Explain how modern Christians try to follow Jesus and how this influences their lives.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Amie Derricott Miss MacAteer

Candidate number: 0231

A02: Explain how modern Christians try to follow Jesus and how this influences their lives.

Christians today continue to follow in Jesus’ footsteps by spreading the word of God. They do this to make a difference and to show how much they love life and others around them. They feel that they have to share the energy that God has given them and to use their compassion and courage to touch the lives of others. In this essay I will show how each person I studied, followed Jesus in a unique way and how He has influenced their lives.

The first person I studied was Mother Teresa. She was born in 1910 into a catholic family. In her teens she became a member of a local youth group and through this her interest in missionaries grew. At 17 she joined the Sisters of Loreto as a nun, an order known for their work in India. While there she taught at a primary school, where she eventually became headmistress. She became ill during this time and was sent to Darjeeling to recover. It was on this journey to Darjeeling that she found her calling. Out of the train window she witnessed the slums of Calcutta. She stayed in Calcutta to teach the young children and to look after the sick. She, along with some of her previous students, rented a room where the sick could go for treatment, and people who were near the end of their life, could go there to die warm, clean and fairly comfortable. This was known as The Home for the Dying.

Mother Teresa was a lot like Jesus’ teachings in the way she lived her life. She dedicated her life to the well being of others and we can show this in passages from Luke’s gospel like the Good Samaritan (10:26- 37) which reflects the way Mother Teresa lived. She helped those who were different to her with risk of persecution just like the Samaritan helped the man at the roadside.

A second example of a modern Christian is Terry Waite. From a young age his family encouraged him to go to church and encouraged his faith in God. As a ...

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A second example of a modern Christian is Terry Waite. From a young age his family encouraged him to go to church and encouraged his faith in God. As a young man he joined the army, but he had to leave because of a skin disorder. He then joined the church army which gave him experience working abroad, and because of this experience he became an ambassador for the archbishop of Canterbury. One of his duties was as a hostage negotiator. While on a campaign in Lebanon, in 1981, he was taken hostage himself, and during this time he continued praying to God and he kept faith in the hope of release.

Terry Waite showed unwavering faith in God and trusted in Him to see him safely out of captivity. Terry Waite’s life is like that of Jesus’ because when Jesus was on the cross he kept praying to God (Luke).

Another prime example of a modern Christian is Karol Wojtyla, better known as Pope John Paul II. He is one of the most recognised people in the world, and elected to be pope in 1978 at just 51, he was the youngest pope chosen in a century. Helping Jews evade the Nazi’s in world war 2 and famous for his speeches, the pope has managed to survive an assassination attempt and continues his work of spreading God’s word all over the world today.

The pope is very like Jesus because through everything, even through an attempt to kill them both, they both survived to continue spreading God’s word and continued to spread the love of God.

All three of these modern day Christians have kept their faith through all the odds. Even in times of extreme difficulty, they have kept their faith and prayed to God to guide them through the rough patches. Each of them is a role model to any young person today. Each of them led a life of devotion and any Christian should be proud to have aspirations to be like them.

Jesus has continued to work through them all by showing the world that he loves them and that God cares for everyone. Mother Teresa dedicated her life to helping the poorest of poor and Terry Waite worked tirelessly to free hostages others may not have bothered about. The pope continues to work hard spreading the love of God throughout the world. S.T. Teresa of Avila “Christ has no body now but yours.” We should try to live up to this and aspire to spread Gods through the entire world.

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