The first question I asked was:
How does a worldview affect the way we live?
- Our actions will follow the way we believe. Usually, the way we act doesn't shape the things we hold to be true. We already have certain beliefs about all aspects of life.
How are worldviews and truth related?
- We all have a set of beliefs. Our beliefs define how we view the world. Our beliefs are what we hold to be true about life. Truth, however, isn't dependent on our beliefs. Truth can't be changed. It doesn't vary from one person to another. Truth is truth whether we personally believe it or not. Everyone has a worldview but not all are based on truth.
How do we know what truth is?
- Psalms 119:137-144
- John 8:12-32, 34-36, 42-51
- John 14:5-7, 12-17
- Romans 1:18-23
- Ephesians 4:1-16, 21-22, 25
- 2 Timothy 2:14-19, 24-26; 3:1-9
- 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Is our worldview based on truth? Why do we need to understand truth and live by it?
- Because truth is truth no matter what! We need to understand what is true and believe it so our actions will follow. We are commanded to speak the truth so that others may know.
How will you live in truth? I know this passage seems long to include but it all seems to important to take just one section out of context. Please read through it and see how it gives direction in how we are to live in light of the Lord's truth.
Psalm 86
1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. 14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life—men without regard for you.
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
2 comments:
I agree with your comments about our actions following our beliefs... for the most part.
However, I would also point out that there can be various other factors that influence our actions. The first being temptation to sin. Do people that believe in God and wish to follow his ways also sin? Absolutely. One can believe that it is wrong to break the law, to act wrongly towards others, to have a thought that dishonors your mate, etc., and still do it.
To say that one cannot act (even over a long period of time) in a way that violates their core beliefs is to deny the human tendancy to temporarily suspend our beliefs for some other reason. It's not important to list such here, so if we just refer to it as a shiny bauble, that should cover it. When we take our eyes off Christ, this allows temptation to come through the door and we can choose to act not in accordance to what we believe is true.
Another is peer pressure. The desire to be liked can lead us to do things we believe are wrong. Sometimes we justify that with "I can fix it later", "it's just one time", "nobody will know" or just tell ourselves something that we know isn't true. Humans aren't always rational beings with our actions connected to our brains.
Fortunately, God also supplies us with several other things that help bring us back inline with our beliefs so long as we still look to him.
The first and greatest of these is love. We don't always act the way we believe is right towards those we love. Yet because we love or often because we need their love, we come back and get it together.
Another is fear. One can dwell on temptation so much that we are tempted to violate our beliefs for that shiney bauble. Fear of repercussions can help to reinforce our beliefs and break the tie vote as to whether we should continue in sin. That then isn't so much a choice to act as we believe, but a choice that was tipped in one direction by the weight of fear. Properly placed fear can be a good thing.
Last but not least is conscience and the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit about what we have done and how we need to rectify and redeem ourselves. It isn't always right away either. I've known many people that have lived in sin for a long time, knowing and believing it is wrong, but doing it anyway.
They are then faced with a choice to quiet that Spirit - either move far enough away that it can't be heard and change their beliefs OR fix it.
I do hope that you haven't given up on writing. You are talented and have much to say.
I would also agree that while we tend to act in accordance with our beliefs, such is not always the case.
In addition to the other compelling situations listed by the previous commenter, I think people often act in ways that are contrary to their core beliefs because they've not thought things through objectively and instead have followed the worldview or other misleading arguments that are secondary and meant to distract others from the truth.
Abortion is a perfect example. I won't get into what happens to the unborn child during an abortion. There's enough info out there about that and it's not the point of this post. Few would actually support those actions against a post-birth baby, with most Christians leading the charge. Yet "choice" is also supported by some Christians. Why?
Worldview changes the topic every time this comes up. Suddenly, the argument is no longer about life and death and erring on the side of life, as we do in any other situation. The topic switches to the mother’s rights. They completely dismiss the life and death issue with vitriolic argument that would make sense if not for being superceded by the issue of life and death.
It’s not whether there is independent life or that the life is human. No scientist will claim that it’s anything but. It’s how they define “human life”, or essentially allowing those that don’t believe there is a soul, define when the soul inhabits the body – i.e. when life becomes human life.
Regardless whether they change the term from baby to fetus, living is living and dead comes when you stop life. The argument IS that simple. So why do Christians who otherwise believe in the sanctity of life suddenly think that sanctity doesn’t apply to the unborn? Simply put – they’ve swallowed worldview. They’ve not thought through their beliefs, and are often swayed by emotional arguments that are generally led by citing other atrocious acts like rape/incest.
Crime is however, never the real argument however. If they was, the left would argue that killing a born child of rape/incest was also justifiable.
The argument is never really about how the pregnancy happened yet many would claim that. It’s about location. It’s about the right to terminate an inconvenient life, but only to a point where you don’t have to look at it first.
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