Violence introduces the tragic dimension of life

With the commonality of basic beliefs of all religions worldwide – such as God, love, sin, and life after death, it is very saddening to understand that these considerations are not enough to dissolve the presence of violence but worse to be considered as one of the prime causes. Violence introduces the tragic dimension of life because violence is equated to destruction.

Religion was considered as one of the origins of violence. The past decades up to the contemporary situations now, religion can dictate and lead its followers to war. Historically, “Islam confronts the rise of militant extremism and the world's perception of Islam as a violent religion. Judaism is coping with the challenges of having military power and with the national struggle with the Palestinians and the immediate threat of suicide bombing, Hinduism faces the issue of the violent confrontations between Hindus and Muslims in North India. Buddhism must deal with the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and the genocide in Cambodia and its aftermath. Even Christianity, which has a past of violent conflict, now must reevaluate its concepts of just war, now that technology makes limited war very difficult and the issue arises of whether to intervene militarily in order to prevent genocide or other atrocities” (Frymer-Kensky, 2003).

Religion today may not be that big of a deal, but still for some people, religion plays a crucial role in their lives. Maybe it is just that people today are not contented with the religion that they are born into, that is why they do not take it seriously anymore. But a lot of people who were not able to find answers in their religion found an easy way, and that is to change religion. Nowadays, there are a lot of religions or sects or cults that sprung from old religions, especially in Christianism. Since, there are a lot of different interpretations of the Bible, people came to have different opinions, which brought about the different sects. Now, each sect is trying to encourage people to join them. Religion as a whole may seem obsolete in our world today, but people always needs something to hold onto, to make them sane in a world full of deception and somewhere to go to release tension and stress. It may not seem true but religion can have a calming effect for those whose troubles found roots in spiritual emptiness and cannot be solved by earthly recourse.

Religion is a belief wherein followers find solace for their troubled minds and where they find answers that gives them spiritual growth. A god is the Supreme Being that rules over a religion. Sacred is something or a being that is worthy of reverence. Most sacred things are what religions treasure the most and what they treat with utmost care. Ritual is a sequence of things to do to be able to achieve a task. Myth is a belief that offers unverifiable proofs of events where a person or a sacred thing exists.

According to Carrigan (1995), deism is a movement of system or thought advocating a natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18^th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe. To Alston (2002) theism is the view that there is a single, ultimate and supremely perfect source of being, on which all other than itself depends at every moment for its existence, and which appears to us as personal. From Geisler (1991), polytheism is the name given to a specific religious situation, one that is characterized by plurality, a plurality that manifests itself in many forms. Monotheism is the belief that God is One (Bass, 2003). Mysticism is any type of theory asserting the possibility of attaining knowledge or power through faith or spiritual insight (Donner, 1997). In Urban’s (1939) view, symbolism is the representation of any moral or spiritual thing by the images or properties of natural things. Fundamentalism was a response to the loss of influence traditional revivalism experienced in America during the early years of the twentieth century (Jones, 2001).

But the sad thing about religion now is that it was actively engaged to the proliferation of violence. From the ancient question of “Who’s god is God” up to the quest of the “best” religion, many historical events on violence and destruction took place. The ultimate search of supremacy among others initiated misunderstanding among people of diverse religions.

However, Oommen (2001) presented few general propositions that the historical link between religion and violence from different parts of the world clearly demonstrated some periods that shows religion has been a source of violence. But the most important conclusion he obtained was the fact that religion as religion cannot in and of itself be the independent source of violence. Violence may originate from nation and its people, capitalism and individualism, science and technology, et cetera.

With violence, destruction is not far at hand. The aggravation of the preexisting human sufferings is possible. With religion - considered to be the opium of the people, the eventual spread of violence can be slowed down. But the subject of religious pluralism is expected to have not only satisfactory accolades but also some unavoidable detrimental effects. More so, violence initiate the discovery of the harsh, evil, and troublesome order of society that in the end can affect all dimensions of life.

Reference

Alston, William. (2002). The Experiential Basis of Theism. Addison, Texas: Christian Leadership Ministries.

Bass, Allan. (2003). Monotheism and Origin of Religion. Montgomery, Alabama: Apologetics Press.

Carrigan, Cky. (1995). Rise and Fall of English Deism. Raleigh, North Carolina: On Truth: An Apologetic Devotion.

Donner, Neal. (1997). Mysticism and the Idea of Freedom: A Libertarian View. Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Valley College.

Frymer-Kensky, Tikva (2003 April 3). Religions and violence: an analytical

synthesis. The Ecumenical Review available from http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc3.asp? Accessed 30 November 2005.

Geisler, Norman. (1994). Neopaganism, Feminism, and the New Polytheism. Rancho Santa Margarita, California: Christian Research Institute Journal.

Jones, Steven. (2001). Fundamentalism. Virginia: University of Virginia.

Oommen, T.K. (2001). Religion as Source of Violence. The Ecumenical Review. 53(2).

Urban, Wilbur Marshall. (1939). Language and Reality: The Philosophy of Language and the Principles of Symbolism. New York: MacMillan.

Forgiveness

A question we may ask ourselves is can we truly forgive our enemies? Now, this question could be interpreted differently to some people. Truly forgiving our enemies for something they have done could be the easiest and hardest of things.

In my opinion, we should be able to forgive our enemies for anything they have done. If Jesus Christ was able to forgive us after all the people that have done harm to him, shouldn’t we be able to? If we follow the true Christian way, we should forgive them and pray for them so that they won’t make the same mistake.

For example, a man named Steven McDonald in New York City. He was a policeman who loved his job. Steven McDonald stopped to question three young people in Central Park one day in 1986, he was shot and paralyzed from the neck down. Steve had been married less than a year and his wife was two months pregnant.

His attacker was Shavod Jones. This meeting had just changed both Steven McDonald’s and Shavod Jones’s lives. After all that Shavod did to Steven, he decided to just write to him. Shavod did not respond to Steven’s letters until much later. Steven felt sorrier for Shavod than himself. Shavod then began to respond the letters he had sent him. Steven forgave Shavod.

In 1995, Shavod was then killed in a motorcycle accident and Steven was glad that he was able to tell his enemy he forgave him than not to at all. He now even prays that he is okay wherever he may be.

Another example was when I was little. I was best friends with this girl and I told her everything. After telling her most of my secrets, we ended up fighting and she told everyone my most personal secrets. We were mad at each other, so I did the same back to her. After all that time of fighting, we finally realized we were fighting over absolutely nothing. I also found out she never told any of my secrets, but I only told my other friends one of hers. We apologized and until this day, we are still friends and we have not fought with each other lately.

In conclusion, forgiving someone is not easy to do, but we should always forgive them because if Jesus was able to forgive us, why can’t we forgive each other?

Even though someone might have killed someone you truly care about, holding a grudge on them will do absolutely nothing to bring them back. We should all forgive each other and respect one another. Hopefully, our world will be a better one.