Throughout our lives we start to shape the way we view the world, whether or not we are aware of it, and this can significantly affect how we live our lives. Undeniably, our beliefs will determine the way we act and the way we think. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I have chosen to base my world view on God’s word, the Bible. There are seven questions that make up my world view: What is God like? What is the nature of the universe? What is the essential nature of man? What is the basis of morality and ethics? What is the cause of evil and suffering? What happens to man after death? And what is the meaning of history?Although it can be difficult to analyze and explain God with words, I believe there are two characteristics that God has evidently revealed to his people, and those are that he is both infinite and personal. Frequently, through creation and through his word the Bible, God is magnificently displayed as an infinite and transcendent God. In Romans 1:20 it reads, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” God literally spoke the world into existence. He made the world out of nothing! God is amazing! Surely, God is infinite, but what if God was only a mysterious all-powerful God far off in the distance, creating fear in everyone that He might strike us dead at any moment? Unlike a controlling dictator, God has written in his word and also on the hearts of his children that he loves us and is here with us through his spirit. “For this is what the high and exalted one says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with those who are contrite and lowly and to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15). Caring about us deeply although we are sinners, Christ pursues us to be in a relationship with him, communicating with us through his Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God expresses his love, a divine, perfect, holy love, even sending his son Jesus to die for us. Jesus demonstrated love in his ministry on earth. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” He wept for Lazarus. Unlike the other people who were ready to stone a woman for committing adultery, perfect as he was, he forgave her. What love is this? Omnipotent, creating the heavens and the earth, and yet, “let the little children come”! God is infinite and personal, unfathomable, and very real.
Because our God is all-powerful and omniscient he could make the world, and because he is loving and personal he did. Our world is so intricately designed that we can never fathom all that happens here; from the heavens, the sun, and the Milky Way, to the smallest red blood cell in our body, the world screams that there is a creator. Creating everything in six days, both the seen and unseen, God rested on the seventh day. My youth pastor once described it as an iceberg—we can only see 10% of it from the ship but the other 90% is under the water. Typically for the western civilization of today their world view is based upon a set of ideas that reject this view of the world by saying, “What you see is all there is!” or “What you see is what you get!” “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that had been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all the people. The light shines in the darkness and nothing can overcome it” (John 1:1-5). Jesus and the Spirit were in the beginning when God made the world. God, who is the light of the world, is proclaimed through the beauty of his creation.
Creating humans in the image of God, God made Adam holy and perfect, with a desire to obey and be in a perfect friendship with him. God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals. And over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; man and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-29). God created us to be like him, to love light and to hate darkness. He also created us with a purpose: to rule over the earth and the animals and to take care of it. Although God created us in his image and made us personal creatures unlike animals, he did not make us omniscient as he is. Genesis 2:7 puts it nicely: “Then the Lord formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Exclusively, God also gave us a human spirit which is our spiritual self. Every human has a spirit. Our human spirit is what allows us to exist after death. Even if we aren’t believers in Christ we will still exist after death, but we will be eternally separated from God. We also have two other parts that make up our being—our physical self and our heart, which includes our emotions, will, and personality. “The human spirit is the lamp of God that sheds light on one’s inmost being” (Proverbs 20:27). Lying slyly to Adam and Eve, the serpent told them that God didn’t want them to be like him, although God had already created them to be like him. He also gave them free choice and they chose to sin. Adam was humanity’s representative. He sinned, so we sin. Adam and Eve didn’t have the compulsion to sin as we have, but they chose it, and now we have a sinful nature. Unfortunately the cause of our sin is total depravity, which means that evil has invaded every part of the human nature, forever lost and apart from God. Without Jesus, who represents God’s perfect standard, our story would be a dismal one.
The basis of morality and ethics is simply God’s word, the Bible. Because the Bible is the perfect expression of God himself, God is the perfect standard. Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” In his word, and through the living Word, Jesus, God shows us what his standards are. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If there is a difference between good and evil and our basis of morality and ethics is the Holy God who is perfect, how can we be even slightly good? Thankfully Christianity is not just a set of impossible rules that we will continue to fail, but a beautiful surrender of our lives so that Jesus can continue to perfect us. The basis of morality and ethics is Jesus, the perfect lamb, who conquered evil.
Throughout history, man has struggled with the problem of evil and suffering. Wrongly, some think that because God created everything and everything comes from God, then evil must come from God, too. This is not the case. Creating all things perfect, God hates evil and is unable to do anything wrong. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31a). When God made us, he gave us free choice, and we were the first to bring sin into the world. In Mathew 22:3 it says, “He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused.” Giving us free will, God then invites us to follow him, but we avidly refuse and, instead, rebel against God. If the deed is done, then why doesn’t the all-powerful Lord, who is loving and forgiving, just take the pain and suffering away? Surely, it is for these very reasons: because he is loving and he is forgiving. Giving people more time to repent and come to him, God is generous and merciful. Evil and suffering did not come from God, but from our choice to sin, but fortunately, we have hope of God coming back to destroy sin and the devil once and for all. Undoubtedly, sin effects what will happen to us at death.
According to the Bible, the view on what happens to man after death is that although man’s body dies, his soul lives on. “Very truly I tell you; whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). When people believe in Christ, they will live forever with him in glorious paradise. Absolutely perfect, the new earth will be free of pain and suffering. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Refusing God’s gift, some will spend eternity in a much more miserable way. The Bible says that in hell, which is reserved for Satan, his angels, and all those who didn’t believe, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell is eternal suffering. Regardless of where we spend eternity, we will live forever. When we are in our eternal dwelling, we can’t travel from heaven to hell or vise versa. “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received his bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from thee to us’” (Luke 16:25-26). In context, this life seems short in light of endless eternity. Repeating itself many times, the Bible is very clear on what essentially happens to man after death. If physical death were the end of the story, history would have no meaning.
The Biblical world view is that there are seen and unseen portions of history. For those who do not believe, history is meaningless, but for those who have faith in Jesus there is hope that history will have a happy ending when Christ Jesus returns. Despite what people think, there are two parts: the seen and the unseen. Angels, Satan and demons are all part of the unseen world. Serving the Lord always, angels aren’t the giver of the gift or message, but are simply the messengers of God. As angels are created by God, just like everything else, they are not to become the focus of undeserved praise. Completely, Satan is God’s enemy. Satan isn’t all-powerful or all-knowing. Conquering Satan, God will punish him and his demons eternally. Many people don’t believe in the unseen world, but only believe in what they can see and what they can read in their history books. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father” (Mathew 25:36). We know that Jesus will return, although no one except God, himself, knows when. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says, “And to give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” When the Lord comes, it will be a great and amazing day for those who are suffering and heavily burdened and for believers who will be taken into heaven with Jesus to be made like him. We have unimaginable things to look forward to! “The world is not going to get better and better. The Christian’s hope is not the gradual betterment of the world, but that Christ is coming back again” (Dr. Francis Schaeffer). Christ has given us hope! Because of this hope, we must live our lives as if Jesus could arrive at any moment. Jesus is coming!
Because Jesus Christ died for our sins and since our God is loving and all-powerful, the Biblical world view is filled with hope. Now that I know what my world view is I will be able to determine what the world views of books, movies, music, and people around me are and how they compare to mine. If someone asks me what I believe, I can answer with certainty. I am glad that my world view is based on the Bible because Christianity is the only “religion” that isn’t really a religion, but a relationship.
