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.





[1] Summit Ministries, 2015


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