M.Ed. Resource Guide - CHAPTER 2: CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

(written by Dr. Keith Iddings and Dr. David Wright)

     Indiana Wesleyan University offers an education with a particular perspective. As an institution we look at teaching and learning from a decidedly Christian viewpoint. Affiliated as we are with The Wesleyan Church and committed to the idea that all truth is ultimately God's truth, we do not try to conceal our faith. Rather, whether we are discussing contemporary issues or curriculum, we try to present ideas consistent with our belief system.

     Indiana Wesleyan, in the tradition of liberal arts institutions, seeks to help individuals freely choose from the vast marketplace of ideas. In general, faculty present many differing positions as objectively as possible. Unlike some other institutions, however, IWU includes a Biblical worldview in discussions. If asked, faculty will admit to a clear preference for such a viewpoint. Students are encouraged to explore and learn from many perspectives. Like Archimedes, though, IWU feels there is value in identifying "a place to stand."

     In that same liberal arts tradition, no one is required to believe a certain way in order to pass a course or receive a degree. If some choose to adopt the beliefs and perspectives of our faculty, we will certainly not object. By the same token, though, we will not penalize those who choose other options.

     Central to the conceptual framework of The Teacher As Agent of Change is that students will be able to understand things from the perspective of a Christian worldview. Though this does not expect adoption of Wesleyan doctrine, it does imply understanding it. We expect students to come out of a degree program at IWU knowing how a view of the world with Christ at the center differs from a secular, post-modern or humanistic viewpoint. Students are expected to not only know the basics of a broadly Christian perspective on the nature of the world, but also to be able to articulate implications of that view in interpretation and action.

Specifics

     The following is a brief summary of some of the foundational principles of a Christian worldview:

1. God is distinct and unique. He is not a part of the created world and yet He is very much involved with the world.

   This view of God contrasts with several widely held perspectives on God's nature. One view holds that there is no God. Another view holds that, if there is a God, He is so removed from this world as to be all but irrelevant. A third view holds that God is either the world or a part of the world. And a final contrasting view contends that God or the gods are interlinked with the world.

   Unlike other views, the Christian perspective proposes a God with whom a relationship might be built, but not a God who can be coerced through magical manipulation of the world. He is an unchanging God, and not so intertwined with creation that He changes with it.

2. Everything that exists besides God was created by God. It was created with purpose and it was created well. Order, wholeness, harmony, beauty, and truth are evident in Gods creation and purpose for mankind.

   To the Christian, the world was first created by God for a good purpose. Creation is not the result of random happenstance. Rather, an all-wise Creator had a plan for each aspect. This all-wise Creator did not make a mistake but made a world with predetermined intent.

   God planned that holy, loving and obedient individuals would relate to Him and give Him glory. Most other worldviews either propose that the world has no purpose or that purpose is obscure.

3. Creation functions well as it reflects the nature and purpose of its Creator.

   Just as the maker of fine clocks does not intend for them to be used to drive nails, the Christian believes that God designed every aspect of creation with a specific purpose in mind. To act in ways inconsistent with that purpose is to invite disaster.

   For example, the Bible indicates that just as God rested one day in seven, we were created to rest and attend to our spiritual renewal once a week as well. From a Christian perspective, to ignore such a clear mandate built into our natures is to invite all kinds of stress, fatigue, and illness. Because of this, the fourth commandment is viewed as given for our preservation.

4. God has chosen to reveal His nature and purpose in four ways; (1) generally through the created order, (2) specifically through the history of Israel, (3) through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and (4) through the 66 books of the Bible.

   While God gives us clues about His presence, His intelligence, and His creativity in the created world, He ultimately chose an obscure people in the Middle East through which to fully reveal Himself. The history of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac as interpreted by many different inspired individuals clearly depicts a loving, powerful and just God who reaches out to fallen humanity.

   After 2000 years of Jewish history through which God progressively made Himself known, Deity Himself took on the cloak of humanity and lived among us. As the man Jesus of Nazareth, He fully disclosed Himself to us. Christians believe the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments accurately recount this incredible revelation.

5. He has revealed Himself as:
   1. ) Triune (Father, Son, and Spirit), all-knowing, all-powerful, ever- present. These traits are unique to Him alone.

   2. ) Loving, just, trustworthy, loyal, holy, and good. These traits He perfectly embodies yet seeks in us.

6. Humanity is at the apex of the created order. People were uniquely created in God's image, both male and female, and were given dominion (stewardship) over God's creation.

   People are unique in the Christian view of the world. They have much more worth than other creatures. They are God's special creation. So many of the qualities we find in each other are qualities also found in God. Our ability to reason, to love, to form close relationships, to transcend ourselves, even our creative impulse is reflective of our status as ones made in God's image.

   With our position in the created order, comes responsibility. God placed this world in our hands that we might tend it and care for it, making it even more fruitful. We were to be stewards of this rich gift of God. As we nurture it, it better sustains us. Humanity has dominion over creation but from the Christian perspective the dominion is one of stewardship, not sovereignty.

7. Though created good, people misused the freedom given to them by God. They rebelled against God's sovereignty bringing corruption and death, permanently disfiguring the entire created order.

   Humanity was not content to serve. We and our forebears chose instead to rule. Such was not the role for which we were created, however. By attempting to control our own lives and destiny, we hopelessly messed up not only ourselves but all of creation. We decided that choosing to disobey God was in our best interest. Instead, it always proves destructive.

   Sin, as this rebellion against God and His will is called, resulted and continues to result in serious problems. Death, disease, pain, suffering and loneliness all came with sin. People could no longer trust one another. Shame and alienation became commonplace. And most destructive of all, people were deprived of the life-giving presence of their loving Creator.

8. On their own people are incapable of overcoming the debilitating effects of sin. Created for fellowship with the Creator, humanity is unable to repair the damage caused by past and ongoing rebellion and selfishness.

   The sin tasted early-on by our ancestors quickly became "normal." People degenerated to the point that they were incapable of returning to God and turning their back on their own selfish desire to control themselves. Self-rule and disobedience became (and still is) an addiction which individuals are powerless to control.

   In the Christian view, we are desperately sick and yet powerless to do anything to bring about a cure. But just as individuals in Medieval Europe thought the discomfort of body lice "normal," we are still often unaware of our own fatal illness. While some worldviews believe people are basically good, Christianity views them as created good but utterly fallen from that high position, twisted, alienated, and lost.

9. God deeply loves the men and women He created and longs for intimate fellowship. Ongoing disobedience and rebellion thwarts that fellowship and demands punishment.

   As mentioned before, the Christian sees a God who loves. God looks on us with unbelievable compassion. But rebellion--treason--is extremely serious. Because of the justice embedded in His nature, God cannot allow sin to enter His presence. In some way rebellion must be punished. The assertion of self over God cannot be overlooked by the just Judge of the universe.

   In the Christian view, God, therefore, had a dilemma. He loved each of us even before we were born and wanted no harm to come to us. On the other hand, He was compelled by His very nature to punish sin. There was only one solution to this collision of God's great love and His unalterable justice.

10. By becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ, God Himself, bore the penalty for humanity's sin by suffering and dying on a painful instrument of execution.

    Christians see the historical figure of Jesus from the Middle Eastern town of Nazareth as the pivot point of history. To the Christian, this Jesus was not just a good teacher, a political revolutionary, or a spiritual mystic. He was God become man. Like all of the rest of us, Jesus was born, grew up, laughed, was hungry, suffered temptation, and grew tired. He experienced the whole range of emotions. He was all God, but at the same time fully as human as you or I.

    Jesus was uniquely suited to His task, however. Unlike us, He never sinned. This unique individual after three years of public attention was wrongfully accused by His enemies, was sentenced by the political authorities, and was tortured and killed. In a manner which remains cloaked in mystery, this Jesus bore the penalty of our sins in His own person on the cross.

11. Sin's power to enslave and corrupt the created order was shattered when God's power raised Jesus from the dead.

    Death has had a strangle-hold on humanity since the first sin. To the Christian, however, death is no longer a terror. The historical evidence is solid. Jesus did not remain in the grave. Instead, He blazed the trail back from death for any who will to follow. The mixture of humanity, power and love, not only conquered sin through the cross but conquered death through the resurrection.

    Through the eyes of the Christian, the end of history intervened into history in the resurrection. Jesus's triumph was the beginning of the end for sin, disease, pain, suffering and death. God's plan for bringing the world back to Himself was complete. All that was left was the mopping up.

12. Those individuals who, empowered by God's Spirit, turn their backs on rebellion and acknowledge once again God's sovereignty, will be graciously restored to fellowship with God. This restoration, while life changing, does not remove individuals from the twisted world.

    Christians believe that Jesus provides the way back to God. No longer does sin block access. But humanity retains its free-will. We are now able to choose to return to God and acknowledge Him as our rightful ruler. However, He does not force us. The Spirit of God helps us return to the life-giving, joyful relationship for which we were created. But the free gift of life must be freely received.

    We live in an in-between time. Persons who return to God through Jesus are transformed. They taste the joy and fulfillment for which they were originally created. They begin to truly live without fear or guilt or alienation. But the world still struggles with the fruit of corruption. Sin still exists, though Christians no longer need indulge. Pain and sorrow are still constant companions. And the loneliness, mistrust, and destructive behaviors which have built up over the centuries remain. For the present, Christians have one foot in both the present world of corruption and the future world of purity and joy.

13. The power of God is at work within the context of history inexorably drawing the world to a climax which will result in the complete restoration and glorification of the shattered remnants of a good creation.

    The Christian knows that God is not about to leave the world as it is. The beginning of the final triumph happened when Jesus rose from the grave. God is intent on clearing away any remnant of the sin which has so messed up His good creation.

    Time to the Christian is not cyclical, endlessly repeating. Instead it is linear and is headed for a grand climax. Jesus, the glorified, God-in-the-flesh will return and totally restore the world to the glory God intended.

14. Those who choose to reject God's freely offered forgiveness and restored fellowship will not participate in the fruits of that reconciliation. Instead they will be eternally alienated from God with all that separation implies.

    Hell is not something we like to talk about in this modern age. We prefer to think a loving God could not possibly allow for a hell. Yet free will demands that we as individuals can choose not to accept God's sovereignty. Those who decide they don't need God, that they are perfectly happy without God, and that they are far happier obeying themselves than obeying God have a right to their view. God does not force Himself on anyone.

    To the Christian, deciding against God is deciding for death, misery, loneliness, and despair. To decide against God is to decide against our deepest need. To decide against God is to literally choose hell. God has done all he can to keep us from the effects of our selfish desires, even to the point of