A Holy Nation

A Holy Nation Essay A Holy NationAfter creating the world, a paradise for human kind, God is forced to banish Adam and Eve because they disobey His orders to not eat fruit from the tree of wisdom. This results ultimately in the fall of man to earth. Immediately from the beginning of his time on Earth, man chooses not to follow the path set before him by God but instead spreads evil throughout the world. Therefore, the inherent problem humans face is the pressure to judge between good and evil, the need to aspire to be like God. Gods first solution to this problem was to flood the world killing everyone, but those on Noahs arch. God realizes, however, that this is not an answer to the problem that humans are, and decides upon a second solution, that being the Holy Nation of Israel. God creates Israel, so that the Holy Nation and its history can serve as a guiding-light to the world. Israel is therefore an example in which the world can look upon and learn from. A pivotal character within the great histor y of Israel, is the Holy Nations first king, King Saul. Saul epitomizes the problematic human being, and his character fully illustrates human pride, the need to rise up and be like God in judging what is right and wrong. This pride is ultimately the central source of all other sins. The rule of Saul over the people of Israel is a major turning point for the Holy Nation, for it marks the end of a line of Judges and begins a line of Kings. Saul is anointed king of Israel due to the sin of the people of Israel. The citizens of Israel, notice not only that Samuel, the Judge, was growing old, but also that his sons, whom he appointed to succeed him as Judge, did not follow their fathers ways but were intent on their own profit, taking bribes, and perverting the course of justice(8:3). As a result the people demanded a king be appointed to rule over them, even after they were given a solemn warning of the future kings tyranny (8:10-8:18). Because the Israelites reject the order of Judges , they thereby reject Gods word that He will save them, and have, as a result, lost faith in God. God states to Samuel, Listen to the people and all that they are saying; they have not rejected you, it is I whom they have rejected, I whom they will not have be their King(8:7). In spite of His peoples sin against Him, however, God finds a king to rule over Israel, and chooses Saul. In the beginning Saul is a strong and humble leader to his people. When is uncle questions him about Samuels remarks, Saul replies, He told us that the donkeys had been found but he did not repeat what Samuel had said about his being king(10:16). He does not tell his uncle that he is to become king of Israel because he is not overconfident and prideful in his position as ruler over Gods chosen ones. Moreover, Saul becomes very zealous and effective leader when he chooses to take a pair of oxen, cut them in pieces, and send messenger with the pieces all through Israel to proclaim that the same would be done to the oxen of any man who did not follow Samuel and himself to battle(11:5). Sauls first acts and first successes as king prove not only that he possesses the qualities of a good leader, but also reinforces in the mind of the people that he is Gods chosen. Sauls first victories against the nations enemies cause great joy and excitement amongst the Israelites. During this moment of rejoicing, Samuel gives a warning to the people of Israel that is more directed towards Saul himself. Samuel states, If you will revere the Lord and give true and loyal service, if you do not rebel against his commands, and if you and the king who reigns over you are faithful to the Lord you God, well and good, but if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, then his hands will be against you and against your king(12:14-15). Here, Samuel is effectually warning against the inherent human problem, telling the people not ever to substitute Gods judgement for ones own judgement. Although this is only a warning, it comes at a very unexpected time and foreshadows Sauls perpetual fall form Gods good favor. READ: 12 Angry Men EssaySauls mistakes and sins toward God begin in his very next campaign against the Philistines. The Philistines mustered to attack Israel; they had thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horse, with infantry as countless as the sand on the seashore. The Israelites found themselves in sore straits, for the army was hard pressed, so they hid themselves in caves and holes and among the rocks, in pits and cisterns(13:5-6). Upon this pathetic image of his countrymen Saul begins to doubt Gods promise to save His people, therein lies Sauls fatal mistake, and mans basis for sin. As a result Saul chooses to acting in the manner of pagans, make whole-sacrifices in order to ensure the Lords favor. Although sacrificing to God may seem slight and excusable, the reason for which Saul chooses to act in this manner is not. Saul has shown that he has lost his confidence in God, and that his actions no longer correspond to Gods wishes because he can some how judge between rig ht and wrong for himself. At this point Sauls downfall is not fully apparent to the reader, but Samuel is able to see through to Sauls deadly sin. Samuel states, You have acted foolishly! You have not kept the command laid on you by the Lord your God; if you had he would have established your dynasty over Israel for all time. But now your line will not endure; the Lord will seek out a man after his own heart, appoint him prince over his people, because you have not kept the Lords command(13:13-14). Samuels words at this point seem far too drastic, but Samuel makes this statement because he is able to recognize that Sauls broken reasoning can only lead to more extreme sins against God. During Sauls next campaign against the Amalekites, Samuels warning comes to fruition, and now not only is God and Samuel able to see Sauls apparent flaws, but so can the reader. God directly commands Saul during a time in which the word of the Lord was rarely heard, and there was no outpouring of visio n(3:1), stating, Go now, fall upon the Amalekites, destroy them, and put their property under ban. Spare no one, put them to death, men and women, children and babies in arms, herds and flocks, camels and donkey(15:3). Fully understanding the commands that God gave him, Saul goes directly into battle with the Amalekites, yet he chooses not to obey Gods word, in spite of the strong emphasis that was put on the correct course of acts he should have taken due to Gods rare direct instruction. Saul inflicted defeat on the Amalekitesbut Agag king of the Amalekites he took alive and his army spared the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat beasts and the lambs, and everything worth keeping; these they were unwilling to destroy, but anything that was useless and of no value they destroyed(15:7). Therefore Saul as acted out in total defiance of God. He no longer follows the word of God, but instead has acted out of his own volition. His rejection of the word of the Lord results in his loss o f the Kingdom of Israel as prophesized by Samuel who took Agag and hewed him in pieces. Sauls actions at Amalek become a pivotal point in Sauls life because God does not support him any longer; he has loss his anointment as King of Israel. The argument that ensues between Saul and Samuel is a most powerful piece of symbolism. As Samuel turned to go, Saul caught the corner of his cloak and it tore.(15:27). At this point Saul is standing like a guilty child, pathetically holding onto a shred of cloth. This image marks the start of Sauls drastic downfall. READ: Fahrenheit 451 - A Charred Existence EssayA new king is revealed to Samuel, by God, as being David. God also anoints David as King of Israel, presenting a major conflict since there are now two kings of Israel. David is also appointed commander of Israels army and succeeds in battle, routing his enemies a number of times. As a result Israelites begin saying, Saul struck down Thousands, but David tens of thousands(18:7). This causes Saul to become thick with jealousy of David, and soon Saul is seen hurling spears trying to murder David, yet David amazingly is able to dodge certain death. After this Saul was afraid of David because he saw that God had forsaken him and was with David, who led his men into action and succeeded in everything that he undertook(18:12). Yet Saul continues to pursue and try to murder David, a clear agent of God. Therefore, Saul has ultimately developed on three separate levels. On the first of these levels, he first begins to doubt Gods power and wor d when he sees the massive Philistine army and makes a sacrifice to ensure Gods support. This first sin slowly progresses onto a second level, when Saul chooses to openly defy God and decides to spare Agag. In his final level of development, Saul has deteriorated into an evil person searching for a way to destroy Gods good work. Although it is perfectly clear that God protects David, Saul continues to try and kill him. At this junction Saul finds himself alone; his son is on Davids side, his daughter is on Davids side, his people are on Davids side, and most importantly God is on Davids side. Therefore, Saul must die and give way to David, yet David is unwilling to kill Gods anointed one, and the Philistines are kept from kill Saul because they are all uncircumcised. The final solution presents itself when Saul is injured and thereupon he took his own sword and fell on it. Once Saul is dead as a result of his own hand, David is king and he is not stained with the blood of another an ointed king. Sauls progression from Gods chosen king to king against God comes full circle. He came from the sin of the people and therefore he must die when he returns to that sin. Sauls story serves as an example of human natures need to judge for itself in its purest form. This need is very problematic, as we have seen, because humans can only see the obvious cause and effects that present themselves throughout life. The Lord does not see as a mortal sees; mortals see only appearances but the Lord sees into the heart(16:7). As humans our perceptions are imperfect, and as a result we cannot possibly judge what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, the most basic human sin is then need to become like God in making these judgements that we cannot possibly make with any accuracy what so ever. Saul embodies pure pride and is apart of Israels development into a nation that will ultimately serve as a guide to the world because he is a model of what humans must restrain themselves form doing and bein g. Religion Essays

Supercomputing Exaflop Target Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Supercomputing Exaflop Target - Assignment Example Data delivery and correction of errors might reduce the speed of the application despite the superb programming. The GPUs has allows enormous calculations of numbers in parallel as they constitute more cores as compared to the CPUs and current is applied to various data-intensive calculations. The GPUs was originally for tasks that are of graphics such as rendering every pixel in an image. This is because the graphics problem resembles the supercomputing problems (Geller, 16). In the modern world of supercomputing, the GPUs relies on the CPUs for other tasks despite being able to provide the highest calculation power. The speed is not a matter of throwing more cores in the given mix given that it is not easy to avail all the power used in the processing. The data ought to be managed for their proper intake and managing of the outcome. For the data to move appropriately between the CPUs and GPUs and attainment of better performance, the problem has to fit in the GPUs itself. Before th e benefit is attained the speed of the moving data and that of computing are so mismatched and therefore the GPU has to undertake a number of computations (Geller, 16). The Asian researchers are well positioned to the GPUs more parallel supercomputing that is massive. It is believed that economics that favors such innovations may be brought about by China’s isolation from the western influences. This is because of the vendors from the US who holds different perceptions. Whereas the potential bang for the buck is in Asia, if an application works effectively on this kind of accelerator technology, it might turn out to be very cost effective. China’s recent entry into HPC may be of help in this regard. In contrast, it is argued that programmers in more experienced nations may have to undergo re-education (Geller, 16). Historically Hybrid architectures have had an upper hand over the parallelism. They have used less energy than comparable CPU-only systems. The new Top500 l ist showed that the architectural battle over energy efficiency is on. The U.S.’s CPU-based IBM Blue Gene/Q Prototype supercomputer is the most energy-efficient system with the efficiency of 1,680 Mflops/watt. The K Computer consumes enough energy to power nearly 10,000 homes and costs $10 million a year to operate. These costs would significantly increase in an exaflop world. Major changes in the hardware will require major changes in the algorithms and software. Supercomputing is already widely used in fields as diverse as weather modeling, financial predictions, animation, fluid dynamics, and data searches. Each of these fields embodies several applications. While exaflop computers will spawn now-unimagined uses, any current increases in speed as we race toward that goal will greatly benefit many existing applications (Geller, 16).

Identify the main changes from one period to the other using Essay

Identify the main changes from one period to the other using analytical techniques, having calculated the ratios - Essay Example The Return on capital employed (ROCE) has also fallen from 35% to 5.9% in March 2012 which is also mainly due to deceased profits for the year. Since profitability ratios are all based on profits for the year the underlying problem is the drastic fall in profit as compared to last year which is concerning. The operating profit margin has fallen by 9% from 10.8% to only 1.8% this year. Despite of increase in sales revenue an immense increase was seen in the cost of sales and the operating expenses which both increased by 30% and 43.6% respectively, while the sales is merely increased by 19.6%. Another factor further contributing to the decrease in profit is high interest cost incurred this year which has increased from $ 18m to $ 32m this year making an increase of 77.7%. On the efficiency side the ratios seems pretty constant this year form inventories turnover days remaining at 56.7 days which was 56.6 days last year, the debtors days at 37.2 days which has an decrease of 2 days whi ch was 39.1 days last year. The sales to capital employed ratio have also been increased a little which is 3.36 times this year. Since there was an increase recorded in sales the sales per employee shows an inverse effect which has decreased by 11.1% this year. The liquidity ratios seem decreasing too due to increasing liabilities this year accompanied by decrease in profits and cash flow position. The current ratio of the company decreased by 0.3 times and is at 1.6:1 times which is isolation is a good ratio above 1 but comparatively has fallen from last year. Similarly acid test ratio has also fallen from 0.8:1 times to 0.6:1 times where a slight fall was seen. However the cash from obligation has fallen from 0.9 times to 0.1 times, which can be quite alarming for the company, the reason causing such a change is the decreasing cash flow and increasing liabilities of the company. The gearing of the company has also increased from last year from 26.2% to 36% this year. On the other hand the interest cover ratio of the company has drastically fallen due to increased interest payment and decreasing profit this year which has fallen from 13.5 times to only 1.5 times this year. The investment ratios however seemed to increase for the period and weren’t as bad as other ratios. The dividend paid for the period was constant from last year at $ 40m despite of low profits this year. This situation made the dividend payout ratio increase from 24.2% to 363.3% and the dividend yield ratio was increased from 3% to 4.9%. The EPS of the company also decreased drastically because of low reported profits this year from 27.5c from last year to 1.8c this year. The price earning ratio of the company has dramatically increased from 9.1 times to 83.3 times. 2. Give possible reasons for variances, making whatever assumptions you feel may be appropriate, whilst stating the assumptions made. The ratios analysis shows few concerning areas in the company which have occurred this year. The company’s overall performance has deteriorated this year with decreasing ratios mainly seen in the profitability and liquidity areas. Other then that too the company has shown a low performance. The first and the foremost is the profitability