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Helen Brehm

11/18/09

The Biblical Worldview

There are countless worldviews alive today, each with its own notions of

the nature of God, the universe and man. Each worldview has different

assumptions, often contradictory to those of another worldview. For example,

some worldviews deny the existence of God, while others affirm a sort of god.

Some views even deny the existence of the universe; others assume the

universe is real. Only one worldview can be the right one. It is of vital

importance to choose the right one, so one needs to examine them very

carefully. A great place to start (and hopefully finish) is with Christianity. Three

central ideas are crucial to the understanding of evangelical Christianity. These

three are the nature of God, the universe and man, Once these ideas are

properly explained, Christian ideals are much better appreciated.

The nature of God can only be understood if we know who God is. He is

three Persons in one: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He has always

existed and always will. He created the universe, along with time, animals,

vegetation and man. Because He created all there is, He is infinitely powerful

over creation. He is the holder of all knowledge that can ever exist. He is the

picture of moral absolutes and will not tolerate any deviation from His standard.
But, because He is merciful and patient, He has offered us an escape from His

judgment. Unlike other worldviews, God is not simply an onlooker outside of His

creation; rather He is an integral part of its “goings on”. Even in a fallen universe,

God is still active in its affairs.

The Christian conception of the nature of the universe is distinctive among

current worldviews. The universe that God created was first without form.

Through six days of differentiation into all forms of living and non-living matter it

became the perfect mechanical dwelling place for man. Even though work was

still necessary to produce food, it was good work, of the kind that was pleasant to

man in the then perfect world. After man sinned, the universe became abnormal;

from then on, work was back-breaking toil. According to Francis Schaeffer,

pathogens, diseases and mutations were most likely a result of the fall. In the

abnormality of a post-fallen universe, nature starts working against itself. This

can be seen in the ferocity of wild animals against each other. Also, because the

universe is not a closed system, God can intervene and create situations that

would otherwise have never arisen, such as the Great Flood.

God’s final act of creation was also His most amazing. Instead of creating

man out of nothing, God formed him of the dust of the ground and breathed into

him the breath of life. The truly unique thing about man is that he exists

consciously and in the image of God. Then God made woman out of man to be a

companion for him. This one man, one woman relationship is very important
because it symbolizes the unity of Man with two individuals forming a whole. God

intended this unity to only exist between one man and one woman. However,

their perfect world changed forever when Eve was tempted by the serpent to

directly disobey God, and invite Adam to do so as well. From then on, man no

longer existed in harmony with God, nature, or even themselves. He was tainted

with sin and was living in death. This new life of sin included a multitude of

ungodly behaviors such as selfishness, pride, unnecessary anger, blaming

others for one’s own faults and the practice of polygamy. Fortunately for us, God

sacrificed his son Jesus to save us from eternal punishment; all we have to do is

open the gift.

Proper understanding of Christianity is rare among most people. Once one

has appropriate understanding, however, it takes a substantial amount of denial

of the obvious to turn away from it. The heavens really do declare the glory of

God, yet men still declare the power of themselves. The world is far from

realizing its mistakes, but there is still hope if we only open our eyes.

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