What does the passage in Proverbs 8:22 mean and how does it compare to Christianity - Essay Example

?What does the passage in Proverbs 8:22 mean and how does it compare to Christianity? The premise of the article assumes that the divine entity that created the world which is called the “Architect”. Ergo, as the source of all this, the enabler, the source to which all things on earth is born, he is the father. The second premise is that if there is a father, therefore there must be a mother. And the mother was assumed to be “Knowledge”. Here, Knowledge is not a separate entity but something that is innate inside the Architect—a union between the two. It was through this divine union that the writer assumed that the mother, Knowledge had begotten a divine seed, when the union of both the Maker and Knowledge was consummated. The result was the world that could be felt by the senses. It was these premises that again inspired the writer to assume that this is what the passage in Proverbs 8:22 mean—“The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else” (NLT). I think that though wisdom was in the article described as a woman, I believe that the scripture was only personifying wisdom—giving it feminine value. Thus, it still fits with the Jewish tradition of God who is Abba or father and that there was no divine union of a father and mother. Wisdom in Proverbs 8 was only personified to give it feminine value, but what I do agree on with the article is that Wisdom is in the beginning. Now for the traditional Jews, this meant that there is a messiah that would come, and who was part of the creation of the world as was described in the book of Genesis—which is part of the Torah. It is a guarantee that the Messiah that they are waiting for is coming, and Proverbs 8 is an assurance that, that Messiah is part of the creation and it is twice joy to know that their savior is part of their creation as well. For Christianity, Proverbs 8 means that Christ is the first wisdom. Jesus Christ, the son of God as the first wisdom was part of the creation of the world. And like the Jews, Christians have the sweet assurance and the delight of knowing that the savior, the one who died on the cross for their salvation is part of their creation. That Christ who created them loved them dearly enough, who have in him the wisdom of creating the world, of creating humankind that he have willingly died on the cross for them. What is similar for both Jews and Christians is that Proverbs 8 talks about Wisdom being personified only as a woman. And that the presence of wisdom during creation meant that the messiah of the Jews and Jesus Christ of the Christians was present during creation. Despite the difference in entity to which it pertains, there is similarity in interpretation—that there is no holy, divine union between a mother and father that bore out creation. How far should society and businesses go to accommodate people of different faiths? This article talks about how a community hospital in Maine had successfully improved its health care by redesigning their Johnnies to accommodate Muslim women (and men). Rather than the usual shorter gown, they made it longer that would cover to a person’s feet, and even have a sarong that would go under the Johnny that would provide additional coverage for men. I believe that what the hospital did was an exceptional move not just to accommodate the minorities but in providing better health care services. As a minority, and a refugee at that, Muslims in Maine are often stereotyped, outcast, and are often a butt of anti-Islamic sentiments. Most of it, I believe stems from ignorance. By simply making adjustment in the gowns, the hospital was able to breakdown cultural barriers because one, there was an effort to understand why women would rather skip their appointments altogether. Second, they were able to learn why Muslim women tend to be shy or unresponsive when asked by a doctor or when undergoing medical exams, and third, they were able to bridge the gap of ensuring that these minority have the basic health care by understanding not only their culture but their religious beliefs as well. I believe that everyone has a right to healthcare—it is one of the basic human rights. Just because these people are (assumed to be) not paying taxes does not mean we should deny them these rights. On the other hand, just because they are different does not mean they should be given special favors as well. The negative thing about the move was that, there were other complaints about the hospital gowns that were unheeded before. I think that the hospital should not have been selective on the way that they accommodate the requests of the people, especially since the majority of the local populace also has complaints about their gowns. In all, I am in agreement that businesses and social institutions in general should be flexible enough to accommodate the various culture of its people. The United States should learn from its past, after all, it s a melting pot of culture because it would not be a country that it is today if not for the waves of migrants that have come to its shores. And that’s one thing that it unique about the US—it was able to successfully integrate its new migrants by infusing the new culture with the prevailing culture. And I believe that is what made the country great, that it was able to find unity in diversity. So yes, flexibility and temperance must be exercised to accommodate other culture without prejudice but at the same time businesses and social institutions must not also be selective in the way they implement and cater to changes. Changes should successfully address the demands of all the stakeholders and not just the selected few. Furthermore, it must be able to implement the change effectively by informing every one of why there is a need for change and why there are changes that cannot be accommodated to ensure smooth transition. Read More