Christian Worldview

I started a new online class and decided to post my first essay for the class.



Worldview

A worldview is a philosophical system that endeavors to explain how the facts of reality fit together like a puzzle. Whenever I put a puzzle together, I always end up putting the outer frame together first. The outer frame is easier find because one side of the puzzle piece is straight. Once the outside of the puzzle is framed, it is easier to fill in the center pieces.

The frame for people’s worldviews begins forming in childhood. The things that frame it are the things we are taught by family, clergy and school teachers, the things we see on the news, and movies, and the things we read and observe in the world around us. Our worldview provides the perimeter for the decisions we make. James K. A. Smith wrote that “worship [is] the matrix from which a Christian worldview is born.” (as cited by Eric Miller, Christianity Today Online, February 24, 2010).

People’s worldviews are constantly being reshaped as they gain more knowledge and life experience. I think the oldest component that frames my worldview is my belief in God. The second thing that frames my worldview is my experience within society. The third thing that frames my worldview is my education.

I believe that God created the universe. I accept this as a fact, even though I respect most of the scientific theories about how the universe was formed. I don’t see the two things as incompatible. However, while the mitochondrial and fossil evidence regarding man’s evolution from other life forms is compelling, I do not accept the theory of evolution. In order to reinforce my disregard for the evolution theory, I reference the Bible and some other writings I am familiar with that are even older, such as the play Antigone and the book Plato’s Republic which show how marvelously complex the human mind was centuries ago, and has always been. Knowledge keeps multiplying and the human mind is able to keep pace because God designed it to hold enormous amounts of information.

I once had a person ask me why God would he create the dinosaurs just to become extinct. After some thought on the subject, I had the thought that God knew mankind would eventually need fossil fuels. I know that science could probably find a million things wrong with my reasoning, including the fact that most fossil fuels are the remains of ancient bacteria, not dinosaurs, but I don’t claim to have the answer, just one plausibility that allows me to combine my respect for science and my belief in God.

Another time a friend asked me if I thought God had ever intended man to travel through space. After some thought I came to the conclusion that if God had not wanted mankind to venture into space, then we would not be able to. I think the fact that we can launch satellites into orbit, send probes to other planets and have walked on the moon proves that God intended us to do so.

Most Christians believe that God defined what is right and wrong. The Bible has a lot to say on the subject of morality. According to Genesis 3:5, the serpent that spoke to Eve said that knowing the difference between good and bad was what made humans different from God:

For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your
eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God,
knowing good and bad.

Adam and Eve were given free will in the Garden of Eden, but the serpent came to Eve with the challenge that God was withholding something from her, something that would make her like God. The idea of being like God must have been appealing to Eve, because through her and Adam, “sin entered into the world and death through sin.” (Romans 5:12). Thus, the Christian worldview holds that mankind is born inherently sinful, but humans still have free will. We are free to decide how we will live our lives, whether we will serve God or not. I think that the most important thing that a Christian worldview gives us is the possibility of redemption.