I wrote this essay in response to four questions posed to me by my distance education course. 1) What is a worldview? 2) What is a Christian Worldview? 3) How to be a witness for Christ, and 4) Why am I a Christian? These were very hard questions - especially the last one - but here is what I came up with. :)
1.0 Introduction
In a world that is
dying, it is often so hard to know how and why we believe. Pressure from every side is demanding that we
give reasons for our beliefs. And if we cannot come up with those reason - then we are badgered into renounce them. With this amount of pressure, it
is hard to stay strong, even if we have a firm foundation. Being able to answer these questions is a
requirement from God, “…and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear.” (1 Peter 3:15) But
how do we do that without confusing our audience even more? How can we share God if we don’t fully
understand our own worldview? And how do
we answer the question, why are you a Christian?
2.0 Worldviews
A worldview is the lens
through which one sees the world. It
determines one’s perspective, beliefs and even actions. Even through one might not be aware of having
a worldview, everyone does have one. It
is impossible not to. The most
open-minded, open morals, open lifestyle person still has a worldview, it is
just opened up to accept pretty much anything and everything, but it is still
the window through which they see the world.
2.1 A Christian Worldview
A Christian worldview is
no different. It is the view through
which Christians see the world. However,
the main difference is that our view is, or should be, based entirely on the Word
of God – the Bible. God’s Word should
change our heart, our lives, our all – and it should definitely change our
perspectives. A Christian Worldview is
like a pyramid: the base which forms the basis for our entire view is our
perspective. Our view and our beliefs
influence every aspect of our lives. The
next layer is our priorities. What we
believe and esteem important, perspectives, will be shown through our
priorities. The final level is our
action. Our priorities determine our
actions. What we determine to be
important will be carried through into our actions. However, our actions are the only part which
the world sees, so it is imperative that our actions reflect our priorities and
perspectives correctly.
3.0 A Witness for Christ
In order to be a good
witness of Christ, we have to be able to see the world through other
worldviews. Hence, the stronger
worldview we have, the easier it will be to see other people’s view. Once we understand their ways, then we can
relate the Gospel to them in way that make sense to them. Simply spouting our all the theological
jargon isn’t going to win people to Christ.
We have to be able to reach them on their level. This isn’t always easy to do. It takes time – getting to know a person,
getting to know how he/she feels about certain topics. Time is something we aren’t always willing to
sacrifice, but it is a key part in evangelism.
If we want to witness effectively, we need to base our talk on not what
the Gospel will offer us, but the fact that the Gospel is true, and it makes
sense for us to believe it. We can share
Christ by talking about Him in a frank simple way. If we look back to Acts, where Paul is
preaching, he doesn’t use any fancy terms, because there were no terms to use. He clearly and simply states, “And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked
Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had
fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from
the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him
from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. And
we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren,
that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and
by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13 28-32 and 38-39)
We
can also use illustrations to help us explain God’s Word. Jesus used parables, relating the tings of
God to items the people would know – farming, kings, and taxes. We can relate modern items such as cars,
television and modern conveniences, to show people what we mean.
And
in all of this, we need to remember that we can share the most effective way we
can, we can had perfect illustrations, we can have doctrines laid out in
everyday speech, but without God’s power and Spirit coming upon us and the
recipients, all our work has been in vain. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
4.0 Why I am a Christian
God has been so good to me, accepting me into His
family and walking with me every minute of every day of my life. When confronted with the question ‘Why am I a
Christian?’ I am reminded of the verse that says, “We love Him because He first
loved us.” (1 John 4:19). I follow
Christ and strive to love and make Him Lord of my life more every day because
He first loved me. When I accepted God
into my heart, I didn’t fully understand His love, and I still don’t. But I know that He has a plan for my life and
I know that that plan is the best for me.
And I know that without Him, I would be nothing. So because He loves me, I love Him. I don’t have to do anything first for Him to
accept Him, because He created me and loves me, and wanted to save me, so all I
had to do was accept.
5.0 Conclusion
In order to understand our world, we need to understand our
own views and beliefs. And once we have
a firm idea of our own Worldview, we can help others to know Christ by reaching
into their own views. We can be
effective witnesses by presenting the Gospel in the best way we can, and
allowing God to do the rest. Always
being ready for faith-challenging questions is one of our duties as a
Christian, and with that comes a strong sense of knowing why we believe what we
believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment