To be a disciple you have to importantly be prepared to suffer. In Taking up the Cross (Mark 8: 34-36) Jesus says, “Anyone who wishes to follow me, he must forget self, carry his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever wants to lose his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Does a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life? Of course not.” These verses say that a disciple can except persecution and perhaps death on their mission but will be rewarded by life after death; it also says the importance of being altruistic. In Mark 16 28-31 Leave Everything disciples are informed that they must be prepared to give up everything, will receive the reward of eternal life, prepared for persecution and must serve rather then be reserved. Mark 10 28-31 also says this and in the request of James and John Jesus says “Are you willing to take the cross that I take,” this cross-represented suffering so he is asking whether they are willing to suffer as Jesus will. Finally Christians must stand up for what they believe in as shown in Mark 14:66-72. and must always be awake for their task as in Peters Promise
In Conclusion people must go through a lot to be a disciple of Jesus. They must give away all their belongings to the poor, “Deny themselves” and be prepared to go through great suffering as well. But for all the suffering there is also a bright side, the prospect of eternal life. If they can do these things and others such as Stand up for what they believe in, have faith, enter the kingdom of god and evangelise then they can be a true disciple of god
AO2
There are many references in the bible, which teach discipleship. There are many ways in which Christians put these teachings into practise today. Some Christians are known as Absolute Disciples meaning that they give up their lives to follow the message of the bible. Examples of this are Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Sean Devereux and Maxamillion Kolbe. Also there are relative disciples which although don’t go out to dangerous places to help people still follow the message of the bible, just not on the same scale of the absolute disciples.
Sean Devereux was born into a rich family and went to a private school. He could live a normal and successful life. However instead, he gave up all his belongings and became a missionary in Africa. He was a teacher at a school when there was a coup in the country and most of the schoolchildren were massacred. He fought so hard for his views that he was beaten up many times and eventually assassinated. His story follows “Taking up the cross.” Which says that disciples have to “Deny themselves, take up the cross and follow me,” i.e. Suffer. Sean Devereux did more then his fair share of suffering. He also gave up all his belongings, which follows The Rich Young Man, and many more bible references.
Mother Teresa is famous world over for her good deeds. She was born in Macedonia in 1910 and became a nun at 18 soon had a cushy job as a teacher but that was not good enough for Mother Teresa, as she decided to devote herself to helping the poor people of Calcutta. She started her own order “The missionaries of charity” and now there are branches throughout the world. After a very celebrated life she died on September 5th 1997 at 87 years old. Mother Teresa left everything behind to help people In need, as in Mark 8:34-36 and the rich young man. She helped the poor so much that she is truly an absolute disciple.
Of course there are many more people who have given up their lives and belongings to help people. Maxamillion Kolbe took the place of a man with a family in a German death camp and was only finished off by a German bullet. Oscar Romero was shot whilst giving mass by people unhappy with his views. Martin Luther King is known for being an inspirational black leader who fought and eventually gave his life fighting for equality for races. In conclusion these Christians have learnt have followed the bible and Jesus’ teachings to help people at the penalty of their lives and everything they hold dear.
A03
In this essay I intend to evaluate the above question. There are a variety of opinions on this topic that can be discussed. I therefore within the boundaries of this essay will endeavour to analyse all these points of views.
Many people believe that children don’t understand the concept of discipleship because they wouldn’t have learnt everything about Christianity. Some people believe that to be a proper Christian you have to have knowledge and understanding of Christianity. Therefore you cannot be a disciple as Christianity=Discipleship, you cannot have one without the other. Children cannot go out and evangelise and even if they did they wouldn’t be listened to. Christians cannot “Deny themselves and pick up the cross of suffering” as they cannot be expected to give up their families at such an early age. Moreover some children are to immature to make such an important decision and are to immature to evangelise. As a consequence, as they won’t understand discipleship and can’t evangelise they are not Christians.
On the other hand children can be relative disciples, which in some people’s opinion is no way less then absolute disciples. As a child you can have all three sacraments of initiation and therefore full members of the church and have made a choice just like a disciples. Many adults are less informed (regarding Christianity) then many children and many adults are even more immature then some children, children can be aged between 0-17 so can you really generalise them like that. In fact Jesus told his disciples to have the innocence of children. In addition you can be a disciple of another faith, in fact some people say you don’t have to be religious to be a disciple, as long as you do good things and act as a disciple. Why is it that just because someone is younger some people say they can’t be disciples, is that prejudice.
The word does not mean “follower of Jesus/God”, just follower. Moreover one could say that you could be a disciple of a football team. As a consequence I believe you can be a disciple as long as you do good things and act as a disciple. Only a select few people become absolute disciples and many more are just relative disciples, so why can’t children? Not all adults “understand the concept of discipleship” yet consider themselves Christians as virtue of being older, so In conclusion I disagree wholeheartedly with the statement.
