BEREOA SCRIPTURE SEARCH

    Understanding today’s worldviews

      By Joyce K., 11

A Worldview is a foundational belief system about ultimate reality. It involves the totality of one’s view of the meaning of his life and his existence in relation to the rest of the universe including the Creator. One must realise that different worldviews are behind every social issue that is being discussed in various public entities. There is a starting point in any way of thinking. The starting point is called faith, presuppositions, axioms, postulates and will affect any thinking system. If, for example, human beings are the result of mindless processes of chance and time, then another person is of no more value than any other item which is the result of pure chance, for example, a pile of junk. If I believe that others have little value, then I will probably treat them accordingly. That may be reason for current cult of rudeness in modern culture. Some people would simply say:”why make the effort to be polite”?

I will discuss the issue of worldviews further in this paper. Presently I will focus on how my own worldview and how that affects my daily life, as I define myself as being a theistic that believes in a personal God who created the universe. God is so infinite and cannot be fully understood. However, this God has revealed himself to the extent that is sufficient for humankind to know him and fellowship with him personally. He has revealed himself through his creation, his word (the Bible), and in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. So there is sufficient good reason to believe in a personal God. Hence, my life can have a clear purpose in terms of knowing God, worshiping him, serving and obeying him as well as the anticipation and sure hope of spending eternity in his presence. All this have been made possible through the sacrificial death and resurrection of God’s Son Jesus Christ in whom I have the forgiveness of all my sins and eternal salvation. Therefore, it is possible for me to preach and share the Good News of Gospel to those who do not know God yet.

I started by identifying myself as being a theistic person because I believe in a personal God who has revealed himself to humankind. However, I am conscious that some people hold similar views but with a different perspective of things. For instance, secular people who believe in atheism, that is the belief that there is no God, also believe in the power of human reason and knowledge. Nowadays, this belief is being defined as ‘science’. Theistics believe that there is a Creator. Thus, science becomes an exploration of a created universe. Such was the view of great scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Michael Faraday or C.S Lewis.

However, some theistics do believe both which is quite confusing. For instance, how can a person believe in a created world by God and at the same time believe that the universe appeared by chance through what is called evolution of everything?! So it is like affirming both something and its opposite at the same time. Some people may argue that postmodernists are in the middle. However, truthfully it is not because they say: “I believe that God exits, but to you if he doesn’t that is fine”. So the postmodernists’ way of thinking is that there is no absolute truth - I honestly and unreservedly disagree with that-.  For example they would also say: “I can do whatever I want as long as it does not disturb my neighbour “. The problem with this is that is someone’s intention is wrong; he will always be a potential danger for the society.

There are some questions that may hit people’s minds or even mine:

-          How did I come into this world to be a living being?

-          Why is there so much sufferings in the world and who is responsible for that?

-          What is the meaning of Easter and Christmas? 

I know that God truly exits, because he created this world.

The same worldview within a theistic mindset can also differ from one another. For example, Jews believe in Jehovah (meaning Self-Existent God from the Hebrew).but they do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, however we Christians believe in the same God as them that exists in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On the other hand, some Jews do believe in Jesus-Christ and are called Messianic Jews. It is important to note that all the first Christians were all Jews.

The Jews did believe that there was to be a Messiah, but unfortunately they did not know that Jesus-Christ was the Messiah and also the Son of God. The Jews had kept calling Jesus a Rabbi (which in Hebrew meant my master or teacher). They had been calling that because he was saying many true and important things.

The Jewish people did not understand what Jesus had meant by saying that he is the Son of God.  The Bible does provide a detailed genealogy of Jesus-Christ, as being a direct descent of King David from the tribe of Judah. In fact, his earthly father Joseph came from King David’s family.  The Jews in the Old Testament did not know Jesus-Christ, God had not yet revealed this to them. But when it came to King David-or the Psalmist’s reign, God began to reveal to him one of his successors on the throne. God also revealed to the Jewish prophet Isaiah about Christ-Jesus in great details (Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 7.14).

A worldview is also about viewing how the world is, for instance: the universe was created or was not created are two different worldviews.  Thus, creationism and naturalism are two possible worldview options for a scientist concerning the question of origins. On the contrary, I believe a systematic method for investigating the created universe is the definition of science according to the biblical worldview.

On the other hand, an ardent attempt to explain the universe without using creation is considered science according to naturalism worldview.

An illustration of how worldview influences both personal and public life could be seen in the life of John Newton who changed his perception of other people from being just like things to human beings created by God. He then dedicated his life in campaigning for the abolition of slavery. In face he came to realise that he too was himself a slave and composed the great hymn ‘Amazing Grace’.

So I believe that every one of us have different worldview and still have the right to maintain human life on earth. God created every body whether people may not believe it. From all the evidence surrounding us in this world, I personally believe that God created me and this entire universe.