CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

 Background

George Carlin was a well-known comedian from American he was a great social critic and was well known for his subjects against religion. He is among many people who lack belief in religion. He was regarded as one of the most controversial as well as an influential comedian in the business. His negative attitudes towards religion and in more specific sense Christianity has greatly shed light on his own beliefs and cultural characteristics. The atheist community is slowly growing with many people now identifying with it. It is a group that is mainly considered as a minority and has for many years faced a lot of challenges especially from the religious conscious side of the society that also have negative attitudes towards them. George Carlin is one among the many people who do not believe in religion, and he is a man with such a great conviction that religion and more specifically Christian religion is not relevant in the society. Atheists are slowly becoming an important aspect in society believed to have great belief in God. It is a mandate of Christians to go and share the word of God to the rest of the world, and that was one of Jesus’s mission on earth. It is a mission that aims at spreading it to different parts of the world as well as to different cultures. One of the successes of Jesus was his ability to understand cultural values and incorporate it through his teachings of the word of God. He also took time to develop cultural knowledge that greatly enhanced his cultural intelligence and made it easy to spread His gospel to different culture. In this essay, I will explore the spreading of the word of God to a non-believer who is George Carlin who has negative attitudes towards the Christian religion.

Elements of communication

Clear communication is a major element that would guarantee effective decision making when it comes to sharing the gospel of God to non-believers. Communication is what is expected to pass information about God to people. It has to be simple, comprehensive and effective and achieving its objective which in this case is to inform George Carlin of the love of God and His promise of eternal life. There are many factors that influence communication. One of them is associated with cultural consideration. Good communication is a great characteristic of leadership and Jesus was a great leader. He had the ability to break down the message of God in ways that are specific to the different characteristics of the people he preached to. His communication skills were what made him successful in c\breaking boundaries and spreading His word to the world. Cultural considerations, especially in the aspect of communication, is very important. This is because every culture has its own set of rules and this means that it has a different way of doing things. We are currently living in a cross-cultured world where national and cultural boundaries have little significance. People have great cultural biases because of lack of contact with other cultures. This bias can be very problematic especially when dealing with other people. It is therefore paramount for individuals to have some level of good cultural intelligence that would enable them to understand the cultural characteristics of others. Some of the elements of communication that may be beneficial in engaging in a good conversation with George Carlin includes the use of both verbal and non-verbal communication to express the teachings of God. George is an American, and in American culture, communication is best displayed when a combination of both are utilized. However, the success of such an interaction would greatly depend on the understanding of the cultural background from where George belongs to (Livermore, 2015, p. 101).

Cultural systems

Cultural systems are critical when it comes to the understanding of other people. The American culture is one that has been forged from their historical, political and economic development over the years. One of the biggest characteristics that define the country’s culture is its association with slavery which led to great development sin economic and social inequalities. The country is very much divided into aspects of the race. Immigration is also high and has become a very diverse nation. It is a nation of great cultural differences. This is also a country with a lot of individualism. The action and choices are based on the preference of an individual rather than that of the family or society. As a result, decisions made by people are made faster. In the United States, there is little collectivism in the culture. Collectivism is another cultural system opposite to that of individualism, and it is associated with making decisions based on influences from family and the society at large. The perception that the society has on a person is important, and therefore, decisions and choices have to conform to societal norms. It is different from individualism whereby, the choices and decisions made are solely based on the perceptions and preference of an individual. Distinguishing between these two aspects of the cultural system is important in understanding the cultural characteristic of an individual as well as that of the society he or she lives in. These are some of the cultural systems to take into consideration when engaging with a person such as George Carlin. Understanding such systems are expected to develop a personal knowledge that can be used to identify the strengths that can be used to pass the word of God to the man with little resistance and greater willingness. Understanding cultural systems such as the knowledge that most Americans operate on individuality may help develop great insight when it comes to telling some of the stories from the bible that are expected to provide the man a greater understanding of God. A man such as George Carlin who has a very negative attitude towards the Christian religion needs an effective way of communicating Gods love in a culturally informed manner (Livermore, 2015, p. 69).

Cultural value orientations

Cultural values are based on cultural understanding. This is an aspect that is developed through great discipline and comprehension of cultural differences that exist in the society. Having this information enables people to have a better position in engaging with people better and have more effective communication. It is not always that circumstances arise because of cultural factors, sometimes they arise because of the things such as personal characteristics. It is, therefore, important to have good cultural knowledge that may help in differentiating between cultural factors from others factors. Cultural values are factors of cultural knowledge which leads to the development of cultural intelligence. Having cultural values means having the ability to understand and take a different point of view based on a different culture. In this case taking the point of view of George Carlin for the purpose of understanding his point of view as well as the way he thinks in relation to the Christian religion of Christian religion may be a show of cultural value and may prove paramount when it comes to teaching him about the word of God (Livermore, 2015, p. 69).

Presentation

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is associated with the teachings of God, his love, and news of his redemption. It is characterized by Jesus’ death on the cross, and his resurrection for the sake of redemption from our sins. It begins with the story of God’s creation of the world, the heavens and all beings in it. The creation of man in the image of God which means that man had a close relationship with God. The temptation by the devil in the Garden of Eden brought the FALL OF MAN AS A RESULT OF SIN, and the consequence was death and pain while on earth. Despite the onset of sin, God still loves us, and through his son, Jesus Christ man has the chance of being redeemed from sin through faith in Him. It is also associated with understanding Jesus as the son of God sent to earth to teach man about God and his love and through faith in Him people can get saved from sin. He was crucified, and he died while on the cross for the sake of man's sin. His resurrection is a show of power over death and power over hell. These are some of the important aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that people of the world ought to learn about. Many people especially non-believers have had ineffective approaches associated with some of the negative historical aspects of Christianity. Howver4, understanding of God and his love is paramount in living by his teachings.