2ND QUARTER: PHILOSOPHY

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” –

George Bernard Shaw
TOWARD A MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE
QUOTE: “We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we
consider as nothing the rape of the human mind. “
> Eric Hoffer (1902 – 1983) – U.S. philosopher and longshoreman
1) In whatever venture man do, we can’t exclude God’s presence in
judgement. Why the fuss/bother that we only subjectively evolve
respect in Sociological process without God in one’s mind?
2) Kindly discern what human right’s is?
3) When can we say that another person is and is not as a person?

- The Jews could not be justified by the Law of Moses, Any More
than the Gentiles by the Law of Nature (2:1 – 16)

The Jews thought themselves a holy people, entitled to their

privileges by right, while they were unthankful, rebellious, and
unrighteous. But all who act thus, of every nation, age, and
description, must be reminded that the judgment of God will be
according to their real character. The case is so plain, that we
may appeal to the sinner's own thoughts. In every willful sin,
there is contempt of the goodness of God. And though the branches
of man's disobedience are very various, all spring from the same
root. But in true repentance, there must be hatred of former
sinfulness, from a change wrought in the state of the mind, which
disposes it to choose the good and to refuse the evil. It shows
also a sense of inward wretchedness. Such is the great change
wrought in repentance, it is conversion, and is needed by every
human being. The ruin of sinners is their walking after a hard
and impenitent heart. Their sinful doings are expressed by the
strong words, "treasuring up wrath." In the description of the
just man, notice the full demand of the law. It demands that the
motives shall be pure, and rejects all actions from earthly
ambition or ends. In the description of the unrighteous,
contention is held forth as the principle of all, evil. The human
will be in a state of enmity against God. Even Gentiles, who had
not the written law, had that within, which directed them what to
do by the light of nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or
last will bear witness. As they nature. Conscience is a witness,
and first or last will bear witness. As they kept or broke these
natural laws and dictates, their consciences either acquitted or
condemned them. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, and more
comfort to saints, than that Christ shall be the Judge. Secret
 services shall be rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished,
and brought to light.

- POINTS

1. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish

without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law
shall be judged by the law
2. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified
3. For when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the
things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto
themselves
- Interpersonal/ Intersubjective = relations among human persons
which give respect to each other’s personhood/ being human.
- E.g., Superiors and subordinates’ relations
TWO LEVELS OF EXPLANATION ON DIFFERENCE OF ‘IS ‘AND ‘IS NOT ‘A
PERSON.
1. Theoretical (consideration on how the person sees, perceives, and
understands and lacks a defined identity or fixed essence for
being free)

a. SUBJECT – seen as someone who is conscious and free in that

prescription e.g., students
b. OBJECT – seen as unconscious and unfree, and has a defined
identity or fixed essence e.g., animals

2. Practical (consideration on how the person’s action toward the

other person relates to other person’s interest/ desire and
preference/ partiality.

a. Means – disregarding the person’s interest e.g., material for

the quest
b. Ends – considers the person’s interest e.g., partner in the
quest

Martin Buber
2 Forms of Human Relations (I-Thou & I-It)
Subject (You or Thou) ‘Encounter’
Object (It) ‘Experience’
 Jean Paul Sartre
2 Fundamental types of Being [ Being-for-
itself & Being-In-Itself]

- Being-in-itself = non person, an object

- Being-for-itself = person, a subject

Martin Heidegger
2 fundamental relations in the world (being-
alongside & being-with)

- Being- Alongside – as a person

- Being- With – non person

What is the proper path of treating others?

Edmund Husserl’s Bracketing of

Presuppositions (Transcendental
Phenomenological Method/Rational Means)
“To get the essence of something, we need to
bracket or suspend our judgements and
assumptions about it.”

Emmanuel Levinas Anti-Totalization (as an act

of violence against another person)
“I speak of responsibility as the essential,
primary and fundamental mode of subjectivity”
On the practical level, how canfeeling
-Through we avoid
of using other person as a
responsibility
means?
Or of obligation to respond to other person’s
call for help
 - Through informed (knowledge of relevant facts) and voluntary
(given freely) consent

Immanuel Kant
Moral Principle (On intersubjectivity)
“An action is morally good if it does not use
persons merely as a means but also as an ends
at the same time.”

DEFILING/ DISHONOR GOVERNMENT?

- 2Pe 2:9 The Lord know how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
- 2pe 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of
uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-
willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
- 2Pe 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring
not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
- 2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and
destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and
shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
- 2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they
that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and
blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving they feast
with you;
- 2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from
sin; beguiling unstable souls: a heart they have exercised with
covetous practices; cursed children:
- 1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

Chapter V Being with Others

Lesson 11: Respect for Persons
A. Examining Intersubjectivity
B. Persons and Rights

POPULATION: Human Rights

What are human rights?

- Fundamental rights the belon to every person, simply by being a

human being
- Principles
 Universality
 Equality
 Non-discrimination
HISTORY

- World War 2: Nazi atrocities against specific groups of people.

- United Nations founded in 1945 to maintain peace and promote
Human Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

- 30 Human Rights

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

 Article 19 UDHR
- “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and idea through any
media and regardless of frontiers”
 This freedom can be limited:
- Slander
- Hate speech
- Inciting violence
 But only in some cases because the law also protects people
against government trying to silence them
FREEDOM FROM TORTURE

 Article 5 UDHR
- “ No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.”
 Inflicting severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical
 To get information or to punish
TORTURE EXAMPLE
 - The U.S. used torture on a large scale against terrorism
suspects, claiming that suspects had given up their rights
- At the same time their prisoners were also denied the Right to a
Fair Trial and the Right to be considered innocent until proven
guilty
MORE HUMAN RIGHTS

 Life and Liberty/ Slavery/ Privacy

 Education/ Work/ Leisure
 Language
- No discrimination
- Fair trial
- Free speech
- Education
CATEGORIES OF RIGHTS

 Absolute Rights – can never be limited

= Torture, slavery, discrimination
 Limited Rights – can be limited for certain cases
= Liberty
 Qualified Rights – can be limited in some circumstances (state of
emergency/ war)
= Education, expression
HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME

 England & Wales: Human Rights Act (1998)

- Same rights as the ECHR, but easier to protect
 UK Court will decide if a right was violated
HUMAN RIGHTS CONFLICTS IN THE UK

 Security vs Privacy
- Art. 3: Life, liberty and security Government has to stop
terrorist
- Art. 12: Privacy, family, home, and correspondence; Government
can’t intercept your communication
 Our safety is important, but so are our rights, so where do we
draw the line?
FUTURE CHALLENGES

 Asylum for refugees: Some people flee countries with terrible

human rights, but they are not always welcome in other countries
 LGBT rights: Often LGBY individuals are discriminated against and
lack rights
 Gender rights: to equal employment, equal pay, equal access, etc.
 1. When can a person be acceptable to the precept of God though it
is not His attested precepts of understanding? Can we be morally
unrighteous when we invalidate Our father’s command?
DOING GOOD TO OTHERS
Ethics – study of morality’s effect on conduct: the study of moral
(involving right and wrong) standards and how they affect conduct
(behave/perform)
THREE GENERAL KINDS OF ETHICS
1. Normative Ethics
- studies the principles of standards used as bases for making
moral judgments whether good or bad
2. Meta-Ethics
- studies the nature of moral judgments in terms of how they are
known and acquire their meanings
3. Applied/Practical Ethics
- Examines the controversial ethical issues in some specified
areas such as Medicine (euthanasia), business worth of
return against the gain), law (verdict for the needy), computing
(jurisdiction of implementations and exceptions), and the environment
(innovations/modernizations against the rights of nature to
persist/persevere)
THREE MORALLY RELEVANT FEAUTURES OF HUMAN ACTIONS
1. These actions lead to certain consequences
2. These actions follow or violate certain rules
3. These actions are performed by person with certain characteristic
trait/ attribute, quality

CONSEQUENTIALISM

- a good action is one that results in good or desirable effects or

result and the opposite of which if it is undesirable.
DEONTOLOGY

- logic of moral obligation rules followed or violated by actions.

It claims that a good action is one that follows a good or right
rule or violates a good or right rule
VIRTUE ETHICS

- dependent on the doer of the action

- a good action is one that is performed by a virtuous person,
while a bad action is one that is performed by a vicious person
CONSEQUENTIALISM & UTILITARIANISM
TWO GENERAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF CONSEQUENTIALISM
A. The Role of Pleasure and Pain
1. hedonistic = when good results are defined solely in terms of the
experiences of pleasure and avoidance of pain
2. non-hedonistic = good results are defined not solely in terms of
experience of pleasure and avoidance of pain but also in terms of
other desirable things such as the acquisitions of knowledge and
power.

B. The Role of the Agent of the Action

1. Egoistic/agent-relative = When good results are defined solely in
terms of the good or welfare of the agent
2. Non-Egoistic/agent-neutral = when good results are defined not in
terms of the good or welfare of the agent but in terms of the good or
welfare of the affected persons.

FOUR KINDS OF CONSEQUENTIALISM

1. Agent Relative Hedonism
- an action is good if it brings pleasure to its agents
2. Agent-Neutral Hedonism
- an action is good if it brings the maximum pleasure to the
greatest number of affected persons
3. Agent-Relative Non-Hedonism
- an action is good if it brings any form of benefits to its agents
4. Agent-Neutral Non-Hedonism
- an action is good if it brings the maximum benefits of any form
to the greatest number of affected persons
UTILITARIANISM (Agent-Neutral and is either hedonistic or non-
hedonistic)

- an action is morally good if it maximizes the

aggregate/collective good or welfare of all affected persons
DEONTOLOGICAL/logic of moral obligation ETHICAL THEORIES

- a.k.a. duty-based or right-based ethical theories due to

closeness of laws, duties & rights (laws create duties and
rights, duties respect rights, rights impose/execute duties.)
TWO CLASSIFICATION OF DEONTOLOGY/Logic of moral obligation
1. Religious Deontology
- good rules as the rules or laws of God

2. Rational Deontology
- good rules as the as the laws of reason (independent of
religious considerations.)

TWO WAY TO TEST THE VALIDITY OF MORAL LAW

1. Universalizality
- an action is morally good if its maxim/guideline (rule or law
that we make for ourselves when we have decided to perform an
action) can be made universal
e.g. "White lies" as oppose to "deceptions"

2. Respect for person

- an action is morally good if it does not use persons as means but
always as ends at the same time.
VIRTUE/goodness ETHICS

 Aristotelian precepts/rule is the end goal of humans is to be

happy or to flourish "EUDAIMONIA"
 "GOLDEN MEAN" the good character trait is that which lies in
between two extreme traits (excessive/rash form and
deficient/cowardice form) relevant to the situation.
BEING JUST TO OTHERS

 Justice - giving what is due to a person or what a person

deserves to receive.

THREE GENERAL KINDS OF JUSTICE

1. Distributive Justice
- appropriation of equality in giving
e.g. Egalitarian/democratic

2. Retributive Justice
- imposing punishments and penalties for the guilty

3. Compensatory Justice
- paying people for what they have lost.
 JOHN RAWLS

“A just distribution is one

in which the principle that
governs the distribution is
chosen in a fair manner.”

ROBERT NOZICK
“A just distribution is one in which no moral rights
are violated in the two processes involved in the
act of distribution which are the process of
acquiring ownerships of the goods to be distributed
and the process of transferring the ownership of the
goods to be distributed.”

“All social interactions require some loss of freedom.” – Erol Ozan

1. How should human interact with society
SOCIETY AND STATE
Society = structured community (public) of people
State = government

SOCIETY – it refers to the totality of all natural relations and

institutions between man and man (Franz Oppenheimer)
STAGES OF SOCIETY (sociological)
1. Hunting/men and gathering/women (Provision of nature)
2. Pastoral (domestication and herding of animals)
3. Horticultural (cultivation/farming of fruits and vegetables and
using hand tools)
 4. Agricultural (cultivation of crops such as corn, wheat, and rice
through human and nonhuman means)
5. Industrial (utilization of mechanical means beginning from the
invention of steam engine by James Watt)
6. Post-Industrial (Electronic Manipulation and transmission of
information)
STATE, SCOIETY, GOVERNMENT, AND NATION
Three morally relevant featured of human actions
1. These actions lead to certain consequences.
2. These actions follow or violate certain rules
3. These actions are performed by persons with certain
characteristic trait/attribute/quality

What is government?
Government

- A group of people who have the power to make and enforce laws for
a country or area
JUSTIFICATION OF THE STATE
1. Divine Right Theory
- Appointment by God

2. Social Contract Theory

- Contract with the citizen
THOMAS HOOBES
– “Everyone is at war with everyone else
JOHN LOCKE
– “Rise of the fundamental rights such as life, liberty, property.”
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
– “Comparison prevents them to go to war.” (except scarcity)
Was it wrong for the Israelites to ask for a king?

- In 1 Samuel 8:5 the Israelites ask Samuel to appoint a king,

saying, "You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now
appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
Was this wrong? The following verses make clear that it was.
Samuel was displeased and prayed to the Lord concerning the
matter. God answered, "Listen to all that the people are saying
to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected
me as their king. As they have done from the day, I brought them
up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other
 gods, so they are doing to you" (1 Samuel 8:7-8). God said the
Israelites' request was a rejection of Him, that they had
forsaken Him and were serving other gods.

- Another reason it was wrong to ask for a king is that the

Israelites did so in order to be like "all the other nations."
God had created Israel as a unique people. He was their leader.
When the Israelites wanted a king like other nations had, they
were rejecting their unique, set-apart position as God's people.
The nation whose God was to be the Lord alone was envious of the
nations who followed false gods.

FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

- Throughout human history, mankind has established many types of

governments.
- Goal:
 have power in politics – struggle for power in government
THREE BASIC FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

 Autocracy
- governing is done by the individual

 Oligarchy
- governing is done by a small group
- usually military, landowners, or upper class

 Democracy
- Most of society can interact in government
STYLES OF GOVERNMENT

 Monarchies
- 2 types:
a. Absolute Monarchies
- ruled by king or queen
- given absolute power by divine right
- have to answer to nobody but God

Birth of Constitutional Monarchs (1200s-1900s)

- eventually, citizens demand rights from their rule
- they wanted to have opinions on law
- they wanted to own land to pass on to family so they could establish
a source of income or become wealthy
The Magna Carta (Great Charter) 1215 A.D. England
- First formal declaration of rights for people given by any king
- 1st time ever a king has their powers limited.
- How?
= King John guaranteed certain rights to nobles. (Law Veto Power)

 Magna Carta leads to Constitutional Monarchies

- since the signing of the Magna Carta
- kings and queens in England continued to lose power in their
countries
- 1265 – Britain builds the Parliament building

c. Constitutional Monarchs
- power is within the Parliament
- legislative body of government
- lead by a Prime Minister
- Real leader of government
- King or Queen
- now just a “figure head”
- have no real power
- strictly a ceremonial position

What kind of governments would be established after WWI?

- Large majority of countries establish a representative
democracy form of government
- Government's authority comes only from the people through
representation.
- Men vote for representatives to work in government for them.
- If all adults can participate in government
- Called republic/state

DIRECT DEMOCRACIES

- Different for one reason

- permits citizens to vote directly on laws and policies
- usually seen at state and local level
- Ohio
- Cuyahoga Falls
THE EVIL EMPIRES…

- Dictatorships (2 types)
= if all government power lies within:
 Autocracy – 1 person
 Oligarchy – small group of people, church
- people usually have very limited rights
- dictators are authoritarian leaders
 - has no formal limits other that 3rd party groups
 Autocracy
- It is a system of government in which supreme power over a state
is concentrated in the hands of one person.
- Here are whose decisions are subject to neither external legal
restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (except
perhaps for the implicit threat of coup d'état or other forms of
rebellion .
- This was used for anyone holding the title emperor, regardless of
the actual power of the monarch. Some historical Slavic monarchs
such as Russian tsars and emperors included the title Autocrat as
part of their official styles, distinguishing them from the
constitutional monarchs elsewhere in Europe.

 Oligarchy
- di ko pa nalalagay kasi super duper bilis dinaanan ni sir

 Democracy
- The decisions on who is considered part of the people and how
authority is shared among or delegated by the people have changed
over time and at different speeds in different countries, but
they have included more and more of the inhabitants of all
countries through this.
- Its cornerstone includes freedom of assembly and speech,
inclusiveness and equality, membership, consent, voting, right to
life and minority rights.
- It is a form of government in which the people have the
authority to choose their governing legislators.
- Two current types of this are direct and representative. In a
direct, the people directly deliberate and decide on legislation.
In a representative, the people elect representatives to
deliberate and decide on legislation, such as in parliamentary or
presidential democracy.

World’s Worst Dictators of all time

1.
- Killed over 125,000 people to
stay in power
- Murdered elderly and poor
- Saddam Hussein, the dictator who
led Iraq through three decades of
brutality, war and bombast before
American forces chased him from
his capital city and captured him
in a filthy pit near his
hometown, was hanged just before
dawn Saturday during the morning
call to prayer. Dec 30, 2006
 - Killed over 500,000 citizens in
Russia to keep power

- Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a

Georgian revolutionary and Soviet
politician who led the ...
2. consolidated power to become the
country's de facto dictator by the
1930s. ... Born to a poor family
in Gori in the Russian Empire (now
Georgia), Stalin joined the
Marxist Russian Social Democratic
Labour Party as a youth.

- Kim Jong Un
- Starved over 4 million of own
countrymen to death during his
government plan called Great Leap
Forward!
- Worked people 16 hrs
3.
- Gave them 8 oz. of rice/ day

What's worse than a dictator?

Totalitarian dictators

- seek complete control over all aspects of citizens lives

 Political Religious
 Social
 Cultural
 known as despotism/dictatorial ship
- Government controls everything
CRAZIEST TOTALITARIAN DESPOTIC

By November 1932, the Nazi Party had the most seats in

the German Reichstag but did not have a majority. As a
result, no party was able to form a majority
parliamentary coalition in support of a candidate for
chancellor. Former chancellor Franz von Papen and
other conservative leaders persuaded President Paul
von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor on 30
January 1933. Shortly after, the Reichstag passed the
Enabling Act of 1933 which began the process of
transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a
one-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and
autocratic ideology of Nazism. Hitler aimed to
eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order
to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-
World War | international order dominated by Britain
and France. His first six years in power resulted in
Adolf Hitler rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the
abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after
World War I, and the annexation of territories
inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which gave
him significant popular support.

Leopold II of Belgium was the founder and sole

owner of the Congo Free State, a private project
undertaken on his own behalf. He used Henry Morton
Stanley to help him lay, claim to the Congo, the
present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. At
the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the colonial
nations of Europe authorized his claim by
committing the Congo Free State to improving the
lives of the native inhabitants. Leopold ignored
these conditions and ran the Congo using the
mercenary, Force Publique for his personal gain. He
extracted a fortune from the territory, initially
by the collection of ivory, and after a rise in the
price of natural rubber in the 1890s, by forced
labor from the native population to harvest and
process rubber. Exterminated almost 15 million
Africans of Congo.
"At its birth the Republic gave voice to...three words,
'Liberty/freedom, Equality/fairness, Fraternity/brotherliness'...If
Europe is wise/judicious and just/fair, each of these words signifies
peace/harmony."
Society and the State
• Society = structured community of people: a structured community of
people bound together by similar traditions, institutions, or
nationality
• State = government: a country's government and those government
controlled institutions that are responsible for its internal
administration and its relationships with other countries
A presidential system is a democratic/equal partition by all and
republican/supreme power is vested in an electorate/group of voters
government in which a head of government leads an executive branch
that is separate from the legislative/parliament branch. This head of
government is in most cases also the head of state, which is called a
president.
JUSTIFICATION OF THE STATE
1. Divine Right Theory = appointment by God
2. Social Contract Theory = citizen have given the institution of the
state
3. Consequentialist Approach = 'Greatest happiness principle'

THREE DIMENSION OF THE LEGITIMACY OF THE STATE'S POLITICAL POWER

1. Justification
2. Structure
3. Limits
Legitimacy - Legal
Political - civil administration

STATE POWER: STRUCTURE AND LIMITS

PRETEDING LEADERS
1. 1Sa 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of
the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected
thee, but they have rejected me, that I should ng reign over them.
2. Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For
there is no power but of God: the powers that be are, ordained of God.
BEWARE
a. usurper/take over
b. resistance: Rom 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist who receive to
themselves damnation.
c. disobedience: Mar 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
God's. And they marvelled at him.

Israel Demands a King

• 1Sa 8:1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made
his sons judges over Israel.
• 1Sa 8:2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of
his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.
• 1Sa 8:3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside
after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
• 1Sa 8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves
together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
• 1Sa 8:5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons
walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the
nations.
• 1Sa 8:6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us
a king to judge Us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
• 1Sa 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of
the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected
thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
• 1Sa 8:8 According to all the works which they have done since the
day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith
they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto
thee.
• 1Sa 8:9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet
protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that
shall reign over them.
• Samuel's Warning Against Kings
• 1Sa 8:10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the
people that asked of him a king.
• 1Sa 8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that
shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for
himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run
before his chariots.
• 1Sa 8:12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and
captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to
reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments
of his chariots.
• 1Sa 8:13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries,
and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
• 1Sa 8:14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and
your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his
servants.
• 1Sa 8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your
vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
• 1Sa 8:16 And he will take your menservants, and your
maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put
them to his work.
• 1Sa 8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be
his servants.
• 1Sa 8:18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king
which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that
day.
• The Lord Grants Israel's Request
• 1Sa 8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of
Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
• 1Sa 8:20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our
king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
• 1Sa 8:21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he
rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.
• 1Sa 8:22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice,
and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye
every man unto his city.

GOD'S ACTION
• He can simply harden the hearts for indecision. e.g., Pharaoh's
heart was hardened (Exo 9:12 And the LORD hardened the heart of
Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto,
Moses.)
• He rules over no matter what religion a nation has e.g. The
nation of Nineveh, modern-day Mosul, Iraq (Jonah 1:2 Arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is
come up before me.
• As per God's instructions, Moses and his brother Aaron go to
Pharaoh's court and ask him to free the enslaved Hebrew people. Tyrant
that he is, Pharaoh rejects the brothers' request outright. In turn,
God brings down the first of 10 plagues, the transformation of water
to blood. On seeing the effects of this plague, Pharaoh seems to
reconsider. But his wavering is short-lived. As the King James Bible
puts it, "Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto
them; as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his
house." Pharaoh's hard-hearted refusal brings on the next plague,
frogs. After seeing the frogs hopping around his bedchamber.

ADAM SMITH

CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

“ A grateful environment is a substitute for happiness. It can quicken
us from without as a fixed hope and affection, or the consciousness of
a right life, can quicken us from within.”
– George Santayana (1863- 1952) a Spanish-born U.S. philosopher, poet,
and novelist; The Sense of Beauty

FOUR CLASSIFICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

1. Physical
- refer to causes that can in principle be studied by the sciences
that can either be natural or human induced)
2. Legal
- this includes existing laws of the land that have something to do
with the environment
3. Socioeconomic
- brought about by social arrangements and the economic status of
human person
4. Attitudinal
- beliefs and values held by humans about nature

SAMPLES OF BELIEFS
1. Homo economicus – economic well-being is primary
2. Progressivism – abundance and trust in technology
3. Industrialism – mass-production and rationally designed
institutions and programs are the best way to perfect human society
4. Consumerism – well-being is achieved through abundance and
consumption

An apocalypse (Ancient Greek : apokálypsis) from of/from: από and

cover: literally meaning "unveiling/opening or uncovering") is a
disclosure on revelation of great knowledge. In religious concepts an
apocalypse usually discloses something very important that was hidden
or provides what Bart Ehrman has termed, "A vision of heavenly secrets
that can make sense of earthly realities".