Chapter 4 and Serving

Chapter 4 & Serving is Different from Helping and Fixing
This chapter touched on the different religions that emerged during the second wave of civilizations and compared them to one another. I found it most interesting to see how different groups made religion into their own by changing certain parts of it. Some religions completely disintegrated in certain parts of the world and others evolved into the ones we know today.


Maybe it’s because I was focusing too much on cold hard facts, but while reading the chapter, I completely forgot to focus on the possible reasons why these religions started showing up in the first place. I’m so sad to say that I can’t identify the cause for their beginning yet. I think it was mentioned that people wanted to have an explanation of life and the universe because of societal changes? But why now? There were societal changes before this time.


Religions’ cause for spreading was evident. For one, it was a way to keep people together and unified. For example, Rome was initially not a Christian state. Later on, to keep the empire together, the government eventually started promoting Christianity and had their emperor convert in order to gain support from the people. For others, they found it more fulfilling to live by a moral and virtuous code.


I always tried to find logical reasons why people believe in religion. Someone once told me that it’s because it’s easier to accept death when we believe there’s something waiting for us after it. Another reason could be that we like being part of a group that shares the same ideas as us. Maybe going to mass and praying allows for close bonding time with the community. These are just speculations on the matter and don’t really have any basis on the Strayer’s text.

As I was reading the first paragraph of the article Serving is Different from Helping and Fixing, it was difficult for me to understand what the author meant. I understood that serving was different, but I always thought of it as more unequal than helping or fixing. In some contexts, yes, serving can be unequal. Serving has a negative connotation because when we think of serving, we think that someone is being forced to serve unwillingly, that they serve because they are of lower social status than the person they’re serving. These were my thoughts as I was reading the first paragraph. Towards the end of the second paragraph, my views changed. Now, I think the article is talking about respect for the one another’s capabilities. The equality in serving stems from the fact that neither person has to be less than the other in their capacity to do the work for the serving to happen.
*Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)

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