My (rough) worldview

Please thank Dr. Case at TU and Senior Seminar for this post. This is a rough version. If you have questions, comments, or challenges on my view, please leave there here!

So, I never know how to begin when I talk about my world view. I guess I’ll break it down into some questions I think are important. There is so much more that can go here that I believe, but I will just give a brief, simple overview. And there are even things that I have yet to work out.

Where did we come from?
This world and everything in it was created by God. He is still active in keeping everything together. He has set things in motion with laws (gravity, etc) He created, but He can and does break them to show us who He is. He has individually created each person and is active in their lives. He created everyone for relationships, both with others and Himself.

What are we?
Makeup- body and spirit
Nature- born with a desire to sin, due to the sin of Adam & Eve
Living (my basic counseling view)- I believe we have a God given personality which determines a range of behaviors that are likely. We are able to choose what we do with that personality. How you deal with the person God made you is how you live your life.
Eternity- when our body dies, the spirit lives on, either in heaven or hell

What is our purpose?
We are alive to bring praise and honor to God. We are created to love Him and others. But we have been given the ability to choose what we do with our lives.

How do find knowledge/truth (if there is any)?
There is truth about ourselves and this world and the God who created it. It is impossible to know all the truth that there may be due to our limited minds compared to the Creator. But we can find out about things in a variety of ways: the Bible, science, introspection, etc. My view of their relationship is that the each of these can fit together to reveal truth, but our interpretation of any of these may be flawed and therefore cause discrepancies. The Bible does not automatically trump all others, but God’s revealing (in the correct interpretation) is greater than any knowledge humans can find.

Right and Wrong?
There is a right and wrong in this world and it operates similar to the laws of nature God put in place. The morals and values were set in place based on the character of God, not His command or His pleasure. I believe humans have some part, if not all, of this law “encoded” in them from birth (the only way it would not be in entirety would be due to sin). We can discover the law more completely from the Bible and, since it comes from God’s character, the more we learn about God.

What about multiple worldviews?
Because there is one truth about this world, there is one right view. I believe each worldview is flawed in some sense because we cannot know everything nor can we know it perfectly (two reasons: our sin nature effecting our mental ability and our naturally limited mind). All worldviews are an attempt to grasp the one truth and some are closer than others.

So, what’s important?
There are a few truths which I believe can be understood enough to keep us striving in the right direction. There is a Personal Perfect Creator God. We (humans) have sinned and cannot be involved with this God. But since this is why we are created, God created a “way out”; some One to take the penalty of sin, allowing us to be involved with this God. Accept this and strive to know more, and you have the key of Truth and will live in heaven when you die.

Super Bowl XLI

As promised, my views on the Super Bowl of 2007. First off, no Super Bowl in recent years has captured my interest like the 32nd and 33rd Super Bowl. I may live near Indianapolis for school, but they are still not my team.

My stance with the game was this: I don't care about either team that much, therefore whoever I rooted for was not based on personal preference. The next choice is based on what is good for the game. Both coaches were African Americans, a first for the NFL, but this doesn't help choose a team. So, I looked at who had won the Super Bowl in the past and who hadn't in the longest time. Now, this takes a history lesson on the NFL: the Colts have been in Indy for 20 years, and they moved from Baltimore. Well, the Colts have never won in Indy, but won in Baltimore in '71. The Bears, on the other hand, won in '86. So, I decided to root for the Colts. But more than anything I wanted a good game- darn rain ruined that.

But they brought home a Super Bowl win to Indy and the Colts team repeated what they did with Baltimore down in Miami in '71. And the first words out of the owner's mouth after he was presented the Lombardi trophy were a pleasant surprise to me. He said that their thoughts and prayers were with those involved with the deadly tornadoes in Florida earlier this month. And then other phrases which were refreshing to hear. While there was a lot of "shining glory" they gave "it all to God." My favorite had to be Coach Dungy, and his pride in "doing it the Lord's way." What a testament to the truth of God's word and the person of Christ!

Check out my pictures in my Picasa web album of the viewing in my dorm.