American Time Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essays

American Time If I had to point to the one thing that reveals the most about American culture, I would have to say it is our obsession with time. We seem to have this constant fear of â€Å"wasting† time. Our lives are saturated with ways to â€Å"save† time. We see it in our fast food restaurants, ATMs, and even our sayings (â€Å"Time is money†). Why are we like this? What drives us to be eternally searching for ways to speed up our daily routines? Finding these answers means understanding the most basic values of American culture. It is amazing to look at the number of ways that American ingenuity has made almost every aspect of our lives move just a little faster. The most obvious way is our fast food restaurants. With the invention of these we no longer have to wait for a meal. We simply place an order, our food gets pulled out from underneath the heat lamp, and we are on our way. If we’re really in a rush, we can just zip through the drive-through and have our order without ever taking the extra time required to step out of the car and walk into the restaurant. Many drive-through windows even have a little timer on them so you can know just how much time you have saved. Is the food any good? Did you even get the extra sour cream you ordered on that burrito? It doesn’t matter. When was the last time you ate at McDonald’s and thought to yourself, â€Å"Man, this is the best burger I have ever eaten!† Probably never, but I bet you were impressed if you got it extra fast. Banking has also become faster and faster. With the invention of the bank drive-through window and the ATM, we don’t even have to go inside the bank anymore. We just slide in our cards, type in the numbers, and get our money. This is wonderful. I l... ...nother of our cultural values: hard work and productivity. Maybe we need to change this. Perhaps we should learn to value leisure time as well, and stop accusing those who already value leisure time of being lazy. Time for Americans has gotten way out of hand. Of course, it is difficult to change the basic instinct of a culture, but we need to learn to stop obsessing about every minute that we might possibly save or lose. It is entirely too self-destructive—a cultural trait that affects the culture itself in some very negative ways. If it does relate to the â€Å"more factor† then perhaps we should look for something else to find â€Å"more† of. If not, then we should at least learn to be a little less productive and a lot happier in the extra time that we create for ourselves. That should not be too difficult because inventiveness is a part of our culture as well.

Literary Context Essay

1. What happens if you carefully consider the surrounding context of a passage, but ignore its literary genre? When you are reading the Bible, understanding and interpreting the true meaning is one of the most crucial things we must do. In the text, Hays and Duvall say that â€Å"we would go so far as to say that the most important principle of biblical interpretation is that context determines meaning.† If we make the mistake of ignoring the context, it often leads to misinterpretation and confusion of what the scriptures are really trying to say. It is important to know the historical-cultural context as well as the literary context in order to properly understand what is being said. 2. Besides those examples cited in this chapter, what are some instances of interpreting a biblical passage apart from its immediate context? I think it is always important to really understand what you are reading in the Bible; because sometimes when we are reading the Bible, in hopes of finding an answer to a question, it could be easy to twist the text to make it fit your situation. I think a lot of times this happens in very unfortunate ways, like when people are trying to use the word against one another. I have personally seen people use Bible verses against a person or a group of people to bring them down, or to make themselves seem superior to another group of people. I do not believe the Bible should be used to harm one another, or to persecute people. One of my favorite quotes from Hays & Duvall is â€Å"misreading the Bible ultimately hurts people by enslaving them, rather than setting them free with truth.† 3. When is topical preaching contextually valid? When does it disregard and violate context? Topical preaching can be vaild when the various passages are understood in context and the overall message doesn’t violate those individual contexts (Duvall & Hays, 2008). However, often topical preaching distorts the meaning of Scripture because it disregards the literary context. Topical preaching often disregards and violates context because it jumps from one passage to another, when this happens unrelated thoughts are strung together. It is like picking thoughts at random in order to shape your own conclusion, this is a violation of the context. References: Duvall, J., & Hays, J. (2008). Journey into God’s Word. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Take It Easy Quotes to Live By

Just about everybody feels rushed and stressed at times. Since we all know that stress can be harmful to our health, nows the time to take steps to reduce the amount of stress in our lives. Slow down as you do things. Accept that what has passed  is past. Take one step at a time instead of multitasking your way through the day. Identify  what you are doing when you feel totally relaxed and focus on these activities instead of ones that stress you out. No one can avoid all the stress in life, but you can cut back on it. Chill Out With These Quotes Jim MorrisonTime to live, time to lie, time to laugh and time to die. Take it easy baby. Take it as it comes. Christian Nestell BoveeThere is a German proverb which says that Take-it-Easy and Live-Long are brothers. David SelznickWhy do you knock yourself out? Take it easy. Elbert HubbardDo not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive. Johnny CashI recently found myself going through a period of uncertainty about my future as a performer, my status as a personality, the believability of my Christian witness and the knowledge of Gods will in my life. I felt a force bigger than myself saying, Lay back. Take it easy. Study hard. Read your Bible. Think, write and keep your mouth shut for awhile. Kate JacobsIts all about getting the hang of things. Easy does it; take it easy. Youll figure everything out in time. But for right now, just keep trying. Pay attention and avoid the temptation to go further than youre ready. Talk less. And listen more. Martin ScorseseThe problem with anger is that its so consuming. Youve got to take it easy on yourself at a certain point. Robert BreaultIts not that Im a Type-B personality. Its that Im driven by a passionate, all-consuming desire to take it easy. Jack Kerouac ï » ¿So long and take it easy, because if you start taking things seriously, it is the end of you. Jackson BrowneLighten up while you still can, dont even try to understand. Just find a  place to make your stand, and take it easy. Fats WallerTake it easy, be a sport. Just remember life is short. Oscar WildeLife is too important to be taken seriously. Ryan ReynoldsI see guys with, like, eyebrow art, and I wanna tell them, You dont have to go too crazy on your brows. Take it easy, man! Golda MeirMy dear, old age is like an airplane flying in a storm. Once youre in it, theres nothing you can do. You cant stop a plane, you cant stop a storm, you cant stop time. So you might as well take it easy, with wisdom. Mark GormanOnly 8 percent of our worry will come to pass. 92 percent of our worry is wasted. Dont panic!