Study of Laziness †Proverbs 104 NIV - 1650 Words

Study of Laziness – Proverbs 10:4 NIV (Coursework Sample) Content: Students NameInstructors NameClassDateStudy of Laziness Proverbs 10:4 NIVMain points main idea and outlineIntroductionHistorical backgroundLiterary backgroundAnalysis of the text or contentApplicationBibliography1. IntroductionThe book of proverbs contains useful discourses on what one can do in order to be successful in life. It speaks against laziness and its consequences. In a nutshell, Prov.4:11 states in a direct way that laziness is a recipe for poverty while diligence brings wealth. This is a simple verse but it is laden with a lot of meaning. The subject of poverty and wealth is documented in millions and volumes of books written by academicians, researchers and motivational authors. It is not, therefore, a religious issue but also an economic one. No matter where one lives, the truth is that there are both wealthy and poor people. The subject of unequal distribution is a broad one. For the better part, the book of Proverbs addresses the subject of wealth an d poverty. It gives instructions on what one needs to do in order to avoid living in poverty. The message is as critical to Christians today as it was to the Israelites at the time.2. Historical backgroundCharacteristics of ProverbsContrary to popular belief, proverbs are found in the entire bible. The only difference is that in the book of Proverbs, these poetic instructions have been put together. Other books of the Old Testament such as Job and Ecclesiastes use proverbs quite a lot. In the New Testament, the book of James is written using many proverbs too. Generally, a proverb is a poetic, memorable and concise saying that expresses a general or ethical observation about life. The meaning of any proverb contained in the bible is first inferred from a religious point of view before making any other interpretation. Who is the lazy person being referred to?A lazy person is one who does not want to engage into any meaningful work. Therefore, laziness is the act of lying idle and bei ng in a state dormancy. At the end of the day, a lazy person has nothing to show for the time spent. At the time this verse was written, the people of Israel were farmers who tilled land and reared livestock. Verse 5 in the same chapter compares a person who gathers crops in summer and another who sleeps throughout the harvesting season. The text admonishes Christians who are afraid or unwilling to take active participation in economic activities that they will only have themselves to blame when poverty strikes. It compares those who work hard with those who do not and gives a conclusion as to what will befall each person.Poverty and how it comes aboutThe inequalities in the world today attest to the fact people cannot be all the same. There are those who are rich and others poor. There are those who hard in life yet they have not been able to amass wealth. Such kind of poverty is not evil. The kind of poverty the author of Proverbs 10:4 talks about is that which comes as a result o f a deliberate decision to become lazy. What the author did was merely to rubberstamp the ethic of hard work. In another area of the book, the writer asks the reader to learn from the behavior of ants. These social insects work so hard to gather food to feed an entire colony. Their timing is always perfect. It is this kind of wisdom that Solomon and other writers wanted Christians to have.Background of the text from a modern perspectiveThe importance of hard work has been passed on from one generation to the next. From a tender age, parents begin to teach their children about hard work. They encourage them to study hard and get good grades that will see them admitted to a good college. On the other hand, grown-ups know too well that if at all they want to succeed, they must put a lot of effort in their work. One cannot get money unless they are ready to do some work for it. This work could be as an employed person or one who engages in a business. Without rising up early and getting to ones place of work, there will be no income to boast of at the end of the month. This would have dire consequences. For instance, one may have to go without paying rent, putting gas in the tank, buying food or even paying for childrens education. If this goes on undeterred, a person ends up with no savings for future use. In the meantime, there is no money to spend on investments that will become useful in future. The principle of hard work applies to everyone irrespective of their status in life. It does not matter whether one is a bus driver, office messenger, farmer, entrepreneur or chief executive of a company. Without working hard at the source of income, gradually, poverty sets in. 3. Literary backgroundProverbs 10:4 is written in a form known as antithetical parallelism. This is a literary style where a writer puts contrasting lines in a way that corresponds to each other. King Solomon is credited with writing this proverb. Other proverbs written by Solomon are 1:1-9:18, 10:1-22:16 and 25:1-29:27. In total, Solomon wrote over 500 proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is set in the period during the reign of King Solomon up to the time the Southern Kingdom was defeated some time in 586 B.C. However, the original audience is not explicitly clear. Chapter 1-9 are for a young audience. Later on from Chapter 10 onwards, focus shifts to a more mature audience. One can comprehend why this is so. The people who served in Solomons court consisted of young men. This is consistent with references to the word son as seen in Chapters 1-9. One cannot rule out a rural setting given the nature of context in the entire Chapter 10. The text is part of what is termed as wisdom literature. Apart from Proverbs, other books written in the same style include Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and Job. Wisdom literature genre is a writing style that deals with human response to ethics and practical aspects of life. Solomon is one of the wisest people who ever lived. Interestingly, his wisdom came following a direct request from God. It is therefore in order for him to have shared such words with the people of Israel and by extension, millions of Christians today.4. Analysis of the text or contentTo start with the entire book of Proverbs does not qualify to be called a book per se. It is actually a collection of poems with a diverse authorship. The subject matter is also of a varied nature. Therefore, one cannot merely single out a single message. It requires a broad perspective. Each sentence in Proverbs Chapter 10 consists of a separate verse. The verses are separated in two parts. In the case of Proverbs 10:4 the two sentences are a contrast to each other. One should read these verses one at a time. The writing style is not that of a narrative. One should understand each verse prayerfully before proceeding to the next one. There are two opposing sides in the text. One side is made up of those who seize opportunities and make good use of them on a continuous b asis. The opposite side consists of people who neglect every chance t...

Tracing the concept Investment Essay - 3025 Words

Tracing the concept: Investment (Term Paper Sample) Content: UniversityTracing the concept: InvestmentNameCourseProfessordateTracing the concept: InvestmentIntroductionInvestment is a mechanism where individuals, institutions and, governments commit their resources in the form of finances, time, and energy mainly in anticipation of future benefits. The paper is going to focus on the theories and concepts that were formulated by Keynes, Schumpeter, and Smith that have lead to the development of the concept of investment from the early times to what it is today and to evaluate the impact that this concept has had on numerous economies .The benefits may include future streams of income or other defined benefits. Individuals and institutions like companies are known to consider investment as a concept that is quite essential in putting them in a position that enables them to earn increased level of incomes in the future than at the moment. Individuals normally invest in numerous businesses and ventures to improve their welfare i n the future through the increased earnings that can lead to much financial freedom that is critical for their futures. Firms are also of the same reasoning where they aim at putting various investments in place to ensure that they grow and become profitable with time. The governments through various organs and institutions may investment to make profits or increase welfare of the citizens where numerous investment plans are drafted top lead to numerous projects in various sectors to ensure that they attain their goals are met at the end of the day.The concept of investment has been in existence for a long period since individuals, organizations, and governments have always been looking for mechanisms of making themselves better as they move into the future. Each of these three parties has been thinking on the best way out to ensure that the future becomes fruitful and prosperous enough to ensure that there are sustainability and profitability. It is this thinking that led to the c oncept of investment among numerous parties worldwide.One of the leading economists that led to the development of the concept of investment was John Keynes through his theory of investment. In his theory, he places much emphasis on the importance of interest rates in determining investment decisions of individuals and firms. He latter includes the aspect of profitability in his investment analysis where he argues that firms, as well as individuals, will find it necessary to invest in various ventures provided that they find them profitable. It implies that the main reason as to why people make investment decisions is to earn profits that enable them to expand their activities to the required levels.On the idea of interest rates, he argues that investors and businessmen always have two options at hand where they can either save their money in the banks to earn interest or invest in businesses to earn profits. He observed that when the rates of interest in the economy are quite hig h, businessmen will find it fit to save their money in the savings accounts of various banks where the returns on their saved money will be higher than when they invest it in any form of business. He goes ahead to state that when the rates of interest are high, businessmen and firms find it quite difficult to finance their ventures since the banks and other financial institutions charge extremely high amounts in terms of interests. It implies that the cost of capital is high since the firms have to pay high amounts on the capital borrowed to finance their activities. Such a scenario is quite discouraging to those who might be in the mood of investing since they may not be willing to pay the high interest rates.On a positive note, he analyzed that when the rates of interest are low, businessmen tend to increase their levels of investments since they can obtain capital quite cheaply. At such a moment, the rates of interest charged on the borrowed capital is quite low implying that bu sinessmen can go ahead and borrow money from various institutions since they can repay back with much ease. When the cost of capital is low, businessmen are motivated to borrow on an increased scale since they are quite sure of repaying the amounts borrowed because they will not pay a lot of extra funds to repay back the borrowed funds.Views of Keynes are still being put into practice at this moment since investors are always on the lookout to establish the cost of capital before making numerous investment decisions. They are always seeking information regarding the rates of interest charged by various financial institutions for them to make decisions regarding borrowing. When the rates of interest go down, the investors normally rush to the banks to get loans to expand their business to enable them to be extremely profitable. There are numerous banks and other non-banking institutions that are giving out loans to the businessmen who have the intentions of investing in numerous ve ntures. These loan giving institutions are competing amongst themselves basing on the interest rates charged where those that charge low levels of interest have a high likelihood of attracting numerous clients in the form of individuals and firms to borrow from them thus implying that Keynesian notion of interest rates as reason behind their decisions.The other aspect other aspect that investors are observing is the fact that when the interest rates are high, they prefer keeping their money in the savings rates than investing them in numerous businesses where they may be subjected to numerous risks that may hamper their returns. Another option at the disposal of investors is the idea of investing in shares and government bonds; here they rely on the prevailing interest rates to make decisions regarding such investments. It is obvious that investors will be willing to buy shares and bonds when the rates of interest are high for them to make better returns that can enable them to acc umulate increased finances. Such decisions are also pegged on the analysis that Keynes made regarding the relationship that exists between the rates of interest and a desire by individuals to make investment decisions.This theory has been instrumental in helping individuals and firm to assess their investment decisions where they analyze the trends in the rates of interest for them to be informed of the course of action to take. It implies that investors make their investment decisions pegged on the prevailing rates of interest in the economy where they have two options to chose from in case they want to make a decision of what to do with their money or when it comes to borrowing from the financial institutions.The role played by the Austrian school of economics cannot escape unnoticed since it played a vital role in ensuring that the society gets to understand how to approach investment issues and business in general. One of the most outstanding economists in this school of thoug ht was Joseph Schumpeter who also worked as a political analyst. His works surrounded on issues like business cycles and innovation where he always emphasized and appreciate the role played by entrepreneurs in the society. He is an individual that lauded the manner in, which entrepreneurs helped to create new jobs and increase production levels, which he believed were tremendous to economic growth and prosperity of any economy. On business cycles, he observed that they were essential in explaining the business situations of the economy. He believed that capitalism is prone to long-term cycles since it is largely based on scientific inventions ad innovations. He lauded the role played by scientific innovations in facilitating the expansion that is responsible for increasing economic gains that force entrepreneurs to invest heavily. He urged the governments to always ensure that there are numerous innovations and inventions in the economy to ensure that the businessmen invest to prev ent cases of recession that may lead to closures of businesses and hence bankruptcy. He argued that such innovations could lead to destructive results where the current means of production and products are rendered useless thus implying that the firms will start producing at reduced levels thus leading to unemployment in the short-run. Such scenarios are necessary for economic growth since the economy can start a fresh based on new products that result from the modernized innovations.His ideas are quite essential in the sense that many governments and policy makers have come to understand that the economy has to be allowed to go through numerous cycles in certain times for there to be new products that are desired by the society. It stresses on the notion that the business world is quite dynamic and many at times quite unpredictable thus implying that there is always need for policies to be in place to manage such changes. The prospect of having an economy that is supportive of inno vations that are based on advancing scientific techniques is quite essential since it helps to increase productivity. As technology and innovations change, there are those individuals and firms that will find it hard to adjust in the short-run thus implying that there shall be structural unemployment where some employees will find their skills unnecessary thus signaling the need for re-training. These innovations motivates firms and individuals to invest more thus leading to a situation where there is enough capital stock to work with that enables the productivity level in the economy to raise a lot.The concepts highlighted by Schumpeter are quite essential since the firms should be aware of the fact that there have to be business cycles, which may end up impacting negatively on their businesses thus the need for them to come up with means of coping with this situation to help them to manage their resources better. The idea of facilitating innovat...