CHRISTIAN SOCIAL CAPITAL AS A FACILITATOR OF CHARITABLE DEEDS AND THE UGLY EFFECTS OF CONTEMPT IN SOCIETY BUILDING

Abstract

Within the Christian community dwells the Christian community spirit which indeed produces human social capital that brings about the words of succor, sympathy and allied kindred spirits that bring healing to the brokenhearted, convalescence to the sick, warmth to the lonely and commiseration to the wounded and the bereaved. We mean that spirit of life which tends to make tangible substances count for most in the daily lives of people, namely, goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social intercourse among a group of individuals and families who make up ecclesial social unit. If a member comes into contact with his neighbor, and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which may immediately satisfy social needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community. Incidentally, this actionable social capital under discussion, transcends mundanity to heavenly realms. In this regard, it is not only that the community as a whole benefits by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual finds in his/her associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors but that the practical behaviors touch the heavenly realms. However, within this Christian spirit, there exist another spirit Paul the apostle identifies as the spirit of flesh which carries out the desires of the flesh. He points out that this spirit of the flesh has desires that are opposed to the spirit of God (Gal 5:19-21). In this regard, Jesus in a word, identifies one of these ugly spirits as anger which degenerates to contempt that leads to destruction of all kinds including murder. Jesus advises that anger should be obliterated from human vocabulary because its social capital brings nothing but decimation of life and its environs. It is under this backdrop that this essay advocates a Christian character based on love; shunning in the process the behavior built on contempt.