all with Adam — pride. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit because they desired to become more like God. Feuerbach, Marx, Engels, Nietzsche, Darwin and others were so proud of the ability of the mind they denied the Creator that gave them the ability to reason, think, value, love, and have purpose. A world without religion is a sad one. One I wish to not be a part of but at the rate of society’s decline, I very well may be.