Christian Worldview Research Paper
I have a Christian worldview. A worldview is the structure by which an individual or group makes sense of the world. Philip Graham Ryken describes it as “our orientation to reality.” It seeks answers to questions like, “How did we get here?” and “In what is our ultimate hope?” Ryken believes all worldviews are inherently religious because they reveal our “fundamental convictions,” particularly what we believe about God. Further, he believes we all develop a worldview, whether consciously or subconsciously, with regard to the fundamental question of origin, problem, and hope. There are many factors which contribute to one’s worldview, including one’s background, experiences, education, socio-economic circumstances and nationality. Of course,
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This extends in many directions: political, economic, and cultural, but also to the realms of the self, the family, and the church. The Christian worldview holds the Word—the Word made flesh—as revealed in the Holy Scriptures as the “sole authority for faith and practice.” Therefore, the Christian worldview ceases to be Christian if Jesus is not the final authority with regard to ethics and worldview. We can glimpse how God sees the world by studying how Jesus taught and lived. In relation to the “external, legal, ceremonial conformity to the law” which characterized Jewish righteousness in his day, Jesus’ righteousness was “internal, spontaneous, [and] never in adherence to a fixed set of rules for behavior.” This is not to say Jesus’ ethical teachings were relativistic but rather pointed toward the “righteousness of God” and not the customs of the culture. This leads the Christian to the third person of the trinity; it is the Spirit which allows the individual of faith to develop his or her moral character. Henlee Barnette declares, “To be guided by the Spirit . . . is to be led into a knowledge of the will of God as revealed in Christ.” Love is the basic ethical principle of the Christian worldview;
This extends in many directions: political, economic, and cultural, but also to the realms of the self, the family, and the church. The Christian worldview holds the Word—the Word made flesh—as revealed in the Holy Scriptures as the “sole authority for faith and practice.” Therefore, the Christian worldview ceases to be Christian if Jesus is not the final authority with regard to ethics and worldview. We can glimpse how God sees the world by studying how Jesus taught and lived. In relation to the “external, legal, ceremonial conformity to the law” which characterized Jewish righteousness in his day, Jesus’ righteousness was “internal, spontaneous, [and] never in adherence to a fixed set of rules for behavior.” This is not to say Jesus’ ethical teachings were relativistic but rather pointed toward the “righteousness of God” and not the customs of the culture. This leads the Christian to the third person of the trinity; it is the Spirit which allows the individual of faith to develop his or her moral character. Henlee Barnette declares, “To be guided by the Spirit . . . is to be led into a knowledge of the will of God as revealed in Christ.” Love is the basic ethical principle of the Christian worldview;