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.
References
Livermore, D. (2015). Leading with Cultural
Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success. AMACOM.
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