Heaven and Hell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Heaven and Hell - Essay Example Rick Rood in his article ‘The Truth about Heaven’ provides us with quotes from the Bible to enlighten us on some of the fundamental truths about what Heaven and Hell means to different people and how these teachings have impacted our lives. In the Hebrews it is said that ‘Heaven is the spiritual realm in which the glory of Gods presence is manifest, and in which dwell the angels of God, and all believers who have departed this world (Heb. 12:22-24). According to Isiah, ‘Heaven given in Scripture reveal a pervading sense of the holiness of God (Isa. 6; Rev. 4-5) Ezekiel too tells us that human words are not adequate enough to describe the beauty and glory of heaven. The apostle Paul’s description of heaven in (1 Cor. 2:9) compares heaven to "things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man" (1 Cor. 2:9) Jesus refers to heaven as ‘Paradise’ when he addresses the thief who is about to die. "Today you shall be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Some of the most significant characteristics we may experience if we go to heaven are that we would be washed clean of all sin and undergo a great change in our spiritual nature, which in turn will help us to better our relationships with one another by removing the sins of jealousy, pride, envy, fear and shame. After God’s plan for us on this Earth ends, we would be endowed with the virtue of hope for much better things in the future. Hell, on the other hand, is for people who lead very evil lives and do not deserve God’s mercy and blessings and are faced with damnation. Dr. Towns, refers to the present day society with all its evils and temptations and says that the problem of sin cannot be tackled in the same way that was used in the ancient days. The present generation and the generations to come has to be dealt with in a different manner. He states that teachers have to be well trained in the Bible in order to be good communicators of the Church.

GOOD CITY FORMS AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GOOD CITY FORMS AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY - Essay Example In the article, the author argues going back to these basics to make new cities worth living in. A re-examination of the urban planning ideas of Lynch includes efficiency and justice as well. It further appeals to consider city size, future growth, and conservation measures when making plans, as most cities today are also ill and sterile, lacking diversity and vibrancy (Ford 247). In this second article by Y. R. Jabareen, entitled â€Å"Sustainable Urban Forms: Their Typologies, Models, and Concepts† and published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research back in September of 2006, the author who is connected with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Department of Urban Studies, he identifies the four sustainable types of major urban forms, namely: neotraditional development, the compact city, urban containment, and lastly, the ecological city. Any of these urban forms utilizes a combination of the seven main design concepts in terms of environmental planning for sustainability which are compactness, transport, density, mixed-land use, diversity, passive solar design, and lastly, greening (Jabareen 39), which is essentially just an elaboration of the ideas of David Lynch. In â€Å"Urban Development and Climate Change† and published in 2008, an entirely new perspective was drawn based on concerns of climate change as countries grapple with the issue of urban sprawl, and that is how to reduce gas emission by reducing the vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) by using compact development as the role model (Ewing et al. 201). By their estimates, compactness helps to reduce VMT by approximately 20% to 40% because it eliminates long commutes, which in turn reduces the gas emissions by around 7% to 10% as they made some plausible assumptions in their study models, up to the year 2050. For most of local governments worried about global warming, it is a good idea as it