Fernandez 1

Kelvin Fernandez
Mr. Nation/Mrs. Lynch
Bible 9/English 9
May 19, 2013
Rough Draft #1
War against Corruption
Justice is fairness and equality, recognizing that every being is of equal
importance. Injustice is the lack of this fairness and equality as well as the mistreating of
others. In the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist party during the Chinese Civil War,
there was corruption within its officials, resulting in the loss of the Chinese mainland to
the communists. These officials took money given to the Kuomintang from anticommunist governments such as the United States and held it as their own, leaving less
money to pay for the resources needed to fight the war (Kuomintang Historys Shadow).
Corruption is continuously repeated throughout literature, history and the Bible, in cases
like the Holocaust discussed in Elie Wiesels Night (Night), in the political History of
Latin American countries, and in governments in the times of Jesus. Hitler taking over
other countries and giving the excuse of lebensraum, living space, was corrupt and
unjust. Firstly in was corrupt because he broke agreements such as in the Munich
Conference when the allies agreed to let him take half of Czechoslovakia and he agreed;
yet six months later took the rest of the country. Secondly it was unjust because Hitler did
not respect the independency of these countries, and he mistreated the people, by way of
death camps, concentration cams, and ghettos. Straying away from Gods word and his

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plan for the human race has caused injustices such as corruption, seen in Elie Wiesels
Night as well as throughout history.
Corruption is an example of modern injustice, which is done by the people,
particularly the people with power and the people in government. Corruption itself is the
use of funds as well as other resources in order to benefit a group (Repblica
Dominicana). Corruption happens when an individual or a group with power abuses of
their power or wrongly uses their power. In the Dominican Republic there are problems
with the traffic officials taking bribes as well as with the police executing extrajudicial
executions (Police Killings). Another example of corruption in a Latin American country
is in Venezuela, recently diseased President Hugo Chavez was elected on three promises;
to fight poverty and social exclusion, to eliminate corruption, and to create a Constituent
Assembly that was to write a new constitution and improve the state. In his years as
president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez did keep his promise to make the Constituent
Assembly, but he hid the fact that the assembly was being used to eliminate different
political institutions as well as was used to adjust to his personal way of governing. For
Nine years the people of Venezuela were kept in the dark about the actual use being given
to the Constituent Assembly, and this is one of the main problems with corruption is the
lack of knowledge as well as the transparency with which corrupt acts are done, making it
very hard for a civilian to detect this corruption (The Corruption of Democracy).
Corruption happens by doing acts while you are in power to benefit you, but with a
transparency to the public, or by making what you are doing seem pleasant or seem like
the right thing to do.

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In Mark 14:58 the officials of the Sanhedrin claim that Jesus said I will destroy
this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made
without hands (Mark) when in John 2:19 Jesus said Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up. (John) These officials of the Sanhedrin were corrupt in trying
Jesus specifically in this instance when they twisted Jesus words to change the meaning
of what he actually said. This is the story where the officials of the Sanhedrin arrested
Jesus after being told by Judah where Jesus was, and they tried him at night, which was
against their rules for trial, and they broke many of their laws in order to have Jesus tried
quickly because of their hatred towards Jesus (12 Reasons). The Sanhedrin had the
support of all of its followers, the majority of the population in the area, and they used
that to their advantage as they broke their own laws and caused an uproar amongst the
crowd so that they could judge Jesus as quickly as possible, and give him the maximum
penalty. This shows the ways in which a group in power, in this case a religious group,
can abuse of its power and in a way be above the law by being corrupt and having the
support of others. If it were not fore such corruption in this world, the son of God, Jesus,
would not have been killed, because he did nothing wrong and is perfect. This abuse of
power in the times of Jesus is relevant now; as things are sometimes seen happening by
civilians and they do not pay attention to the possible corruption happening in the
background.
In 2 Peter 2:20 it says For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the
world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
(2 Peter) This is the biblical solution to corruption. At first it is difficult to understand

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but if you analyze it for a couple of minutes you will realize that the message that Peter is
trying to give the reader is that through knowing that Jesus is the lord and the savior, and
accepting him is the way that you are saved from the jaws of corruption and the wicked
ways of this world. The New Testament teaches to accept Jesus and his teachings and his
infinite wisdom, if this wisdom is accepted you are surely to be freed from the grasp of
corruption. Peter tries to tell us that the true and only teacher is Jesus Christ and none of
his ways are corrupt, and to separate ourselves from the grasp of these false teachers
mentioned earlier in 2 Peter Chapter 2 (Pulpit Commentary).
A clever solution to the corruption/transparency in Bangladesh was an anti
corruption cartoon completion for kids held by Transparency International Bangladesh
(TIB). In 2006 the first competition was held and there were 316 entries showing the
demand for a change in corruption and the spot lighting of corrupt ways. The numbers of
entries gradually rose in further years; in 2008 the entries were nearly 800 (TIB). In my
solution I would like to introduce children to corruption and its effects as well as how it
can be seen. This is one of the ways I would like to make corruption widely known as
well as widely discredited and defamed. I would like there to be more anti-corruption
cartoon contests as well as to have the parents of the children in these contest see these
cartoons, or have the winning cartoon placed in the local newspaper.
Corruption is a problem with a solution, but the solution that I have for it requires
for every person to put in his or her part. First of all an international group dedicated to
traveling abroad and teaching children of the problem that is corruption must unite. They
will be volunteers and will spend their free time studying the bible and corruption
internationally. Governments that are against corruption will fund the organization

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internationally, and as an organization working with the government the government will
be required to share information in confidence so that this organization can detect the
corrupt officials, as well as help fix flaws in the government to help the government be
protected against corruption. As a community in Santiago Christian School should hold
anti-corruption talks and try to share the information and knowledge about corruption
with the children; for example hosting an anti-corruption cartoon contest such as done by
TIB. As an organization a logo would be designed and the plans are for this logo to be
mass-produced on stickers and pins, these would be given to students at schools
internationally. A trend would be started as previously seen with Kony 2012 and for a
video to be made by the organization against corruption showing the world wide fight
against corruption; this video would be posted on YouTube and its success could be
tracked by the amount of views and likes that it has, and for the stickers its success can be
tracked by the amount of stickers and pins sold. As leaders to the young, people must
share their knowledge and try to make the world the young will live in better than the one
lived in now.

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Works Cited
"2 Peter." Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2001.
Print.
AFP. "Repblica Dominicana est entre los pases ms corruptos del mundo ElDia.com.do." ElNacional.com.do - Publicidad. El Da, 5 Dec. 2012. Web.
20 May 2013. <eldia.com.do/globales/2012/12/5/100998/Republica-Dominicanaesta-entre-los-paises-mas-corruptos-del-mundo>.
"Anti-Corruption Cartoon Competition." Transparency International Bangladesh.
Transparency International Bangladesh, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.
Coronel, Gustavo. "The Corruption of Democracy in Venezuela." Cato Institute. USA
Today Magazine, Mar. 2008. Web. 22 May 2013.
"John." Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Containing the Old and New
Testaments. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982. Print.
"Kuomintang | History's Shadow." History's Shadow | Exploring the link between history
and today. History's Shadow, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 May 2013.
Lischak, Gabriel N. "12 Reasons Jesus Trial Was Illegal (Part 2)." The Restored Church
of God. The Restored Church of God, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013
"Mark." Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Containing the Old and New
Testaments. Nashville, USA: T. Nelson, 1982. Print.
McCleskey, Claire O. "Police Killings on the Rise in the Dominican Republic - InSight
Crime | Organized Crime in the Americas." Home - InSight Crime | Organized
Crime in the Americas. Insight Crime, 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 May 2013.
"Pulpit Commentary." Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages.

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Bible Hub, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, USA: Bantam Books, 1982. Print.