Feeling, Knowing, and Believing

Our world is changing.  At an ever-increasing pace, these changes are impacting family and societal relationships, value of our currency, health care, education, employment, and constitutional rights.  All of these can impact our emotional, rational, and spiritual sense of well-being and our outlook on the future.  On any given day or even hour of the day, if we are asked how we are doing, we might choose a different emoji to describe our feelings.

Complexity of issues, sheer volume of information, and politically biased reporting make it more and more challenging to stay accurately informed.  Rational thinking skills and wise decision-making based on objective reporting of information are becoming more and more critical—and harder to find.  In this article, we consider some challenges we face and some factors to consider in order to navigate them wisely. 

To begin, let’s say that someone asks us a question.  There are several ways we might respond:

(1)   “I feel ….”

(2)   “I think ….”

(3) “I believe ….”

When someone asks us how we are feeling, we typically reply with #1, “I feel….”  Responses #2 and #3 are how we might begin to share our opinion or a faith-based answer, respectively.  Let’s consider Response #1 first.

Emotional Responses
Our “feelings” are an important part of our self-awareness and our physical and emotional health.  Our physical and emotional health require that we maintain a relationship with at least one person; or if necessary, with pet animal.  We are strengthened and encouraged through face-to-face communication with others or through letters, phone calls, and social media.  

Many of us have pressed “smiley face” stickers on our letters to convey a wordless message of encouragement.  Now that we have cell phone apps, we can digitally insert our choice of emojis along with our text messages and e-mails to communicate briefly how we are “feeling” about something in a wordless fashion.

Health professionals routinely ask their patients how they feel before or after a medical procedure.  Recognizing the difficulty that some patients have in expressing how much pain they actually “feel,” medical facilities often post a “pain scale” consisting of cartoon faces ranging from very distraught (“worst pain imaginable”) to a smiling face (“no pain”).  Health care professionals and all of us need to be aware that a person’s “feelings” have roots that go deeper than physical pain and reach into our emotional and spiritual state.

For many of us, it is easier to describe “how we feel” when someone asks us about our physical pain than when they ask “how we feel about our pain.”  How we feel about joint-replacement surgery during recovery is affected by both the severity of our physical pain and by the degree of our concern about whether we will ever recover.  Some people recover very quickly and have a positive outlook all the way through their pain and physical therapy.  Others struggle with both the physical pain and the related fear it causes.  Why is this?  The truth is, how we see our condition at a given time depends on our physical condition (1, “how we feel”) and our frame of mind (2, “how we think about” our situation.  The differences in how different people respond to similar situations also depends on how they “choose to think” about their situation.

Rational, Faith-Grounded Responses
Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communication pathologist and audiologist has conducted research for years in the field of cognitive neuroscience.  She believes that God created our minds in His image and has given us the free will to choose “how we will think” and react to our circumstances.  Therefore, Dr. Leaf has based her research on God’s revelation in Scriptures.  In Romans 12: 2, God commands us to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and in Deuteronomy 30: 19, God lovingly invites us to choose life in order that you may live….

Dr. Leaf integrates this Scriptural principle with neuroscience in her book entitled Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013).  She writes,

Free will and choice are real, spiritual, and scientific facts. Your mind (soul) has one foot in the door of the spirit and one foot in the door of the body; you can change your brain with your mind and essentially renew your mind.

The author cites scientific research pointing to a cause-and-effect relationship between “what we believe” (Response #3 above) about God and our capacity to overcome challenges to physical health. 

As we have cited in a March 22, 2020 Oikonomia article, Dr. Leaf describes a University of Miami study of patients being treated for (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).  The researchers concluded that the most significant factor affecting healing in HIV-infected patients “was their choice to believe in a benevolent and loving God.”  These kinds of scientific findings emphasize the important link between “how we think” (2), how we “choose to think,” and “what we believe” (3).  [Note:  We also recognize that in the eternal span of time before each of us came into being as creatures in God’s image, capable of making choices, He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…(Ephesians 1: 4-5). The "Doctrine of Election" is a subject for another time, but those who wish to study the subject can begin HERE with a resource by Dr. John MacArthur.]

Although feeling, thinking, and believing are interconnected, “feeling” is heavily based on our physical senses; whereas, “thinking and believing” are heavily based on our rational ability, our faith, and our worldview that forms through our experience and learning.

How would you respond if someone were to ask you, “Do you believe there is a God?”   Which of the following would your choose to begin your response:
(1) “I feel ….”
(2) “I think ….”
(3) “I believe ….”

Clearly, our response to “the God question” cannot be based solely upon “what we feel” or “what we think.”  Unless we claim to be God, we have no capacity to claim whether or not God exists.  However, it appears that more and more people are presuming to take the place of God when they deny the existence of objective truth.  The term objective truth applies to a proposition that is considered true no matter what we believe to be the case.

Worldview by "Cut-and-Paste"
We have amassed great knowledge, yet increasing numbers of people question whether objective truth even exists.  This trend is supported by a recent study.

Based on a survey of 2,000 adult Americans (1,000 by phone; 1,000 online) taken in February, 2021 by George Barna, over half (54%) embrace the postmodern idea that all truth is subjective and there are no moral absolutes.  Barna concludes (emphasis added), “We’re just at a place in our country’s history now where that’s the default view.  Most people would say all truth is subjective and there’s no kind of objective truth based on an external standard.  They would say they’re the standard that determines what truth is.”

Barna’s survey, conducted through the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, offered a series of questions designed to determine the personal worldview of each respondent.  The results, reported in the American Worldview Inventory 2021, are very disturbing, not because of the views expressed but because the views were not based on well informed and coherent thinking.

Based on the respondents’ answers to the questions, only 6% were identified as truly holding to a “biblical worldview.”  Given this low percentage, it is at first puzzling that the biblical worldview was “the most prolific of the seven worldviews tested.”  Another approximately 6% of respondents were scattered among six other worldviews with no more than 2% qualifying to be assigned to any one of the six particular worldviews (see table).   What about the remaining 88% of respondents?

Instead of “developing an internally consistent and philosophically coherent perspective on life,” 88% of Americans are adopting points of view or actions that feel comfortable or seem most convenient” – i.e. using a cut-and-paste approach to making sense of, and responding to life.”   As a result, most Americans who claim adherence to a given belief system are insufficiently developed in both their intellectual understanding and in their behavior and lifestyle to qualify them as being true representatives” of that particular worldview.  For example, 9% of respondents “have a moderately strong set of beliefs and behaviors related to Marxism, Eastern Mysticism, or Nihilism, but “an insufficient breadth of such beliefs and behaviors to qualify as being a true representative of any of those worldviews.”

Feelings Rationally Grounded
Returning to our range of responses, feeling, thinking, and believing, we can explain at least one cause of the troubling trend detected by George Barna’s 2021 worldview inventory; namely, emotion-driven reactions and decisions are replacing those based on careful exercise of critical reasoning.  At the very time when our culture faces both great societal challenges and great tools for addressing these challenges, we seem least prepared to respond emotionally, rationally, and spiritually.

The table below lists seven major societal issues followed by a brief statement we might commonly hear in the media or in conversation.  Notice the prominence of an emotional component in the responses.  However, even though compassion and empathy are important qualities we ought to express toward those who are struggling, these qualities must be guided by rational and moral policies if we are going to solve these problems.

Each of these societal concerns have grown out of a history of what many believe are deviations from God’s commands revealed in the Bible.  The Old Testament, in Exodus 20, reveals how God gave His chosen people, the Israelites, the Ten Commandments, or the ten “Thou shalt not’s.”  God’s purpose was not to “steal their joy” but to give them a moral foundation for a society that would protect them from evil and help them become a “shining city on a hill” for the rest of the world to see and want to copy.   To the extent that Israel followed these commands, they prospered.  But deviations from these spiritual laws gradually caused the Jewish nation to lose their godly distinctions and eventually to be exiled by pagan nations.

Out of His mercy in order to redeem His people Israel, God came in the incarnate form of His Son, Jesus Christ.   Jesus came not to replace the Law but to fulfill the Law through His sinless life, atoning death on the Cross, and resurrection in victory over death that whoever believes in Him as their Savior from sin “should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3: 16).”  Jesus added,

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3: 17-19). 

God has already come to us with objective truth claims in the Bible that He is the Creator, His creation reveals His power and nature, and that it is so obvious that we are without excuse if we deny it (Romans 1: 20).  The Apostle Paul elaborates about how the tendency of mankind has been to reject and suppress God’s truth (Romans 1: 18).  Those who reject God’s truth, will fall prey to accepting nonsense and be morally and spiritually corrupted to the core of their lives.  Paul described this awful result in Romans 1: 21-23:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

The rest of Romans 1 reveals the tragic downward path of those who reject God’s authority and absolute truth.  They are left to live in the darkness of moral relativism in which “truth” is what each individual deems it to be.  Returning to the seven (7) commonly heard statements above we can see how each cultural problem results from a deviation from the moral standards given in Scripture.  Each statement is also rooted in one or more misconceptions expressed by a person who has rejected or is ignorant of God’s moral and ethical principles.  In each of the seven, we briefly point out how the problem can be corrected by addressing the deviation from God’s ideal.  However, in no way do we want to imply that the solutions are simple.

Summary: Feeling, Thinking, Believing
In summary, each of us have physical, emotional, rational, and spiritual dimension to our lives.  All of these are interrelated components of our personality; but by itself, each is limited as a way of knowing and judging truth and reality.  We may answer a question about “how we feel” in words, or by our facial expression, or by pointing to a cartoon face or an emoji.   However, to answer questions related to “how we feel about” or “how we choose to react” to our situation, we must draw more heavily upon our rational and spiritual components.  We must be aware of our worldview and what we are basing our reasoning upon.   Recall Barna’s statistics on poorly grounded worldviews?

Thinking carelessly and communicating with tweets and emojis will not be adequate.  And problems in family, church, community, and government resulting from rejection of God’s revealed wisdom in the Bible will certainly not be solved by atheistic, humanistic approaches.  First Corinthians 2: 14 states, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The proper function of family, church, school, private corporations, and government depends upon documents such as the U.S. Constitution as well as various bylaws, legal codes, and covenants, all written in words in a rational manner.  Most of these in turn, rest upon the objective revelation of the Bible concerning the nature of man.  Due to our tendency to lust for power, there is a need to avoid the concentration of power and its corrupting influence, and to incorporate ways to hold individuals morally and spiritually accountable. 

God’s Word makes clear that ultimate reality is not this physical, temporary universe which we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell.  We can only discern spiritual reality when we submit to the Word of God and His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2: 13) to renew our minds (Romans 12: 2) and teach us to discern spiritual truth (John 14: 26).  Then, the Peace of God will replace our anxious feelings, and His love and care will uphold us for the challenges we face.

We hope this article will help you toward better discernment of issues in our world through proper exercise of your capacities for feeling, knowing, and believing.  As always, we welcome your “Comments” using the link below; or, please write privately to silviusj@gmail.com.  You may want to express how you feel, or what you think about this article, and share what you believe and why. 

WHO Is Really Sovereign?

World     Health     Organization

These three words encompass almost everything that determines the quality of our lives.  Don’t we all want a “better world?”   Who doesn’t want “good health?”  And “good organization” is as much valued as “mother” and “apple pie.”  Put them all together, and bingo!  We have the “World Health Organization,” the WHO. 

The WHO was founded in 1948 within the United Nations for the good purpose of “connecting nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.” Many believed it would play a valuable part in improving human health around the world.  But the current WHO mission statement is much more ambitious as stated on the WHO website (emphasis added): dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, the WHO leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance to live a healthy life.  Had the WHO been able to achieve this mission during its nearly 75-year history, some would think the world would be nearing a state of utopia.  Indeed, for many years, the WHO was respected as an organization that could provide accurate health information on a global scale and devise approaches to health concerns that would save lives.  However, the COVID-19 pandemic has unmasked the troubling fact that the WHO has been hijacked by unsavory elements that are playing for keeps at the international level.

Who Controls WHO?
The WHO is greatly influenced if not controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  The CCP is the third largest donor to the WHO followed by the United States.  The Bill Gates Foundation comes in third.  Not surprisingly, the CCP is implicated in the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the early outbreak of the virus, and its rapid spread in the following weeks.  We have discussed the reasons why many suspect that China was deliberately responsible for these events.  The WHO has also injected contradictory and unscientific recommendations for how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. [See “If We Had Only Known: But Why Didn’t We?” CLICK HERE.]

In recent months, many Americans have become more aware that policies of the WHO in the name of a “public health emergency” only pretended to “follow the science.”  Instead, they “followed the money and the politics” as is evident in the centerpieces of the WHO recommendations to address the COVID-19 pandemic.  These centerpieces included (a) strict lockdowns; (b) vaccine mandates in spite of possible adverse collateral health effects while opposing use of more time-tested therapeutics such as hydroxychloroquine; and (c) mandates for wearing masks in spite of the fact that extensive scientific research has revealed that forced masking produced no significant decrease in the spread of coronavirus.  [See HERE (SCIENCE Journal with faulty analysis of data), HERE (critique of SCIENCE article with corrected statistical analysis).]  Thankfully, in recent months large numbers of Americans are realizing that all three centerpieces of the WHO’s COVID policy have caused great harm while failing in many cases to protect the most vulnerable.

Americans have demonstrated amazing patience in the hope of saving lives, even in spite of news reports of the suspicious origin of the virus, lockdowns that have cost the lives of many of our elderly, retarded educational progress in our schools, threatened small businesses, furthering the disadvantage of struggling minorities, threats to religious freedom, and daily news of governments moving further and further toward tyrannical control of its citizens.  However, now is not a time for freedom-loving Americans including this writer to spike the ball and say, “We told you so.”  Rather, it is a time in which we should all pause in sober reflection and new resolve to adopt policies that will work to protect human health while also protecting or cherished freedoms.  A recent development underscores this need for vigilance.

Surrender of National Sovereignty
In what many see as a threat to the sovereignty of the United States and other nation states, the Biden administration in cooperation with our Department of Homeland Security is about to hand to the WHO a series of amendments to the current International Health Regulations.  When the 75th World Health Assembly convenes at the United Nations (U.N.) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland this week, delegates from 194 nations will vote on the Biden administration’s amendments.

Some analysts, including Brett MacDonald, maintain that the Biden amendments stop short of ceding US national sovereignty to the WHO [Click HERE.]   Others, including the Liberty Counsel argue that the amendments would grant the WHO and its director, Tedros Adhanom, the unrestricted power to declare ‘international health emergencies’ at will in any nation, and then to implement WHO interventions that override national sovereignty and restrict human freedom, all in the name of protecting human health.  For example, the WHO could declare an “international health emergency” for any perceived threat, including energy usage practices that are believed to contribute to “climate change.”  

Eric Schmitt, Attorney General of the State of Missouri articulated his concern about the proposed amendments in a May 20 interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight.  [Click HERE.]

What Can We Do?
We strongly recommendation that you read the proposed amendments and the sources cited above representing both sides of the issue.  Those who conclude that the Biden amendments are threat to our freedom may choose dutifully to write to their U.S Senators.  However, amazingly U.S. Senate is powerless to stop the amendments because President Biden does not require Senate approval by a 2/3 vote.  Therefore, appeals to our Senators must aim at requesting that the U.S. Senate consider every effort to remove the United States from the WHO, an action already taken by President Trump in July, 2020 but reversed by President Biden.  Anything short of separation from the WHO would seem to fall short as an effort to protect our national sovereignty.

Surrender to the Real Sovereign
The COVID-19 pandemic with its associated mandates and lockdowns has brought major changes to our lifestyles.  Then, there is the increased emotional burden that has arisen from our personal health concerns, concern for loved ones, fear of the growing government overreach into our constitutional freedoms, and frustration over the apparent corruption, confusion, and political rancor that is institutionalized within our federal government.  Many have begun to feel powerless, vulnerable, and disregarded by the leadership and policies of the current administration.  What are we to do aside from keeping informed and voicing concerns to our leaders?

Bleak Times? Look to God
Times when things look most bleak are often the very times when we come to realize where our true source of freedom lies.   The Bible, from cover to cover, speaks of the One who is the ultimate Sovereign of all creation—Almighty God.  The God revealed in Scripture is Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign ruler over the universe. 

King David honored God with the following words to the great assembly of Israel on the occasion of the dedication of materials for the construction of Solomon’s temple:

Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever.  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. (1 Chronicles 29: 10b-11)

Savior, Helper, Comforter
In the New Testament Letter to the Colossians 1: 15-17 we read about Jesus Christ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

This Jesus, King of all creation, just before He was crucified, buried, and rose again in victory over death:  But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16: 7).

Take a few minutes to meditate on these Scriptures that speak of the Sovereign God in three Persons:   God the Father is so well described in King David’s praise as LORD over heaven and Earth.  God’s Son, Jesus Christ in whom the whole universe holds together gave His life as a sacrifice for our sin, rose again, and ascended to Heaven; then, sent His Holy Spirit as our Helper and Comforter.  It is God through Jesus who invites us to surrender our “personal sovereignty” and yield to Him as King, Savior, and Comforter when He invites us to come unto me all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my load is light (Matthew 11: 28-30).

How to Yield Your Sovereignty
What does it mean to surrender our personal sovereignty over our lives to the Sovereign of the Universe?  As we often do, we offer this link to a Cru publication called “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life?”  This resource explains how you can yield the “throne of your life” to God’s authority and find meaning and purpose through New Life in Christ with His Spirit as your Helper.  Then, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 2: 6-7 (emphasis added):

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him
and established in your faith, just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.

God’s invitation to receive Christ includes our surrender of sovereignty to the most gracious King Jesus who invites us into His yoke and thereby to walk in Him daily.  Somewhat ironically, as we learn to “walk in Him” we become “firmly rooted” and “built up in Him, established in our faith.”  This requires that we daily feed upon His Word, the Scriptures of the Bible.  My friend and brother in Christ, Dave Garver, has shared with our church small group an excellent resource from Calvary Chapel, South Bay, Gardena, CA called “How to Rest in God’s Promises Every Single Day” [Click HERE.].  Of special value from this resource is its three daily activities to “Rest in God’s Promises Every Single Day:”

Step #1:  Have a Devotional Life
Step #2:  Remember What God’s Already Done
Step #3:  Self-check to See What Exactly it is You’re Carrying

Check out the above website to read the rationale for each of the three steps.  The benefit of walking daily with Christ is that no matter the challenges and fears that confront you (and they will), you can be overflowing with gratitude as Paul wrote (above) and His Joy.  King David’s words of worship in 1 Chronicles 29: 14-15a continue when he praises God as Giver of all things; whereas, he as king and his subjects are all simply stewards of what really belongs to God (emphasis added):

But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?  For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.  For we are sojourners before You, and tenants…

When we rest in God’s gracious and generous sovereignty, and recognize we are simply stewards of His creation and the provisions He grants to us for our needs, we can rest secure even in frustrating and fearful times when we see threats to our political and religious freedom, and even our national sovereignty on a global scale.  The World Health Organization is a human creation that offers “health.”  But as we have seen, the choice to surrender American sovereignty to a world organization may not be a “healthy choice.”  Far better to be sure we have surrendered our personal sovereignty to the Sovereign God and seek His provision of spiritual health through daily disciplines of feeding on His Word that in turn strengthens our mind, heart, and soul.   As such, we can be light and salt in our homes, churches, schools, communities, and government in a confused and darkened world where the only human hope is to yield to the Sovereign God who loves and provides for now and eternity.

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RESOURCE:
The Yoke of Jesus

Relevant to our spiritual application of the notion of sovereignty in this article is a message given this morning at West Hill Baptist Church, Wooster, OH by Pastor Eric Fairhurst.  In his message from Matthew 11: 28-30, Pastor Fairhurst states, “The yoke of Jesus can ultimately be none other than the fulness of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  To come under His yoke is to surrender yourself to His Lordship in all matters.  To strain against or refuse His yoke is to show that we do not truly love and trust Him to do what is best in and through us."  Listening to this message will give you much spiritual insight.  Click à HERE to watch online.

Reflections at Age Seventy-five

Seventy-five years ago today I was born into this world.  I was a brand-new kid, but the “slate” of my life was not blank.  It had already been written upon by the hand of Providence through my genetic inheritance and the environment of my mother’s womb.  My genes, located on 23 chromosomes from my mother and an equal number from my father, plus some extra genes from the cytoplasm of my mother’s ovum, have so far served me well. 

Worldview from the Womb
The 9-month period within mother’s womb must have been a pleasant one.  Thankfully, my “warm womb world” was safe from any violent physical intrusion.  It was also safe from chemical intrusion and from unfavorable nutritional or narcotic consumption by my mother that might otherwise have introduced epigenetic triggers that could have affected my development through altered gene expression (See link HERE.).  Very likely, by the time I entered the bright lights of this world on May 9, 1947 in Dover, Ohio, I was already acquainted with the feeling of my mother’s warmth, her loving voice, and her caring hands.

Although I was born with a slate already partly written upon, it came with many questions and many “blanks to fill.”  You see, like all human beings, I was hard-wired with an inborn need to know myself and the world into which I was born.  I began my search for answers to these questions through personal experience and eventually, through reading.  Later, I learned that the answers I found and accepted were shaping within me what many call my worldview.  Our worldview is an internally coherent and consistent framework or lens through which we can view, understand, and relate to the world around us.

For purposes of this article, we suggest that each of us are prone to address four basic questions.  How we answer them will help shape our worldview:
Reality:   What is true?
Identity:  Who am I?  
Morality:  What is good and evil?
Justification:  What is my purpose and destiny?

How each of us answer these four questions is absolutely fundamental to how we each will function socially and professionally.   Maybe you will relate personally (or maybe not) as I share how I believe my own personal worldview has developed.

Reality:  What is True?
One of my first lessons began on my first birthday.  It had to do with who and what I could trust.  Everywhere I went, I depended on “the handlers”—first the nurses, then my mother.  Soon I learned to trust and feel safe in the (usually) warm hands of my mother and the larger, rougher hands of my father.  I soon felt other tangible things: the warm, tasty, nourishing milk from my mother’s breasts, and then from a baby bottle.  I felt the relief from a wet, itchy diaper when it was replaced by a warm, dry one.  I soon learned that when I felt uncomfortable or fearful, I would spontaneously cry out with strange sounds.   My cries brought results—my mother’s caring hands, a dry diaper, and her warm embrace.  I felt safe.  I felt valued and loved. 

My “reality” was already beginning to rest upon both material and non-material things.  I began to put my faith in things that I could touch and see.  When they appeared often enough and consistently enough, I considered them “real.”  I was beginning to “real-ize” a certain inner satisfaction that depended upon my physical senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smelling.  But inseparably linked to my physical senses was a real and growing sensation of peace and joy that came from how my needs were being met—warmly, lovingly, consistently. For example, my mother and father touched and handled me tenderly in a way that conveyed something wonderful beyond the physical.  I could repeatedly feel safe, valued, loved.  I could see my parents’ smiles and hear pleasant, loving words from them, and between them.  Because they were faithfully on schedule to provide food, dry clothes, and nap times, I learned something about time—sunny daytime, dark nighttime.

Even before I could eat solid food, my worldview was developing.  I was finding satisfaction from both the seen and the unseen.  I was coming to accept as real, true and truth a statement from God’s book, the Bible: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11: 1 NLT).”  I became more aware of my growing personal faith as I progressed from confirming what is true, then believing it as truth, and then placing my trust in it through decisions and actions.

Identity: Who Am I?
While I was realizing that my mother and father were regularly and lovingly providing for my needs, I was also hearing sounds that they associated with me.  Words like “baby” and “bottle” and “bedtime” became familiar.  I soon associated “mommy” with my mother, and “daddy” with my father.  Most affectionately identified with me was the frequent sound of the word, “Johnny.”  I began to realize that everything had a name, and soon it seemed natural that my ears would perk up when I heard someone say, “Johnny.”

When I became what is called a “toddler,” I met some larger kids whom I later learned were my older cousins.  I also discovered that my mother and father each had their own mother and father.  My mother’s mother and father showed more love and kindness to me than my dad’s parents but I liked being with them all.  They were each different from one other, and each had their own names.  But to me, they became known as “Grandpa” and “Grandma.”

During the summer months, I was able to go outside into a large, green world.  Both my parents and grandparents liked to work outside.  They showed me things like animals and flowers.  I soon discovered that animals came in different forms like cats and dogs, chickens and cows.  The flowers also came in predictable patterns:  trees I could climb and swing under, and flowers I could smell and pick.  I began to see that the landscape of our farm could also be divided into field, forest, “the bottom,” and “the crick.”  I now pronounce “the crick” as “the creek” or by its proper name, “Sugarcreek.”  I was continuing to organize my world into more and more categories the each seemed quite distinct.

My parents gave me many chores to do and I learned to be responsible by feeding the chickens, gathering the eggs, forking cow manure, and handling hay bales in summer and winter.  I loved books and particularly maps.  Boundaries of each state fascinated me because they resembled pieces of a puzzle.  I began to realize that although they are restrictive, boundaries are important in keeping order and promoting orderly thinking in every area of life.

On Sunday’s, my parents took us to a white building with a steeple and windows that all pointed upward.  This was Dundee Methodist Church where we would gather with friends and other families to sing, hear readings and teachings from the Bible, and do fun things like coloring and eating snacks.  As an elementary school child, I was taught by stern but loving Sunday School teachers, several of whom were also my teachers at Dundee Elementary School.

Morality: What is Good and Evil?
My mother used to tell me that during my first years of life, my father would often hold me and whisper in my ears the words, “Johnny is a good boy?”  Very likely, before I can remember, I was already learning to associate “good” with behavior or performance that met the approval of my parents.  I wanted to please them.  At the same time, I tended toward “bad.”  There were times that I felt like doing “bad things,” especially when I was with my cousin who also tended toward “bad.”  I was learning the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie; and, between having what belonged to me and what did not.  When I stole a badge from one of my classmates in 3^rd grade, I felt a sense of guilt and I knew I had done wrong.  I wondered why that was, and why the guilt went away when my theft was exposed and I was punished.

In Sunday School and church each week, I learned that God is good, and that God had given us Ten Commandments that Jesus later boiled down to two commands:  love God above all else, and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.  Stealing from a classmate and lying to my parents did not show love to God or my neighbor.  The fact is, I was sinning—falling short of the mark of what is acceptable to God (James 2: 10).  I began to realize that God had given me a conscience to warn me and keep me from sinning, and to unsettle me until I confessed and made things right.

Thankfully, I was blessed with parents who encouraged me to obey God’s command to “honor your father and your mother.”  When my world expanded into school and church, I learned the importance of honoring my teachers, my pastor, and my country.  Each day, we stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.  This exercise helped me to respect authorities who serve “under God” as His agents to make and enforce laws.  I began to see that laws set boundaries on what I could and could not do.  But laws were good because they protected me by keeping order in our nation and in our communities. 

I loved my history classes, but I learned that human freedom comes ultimately from God and obedience to His commands, not from government.   From history, I also learned that even leaders in government sometimes break God’s commandments and cause riots and war.  It made sense to me that our founders believed in the sinful nature of mankind.  Thanks to them, our federal government is divided into three branches to distribute power and provide a system of checks and balances to protect us from those who ignore God’s laws and the laws of government.

During these growing-up years, I learned about “good” and “bad” from my parents, teachers, pastors, friends, and “the media.”  At age 10, I became acquainted with characters like Wyatt Earp who was cast as a marshal who was also called “deacon Earp.” I like him because he was a “good” character.  He drank milk instead of whiskey, and he shot bad men only to wound them and not to kill.  By watching wholesome TV programs, I learned that things turned out well for “good men,” but the “bad men” had to pay a penalty for their actions.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, I began to notice a blurring of the boundaries between “the good and the bad.”  Even cowboy shows portrayed characters that made me question what was right and what was wrong.  From the media, and from my cousins and classmates, I was exposed to the attractions of smoking, gambling, immoral sexual images and behavior, and alcohol and drug abuse.  While my own body was changing and I was literally “growing up fast,” the voice of my father saying “Johnny is a good boy,” seemed to fade away.  I wondered whether I or anyone for that matter could really be “good.”  Thankfully, God used the influence of my family, teachers, and church to help me ask deeper questions:
Who am I?   Who do I want to be?
What is true?  What difference will it make?
What is good and evil?  Can I be good?

Beneath all of these questions was the deepest question of all:  What is my purpose and destiny?

Justification:  What is my purpose and destiny?
During my junior and senior high school years, I was surprised to learn that respected scientists believed that the world as we know it came into being entirely by “natural laws” of physics and chemistry.  Gone from my public-school textbooks was any mention of “super-natural” acts of God in creation.  It seemed that a great divide was opening up between church and the rest of my world, between Sunday School and the public school; and between the Bible and science.

The growing desire of the ‘60’s and 70’s culture to dismiss the authority of God and the outmoded moral standards of the past was further invigorated by the notion of Darwinian evolution.  This trend also affected my answers to who I am, what is true, and what is good and evil.  If the world originated and now operates by natural laws without God sustaining it, then is there really any purpose in life?  For my life?  Who decides what is true and false?  Good and bad?   Where will I go when I die?  What will happen to this world?   Does it even matter?

Adding to my adolescent confusion was a series of terrible events of the 1960’s:  the Vietnam War and the possibility of being drafted into the armed services, the assassination of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, and the rise of violence and immorality.  Thankfully, I gladly followed my parents’ wishes that I attend Malone College, a Christian college in nearby Canton, OH.  Here, I learned much more about the world and how to reason critically about issues of religious faith, science, and culture.  My knowledge of the origin of life, creation, and evolution increased but my integration of concepts of science and faith remained incomplete. 

My pursuit of a satisfying understanding of the world as an undergraduate, as a husband and father, and then as a graduate student and teacher gave me one major insight:   that all of us are constituted in such a way that we must live by a faith in something or someone beyond the material world.  That something or someone is more powerful than us.  What’s more, we may each have to eventually give account of how we lived between the two dates that will appear on our gravestones.  Faith in some higher power leads us to pursue a coherent, internally consistent, and hopefully satisfying way of knowing what is true and real.  This pursuit is necessary for us to know who we are (our identity), to discern what is right and wrong, and to adopt a code of ethics and morality that will satisfy any judgment we might incur from the higher power.  

At the beginning of this article, we referred to the framework for answering the questions about reality, identity, morality, and destiny as our worldview.  My personal biographical sketch reveals how my worldview developed through my parents, family, friends, church, and school.  This gradual development over many years until my twenties reached a climax on a single day when I began to see how the pieces all fit together.

A “Second Birthday”
When we began graduate studies at West Virginia University-Morgantown, WV, Abby and I with our young son, Bradley, chose wisely to continue our practice of attending church on Sunday’s.  One day in 1972, we were visited by two laymen, Leroy and Pearl who were lay leaders from the church.  After casual conversation, Leroy asked me if I had come to a place in my spiritual life that I could be certain that if I were to die today that I would go to Heaven.  “Yes,” I said.

Probing a bit further, Leroy asked a second question: “Then let’s suppose you were to die and stand before God and He were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my Heaven?’  What would you say?”  After explaining that I had tried to keep the Ten Commandments, the men explained politely from the Bible that it is “not by works of our own righteousness,” but “according to God’s mercy” that we can be saved from judgment and its penalty of eternal separation from God (Titus 3: 5; Romans 6: 23).  They explained how God had already been working in my life from the beginning, gradually helping me to realize that the answer to my questions of reality, identity, morality, and destiny all are found in God, the “Great I AM,” the “Eternally Existent One.”  All I had to do was to surrender my own pride and imperfect efforts of self-righteousness, come to realize that God wants to give me His righteousness, and then invite Him through His Holy Spirit to come into my heart, take the “throne of my life” and lovingly enable me to learn to live in a way that is pleasing in His sight according to His Word.

The day the two men visited and led me in a prayer of confession of my sin and heard my profession of a willingness to turn from sin and self to serve God was my “second birthday.”  Since that day 50 years ago, I don’t wish the impossible; namely, that I could live as a perfect man.  God knows that I still live with a sin nature in a world infected by the curse of sin/rebellion against God.  But, with Paul the Apostle, I can say and hopefully live out the testimony that I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3: 13-14).

Sharing Our Best Gift
When we find something that means all the world to us, loving our neighbor makes us want to share it with them.  Likewise, those of us who have come to realize that Jesus is the “precious Cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6-8) upon which our worldview is built are also compelled by the Holy Spirit to share Him with others (2 Corinthians 5: 13-21).  We want to share the Good News of how God took on flesh through Jesus Christ, demonstrated His grace and Truth (John 1: 17), then died on a Roman cross in our place, and rose from the dead in victory over sin and its penalty—eternal separation (spiritual death) from God forever (1 Corinthians 15: 1-8).

We must also realize that Jesus is the “Cornerstone” and foundation for Truth and Life.  But He is also “a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall (1 Peter 2: 8).”  Those who deny both God’s living Word (Jesus Christ) and God’s written Word (the Bible) are offended upon hearing the claim that (emphasis added) salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4: 12). Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except by me (John 14: 6).  

Because the “Good News” brings a stark reality that is often personal, painful, and provocative, we ought to be humble and respectful to those with whom we share it.  After all, we wouldn’t want others to foist even their best gift on us without consideration of our worldview.   Remember, we are all sinners (Romans 3: 10, 23) and all of us are trying to make sense of reality, identity, morality, and destiny.  Best of all, God loves us all (John 3: 16).

What then should be my approach toward sharing “Good News” that is truly “good” but also provocative?   The Bible gives “born-again” Christ-followers the best approach to sharing the Gift of salvation and Eternal Life.  It states, But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect… (1 Peter 3: 15).  This was the approach of Leroy and Pearl, “gentleness and respect,” when they confronted me with my need for salvation from sin.  I want this to be my approach, too.  I hope and pray that my readers will receive my testimony in this article with the gentleness and respect that I intend.

Can You Define Your Worldview?
Thank you for reading.  If you have any questions about what I have shared or would like to comment on this article, just use the “Comments” link below.  As always, when you “Comment,” you add much value to my blog.  Please allow me to pose some questions to stir up your thinking for your personal reflection and/or posted comments:
1.   How would you describe your worldview? 
2.   Does it include your basis for truth, your identity, morality, and destiny?
3.   How do you see your worldview influencing your values and choices?
4.   Do you agree with my statement that “all of us are constituted in such a way that we must live by a faith in something or someone beyond the material world.”  Why or why not?
5.    According to a survey of 2,000 adult Americans by the American Worldview Inventory 2021, over half (54%) embrace the postmodern idea that all truth is subjective and there are no moral absolutes.  How would you explain this finding?
6.   Would you like to know more about God’s “Good News” and how to respond to it?  Check out an online source entitled, “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life?”  It explains how you can surrender your life to Christ, gain peace with God through His Life, and begin to see the world and your life from God's perspective through His Holy Spirit dwelling in you.   Again, you may respond by posting a “Comment” (below) or by e-mailing to silviusj@gmail.edu

Related Readings:
Stewards ‘Fit into’ God’s Order and Purpose – Human need to “fit in.”  Oikonomia from 2012
Hearing the Voice of Jesus –2: When Suffering Comes – How my faith strengthened in 2017