What Does Respect Mean to You: Christian Explanation

A few days ago a friend of mine asked 'what does respect mean to you?' Later this question inspired me to write this essay about the meaning of respect from christian believer's point of view.  

Paradise is something that many people think they can reach on earth. For some, getting rich and famous is paradise. For others, paradise is a tropical island in the middle of the ocean. All of these people think that they'll be happy when they get to their paradise. But, true happiness comes from being with God. Heaven is true paradise because that's where God is. God is love, and He tells us to love others as He loves us. We need to respect all aspects of life because God created people in his image. God wants us all to get to paradise but we need to make a culture of life and respect on earth. Humans want happiness, that happiness can only be found with God in a culture of respect, a culture of life.

Respect for Human Life - is a God's Rule That Cannot Be Violated

'God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them'. This is an often quoted scripture passage and for good reason. The simple reason is it shows that God loves us so much that He created us like Him. He not only shows love by making us in his own image and likeness, he also shows love by sacrificing his son for us all because we are not perfect. This love is called agape love which is selfless and self-sacrificing love. We are not capable of agape love because we have faults, or challenges, in our lives. Everybody struggles in different ways. Some people might have physical or mental disabilities and illnesses and others have trouble being the good moral person God created them to be, but no matter what the challenge is, every single human being has value. From the moment of conception to when someone dies, we all have value and life because we are created in God's image. Even if someone looks, talks, or acts different, they still have value and dignity. All human life has value because God loves them with agape love and created them in his image. Some people persecute  a child of God because they are faced with challenges. But, this is wrong. Jesus cured illnesses when he walked on earth and  treated everybody with equality. He set the perfect example and we need to follow the example he set. All life is valuable and should be treated with respect because in 2258 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states that, 'Human life is sacred'. Human life is valuable because God created each of us in his image. He also shows us agape love which we should model to others even if they have challenges in life. Finally, the CCC says that human life is sacred. We have to follow what the CCC and the Church teaches because they make boundaries that help us follow God. But, most importantly we need to listen to Jesus because he is the ultimate role model who shows agape love. If Jesus loves us so much to die for us on the cross, why can't we show kindness and mercy to others?

'Show respect for old people and honour them. Reverently obey me; I am the Lord'. Elders have much knowledge to share with us. 'The best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person'. They are like a hidden pearl in an oyster. It takes a long time for the pearl to develop, but once it does, it is beautiful. Elders are like that because they have been around a long time to gain knowledge and wisdom. We need to treasure them like someone would treasure a pearl. Even though elders are human so they will fade away someday, they leave behind pearls of wisdom that can't be found elsewhere. The pearls are their memories which teach us not to make the mistakes that they made and help show us how to be virtuous. Since elders are so precious and their time is short, we must respect them while they are alive. Taking time to care for them and listen to them are great ways to make them feel respected. Elderly people have knowledge and wisdom that we lack because of our age; they are truly more precious than jewels and we need to have our actions show this to them. Proverbs 31 :10 says, 'A good wife is far more precious than jewels', but not only is a good wife more precious than jewels, so is a good person.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was an abortionist who oversaw more than 75,000 abortions. He even aborted one of his own kids. When ultrasound was created, he took a video of an abortion from the baby's perspective. He watched the video and was transformed. He saw that he was killing a person, and the person could feel pain. He then knew that babies were people too. He became pro-life and worked to abolish the law he helped get through Congress earlier. The law was the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. He converted to Catholicism and was forgiven through the graces of Baptism. He died in 2011. The ultrasound is called 'The Silent Scream' and it is one of the saddest things a person could watch. It is the killing of a human person. The killing of a gift from God. Some people say that a baby isn't a person until they are out of the womb. But, a person is a person from the moment of natural conception to natural death. This is a fact proven by the cell theory. It states, 'All living things are made up of one or more cells'. When a baby is formed, two haploid gametes met and create one whole cell, a living thing. Many people  believe in the cell theory because it is valued by scientists around the globe. Therefore, babies are people because they start out as one cell. In fact, you started out as one cell. I started out as one cell. Every person started out as one cell. If we are considered people, then why aren't babies? Some people argue that we have free will. When God created people, do you think he gave us free will so we could kill others? No, he gave it to us because he loves us and he wants us to make the right choice. Also, God instructed us, 'Do not Kill', in the 5th commandment. Abortion is wrong because it is killing, it is the choice to deliberately murder a human being because they are unwanted. Mothers and fathers who chose to abort their child are murderers, just as much as the doctor who actually killed the child. The parents took the wrong path because they chose to kill. God gave us a miracle, the miracle of life. Do we really want to kill someone's opportunity to live? The miracle of life needs to be respected because, as Dr. Seuss puts it, 'A person's a person no matter how small'.

What Does Respect Mean to You: Conclusion

'You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you. But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll find things you never knew you never knew'. This quote answers the title of this essay and explains what respect means to me. It tells you to 'walk the footsteps of a stranger'. Walking in the footsteps of a stranger is also called putting yourself in someone else's shoes. If you had hearing loss, would you want to be teased and persecuted over something that is out of your control? When you are older, do you want respect? Would you want to die when you haven't had the chance to see the world? In this essay I am trying to show what does respect mean for christian - that it is about respecting life in all forms to possess the perfect culture of life. We can't have a culture of life if there is  suffering and death. We have to have respect for all ages and races of life to obtain a perfect culture of life. After all, Gandhi said that if Christians would just be Christ-like, we could change the world. We could change the world to make it a world of life, a culture of life.

Works Cited

• Butler, Brian, Evert, Jason, Maciver Aimee, Maciver Colin, Theology of the Body for Teens, Discovering God's Plan for Love and Life. West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, 2011
• Manser, Martin H. The Quotable Bible. 1st ed. New York: Checkmark, 2006
• O'Collins, Gerald, and Edward G. Farrugia. A Concise Dictionary of Theology. New York: Paulist Press, 2013
• The Catholic Teen Bible. Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2011, 2004.
• Pope John Paul II. Catechism of the Catholic Church: With Modifications from the Editio Typica. New York: Doubleday, 2003