The definition of hope is to think of the future with positive expectations; it is to rely on something wholly reliable; it is to trust in faith that the matter of the hope will be fulfilled. Though the concept of hope can be conveyed through various unrelated examples, such as a student who hopes to pass their mathematics exam; a wife who hopes their new home recipe for mousse au chocolat pleases her husband’s overzealous tastes, or a fan who hopes his beloved football team at the very least succeeds in getting to the first round of the NFL playoffs, the deviation of method can never contradict this singular, universal meaning of hope.
Keeping to this context, hope operates congruently when inscribed in the monument of a genuine Christian. Hope for a Christian is based on the message of the Bible, from which is promised that redemption from all sufferings, eternal happiness, and an everlasting life will be obtained at death, but only through faith in and devotion to God and His Word. This single message influences the thoughts and dealings of those who believe in its validity so strongly that they devote the substance of their lives faithfully, willingly, and accordingly to His teachings with the sole hope that it is true.
When the supporters of this belief congregate, they form in their ranks a society of likeminded people, also known as a culture; a collection of people who do, say, make, and think according to the values and principles that are the threads which the fabric of their society are stitched together. And With the amalgam of this brief understanding of the general description of hope and its significance according to Christianity, and the basic understanding of the structure of a culture, we can therefore carefully and acceptably express the whole from the sum of these fractions; that those who follow the guiding principles of the Word of God can be fittingly termed as a “Culture of the Word”.
The Culture of the Word, as explained in the previous passage, lives in the hope that all of their transgressions will be forgiven, and that at the time of their death their souls will be saved; they will transcend the world to exist in God’s heavenly kingdom. According to the message proclaimed in the Bible, this is an undeniable truth unscathed with exceptions, and stalwartly supported by tales of men and women, their lives, and their relationship with God told within. The most symbolic and significant of lives being that of Jesus Christ’s, from whom Christianity’s ideology and etymology is derived from.
Jesus was, and quite still is, the epitome of human disposition, whether in reality or symbolically; however one may choose to believe. He is the embodiment and the actualization of the Word; a testament to the legitimacy of the message of hope in the bible. The story of his life could be summarized in two words: suffering and faith. Through suffering his faith grew stronger; and as his faith grew the pain diminished. Anguish lost its crushing power because he believed in the hope of the message of the Scriptures; and in his insufferable death as a heretic, according to the verdict of man, he was reborn a king under the will of God. This was due to his constant efforts to put into practice God’s instructions, such as in charity, forgiveness, and the impartial spread of the message; and his overall hope, or faith, that God would relieve him and the world of all the sorrow, in reward of his sacrifice.
In our initial thought of Jesus simply as a man, there seems not a single defining characteristic that makes him unique to us, other than the hype about his conception. He certainly was not born with the normal lavishness, equipments, and garnishing of a king as Scripture claimed him to be. Conversely, he was born under suspicious circumstances (virgin birth), under inhospitable conditions (in a stable), and lived laboriously and in poverty throughout his entire life. But through his unfettered devotion to God, he proved himself to be a king among men. He had his hope and faith only in God and His Word, the Scripture. He did not have any curriculum to outline his life; only a hope in the promise that it would not be lived in vain.
This is the unique symptom of Christianity. They know not the reasons for events in life or what may happen as it continues along, but they are assured that none of it is meaningless; and through every triumph and every disgrace, they can have faith that at the end God will rescue them. They live according to a message that is not just one of concern, but one of solution. The Bible does not just speak of the goodness of God; it proves it, as we see by the example of Jesus and his sacrifice. The message has the audacity and original solidarity to be life changing news. It is like picking up a newspaper and reading the obnoxious bold print: WORLD LEADERS MEET TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. At first glance, you are already shaking your head- “Yeah? So did my dad and his brother”. But as you look further, your eyes widen as you read, “All nations have agreed unconditionally to disarm and dismantle every weapon of mass destruction by nightfall…” Then your pupils dilate, “…and all other forms of weaponry to be demolished within a decade…” and the paper slips from your hands and falls to the floor, along with your jaw. The article states that the deepest fear and greatest threat to human existence, death, is to be erased from the earth, ensuring uninhibited life; much like the Word promises eternal life, by erasing the consternations of living and trepidation towards death. That alone already sounds too good to be true. But it is fact, and has been done (or in this case agreed upon). Still, to say all weapons are to be made completely void? A promise too dubious, is it not? This is the challenge; the test of faith. The promise of a better tomorrow has been proclaimed by the leaders of the world. All that is left is the individual to hope and believe it will be done, and be satisfactorily assured according to the facts that have already been presented.
Still, even in this unprecedented knowledge of a concrete, truthful statement, there still is a common worldly doubt of its legitimacy. Even though a great triumph has taken place over the greatest threat to humanity, people will still remain cynical and unconvinced that they can believe, they can hope, for such a ‘farewell to arms’. This is because having faith that our hopes will be fulfilled may seem today to be a daunting submission to uncertainty, as in the process of hoping we are subjecting ourselves to the infinite possibilities of the future and to have faith is to expect from the unexpected. This uncertainty is a result of the truth that life itself is lived with the uncertainty of tomorrow. When we inquire into a future with manifold possibilities and no certainty of any which outcome, we naturally in the process designate the certain from the uncertain and from that division judge where our values lay, and in finalizing the determination of values, we unintentionally direct which path that our hopes will run. Take for example the life of a soldier on the front lines of battle. He lives with the uncertainty of the next moment, as danger lurks behind every blink of the eye. Being imprisoned under these threatening conditions, he decides as to what has more value to him; the life of a comrade, the life of the enemy, or his own. Whichever he believes to be of most value, he would most certainly act accordingly to protect it in the hope that his devotion to the selection would prevent any harm coming to it. But being a soldier in a hostile environment that disperses an ominous lethal aura equally amongst its inhabitants, he knows that even with the best of his efforts and his solid devotion to preserving the life of his choice, he may not secure his hope. Thus is the reality of this world and all things that reside in it.
Returning to the fundamental choice of values, it could be considered that it is the origin of uncertainty and hopelessness, and is responsible for the ambiguity that has become a common trait in the character of modern society. The reason as to why such a simple choice of values has become the question of a lifetime is due to the fact that clear definition of morality and values has been concealed in the acceptance of the process of individuation; the formation of a personality based on the pattern of his or her environmental, experiential, and perceptional circumstances. Morality and values in other words are subjugated by the consequence of conditionings. Therefore, who can judge as to what is right or wrong and what has true value, as we all mature under unique conditions and are thoughts are biased due to this account. To evade furthering the suffering of trees, allow yourself to be temporarily robed and warmed up to this supposition. Now enter a hypothetical situation, where we ask a fellow where their values lie. Assuming this person has a generally good perception of life, they may reply that it is in the prosperity of their family and friends, to their honest integrity, and/or to their dignified work. We hear this response and smile genuinely and think highly of this person as these are all respectable values. But suppose we pursue the dialogue and ask why these things are important, it is more than likely they will reply proudly that they want the best in life for everyone so all may enjoy the perks of high social status such as that of security and comfort; a necessity to the personal progression required of today’s world and the hope of every human. And if we go so far as to ask why they hope for the best in life, the predictable response would be “Because there is nothing better”. Suddenly at this juncture, the interrogation swings from its original detainment in present livelihood over towards their values in the after-livelihood, as the earthly realm of human reason has little, if at all, any influence on the grounds of metaphysical ultimatums.
More often then not, when we reach this stage in determining our values, we become perplexed and a great uncertainty once again arises along with a feeling of hopelessness due to the reality of an unavoidable cessation of sense and livelihood, as the general agreement is that there is no certainty regarding the unknown afterlife. We can of course hope for something positive to be the reward for death, but our faith in that hope is a cracked foundation that separates further when we see that everything has the potential to be anything other than what we initially believed it had been as of yet. Such is the result of the progress of science which defines our generation; in which there never ceases to be a concluding aspect of the world that gives reason for life as every new scientific discovery in the fields of biology, physics, and astrology tends only to give reasons as to why there could never have been organic existence without the prompt of some kind of unique force that willed the universe to implode with subsistence. Eventually the recognition of death and the need to decide in the context of finalities becomes nothing more than a subjection of speculation towards something beyond our understanding that undermines the solid embrace of present preoccupation, and at the end of the day it is but a mere distraction from the decisions that are currently required of us and demanding our persistent attention. Common attitude is that this field of inquiry ought to be left to those who care to inquire on such an evasive and divergent theme, like a scientist or theologian or philosopher, as the rest of the population must worry about getting to work on time in order to place the food on the table in time in order to survive in our time! And here we have struck upon the insecurity of humanity when we ask the questions “What therefore is the purpose of the best of life when life ceases to be? What becomes of the requirement of self preservation when confronted with the truth of the self’s inevitable annihilation?” If one reflects upon these problems without the support of definitiveness to strengthen their own faith in the answer, one will most certainly crumble under the weight of uncertainty. Or in the act of staying true to ones animalistic nature, they would simply choose to object to reflection and remain ignorant to the hopelessness of uncertainty for the sake of the primitive function of self preservation. Summarily and most simply understood, it is a choice about whether or not to be concerned about the present or the future. But since the intangible future has unlimited possibilities and no obligation of loyalty to what one may hope from it, it is impossible to have any faith in it, whereas the present which is free for sensible discernment can be molded into the shape that satisfy one’s hope. Initially it would appear more reasonable to have made such a choice as to trust one’s hope in the malleable, uncontestable, defined world.
But let us hold back on this choice as it is suspect to be premature. Let us ask ourselves if we are certain that the future is truly uncertain? And are we so sure that the present is really anymore determinable than the future? Place this question in the metaphorical context of a car crash; we have control of the car when our hands are on the steering wheel and our mind is focused on the happenings in the road. Therefore you are in and have control of your present situation. But unexpectedly the attention of another driver in a separate car near you had been lost in a daydream. He veers into your lane and the two cars collide without hesitation from either side. Now let’s think for a moment. You are aware of your present state; you are presently driving. You did not expect, and almost certainly had hoped in opposition of the probability that another car would accidentally collide with you, otherwise you would have avoided it; thus the result of a vague future. But the actual incident itself, the collision, was not an act of the future, as you had not noticed the clash of the cars until it had occurred at that present moment and were only certain that it had taken place once it had passed and became an undeniable truth (assuming you had not suffered psychological trauma and happened upon a state of denial). In conclusion, we determine that nothing in life at any moment other than those that have already passed is truly definite. Our organic senses can show the possibility of a definite object whatever it may be, but it is not until we are subjected to the spirit, the will you could say, of the object in discernment that we can be confident in its definitiveness. If this is the case, what certainty do we really have of anything? What hope can we have faith in that is not already destined as a result of natural tendencies of things to perform treachery against us?
The answer lies in the awareness of an unnatural, ethereal, eternal hope. Awareness, permanence, and reliability are all constituent parts of the innermost hope in humanity. Unlike all other general hopes of obtaining material objects whose values are predisposed to biased conditioning (individuation of the personality), which stimulate momentary awareness whether positive or negative, and are subject to infinite change, this hope engages in an object which is absolutely permanent and beyond nature and material; therefore reliable as it is not subject to the natural behavior of the world. This hope is created through faith in a God. But the value of the components which make up this hope has been neglected all because the subject appears to be beyond our reasoning and comprehension. What faith can we have and how can we hope in something that has left no forensic evidence to deduce the truth of its existence? As Pope Benedict said, “Quaerere Deum – to seek God and to let oneself be found by him.”
This is a message portrayed by the Christian belief. That the only true hope we can have faith in being fulfilled is in the faith and devotion we shower onto God. Their source of this hope, the Holy Bible, is also referred to as the Word of God, and it is by reading the Word of God, that another entity, though still part of the same god, the Holy Spirit begins to resonate in you soul. Though it sounds farfetched and completely imaginary to any reasonable person, their hope for the revelation of its message is only solidified by their faith in that God. And their faith is solidified by the accounts narrated in the Bible of the truth of God’s message. Those accounts are most familiarly known to Christians as the books of the Apostles, and it is through the study of their memoirs, so to speak, their ideas, their faith, their actions, that Christians gain that factually knowledge they believe so strongly in.
When we reflect on the life of the apostles and how these few men were able to revolutionize the ideology of the world and invigorate the sense of a timeless hope, we must identify what these men of faith contained in their hearts that allowed them to spread the message of hope to the rest of the societies they lived in. It is all too common to misinterpret that a culture of the Word is based soley on the Bible. This is certainly not the case, as the Bible is simply an assemblage of texts which depict the message of God. Therefore in order to asses how a renewed Culture of the Word can present its gift of Truth and hope, there must be a clear understanding as through what means the original culture of the Word, the Apostles themselves, advocated to the people of their times; not through the context of the Bible, but through the unique message now enfettered within its bindings. Only then the Culture of the Word can truly be termed as such, and honestly be capable of distributing the hope intrinsic to the Word of God.
The question we are immediately impugned upon whilst ruminating on the methods of the Apostles is: How did the Apostles spread hope among a hopeless society? The Apostles had been designated by Jesus to spread the good news- the Gospel-of his resurrection and the fulfillment of the scriptures and to establish churches across the globe with this memorandum, but the actual documentation of the hopeful message took place over a period of about 1600 years; beginning with Moses in the 16th century BC and completed by the Apostle John in the 98 AD. Over that 1600 year period, there was an assortment of additional men, from prophets to shepherds to kings- and even a tax collector- who were all ordained by God to record the history of His will. Most significantly, their writings were not even arranged into the book we now know under various names such as the Holy Bible, the Gospels, or New Testament until the year 390 AD! So if they did not have the guidance of Scripture, what did they have? This is the primary question whose answer can truly prompt the renewal of the culture of the Word, and thus, with its absolute understanding, allow the message of hope to be planted in every budding soul in the soil of society.
For the Apostles, the knowledge, faith, teachings, and feeling of hope did not come solely from interpretations of holy text such like our common understanding is consequent of. It was derived directly from the practice, teachings, and experience of the Word that was personified in the personality of Jesus Christ. In his sermons, and in his life and how he lived it, Jesus revealed God to humanity, and shepherded us towards Him by disclosing the truth of the one and only Holy Father of mankind and His values, virtues, and hopes for us his children. Jesus taught and demonstrated that we could be united in spirit whilst still having divergent philosophies and methodologies, how we individuals could strive in our daily lives to love our neighbors as ourselves, and how the men and women who are faithful to God could show forth in their lives their dedication to the fulfillment of their ultimate hope and the principles of righteousness, which is through equal treatment, merciful justice, forgiveness, fidelity, loving service, abiding hope, confiding faith, integrity, altruistic devotion, and enduring peace.
These were the values of God by which Jesus taught, lived, and died for. He sacrificed his life in order to proclaim this message; enacted with the hope that humanity could learn from their past mistakes, be righteous and distinguishable in their present thoughts, and know and have irreproachable hope that it is possible to seek forgiveness from God if one erred. These sacred morals were ingrained in Jesus’ example and became the light and inspiration for the Apostles which gave them the courage and faith to hope in God; that their devotion to the promotion of these values was beneficial for everyone.
With this new light of hope, they traversed the globe with a clear vision to spread the message of salvation that was symbolized by Jesus’ death, as clarified in Romans 8:1-4: “1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.c And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Holy Spirit.”
Wherever their journeys brought them, the knowledge of deliverance followed; empowering their faith and hope and encouraging them to move forward while immersed mind, body, and soul in the ethics and ideals of Jesus. At every opportunity they not only preached the Gospel but also performed it through acts of piety, charity, and service to every man woman, nation, and institution in the name of God and thus made themselves the model of hope for all to admire and imitate. It was in this unyielding work to baptize the pagan societies they lived in with the message of the one true God that they created the first ever culture of the Word, bound explicitly by the morals and example of Jesus Christ and Word of God, and the hope and faith in its truth.
The result of this selfless band of vicars revolutionized the world and changed the course of history; and became the religion that we today know as Christianity. The virtuous condition of this pious religion, though, has dwindled over its 2000 year history. The light of the message, morals, and practices of Jesus have been muddied and veiled in the increasing darkness that has encroached upon the territories of man’s mind, and the significance of his sacrifice has been scrutinized, divided, torn apart, and tossed aside by the doubts arisen from scientific reason and exploration. Rather than understand the symbolism of his life, we refute it for its seemingly impossible application in the modern world, and we pay dearly for this mistake. The way a renewed culture of the world can bring hope to today’s society is by adopting the example of our spiritual ancestors, who matured in the light of hope and proved impossibility to be tangible through devotion to divine work; who brought hope to hopeless men and woman in a hopeless age. It is only through experience of that same light that we can become the beacon, the source that this light radiates from. If an entire inclusive empire of idolatry such as the Romans’ could be reformed by so few men, then why can not the parallel values of today’s worldwide community be rehabilitated by the millions more who carry the same message those few did? Although the Kingdom of God has been depicted in various ways, the general consensus of its universal significance and the moral requirements of men and woman to be citizens of it have always been disproportionately statuesque to all other matters; it is Heaven, God’s holy abode; Paradise, a place of perfection whose inhabitants are people of perfection. Why then, with all the definitive guidance of the Bible we now have that makes righteousness appear like an algebraic word problem, and the support of God that has been promised for eternity which is the known variable in this tedious equation, can not Heaven be on Earth? For the Lord’s prayer doth sayeth “On Earth as it is in Heaven”.
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