Sample Essay On The Christian Worldview

Introduction

Making sense of the world essentially begins with a worldview. A worldview provides the necessary framework through which the world will be perceived in a unique way that has meaning to the person. It is a fundamental conviction on how the world should be seen, understood, and experienced (Hiles & Smith, n. d.). For Christians, such worldview centers upon Jesus Christ, the living Son of God (Matt. 16:16), the reason Christianity came to be. The Christian worldview is essentially God-centered (monotheistic). It gives priority to the prerogatives of God over human prerogatives, shaping it to conform former (Hiles & Smith, n. d.). A human-centered worldview cannot be a Christian worldview as these two worldviews are radically different. Either Christian worldview is embraced or the other worldview is accepted automatically (Matt. 6:19-24). This essay will briefly explore the Christian worldview at its core and most essential and provide an analysis of it centered upon the strengths and weaknesses of the Christian belief and the manner it influences human thought and behavior. All scriptural citations found herein came from original English version of The Jerusalem Bible (Jones, 1966).
God: The Christian monotheistic worldview about God is considered first-order points of doctrine, which are nonnegotiables to preserve the authenticity of the Christian faith as received from Christ and the Apostles (Hiles & Smith, n. d.). One fundamental belief about God includes His one, uncaused, Trinitarian nature (Jn. 1:1-18; Matt. 28:19; Gen. 1:26) in three Persons: the Father who is the Sovereign Creator (1 Cor. 8:6); the Son who is Jesus from whom all things were made and all existence came through (1 Cor. 8:6; Lk. 1:35-36; 1 Jn. 4:15; Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:16-17); and the Holy Spirit who is the Comforter, Paraclete, and Renewer of life (Jn. 14: 16, 26). Thus, the Trinity is actively involved in the creation (The beginning of wisdom notes, 2015).
Humanity: Humanity is the bearer of God’s divine image, being created in His image (Hiles & Smith, n. d.; Gen. 1:26). Being so, it is the highpoint of God’s creation: spirit, soul, and body in one created being. This likeness describes God’s special and intimate relationship with mankind. Moreover, humanity was created to know God intimately and worship Him, and accomplished by loving God and obeying His commands (Jer. 9:23-24; Jn. 14:15). The root cause of the human problems is idolatry, ascribing an ultimate value to anything not God. Instead of seeking to know God and worship Him, the primordial parents decided to be like God, an idolatry of self (Gen. 3:2-5). They attempted to dethrone God from their lives and then make themselves their gods. This is still true among humans today: self-worship, of man’s ‘unlimited power’ to scale the heavens and be like God just as what happened at the tower in Babel.
Jesus: Jesus the Christ or Messiah (‘Anointed One’) is fully God and fully human. He is the Son of God, the second Person (the Word) of the Trinity. Jesus taught about the coming of the Kingdom of God (e.g. Matt. 10:7), which is the reign of God over humanity and the rest of creation (Hiles & Smith, n. d.). His identity as God-Man is crucial in the Christian worldview as only Him can be the sacrificial lamb that atones for the sins of mankind. Only His salvific work made possible the Christian worldview in the first place (The beginning of wisdom notes, 2015).
Restoration: The solution to the human problem is the restoration of pure worship of God to humanity through an act of profound love by God for mankind (Hiles & Smith, n. d.). What God did was to embrace the human flesh and offer Himself as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Restoration is also the reconciliation of humanity to God, to a right relationship that sin severed (The beginning of wisdom notes, 2015). Before restoration even begins, humanity should go through an ongoing redemption, the rebuilding of the Kingdom of God. Restoration can and only commences not before but after the judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) in the New Heaven and the New Earth. Redemption (justification), the outcome of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, transpires only as a work of God’s free grace received by faith. Christians think that transformation of the self and society (through those transformed) occurs through renewal, by the Holy Spirit, once people accept Christ as Savior and Lord, becoming a new creation and transforms society with them.

Analysis

Strengths of Christian belief: The strength of the Christian belief rests upon Jesus Himself, His resurrection, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies in Him, and the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham in the establishment of the Kingdom of God, which will bring blessings to mankind as God promised him. As such, its foundation and reason is Jesus the Christ. Moreover, Christianity is always consistent with sound philosophy and science, properly and holistically interpreted. Human wisdom when properly used reflects God’s wisdom.
Confusing Christianity: Much of the confusions that Christianity generated generally came from its radical differences with the views and values of the world. In a world where success is paramount, Jesus was a relative failure; died a criminal’s death on the cross. He was passive against the evil people put Him into. He was embarrassment to His family (Lk. 2:48; 8:19-21). The crowd who followed Him turned against Him (Lk. 28:18-23). His disciples abandoned Him at a time of suffering and death (Lk. 22:54-62). Those genuinely drawn to Him were the misfits (Lk. 19:1-10) and the public sinners (Lk. 7:36-50). He embraced total obedience to the Father who sent Him to die a shaming death; and died without a fight. To the untrained ears, this is heretical (Francis, 2014).
The Christian influence: The means by which Christianity influences human thinking and behavior does not primarily rest on the strength of its discourses, but in Christ’s love and light that is manifested in the lives of all Christians (Paul VI, 1964). Lives full of love and understanding, even imperfect lives, attract through a strong bond and link with mankind’s hunger for a genuine love and a wisdom that guides. Above all, it is the Holy Spirit’s grace that touches the human heart. It is His movement in others that makes possible the influencing of their thoughts, hearts, and behaviors.

Reflection

Being a Christian, I live the beliefs of the Christian worldview by attempting to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Central to this living is my submission, as total as I can possibly do to or fathom of the will of God in very specific moments of my life, like Jesus did, which I discern through the events of my life, through contemplation of the Scriptures, through other people, and through many things that God will use to communicate His message to me. Corollary to this submission is the surrender, or a continuing effort to completely do so by His grace, of my future into God’s hands, not making plans for the future away from what God clearly wants me to do and be. If Christian faith is walking blind with only God’s hands holding and guiding the believer, then that’s how following God’s will in my life will be and shall be.

Conclusion

The Christian worldview is non-negotiably God-centered, specifically Trinitarian. It understands the human purpose, understands clearly the role of Jesus in Christian life, believes in a lifelong process of transformation and reconciliation with God, and looks forward to the time of the restoration of their union with God. Christianity is strong only as long as it stays within the embrace of Christ, within the purview and protection of the Holy Spirit, even amidst a world that radically opposes the Christian lifestyle and values. This is the world that Christ called all Christians and all people of good will to work at transforming through God’s love and wisdom.

References

Francis, Pope. (2014, September 26). The scent of a sinner: Morning meditation in the chapel of
the Domus Sanctae Marthae. L’Osservatore Romano (39): no page.
Hiles, J. & Smith, A.F. (Eds.). (n. d.). The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian
thought and life; pp.102 (in Word doc format). [Attachment]
Paul VI, Pope. (1964, November 21). Lumen Gentium. Vatican, Rome: Libreria Editrice
Vaticana.
The beginning of wisdom notes. (2015). [Attachment]