Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Christian Worldview
Christian Worldview: Thought Processes III
September 27, 2017
A Christian Worldview has the
virtue of revelations, guidance and direction from God. We Christians, in
forming our personal worldview recognize and incorporate the hierarchy of Christian
thought processes throughout our lives.
An interesting aspect of this
hierarchy of processes is that they can be evoked in or made aware of to an
individual from any point in the hierarchy: top-down, bottom-up, or middle up-and-down.
Ultimately, they merge into a full worldview much as is outlined in what
follows.
Quite often the individual does
work into these thought processes from the bottom up, although most people are
intuitively aware of them more or less instantly from scripture, education,
sermons, and long practice in the faith.
The Christian Worldview is
constantly present in all of its complexity and sacredness both in the minds
and in the hearts of the dedicated followers of Christ. Taken in large measure
from "Understanding the Times"
by Jeff Meyers and David Noebel[1],
what follows is a very brief outline of the major elements of a Christian
Worldview:
1. God
is first in thought. His Immense and complex Universe, Sun and Planets are
awesome to contemplate. Life itself
is a miracle. Why is there something instead of nothing? Why does the Universe,
Life and Man Exist? Is the universe formed deliberately to accommodate man,
that is, as an Anthropic Universe?
2. Then comes Theology; The Trinity,
God's General and Special Revelations,
Guidance, Commandments, Bible References, Worship, Agape, The Decalogue, Walking With God, Confession of Sins,
Forgiveness through Jesus Christ, Resurrection,
and Life Ever After.
3. Followed by one's personal Philosophy,
mind before matter, God before people, design before creation, dualism, objective
reality, Faith, Worship, and the Power of
Prayer, plus following the Golden Rule. We hold to a Virtuous Philosophy of Life: Faith;
Hope; Charity; Prudence; Temperance; Justice; Fortitude; Truth-telling and
Honesty, to name a few.
4. And then, we must account for the
Ethics of Christian Life; Applying Agape! The Decalogue; and right versus wrong behavior. There are a number
of additional Constraints on an individual's
behavior, including: Etiquette, Business Rules, Military Rules, Customs,
Traditions, Institutional Rules, Family Rules, and the like.
5. Biology of Life comes next, Christianity
affirms Special Creation, that at
some point, and at some level, life resulted from a creative act of God, including
birth, growing, old age, death, marriage, procreation, raising children, health
and medical problems. Biogenesis, or life comes from life, is true.
6. Then we see a Christian Psychology. The
truth about the nature of the Soul must be reckoned with in
psychological situations. Mind/body
dualism, or the belief that human beings are composed of immaterial mind
and material bodies. If anything immaterial exists then matter is not all there
is. If matter is not all there is, then materialism is false, and Secularism,
Marxism and Postmodernism will have to start over from scratch. (Another
immaterial thing is Number.)
7. And then, the applicable Sociology of the Locale, the State and
the Nation. The basic institutions of society---the family; culture; worship;
government; urbanization; agriculture and so on, were included in Genesis 1, 2
and 4. Common language. Sphere
Sovereignty, or society functions best when family, church and state are
managing their own spheres of responsibility.
8. Then comes yet another general
revelation from God---Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Natural Duties. The essence of natural
law is Agape, and the Decalogue (with a host of major derivatives,
such as: freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.). Then we discover that
our Constitution largely reflects
Natural Law, and the Common Law that
flows from it. For Christians, Common Law must not violate Natural Law, or the
law is invalid.
9. And only then comes Politics, which must have results that
are compatible with or non-interfering with Natural Law, and the common law
that follows. Subsidiarity, the
belief that decisions are best handled by the organizational or societal level
closest to the issue or persons affected.
It is apparent that any thought
process discussed within the subject of Politics must not due violence to any
of the preceding thoughts stated above, or they do violence to Christianity. This
is not to say one cannot discuss Politics, Law or any other subject at all,
just that no harm should be done by a Christian to the Christian Worldview.
10. The subject of Economics then follows. Biblical Stewardship is the act of
managing and caring for resources that ultimately belong to God.
11. And finally, History: Redemption especially.
Unfolding of God's ultimate plan for humanity. A liner conception of history; a
chronological pattern of cause and effect.
Given these constraints, any
discussion of Political thought by a Christian must ultimately satisfy all of
the prior conditions established by the Christian Religion. Christians cannot separate Politics from Religion, since it is a
integral part of their Christian Worldview.
This is also why true separation of church and state is
not possible, and is not called for
in our Constitution, because the
founders were mainly either Theists or Christians. Other religions and
secularism may want to change this feature of the Constitution, but Christians
will defend the inclusion principle.
Christian Worldview: Thought Processes III
September 27, 2017
A Christian Worldview has the
virtue of revelations, guidance and direction from God. We Christians, in
forming our personal worldview recognize and incorporate the hierarchy of Christian
thought processes throughout our lives.
An interesting aspect of this
hierarchy of processes is that they can be evoked in or made aware of to an
individual from any point in the hierarchy: top-down, bottom-up, or middle up-and-down.
Ultimately, they merge into a full worldview much as is outlined in what
follows.
Quite often the individual does
work into these thought processes from the bottom up, although most people are
intuitively aware of them more or less instantly from scripture, education,
sermons, and long practice in the faith.
The Christian Worldview is
constantly present in all of its complexity and sacredness both in the minds
and in the hearts of the dedicated followers of Christ. Taken in large measure
from "Understanding the Times"
by Jeff Meyers and David Noebel[1],
what follows is a very brief outline of the major elements of a Christian
Worldview:
1. God
is first in thought. His Immense and complex Universe, Sun and Planets are
awesome to contemplate. Life itself
is a miracle. Why is there something instead of nothing? Why does the Universe,
Life and Man Exist? Is the universe formed deliberately to accommodate man,
that is, as an Anthropic Universe?
2. Then comes Theology; The Trinity, God's General and Special Revelations, Guidance, Commandments, Bible References, Worship, Agape, The Decalogue, Walking With God, Confession of Sins, Forgiveness through Jesus Christ, Resurrection, and Life Ever After.
3. Followed by one's personal Philosophy, mind before matter, God before people, design before creation, dualism, objective reality, Faith, Worship, and the Power of Prayer, plus following the Golden Rule. We hold to a Virtuous Philosophy of Life: Faith; Hope; Charity; Prudence; Temperance; Justice; Fortitude; Truth-telling and Honesty, to name a few.
4. And then, we must account for the Ethics of Christian Life; Applying Agape! The Decalogue; and right versus wrong behavior. There are a number of additional Constraints on an individual's behavior, including: Etiquette, Business Rules, Military Rules, Customs, Traditions, Institutional Rules, Family Rules, and the like.
5. Biology of Life comes next, Christianity affirms Special Creation, that at some point, and at some level, life resulted from a creative act of God, including birth, growing, old age, death, marriage, procreation, raising children, health and medical problems. Biogenesis, or life comes from life, is true.
6. Then we see a Christian Psychology. The truth about the nature of the Soul must be reckoned with in psychological situations. Mind/body dualism, or the belief that human beings are composed of immaterial mind and material bodies. If anything immaterial exists then matter is not all there is. If matter is not all there is, then materialism is false, and Secularism, Marxism and Postmodernism will have to start over from scratch. (Another immaterial thing is Number.)
7. And then, the applicable Sociology of the Locale, the State and the Nation. The basic institutions of society---the family; culture; worship; government; urbanization; agriculture and so on, were included in Genesis 1, 2 and 4. Common language. Sphere Sovereignty, or society functions best when family, church and state are managing their own spheres of responsibility.
8. Then comes yet another general revelation from God---Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Natural Duties. The essence of natural law is Agape, and the Decalogue (with a host of major derivatives, such as: freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.). Then we discover that our Constitution largely reflects Natural Law, and the Common Law that flows from it. For Christians, Common Law must not violate Natural Law, or the law is invalid.
9. And only then comes Politics, which must have results that are compatible with or non-interfering with Natural Law, and the common law that follows. Subsidiarity, the belief that decisions are best handled by the organizational or societal level closest to the issue or persons affected.
It is apparent that any thought
process discussed within the subject of Politics must not due violence to any
of the preceding thoughts stated above, or they do violence to Christianity. This
is not to say one cannot discuss Politics, Law or any other subject at all,
just that no harm should be done by a Christian to the Christian Worldview.
10. The subject of Economics then follows. Biblical Stewardship is the act of managing and caring for resources that ultimately belong to God.
11. And finally, History: Redemption especially. Unfolding of God's ultimate plan for humanity. A liner conception of history; a chronological pattern of cause and effect.
10. The subject of Economics then follows. Biblical Stewardship is the act of managing and caring for resources that ultimately belong to God.
11. And finally, History: Redemption especially. Unfolding of God's ultimate plan for humanity. A liner conception of history; a chronological pattern of cause and effect.
Given these constraints, any
discussion of Political thought by a Christian must ultimately satisfy all of
the prior conditions established by the Christian Religion. Christians cannot separate Politics from Religion, since it is a
integral part of their Christian Worldview.
This is also why true separation of church and state is
not possible, and is not called for
in our Constitution, because the
founders were mainly either Theists or Christians. Other religions and
secularism may want to change this feature of the Constitution, but Christians
will defend the inclusion principle.
Monday, September 25, 2017
The Knee-Jerks of the NFL
As of today I have signed off from NFL TV viewing, much to my wife's satisfaction. For most of my life I was an ardent fan, but given the Anti-American show I was exposed to on Sunday, I have no respect for the players anymore, and certainly no respect for the owners. What are they thinking? Using the National Anthem to express their dissatisfaction with some heavy words from Trump? Ridiculous! Grown men? Jerks.
