Ahmed III Leoncio Alkamel D. Abella
Professor Naomie Jean Pierre
English Freshman Composition
10/17/2019
The Great Influence of Christianity as a Language
Religion has been around since the dawn of all ages. Religion is a belief and what people worship for instance, a supernatural being and personal Gods. As religion create a form of law it usually dictates the gesture of a certain person. Religion may also be absolute for some people, because of this supernatural being that controls their actions. As the impact of religion became massive throughout the time, there is a religion that has shown significant growth and currently the most followed is Christianity. Christianity has different strands that could be put into account, but it is better to put Christianity as a whole. The centered belief of Christianity is regarding the birth of Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, the religion began right when Jesus Christ died when he was crucified on a cross. The people who believe in Christianity are called Christians. In this essay contains 7 sources to further explain how Christianity influence the language. How does Christianity influence the World through language? Each of these sources will be analyzed thoroughly in order to highlight the paper’s linguistic attributes, these attributes will be via 3 fundamental social values-Love, Hope and Peace. Through these Biblical lenses, not only will the readers see how the morals and ethics of the bible are part of language, it will also serve as a functioned language through social movements as it focuses on how Christianity influenced the language and how it shaped it. These morals will be the shape of the structure of this essay since it is one of the most important aspect of the religion.
The Value of Values
As it is very common of today’s organizations to implement certain “core values”. These values do not specify what these organizations does but rather express something of why it does these things and the way it will, or will not, undertake them. Many would consider values-based behavior to be essential for every organization today.
How does such religion grow this fast?
How does this work? When did they become the most followed religion? As the religion grew the world also changed. Interviewing, observing and going to Churches helps a lot with this question. First, going to a Christian church since you’re a child will help you with this.
- As a child I’ve been going to a Christian church, it is a Roman Catholic church to be precise. Observing how the priests preach the Lord and Jesus Christ will make you think about the way you live your life. The Church’s Community is also focusing into the values, the churches also teach this to their Sunday schools.
- I have a friend in The Philippines that have been in this non-profitable organization called Youth For Christ (YFC). He is also the President of this org. in the city of Tagum. At Youth For Christ, their passion is to minister in the name of Jesus. They choose to walk the very same bridge He used; the “and” bridge combining Christian service with Christ’s sacrifice. I’ve asked my friend about 5 questions, but he only answered 3 of them since he may be busy. The answered questions are only being presented. We communicated through Facebook messenger.
- The first question I asked him was “Why do you think Christianity has had a great impact in our lives throughout history and how we speak?” He answered, As I remember Christianity has been the most followed religion at the moment, it has over 2 billion recorded followers, this speaks for itself, but the way Christians portray the bible is undeniably incredible, we put it into heart and spread these words to people with different culture and still feel his presence.
- The second question was “How do you spread the gospels and good morals of Christianity?” He answered “As for the group that I am in we spread it through gatherings and we also go to small towns and preach there. We usually recruit members in different schools and study the bible for further knowledge since we have different opinions when it comes to the bible.”
- The last question that I asked was “Why do you think Jesus Christ is the center of the Christian faith?” he answered “ Because he is the one who died for us to be saved, even though he had nothing to do with our sins he and his last commandment brought the world together LOVE is the most powerful thing that God has introduced to us humans. It is the only thing that this world makes sense.”
What are the core Values of the society? As this question is profoundly big, in fact, there are also several ways avoiding it. Sometimes people who have real concern on how the society operate find it easier to leave this question aside. As the Article by Naomi Tham, Helping the soul: the relationship between connectivity and well‐being within a church community “well‐being and the strength of individuals’ identification as a church member enhanced the relationships of both phycological sense of community (PSOC) and religiosity with well‐being.” This portrays how the society works and how it should function. People should be focusing on their well being and to be as one.
The Articulation of values: To clearly explain the articulation values is very important
- First, doing so clarifies one’s decision making process on specific issues that one has. PEACE is the one how clears the mind and make you do things on these specific issues. To what extent do this Christian value to relate to the needs and perceive the rights of others?
- Second, A clear articulation of a principle will enable other Christian organizations and churches to understand its basic principles, HOPE will gather their needs and thus comprehend the reasons for the decision they are about to make.
- Lastly, A wider community will also be better, able to understand the rationale behind Christian Thinking. LOVE makes the judgement as to whether they perceive any value in them of social relationships in general
The 3 Fundamental Social values
- HOPE– not a guarantee of immunity from harm but a conviction that God is always present
- LOVE– To love the unlovely
- PEACE– not just the absence of fighting but positive well-being
As these fundamental values are introduced, where did they come from to begin with? Why are these words listed on these values?
HOPE
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Hope is not just simply looking into the bright side of life nor it is a guarantee that bad things will not happen. Hope is God’s conviction that have been passed through the generation and will always be with present with his people. Hope is also an encouragement on not to overlook the many goods and positive aspects of life and to be prepared to take risks, but not presumptuously, but in humility and prayer, confident that God is still at work.
As for its opposition by Darren Webb from his article Christian hope and Politics of Utopia “ It is clear that hope is a highly contested category of experience just as utopia is a highly contested concept” as he says that hope is overrated, he also stated that hope have been changing its definition for the past decade and it doesn’t really makes sense because it should only aim as one thing. He may be true but only one thing matters, definition may defer from time to time, but its meaning will always be intact.
Christianity is a religion of Hope. Through all the ages, God has been the beacon of hope Christianity. And as for Samuel Dickey and his article Christianity and the Hope of Social Redemption he stated that, “Religion and hope are inseparable. The man who is without God is without hope. And he who is without is also, we may be sure, without God in the World.” As his words say, I strongly agree with this since it is really connecting to the verse Hebrews 11:1.
LOVE
“And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
The meaning of life is to be found in God’s love for Jesus Christ. Nothing will really make sense if love does not exist. Love’s most fundamental characteristic is that it seeks the good in other people. It in contradicts all kinds of selfishness and self-centered attitudes. Love is not just an emotion, it is also not merely just “liking” something. It serves as to choosing to love the unlovable, it includes one’s enemy. And thus, its opposite is not hatred, it is fear.
God created the world through love. Love already existed in the divine community of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And as for the verse as Love one another Author of Authentic Relationships: Justice, Love, and Christian Spirituality, Mark O’Keefe “A Christian cannot truly strive to grow a relationship with God without real concern for the well-being of other persons.” As this really reveal the meaning of being able to love one’s enemy.
God and Love have been interchangeable ideas for Christianity, because God is the embodiment of Love. And in an article by Eugene Schoenfeld A Preliminary Note on Love and Justice: The Effect of Religious Values on Liberalism and Conservatism, “One will not be seeking a definition or description of love will focus attention on behavior which is prescribed as a natural consequence of love.” This passage suggests that love manifests itself through provision.
PEACE
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15
As the concept of peace is different in many ways from the modern descriptions. It is understood that peace is the absence of war, but it is much broader than that its concept includes peace with God. The positive harmony and the healthy relationship between people as a spiritual vessel as well as material security.
“As we see it, just peace must therefore be understood as leading toward a new culture of life at all levels — from institutional to spiritual life.” Stated by Ulrich Duchrow, from “A European Revival of Liberation Theology. Peace is between people is part of the gospel as well as peace in people through political and spiritual. Peace makes the community in the state of calmness and will keep you away from confusion.
As for this passage given by James heft from RELIGION, WORLD ORDER, AND PEACE “A central part of that culture for Christians is their attitudes toward war and peacemaking.” He may be contradicting himself through this mentioning of war, because early Christian’s were involved in war through crusades, and this would be opposite of peacemaking. War was never a good thing it brings chaos and could lose innocent lives. The roman Empire justified that war was mainly “a response of love to neighbor who has been threatened by force.” Though I completely disagree with this idea it still makes sense because people were also oppressed back then.
In conclusion, Christianity as a language has been changing. The definition changed but the meaning is always the same. The morals LOVE, PEACE, and HOPE is so important that even you’re not Christian you need these morals. These morals really helped the construction of Christian language as a whole, since it gives you clarity in what the religion is all about. In my opinion it doesn’t really matter whether you have different religion or not as long as we love one another it’s the only thing that keeps us humans together. With this love, peace can be kept and with hope we can maintain the love.
Cited pages:
Scholarly Article:
O’Keefe, Mark. “Authentic Relationships: Justice, Love, and Christian Spirituality.” New Blackfriars, vol. 76, no. 889, 1995, pp. 30–43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43249697.
Scholarly Article:
Dickey, Samuel. “Christianity and the Hope of Social Redemption.” The Biblical World, vol. 40, no. 3, 1912, pp. 152–162. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3141427.
Scholarly Article:
Webb, Darren. “Christian Hope and the Politics of Utopia.” Utopian Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 2008, pp. 113–144. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20719894.
Scholarly Article:
Linda M. Chatters, Ann W. Nguyen, Robert Joseph Taylor and Meredith O. Hope, Church and family support networks and depressive symptoms among African Americans: Findings from The National Survey of American Life, Journal of Community Psychology, 46, 4, (403-417), (2018).
Source:
Schoenfeld, Eugene. “A Preliminary Note on Love and Justice: The Effect of Religious Values on Liberalism and Conservatism.” Review of Religious Research, vol. 16, no. 1, 1974, pp. 41–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3510196.
Source:
Ulrich Duchrow, “A European Revival of Liberation Theology.” Rethinking religion, Professor of systematic theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. EBSCOHOST. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=f3a8dea7-e1d0-4d19-8757-7c3f376e0acd%40sdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=57220832&db=a9h
Source:
James Heft, “RELIGION, WORLD ORDER, AND PEACE.” Christianity, War, and Peacemaking, President of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies. EBSCOHOST. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=f531766e-458a-4b26-b73e-1847c2b796b6%40sessionmgr4006
Source:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. Zondervan, 1984.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Edited by Michael D. Coogan, Oxford University Press, 2007.
Peterson, Eugene H. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. NavPress, 2002.
John 13:34
Colossians 3:15
