Preliminary Worldview Puzzle, Essay Example

Preliminary Worldview Puzzle Essay: Putting Pieces Together

Every person looks at the world, makes decisions, and reacts to situations from unique perspectives that develop over time. This comes about because our education, our culture, and our upbringing form over time. Most people do not know why they believe what they believe and would be hard-pressed to defend their worldviews with cogent thoughts and words.

Three components/puzzle pieces from the Cosgrove text are most critical to my worldview formation. They come from theological, epistemological, and ethical perspectives. First is the theological question of the existence of God. Second has to do with whether God is the creator of the universe –an epistemological issue. Third is the ethical consideration of life after death (Cosgrove, 2006).

The theological piece of my worldview is that God does indeed exist. When we look around at the things in nature, stare into the heavens, and marvel at the perfect balance of the Earth within its place in this universe, we understand but a tiny portion of the complexities that only a supreme being could produce. People are but an unobservable speck in the grand scheme of all things. God existed, in the beginning –whenever that was, in order to fling all of the planetary things into their orbits. Scientists call this the Bang. The universe operates under universal laws and principles that maintain balance and order. Biological rules that govern DNA cannot find explanation by science alone.

God wants to enter into a relationship with people. God wants people to discover things about divine nature. Scientific discovery only brings confirmation to God’s command of all things. God comes to us so that we can come to God. The chief proof of this is that God sent Jesus to live on Earth to show us about eternity. To put the question to rest, Jesus confirmed that he was God. For this, he endured death, defeated sin, and ascended back to heaven, the place of his origin.

The epistemological piece of my worldview is that of the question of knowledge.  Knowledge is that thing which will be useful at a future time. Things have to have reasons in order to make sense. Epistemology theorizes about knowledge –where it comes from, how it is structured, and how it validates.

A Posteriori knowledge theorizes that what we know comes to us through our experiences. Empiricism, a stance that roots all knowing in math and logic, is a brand of a posteriori. Positivism, an extension of empiricism, theorizes that only measurable things are worthy of our understanding; therefore, it places no interest in morals or values.

The A Priori knowledge belief rests on the idea that all knowledge is innate. Impositionists (knowledge reflects logic) and Reflectionists (knowledge reflects previous knowledge) compose two groups that come from a priori.      

I believe in God, the source of all knowledge, who knows all things and knows them completely. God has made us as thinking people who acquire knowledge. Grace allows us to understand God enough to place our faith and trust in God’s infinite worth.

The ethical piece of my worldview is my belief in eternal life, life after death, for those who have placed their faith and hope in Jesus Christ. The Bible calls this existence heaven. This is a place or a state of being that is either true or false. If it is false, the Bible is wrong. If it is true, as the Bible says, then believers, such as me, live out our time on Earth aided by an eternal promise that whatever good happens to us in this life would pale in comparison to our future, glorious, heavenly home.

Conversely, hell is a place of complete separation from God. In hell, the soul of a person lives on as it does in heaven, but hell offers no comfort and total torment. My ethical views come from my religious background. My views match closely with those of the church where I affiliate.

I have described three pieces of my worldview puzzle, giving reasons for my selections and showing how my faith fits in to each. The exercise helps me to construct my beliefs systematically. These certainly are not the only issues that factor into my worldview; however, for the purposes of this assignment, I have chosen three topics as a foundation.

Reference

Cosgrove, M. (2006). Foundations of Christian Thought: Faith, Learning, and the Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional.