So, everybody would stop doing anything? Would that necessarily improve the situation? The obvious answer is no, so what really can be done, if a persons action does nothing, and a person’s inaction does nothing as well, what can be done?
The Government can take action. No-one needs to suffer, as you can’t really kill a government. Sacrifice’s will need to be made, like money and effort to help fight crime, or stop poverty or whatever the case may be, but no-one should need die. Simple, really, but it is not part of the question, “Christians are not prepared to suffer as Jesus did.” This only says no to me, as Jesus didn’t give money to the poor and suffering, as he never had any, but he encouraged it. But still, dying on a cross for man’s sin is a different kettle of fish to donating your £100 lottery winnings to Help the Aged, so its not suffering as Jesus did. So therefore, is suffering like Jesus really necessary? You can help by donating money, so it seems silly to go overseas and get shot at by corrupt government’s mercenaries. So thanks to a government, or charitable institution’s help, it is not necessary to suffer like Jesus, so why prepare yourself to? Governments have the real power, so you can also help by voting for a political candidate who will help those who need it, instead of scratching businessmen’s backs while they scratch theirs. The media also is a controlling factor here, as they are responsible for broadcasting parties’ referendums, policies and manifestoes. They can show who is also telling lies and is really corrupt and say where a party is failing, like Private Eye, which always has its eye on the world of politics.
Also, suffering is necessary in some cases. After all, they say an artist is never truly appreciated until they are gone. Is the work of Jesus so different? If he hadn’t of died, would his message have got so far and wide? Jesus, on the cross, set an example. And the person who would die in the assault earlier did set a brilliant example of a Christian. They sacrificed themselves when it was necessary, to save someone else from suffering and so secured their place in heaven. Although dying in an assault would seem preferable to being Crucified in some eyes, both the assaulted and Jesus gave up their life to save someone, and in doing so set a good example.
Some people also decide to help the way in a very different way to the ways mentioned above. Contemplative nuns and brothers spend their lives praying to God to have mercy on those who are suffering, and to grant them asylum in heaven when they die, and for him to allow heaven on earth, and to help man have strength to mend his wicked ways.
Of course, talking to God all your life may make you prepared to do more for him, in the sense that the more you are sure of something, it is easier is to back. Jesus had direct contact with God, and was his son and sure of his existence and therefore sure about life after death. So if Jesus is as sure of life after death as I am sure that 2 + 2 = 4, wouldn’t he find it easy to suffer on the cross, knowing it would be all right soon? Of course he probably would, but the rest of the Christians were and are not in the same contact with God, so it is only right that doubt should shadow their beliefs in heaven. So would you therefore be prepared to suffer an agonizing death for something your not sure of?
There are plenty of modern Christians who suffered persecution that you can talk about who were not sure of heaven though, but some had ideas about heaven on earth and they were willing to be persecuted, and suffer for their dream. I refer to Martin Luther King, who had “…a dream, that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, that my children…”, and all the children of the world would live in peace. He suffered greatly for that dream; he took up his cross, and followed the path of Jesus, just for heaven on earth. He and his family received death threats and all other kinds of persecutions for what he believed in but he won civil rights for all in the end. But would those have come to pass if he hadn’t of suffered? If he just gave up, for fear of persecution half way through? HE was shot in the end, and died, but this was after he had won his battle.
But he died, and capital punishment is a method of people dying, but capital punishment nowadays is lethal injections and electric chairs. Only in England can you die by hanging for committing Regicide. So if no one is crucified anymore (The last crucifixions being in World War Two in the Korean Jungle), it is theoretically impossible to die like Jesus did. But does it really matter how you die? After all, people can suffer like Jesus, who was whipped, mocked and beaten before his death, and then being let down by his friends who weren’t even present at his death, but of elsewhere pretending not to know him?
And finally, Jesus asks a lot of you, when you could have a family, home, car and a nearly finished Mortgage. Could you give all that up to suffer for practically nothing? To give up happiness for happiness seems an almost pointless exercise, so it’s no wonder no-one does. But you would still donate money, and realize how being a good and righteous person is more important then wealth and power, to be a good Christian. And so, Christians today may be prepared to suffer as Jesus did because they see an important issue that affects all, and they need to do something about it, and so they may be willing to suffer. Some Christians may not be prepared to suffer and will only give money and pray for those who suffer, and as these are both Christian things to do, does it matter?
