Love in Christianity

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

LOVE IN CHRISTIANITY

In this work I will examine love in Christianity by answering two questions (of different nature) about it; one of them about its importance, the other about the way it can be shown.

IS IT IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS TO LOVE GOD?

Yes, it is important, at least to those people who want to follow the teaching of the gospels; Jesus stated that the 2 greatest commandments that sum up the 10 Commandments were „Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strenght.“ and „Love your neighbour as yourself“ (Mark 12:30–31). So, the Christian teachings are very clear about loving God – you should love him even more than your own parents or children (Matthew 10:37). Any Christian personality or a leader, such us the Pope, would also definetly support love of God as a key point of Christian faith.

People who disagree with this would perhaps say that there is no point in loving God; why would you love someone if you don't know whether they exist or not? They could also say that spending your time by showing love to God by things such us praying, getting involved in the local Christian community or giving up things (fasting) is useless and it would be better for a Christian to spend to time, and sometimes even money, on those in need.

I myself think that it is important to love God if this makes the person feel good about ...

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I myself think that it is important to love God if this makes the person feel good about themselves and motivates them to show care to other people; even though I would overal say that it is much more important to love your neighbour.

EXPLAIN HOW A CHRISTIAN CHURCH OR ORGANISATION CAN SHOW

LOVE FOR GOD AND LOVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE IN THE LOCAL AREA.

Love of God and of others is undoubtely the most important message of the New Testament. It is a summary of Jesus of Nazareth's teachings and this message stays beyond everything he taught us. The two main points on which Christianity stands are, according to Jesus the believe, and love, of one God, and the care we show to those around us.

A Christian church, if it wants to act according to the gospels, should fulfil the message of this teaching. One way how it can do it is gathering people to pray to God (adoration, thanksgiving and confession are the types of prayer showing love to God, whilst intercession shows love to our neighbour) a different one caring for local people who are in need (by giving them material – such us clothes, food etc. – and/or moral support); if a person from the local Christian community has a problem they cannot deal with themselves, the church should definetly help them, as the Jesus' Parable of Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25:31–46) makes it clear that those who didn't help the needy will end up in Hell (where they will spent eternity suffering) because they didn't help God himself.

Because of this, many Christian organisations with the aim of providing help to the needy were found. A good example of this is the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which was found in the 19th century by a French Christian, at the time 20 years old Frédéric Ozanam (beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1997) who saw that the poor Parisians were suffering from great hardship; this society still exists today, succesfully helping the people in need in many different ways, from offering shelter, food and drink to letting them speak about their problems or assisting them in getting a job.

~~Albert Ferkl