Custom «The Church on Social Issues» Essay Paper Sample

The church speaks out on social issues as it understands that we are all brothers and sister united to a given call by God. The church has also been called to work for those who are oppressed and persecuted. The church also understands that in order to have economic, political and social system, it has to rally for candidates who can improve on the government quality that conforms to Christian teachings. It thus becomes the aim of the church to speak out on social matters that can help people live in love and unity, loving our neighbors just as God commanded.

The social teachings of the Church helps us to respond to the call of Christ in the Scriptures to “love one another” in that the church points out that a neighbor is anyone who requires our help not just those that we know of. That we should love our neighbors just as much as we love ourselves. We should be concerned about their welfare and also coming to their aid whenever anyone needs our help. It also requires of us to stand up against any oppression that might directed to others and to maintain peace and love among ourselves.

Reflecting on the book St Francis and the foolishness of God by Dennis et al, St. Francis has teachings based on the following aspects of life:

a) Poverty- The main and central concern is on the wealth that is in heaven and not that which belongs to this world. He shows that we should not have any desire of worldly things as all will come to an end. We should therefore be willing to share the little we have here on earth as we await to have our riches which are based in heaven. He also states to us that God does not call those who are rich and famous. Instead he calls out to those who are poor

b)Humility – humbleness is what makes us walk in line with God. It is also what makes us view the others as our own brothers and sisters therefore aiming to be of help to them in all situations. He also shows that those who are called are also called to be humble even in matters pertaining that which is of this world. God uses those who are humble in order to shame the ones who think hat they are wise in matters of this world. He shows that we should follow the teachings of Christ who was born in humility and became the savior of the world.

c) Love – This mainly concerns the commandments which have been broken down into two: The love of God and that of Man. In this case of loving man is based on loving our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We however should love our neighbors using the measures of Jesus as the measuring stick.

d) Joy- this is the joy we should have even when we are in trouble or when we are under very hard circumstances. It should be the joy of knowing that we can triumph over our situations when we have our faith in God.

The idea that most sparkled my interest is that of unconditional love and using Jesus as the measuring stick to the love that we show towards our neighbors considering a neighbor is anyone in need. It might be hard to do this according to the teachings because at times we are faced with issues that are beyond what we can handle. Questions arise of whether we can love those who have wronged us in the meanest ways. At times we cannot love them but Christ teaches us to love them to the very end just like he loves us (Dennis, 1993).

The connection I made while reading this basing it on my life experience is that many a times people have wronged me and I have not thought of how I can forgive them. By using Jesus as a measuring stick to the amount of love I should give means that I should love even those who wrong me unconditionally.