Contemporary Christian Thinkers Put the Christian Story to Work Essay

Contemporary Christian Thinkers Put the Christian Story to Work - Essay Example Due to demanding jobs, people no longer have the patience to prepare a meal from scratch and grocery managers have resulted to stocking foods that are quick to prepare. Industrial systems distortion has also ensured that these foods are much cheaper and readily available in outlets. Norman Wirzba laments how a head of broccoli is so much more expensive than a hamburger and a bottle of water costs more than a bottle of soda. However, these low prices come at a cost. The growing need for industries to keep their prices low has led to environmental degradation, selling of foods that have little or no nutritional value, poorly paid workers and uncompensated farmers all in the rush to report profits (Wirzba 24) . Chicks are genetically altered to quickly reach maturity and synthetic fertilizers and poisonous chemicals used to grow foods that are enticingly marketed as sexy or performance enhancing to register high turnovers. Consumer ignorance to these antics is so high and thus the autho r wants them to consciously buy and eat health foods for beautiful packaging does not translate to health and nutritional value. In this article, the author uses the Christian story of creation and resurrection to demonstrate life as it was intended in a Christian lifestyle. There is a great need for life to complete its full term uninterrupted and to allow for death so as to pave way for life. God created all animals and birds and put man in charge to take care and nature them. He created the world in a way that any individual or animal can only give its full value if it is whole. Therefore it is man’s role to nature chicken and not to genetically alter them to the point their chests become so heavy that they can only crawl in their already congested sheds. These acts by managers in the food production system are not only crude, but they pose serious health risks to the consumers since these chicken have to be treated with a cocktail of antibiotics due to the degrading metho ds used by the farmers (Wirzba 24). Jesus died on the cross so that all creatures under heaven can be free from the self serving impulses and be saved by his blood. Feeding on the body and blood and Christ should inspire everyone to live a life like he did which paid attention to nurturing animals and letting them live the life that God wanted. The Eucharist is an economic revolution which champions combined efforts and skills to grow together. It should inspire farmers to embrace healthy farming habits that do not lead to the degrading of the earth. Farming habits that improve fertility and continued bumper harvests are inspired by the death and resurrection of Jesus which brought forth new life, which gave glory to God in the Christian story. The author presents very crucial observations on the evolving eating patterns and deteriorating production systems. I agree that the modern consumer is slowly shunning good eating habits, and the recent increase of fast food outlets is a clea r indication that this is a thriving market. Lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer are the norm. Fast foods are cheap thrills that have resulted to costly medical bills and the increase of low nutritional value products in the market (Wirzba 26). There is a great need to address consumer awareness so as to boycott these harmful products that are flooding the market. Industries should be coerced to be more transparent in their

Comparison of the Scientific Philosophies of Kuhn, Duhen and Lauden Essay

Comparison of the Scientific Philosophies of Kuhn, Duhen and Lauden - Essay Example Therefore, his philosophy will be examined first. Duhem posits that â€Å"hypotheses are not straightforwardly refuted by experiment and that there are no crucial experiments in science.† (Wikipedia, 10/19/11) This means that a hypothesis cannot be directly disproved by being part of an experiment. There are several possible reasons which support this theory. First, Duhem works on the presumption that experiments are conducted by humans, who are fallible. Therefore, the results they produce will not be perfect. This means that experiments in science are inherently flawed, which devalues the results of said experiments. Duhem would go on to set the stage for the theories of Kuhn and Lauden, because Duhem presents the idea that hypothesis, experiment, and fact are not inextricably linked. Kuhn and Lauden dig deeper to consider the reasons why. Thomas Kuhn makes the point that â€Å"science has included bodies of belief quite incompatible with the ones we hold today.† (Kuh n, 238) The premise here is that one generation’s science is another generation’s bunk. Certainly, history is full of examples of past beliefs which have fallen out of fashion with the advent of scientific knowledge and the technology which helps to uncover it. For example, scientific beliefs since the time of the Egyptians have changed irrevocably over the centuries, but Kuhn’s point is that at the time those discoveries were made, they were the newest (and therefore most valid) sources of scientific information. Kuhn further posits that what scientists and scientific historians should be concerning themselves with is to â€Å"ask new sorts of questions and to trace different, and often less than cumulative, developmental lines for the sciences. Rather than seeking the permanent contributions of an older science to our present vantage, they [should] attempt to display the historical integrity of that science in its own time.† (Kuhn, 238) By contrast, Lar ry Laudan challenges us to re-consider the entire purpose of science. He believes it is â€Å"to ask†¦whether science through time brings us closer to achieving our cognitive aims or goals.† (Laudan, 145) Does scientific knowledge bring us closer to those? Laudan presents a valuable point, which is that â€Å"principals of testing, comparison, and evaluation of theories seem to vary significantly from level to level.† (Laudan, 144) This seems to say that there are a number of variables present which cannot be reconciled from level to level or from scientist to scientist. These variables can manifest themselves as simply as the fact that all people interpret results slightly differently. Take, for example, a doctor who views a patient’s X-ray on which there is evidence of carcinoma. A general practitioner would have a different interpretation of this than would a pulmonary specialist. They both see cancer, but only the pulmonary physician can properly assess which treatments would be most appropriate in attempting to eradicate the cancer. Now, suppose the patient can only afford to see his general practitioner because that is all his insurance will pay for – he never gets to see the lung specialist, and is relying entirely on the scientific opinion of only one scientist to assess his chances of survival. This is only one example of the flaw in scientific method: suppose the pulmonary physician was more well-read on the latest techniques of eradicating lung carcinoma, and the general