圣经论文

2011级英语三班万龙201103010318 The Influence of the Bible on westerner s’ personality and daily life Abstract Christianity is one of the most influential religions in the world, thus the Bible ,a book that proposes the basic principles for people’s soul, is often labeled as a “Western book “.Both Jefferson and Franklin agreed that The teachings of Jesus are the most perfect ethics system. Both the doctrines it publicizes and the related English idioms are the major resources of Christian beliefs and the essential elements of the western concept of values. In the view of development, analyze the characters of humanity; we can have a better understanding of the vital role the Bible play s in the reconstruction of westerners’nature and personality. Key words: idioms; doctrines; religion; the Holy Bible; human nature. 1 A Brief Introduction to the Holy Bible If compared all the experience and knowledge of people to pyramid, the most basic human norms or "soul" is the cornerstone of tower bottom layer, in western culture, it is the Bible that provides a solid foundation to the pyramid. The Bible consists of two parts, namely, The Old Testament and The New Testament. Since it has come to one of the major sources of English culture, almost every family in western co untries has a version of Bible. The Bible is not a single book, it’s derived from Greek, and so it’s a collection of classical knowledge. It is a phenomenal account of history, covering the essences of 66books, written over approximately 1600 years. The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith which contains 39 books written from approximately 1500 to 400BC, and the New Testament contains 27 books written by Christians from approximately 40 to 90 AD. 2 The basic principles described in the Bible First of all, according to the doctrines in Bible, the original sin is hereditary, so everyone participates in original sin. “Our sins and our debts are often more than we think”,“The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children” Fortunately, according to God’s words, human’s evil can be cured by consistent penitence and positive efforts. However, because of human sin, we are not entitled to judge others, so God sends Jesus to the world to show people the glory of heaven which is open to believers who are devout and kind. Hold on the beliefs in God and principles and pray for those who persecute you, in this way, we can be the son of the heavenly father and get rid of the original sin, thus we all have chances to become noble. Secondly, God not only combined each part of the world to an organic universe that runs harmoniously but also authorized human the power to dominate and change the world. “Man is the measure of all things, ”that is to say, human above anything e lse should be always emphasized and deserves recognition,or rather, human have free will to improve themselves and change the world. You can choose high or run with the devil. Therefore people cannot release its responsibility and expect God to solve all of your questions. So, in western culture, people have strong desire for freedom, they have the right to choose who they want to be and how they live a life, but at the same time, they need to be responsible for themselves. Thirdly, Christians believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are naturally equal. In front of his mother and brothers, Jesus ever told them that only those who follow God’s guidance are qualified to be his family members, which implied that everyone is equal inside the church. These Christian doctrines are actually the theoretical basis of the equality and individual rights. Since the westerners appeal for equality and rights, they share equal treatment both in life and social status. Men and woman share the housework in the families and they have equal position in work and political issues. Besides, another theory closely connected to the theory of equality is individualism. Bible said that everyone is created on the basis of the figure of God, so everybody is precious. Individualism encourages people to fight with his own hands and gain his independence through his hard work: “He who travels the fastest travels alone”,“if each would sweep before his own door, we should have a clean city” Further, Individualism is also rendered by means of respect for privacy: “Love your neighbor, yet not pull not down your hedge”. Lastly, Christians in western hold on honesty belief in God and Bible. Jesus' teachings and belief in God combined perfectly, this gives ordinary people a flawless and palpable standard, makes people perceive their insignificance and arouses the pursuit of a higher level. People live with the guidance of principles, they love and forgive others, but they do not surrender, this is the basic concept of modern civilization. So, as we can see in the Hollywood’s movies, westerners are apt to be more clinging, courageous and ambitious. They are accustomed to depending on God’s guidance in spirit but rely on selves when confronted with dilemmas. 3 The guidance of Holy Bible in daily life “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will or what you will drink, or about your body, what you wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? …So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bri ng worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today …”The Holy Bible tells us not worry about our body, our clothing, also not worry about our forthcoming. The positive attitudes towards to life guides westerners to living a happy life, they are apt to accept what they have. Second, the Holy Bible shows us many laws concerned with punishment for the guilty, which is a reflection of justice. So that the people who are to follow these laws have to be upright, and that is what the Holy Bible teaches. In the Holy Bible, God always chooses the upright people to be his servant, to lead the people. This is a kind of encouragement: being upright, and then we could have the opportunity to be God’s servant and lead the people out of tragedy. Besides, because of the existence of the original sin, mercy is necessary to be existed. Love and forgiveness are the fundamental way to make people become noble. What you do to others determines what you deserve. The westerners go to church and pray for their families, their work and so on. They also are honesty when blessing, they believe if they admit their faults sincerely, God will guide them to the right way and they will get rid of the punishments. The Holy Bible tells the Christians that God is humane, so the beliefs guide them to be grateful and tolerant with others. 4 Love conquers the world Alexander and Caesar, heroes who had established in a vast territory as empires, what our genius masterpiece relay on is the use of force. But Jesus only relay on its own force to set up his Kingdom with love. At this moment, there are thousands of people willing to die for him. Since the doctrines that Bible containing spread the spirit of love, believers are apt to hold on honesty and permanent beliefs in God. The force of God is powerful, so does the Bible. I think I know something about human nature;we are all human beings, so no one can do things as Jesus did. However, in our daily life, all people believe in Jesus sincerely will experience the vast and supernatural love. Mutual love contributes to harmony interpersonal relationship and improves the efficiency of cooperation; the force is more than we can imagine especially when a nation suffers a disaster. 5 Conclusions The Bible is a foundation of ideas and principles upon which western society rests. It has shaped not only human’s religious thoughts but also human nature and personality. Its stories are rendered creatively through painting and sculpture, which makes our spiritual life more colorful. Simple proverbs and concrete saying are popularly known and repeated, these sayings are no longer only confined to religion and they have become idioms which reflect English people religious faith. They also express the truth that guide our life and reconstruct our characters. Although the debate between religion and atheism among different kinds of religion will continue, there is no doubt about the value of the voice of Jesus as the "most perfect system of ethics in human history". Compared with the two thousands years of human history, the three years of Jesus preaching career is just a moment, but his voice was as Napoleon said: “time as a great annihilator, can't put out this flame, weakened the state of the fire, or prevent its prairie fire at all”. 参考文献 卓新平《圣经鉴赏》,中国社会科学出版社,1992年 赵海平《了解圣经》(第二稿),集美大学印刷厂印制,2003年 陈旭《圣经故事:人类文明之源》,北京出版社,2004年 马唐纳《新约圣经注释》,角石国际出版社,1998年