What would you say is the biggest difference between "The Western World" (by which I mean Australia, NZ, UK, USA, Canada, Western Europe, and similar countries and their cultures) and the rest of the world?
I think one answer would have to be freedom. The US in particular seems to make a big deal of individual freedom, but they are by no means alone in enjoying it. Most western cultures do, while many African, Asian, and East European countries do not enjoy as much freedom (I'm not sure about South America..)
By freedom I mean many things. Freedom to speak one's mind in public. Freedom to worship as one pleases. Freedom to choose how to uses one's time and property. Indeed, freedom to own property. It also includes the concept of a free market to buy and sell goods and services.
Freedom from poverty, freedom from ignorance, freedom from curable disease are also important parts of freedom and whiile they may not be as prevalent in the west as we might like, they are much more prevalent thant in the rest.
So where does this freedom come from? The answer would seem to be "From Christians".
Another key different between the west and the rest is that the west has a strong Christian heritage, though many in the west are trying to rebel from that heritage. The rest do not have a clear Christian history.
While it is without doubt that many horrific things have been done in the name of the Christian church (as can be said of almost any major institution) it is also clear from history that some very major freedoms have been fought for any maintained by Christians over the years.
Schooling, nursing, and charity are all movements that have largely been pioneered by Christians and address those last freedoms, from poverty, ignorance and curable diseases.
Slavery was abolished largely by the work of Christian mean. Freedom to worship as we choose, and to live as we choose has often by pushed primarily by Christians. While other faiths seem to like to control what others do (and admittedly, the organised church is guilty of this too), true Christians seek only freedom to worship, and aim to convert others by loving them, not forcing them.
This should be no surprise, as Jesus clearly preached a Gospel of freedom. In Luke 4:18 he reads from Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, He obviously came to free, importantly from sin, but also from other captivity.
In John 8 He says:
If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
and I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
The western world enjoys unprecedented freedom, thanks largely to the work of Christians. Yet many in the west reject Christianity out-of-hand and claim that it is of no value to modern life. I wonder how long their freedom will last.
The book "How Christianity Changed the Word" by Alvin J. Schmidt, is a great resource for more details on this subject.
Comments...
Re: Free Indeed (29 September 2006, 15:19 UTC)
Yes, I definitely agree. Freedom is the right to choose.
You might choose to be a slave, or choose to live independantly. Both have their values and their costs.
If you have your situation in life imposed upon you, you are not free. If you get to choose, if you have free choice, then that is freedom.
Re: Free Indeed (28 July 2008, 20:49 UTC)
But a thinking person from a Middle Eastern country for example, may accept the multitude of benefits "freedom" provides yet also point to many problems caused in Western cultures by "being free".
Re: Free Indeed (29 July 2008, 08:34 UTC)
So when this thinking person has weighed up the values of freedom against its costs (and I agree that there are costs as well as benefits) and has decided which they prefer, can they act on that decision? If they can, then they have on of the most important freedoms. If they cannot.... that (to me) is very sad.
Re: Free Indeed (04 August 2008, 19:38 UTC)
Thanks for your reply.
Cost? I think that is the wrong word. It implies a party paying some price, in money or something of value, to another to have freedom. Best to call a spade a spade and call them problems. There are people who are seriously harmed by a country choosing to have freedom. I think they would find it offensive to know they are part of the "cost".
Although not a Christian myself, I wish more people took the morals of Christianity of one of the other Abrahamic religions to heart. I think these 3 religions all espouse something good, such as be nice. It is a great shame that these religions, and these days Islam in particular are suffering from "negative advertizing" thse days.
Re: Free Indeed (09 August 2008, 02:01 UTC)
I think the nice thing is the same for all the people worldwide,no matter he is Christianor not.
Today is the Olympic Games opening ceremony date, please open your heart and share the happiness with us.
Starred
Re: Free Indeed (12 February 2009, 14:16 UTC)
This article shows a poor understanding of history and modern society.
Democracy in modern times developed in the UK starting with the Magna Carta. Christians did not fight to overthrow the monarchs of Europe - these were secular movements and in fact were opposed by Christians. Christians did not stand up to 20th century fascists or communists. And in more recent times they did not lead the fight to eliminate gender discrimination, discrimination against homosexuals, and racial discrimination.
Also the implicit assertion in this article is that only the West is free and the rest of the world is a police state. Any time someone claims uniqueness the claim should be challenged - most likely it's a sign of ignorance about the other party. The laws in most Western countries are far more invasive than non-Western countries with the obvious exception of Islamic states. Homosexuality is a pet hate of the Abrahmic religions, elsewhere no one could care less. Alcohol and soft drugs are not controlled in large parts of the world.
Re: Free Indeed (28 September 2006, 20:02 UTC)
This is a good article, I agreed with the author. Although I come from China,east Asia.We can accept the freedom culture if we can agree with it, otherwise, we also can reject it if we don't like it. This free choice is also freedom itself, do you agree with me?
Starred
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