Examples of Discipleship Essay Example for Free

Examples of Discipleship Essay I believe that Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Christian Aid are two prime examples of discipleship in this century, Bonhoeffer as an individual and Christian Aid as an organisation. Bonhoeffer was a German preacher born in 1906 to a medical professor and his wife in Breslau, a small town. From an early age he wanted to serve God, and so he studied theology at university and taught and preached in both Germany and America. He returned to his homeland in 1933 to protest against the newly elected Nazi party, and joined the new Confessing Church, having rejected his previous Protestant church for bowing to Hitlers demands. He worked in a secret training centre for new pastors, run by the confessing church, for four years, as the Gestapo closed it down in 1937. After that, and with the signs of the oppression soon to be felt by the German people becoming clearer, Bonhoeffer took a more active role in his campaigning against the Nazis, eventually leading him to a cell in a prison and the hangmans noose in 1945. One of the main tenants of Christian discipleship is Jesus teaching on the mountain: pacifism and love for enemies. Bonhoeffer was an avid believer in these ideals, and wrote his still-relevant book, The Cost of Discipleship, based around those thoughts. He interpreted the maxim of If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also as a call for pacifism and working out disagreements by reasoning rather than force. But Bonhoeffer was forced to challenge his own morals when the news of the violent anti-Semitism ignited by Hitler spread and several of his friends joined the German resistance. Most of those opposed to the Nazis saw that the only way to end the suffering caused by Hitler was to kill him. Public meetings were banned, and the press were heavily censored. The huge propaganda departments of the government would not allow any attempt by Bonhoeffer to spread his Christian teaching. So Bonhoeffer felt that he could be quiet, and wait until the war finished, and congratulate those that ended it, or he could play an active role in a plot to kill Hitler. Firstly he helped smuggle Jews out of Germany, but was caught and forced to give up any legitimate teaching. Forsaking any hope of reaching a peaceful end to the conflict, Bonhoeffer helped the bomb plot to assassinate Hitler. When it failed he was incarcerated, and he contemplated his deviance from Christian law. Bonhoffer had to make, on his own, one of the main questions that hangs over all belief systems: Whether the moment dictates what a person should do, or if people should always keep constant what they believe in. In his case it was between fighting evil and helping those in need or staying true to his pacifist roots. He chose to take a drastic step against some of Christs teachings to implement others, leading to his arrest and execution. This inevitable question still hangs over the church, and a viable answer has yet to be suggested. Christian Aid is a charity funded by numerous churches in the UK and Ireland. Although it is funded and staffed by Christians, Christian Aid will support any people in need, regardless of religion or race, and does not attempt to convert those it helps to Christianity. Although it combats poverty and need immediately and continually in global trouble areas, it also tries too stop poverty at its root, and was a large part of the Jubilee 2000 campaign to abolish third world debt. Christian aid has interpreted Jesus teaching on Discipleship and concentrated on the aid and help parts of his teaching. It would look to examples from his life: When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying hands on each one, he healed them (Luke 4:40) This sort of passage, frequent in the gospels, shows that Jesus cared greatly for the needy, rejecting the idea that they somehow deserved their punishment, and was not afraid to get dirty and ritually unclean to help. In the same way, Christian Aid was set up by Christians who do not judge those they help, and will go to any lengths to re-enact Christs good work. They also follow the teaching laid down by Jesus in his parables, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan: He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own Donkey, brought him to an Inn and took care of him. (Luke 10:34) The idea of this parable, where one man steps in where others fear to tread, inspires Christian Aid a lot, as they are physically helping the needy of the world while other members of society just stand back and watch, sometimes nodding approvingly. They see this following of Jesus as being true to one of Jesus main teachings, Love your neighbour as yourself And seek to harmonise the lot of people around the world by abolishing suffering through war, poverty and disasters. As Christian Aids motto goes; We believe in life before Death, Christian Aid is rejecting the traditional view of the churches preaching yet not acting, and are playing an active role in the reduction of suffering. They see Jesus message not just as an instruction to put up with life until you die, but also as a chance to help the needy, and prove before God their faith as Christians.

The Necessity of Violence in Native Son by Richard Wright Essay

In Native Son, Richard Wright uses characterization and symbolism to underscore his theme of how American institutionalized oppression of blacks creates human tragedy for those oppressed. Yet, the novel is not an attempt to merit our sympathy or empathy for the condition of repressed blacks, it is to illustrate how the nihilistic attitude of blacks like Bigger Thomas is the direct result of white repression of differences in non-white cultures. In other words, Bigger's only option is death because the society which has created him has given him nothing else to care about, nothing he can call his own, no chance to explore any of his potential. Thus, he turns to violence as an expression of identity which is what his reaction to reading the newspaper expresses. When he reads the article in the paper, he exclaims to his mother, "No! Jan didn't help me! He didn't have a damned thing to do with it! I - I did it!" (Wright 283). His act of violence is his only affirmation of sel f in a society that represses any other form of self-affirmation and he desperately clings to it. Even the alarm clock that rings in the beginning of the novel is a symbol. It is a symbol Wright uses as a "wake up" call to a society that remains locked in illusions regarding its creation of race relations that makes Bigger always someone who is "following a strange path in a strange land" (Wright 127). This is why Bigger's communist lawyer tells the court that Bigger is incapable of killing because he is already dead as he is forced to exist in a society that refuses him any affirmation of life. Bigger is a displaced person because the society into which he is born allows him no place. He is Ellison's "invisible man" who is destined to fall be... ... of modern American society's institutionalized oppression. WORKS CITED "Richard Wright." Chapman, R. (ed.) Black Voices. New York, Penguin Books, 1968: 113-114. "Richard Wright Biography." http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/wright/wright_bio.html March 20, 1999: 1-5. "Richard Wright; Homegrown: Bigger Thomas as a Product of His Environment." http://www.loras.edu/~ENG/faculty/fretz/Page12.html March 20, 1999: 1-2. "'Without the Consolation of Tears': Richard Wright, France, and the Ambivalence of Community." Gilroy, P. (ed.) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Mass., Harvard Univ. Press, 1993: 146-186. Wright, R. "How Bigger Was Born." Chapman, R. (ed.) Black Voices. New York, Penguin Books, 1968: 538-563. Wright, R. Native Son. New York, HarperCollins, 1993.

Issues That Plague Law Enforcement Personnel Essay

In the criminal justice career path many problems can arise. Stress from the job can create problems in the work field as well as in the personal and social areas of one’s life. Job stress can also tie into fatigue and alcohol and/or drug abuse. Fatigue gives us tired cops and tired cops can be a bad thing in the criminal justice field. Alcohol and drug abuse plagues cops everywhere. There are many suggestions for programs and treatment ideas for these problems that plague our law enforcement officers. Job stress can’t be avoided in any job field. It especially can’t be avoided in the field of law enforcement. Job stress can come from many sources. Having to exercise prudent discretion all the time, the threat of using violence and having violence used against them, and isolation from the rest of society are the major causes. It can lead to negative attitudes, burnout, loss of enthusiasm and commitment (aka cynicism), increased apathy, divorce, substance abuse and health problems, and many other social, personal, and job-related problematic behaviors. Work place support, training officers to cope with the effects of stress, stress management, and stress training are things that law enforcement are currently doing to lessen job stress. Stress training includes diet info, biofeedback, exercise, relaxation, and meditation. I believe that all law enforcement personnel should have to undergo psychological and fitness evaluations every three to six months. Fatigue is a growing problem in law enforcement today. Lengthy shifts with unpredictable hours can cause for a major loss of sleep for law enforcement personnel. It can cause officers to act inappropriately or become injured on the job. It can cause car accidents or officers to fall asleep at the wheel. It can also cause officers to miss important details of a case; sometimes a few hours of sleep can mean the difference between life and death. Administrators should pay attention to scheduling, adopt policies placing limitations on second jobs, and giving officers a voice in work-hour and shift-scheduling decisions can help lessen the fatigue problem that plague our law enforcement personnel. The sad part is that alcohol and/or drug abuse plagues law enforcement  personnel and ties in with both job stress and fatigue. They are both major contributing factors to the start of alcohol and/or drug abuse. Counseling and self-help classes can help tremendously for personnel who admit they have a problem and seek help. If law enforcement personnel were to undergo psychological and fitness evaluations every three to six months we might be able to combat these problems before they start. If measures are taken and new programs implemented for combating the issues of job stress, fatigue, and alcohol and drug abuse we can lower the health risk that these problems pose to our law enforcement personnel. Job stress, fatigue, and alcohol/drug abuse are common problems. If we make our personnel aware of these major problems they may realize they have a problem or wish to avoid these problems taking over their lives. The hope is that they come and ask for help. Administrators also need t o know how to spot a problem to get personnel help before the problem affects their lives, jobs, or anyone else’s lives.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale - 1379 Words

â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a story about a widow who took a pilgrimage to the town of Canterbury with an array of dynamic characters whose diverse backgrounds allowed them to share their stories with one another to make the long journey more interesting. The widow named Alison in the The Wife of Bath’s Tale told the tale of her experiences with her five past husbands and a story about a knight and a witch. She truly believed that for a woman to have a happy life she would need to gain dominion over a man; however one could assume this was programmed into her by her influential mother and her own religious doctrines. Accordingly, Alison argued that the woman must control everything in order†¦show more content†¦By God! on earth I by his purgatory, for which I hope his soul’s in Paradise† (Chaucer, 231). The fifth marriage meant the most to her because she felt the most attraction and love for him. In order to entice him into being with her, the widow Alison offered all the property and money she possessed. Although she was twenty years older than her fifth husband the scholar, he dominated their relationship by restricting her actions and hoarding the finances, while also physically abusing her on a regular basis. The widow explains, â€Å"That, though he’d beaten me on every bone, how quickly he could win my love again! I think that I loved him the best, for he was ever chary of his love for me† (Chaucer, 232). Furthermore, the fifth husband would continuously ignored his wife in favor of books on the actions of wicked women. By the fourth and fifth husband her relationship with men had changed and she was in the place her first three husbands had been with her. In relation to the matrimonies the widow had with her previous husband’s, the tale told by her on the pilgrimage to Canterbury was about how dominance played a key role in the outcome of the Knight and a Witch. A knight in the court of King Arthur committed the unspeakable crime of the rape on an unsuspecting young maiden by the side of the road. As a punishment, KingShow MoreRelatedThe Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Essay1115 Words   |  5 Pages The Canterbury Tales is a set of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century. The stories were told by a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral, in hopes to see a shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. To make time go by the host recommended each pilgrim tell a tale. The tale that each character gives, reveals that person’s background and life. Some pilgrims matched their stereotype of that time but most do not. The Prioress, Madame Eglentyne, and Wife of Bath, Allison, areRead MoreChaucers The Canterbury Tales1381 Words   |  6 PagesThe Canterbury Tales serves as a moral manual in the Middle Ages. In the tales, Geoffrey Chaucer portrays the problems of the society. 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In most classic Western beliefs it began when Eve with the help of the Devil seduced Adam thus leading the downfall of humanity into an abyss of sin and hopelessness. This issue arises in all literature from Genesis, Chaucer and into modern day. Authors, clerks and writers of all types have aided stereotyping women throughout history and Geoffrey Chaucer is not