Christianity: Religion and Peace - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Christianity-Religion and Peace Introduction Peace is fundamental in this world for coexisting of individuals and nations. Without the world peace many things cannot be carried out successfully. However, peace is not only the absence of war and cannot be confined to the maintenance of balance of power between enemies. It is not achieved through dictatorship but it is rightly and appropriately referred to as an enterprise of justice (Wright, 2012). There are many teachings about peace in the Christian religion tradition and these have evidently contributed to the world peace. Christians have been urged through bother the New Testament and Old Testament not to retaliate when they are wronged but instead to pray for those who persecute them and bless their enemies. World peace can be achieved through Christian traditions laid in the foundation teachings of Jesus Christ as the messiah. Jesus stressed the need for eternal peace in achieving total freedom and close intimate relationship with God. Jesus taught his disciples on how to deal with aggression and persevere without trying to avenge persecution (Samartha, 2011). Adhering to the teaching in the New Testament can lead to the attainment of world peace. Tolerance, love, forgiveness and patience are some of the virtues that are expected of a mature Christian who believes in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This essay explores the principal teachings about peace in Christianity tradition and discusses how the teachings in contributing to religion tradition of world peace. Discussion Peace is the fundamental message of the New Testament of Christians and the word is mentioned ninety-nine times. The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as The Prince of Peace (Isaih 9:6) and is regarded as the son of God who is the foundation of peace. Peace is fundamental for every religion. Any individual gets into a religion in order to attain self-worth and inner peace. Both Christianity and Islam proclaim that religion is ultimately the way of life. Throughout his teachings Jesus emphasized the essence of peace (Nobuya & Howes, 2011). Christians in their daily walk in life have to imitate the model of life that Jesus lived which envisioned peace. As he prepared to ascend into the heavens Jesus promised to leave peace to the disciples through his words in John 14:27. Jesus assured his disciples not to be troubled since he had left them with peace. Peace is core to Christian message and it was at the center of the ministry and life of Jesus hence impacted into the lives of Christians. Jesus was against retaliation or revenge and advised followers to be subject to the adversary (Mathew 5: 39). This outlines that an individual has to adjust when facing controversy or responding to an aggressor. The concept of unilateral accommodation is an issue of profound practical wisdom and a formula for attaining world peace. God in book of Isaiah identifies himself as the avenger and prevails against individuals from trying to avenge for themselves (Tuttle 2016). Peace is directly linked to active peacemaking. Every Christian has to seek peace. The peace concept encompasses a variety of ideas; it is multifaceted and complex. A guarded definition refers to peace as the absence of conflict, violence and war. Nevertheless, a wider perspective is needed to fully appreciate the subject’s intricacies. It entails other factors like positive personal relationships, social and economic security; harmony in the acceptance of the differences of others and presence of justice as well as the absence of fear (Reardon, 2015). Peace can either be viewed as world peace or inner peace. The inner peace defines the absence of anxiety and stress and as well as the presence of mental strength, mindfulness and spiritual sate of being. On the other hand, world peace refers to the ideas of harmony, freedom, happiness and justice amongst all individual within the globe. It entails an international sense of participation and corporation. Jewish word for peace is shalom and defines the concept of peace that surrounds all parts of human life. Christians have an understanding of peace as tranquility. Peace is not merely is not peace according to the New Testament is living idyllic condition as well as communicating with God regularly. The mere thinking that peace is absence of war is misconstrued (Harris & Mary, 2013). Christianity just like Islam has the foundation that adherents require to obtain purity within them for the purpose of gaining peace. Interfaith dialogue is important towards achieving world peace. Christianity requires adherents to obtain a clear mind that is empty of negative energy being followers of the religion. Without inner peace it is not a possible task to achieve. Christianity and Islam both provide individual adherents with a clear guide on how to attain inner piece (Wright, 2012). The type of peace is further tied on the concerns of the reasons for its absence or loss which can be attributed to economic inequality, social injustice, religious and political radicalism. Having so many issues surrounding it; peace can be termed as a perpetual goal as opposed to prevailing truth. Consequently, peace and religion are fundamentally united (Donnelly, Peter, et al 2011). The bigger concept of religious expressions is majorly guiding followers as well as the community to a state if peace. Within Christianity adherents are provided by the Bible to as a guide into achieving inner peace. Islamic and Christianity responses to world and inner peace are impacted evidently via the religious traditions’ important principal teaching. The New Testament deals largely with the Jesus’ life and is majorly concerned with peace. It explores peace between people and God, peace amongst people, outward peace and inner peace. The ‘good news’ of the bible is that in the New Testament is that God was able to make peace with people who had been disobedient through Christ’s death (Colossians 1: 19-20). Jesus is considered as a herald of peace and living in close relationship to him as well as embracing his teachings allows a follower to experience this peace. In John 3:16 it explain the love that God had for the world that he chose his only son to die for the remission of sin. Love has been explained in detail by Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 13 and he emphasized that love is greatest virtue that a Christian can have. Love does not envy, keep records of wrong and love rejoices in truth (Harris & Mary, 2012). Love automatically leads to forgiveness which is fundamental in bringing warring groups together so as to achieve consensus that help in building world peace. In Mathew 5: 23 Jesus encourages his followers to make sure that they do not have anything against anybody when making offering to the Lord (Megoran, 2011). Everyone is called upon to make peace with his adversary. Jesus said to his disciples that blessed are those who make peace or peacemakers since they will be called sons of God. Therefore, it is a form of Godliness to make peace. God is slow to anger and quick to forgive and this is the teaching that Christians are expected to adhere to. Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies and pray for those persecuting them. Paul has reiterated the importance of peace to a Christian n Romans 12: 18 where he encourages everyone to live at peace with anyone (Stott, 2015). This means that Christians have to avoid confrontations and most of the time seek peace with the aggressor instead of wanting to be on leveled ground. Conclusion Christians teachings points towards achieving peace with oneself through inner peace and peace with others. Jesus is the central figure in the New Testament and communicates effectively the message of peace to the Christians. A follower is left with no doubt of what is expected of him or her. Jesus promises peace to his disciples. The message about peace is carried out throughout the New Testaments through various Apostles and Jesus himself. Outer peace cannot be achieved if the individual has not attained inner peace. One has to be at peace with himself and seek peace with others through love, forgiveness and tolerance. A Christians should not always feel the urge to retaliate whenever he is wronged. Being wronged should not be a reason for making another mistake of retailing. Peace in the best option. Christian teachings can build towards achieving world peace through their tradition. Peacemaking is call to every Christian who embraces the teachings of Jesus Christ. Inner peace can only be achieved if Christians adhere to the teachings of the New Testament. Seeking revenge and being confrontational is not a means towards world peace but controversy and warring. Work cited Bamba, Nobuya, and John F. Howes, eds. Pacifism in Japan: The Christian and Socialist Tradition. UBC Press, 2011. Donnelly, Peter, et al. "Sport for development and peace: A public sociology perspective." Third World Quarterly 32.3 (2011): 589-601. Harris, Ian M., and Mary Lee Morrison. Peace education. McFarland, 2012. Heater, Derek. Peace Through Education (Routledge Revivals): The Contribution of the Council for Education in World Citizenship. Routledge, 2013. Megoran, Nick. "War and peace? An agenda for peace research and practice in geography." Political Geography 30.4 (2011): 178-189. Reardon, Betty A. "Toward a paradigm of peace." Betty A. Reardon: A Pioneer in Education for Peace and Human Rights. Springer International Publishing, 2015. 109-120 Samartha, Stanley J. One Christ--Many Religions: Toward a Revised Christology. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015. Stott, John. Christian mission in the modern world. InterVarsity Press, 2015. Tuttle, Will. World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. Lantern Books, 2016. Wright, Tom. Jesus and the Victory of God. Vol. 2. SPCK, 2012. Read More