When I was a very little girl, my Uncle Omar and Aunt Fern gave me a gift that changed my life. It was a book, My First Dictionary. All these years later, I can still remember sitting on the floor next to them, at a family gathering on Christmas Eve, as they explained how the letter “A” connects to the picture of an apple. They patiently sounded out the words, next to each picture, and cerebral lightening strikes began illuminating my mind. Forever after my relationship with that uncle and aunt remained special because of the way they opened up a whole new world for me.
Far more significant is the way my relationship with Jesus opened up the eternal realm for me. He helps me comprehend a view of the big picture instead of seeing only my own limited perspective. When I ask for help to understand a particularly difficult situation, His Holy Spirit helps me connect the dots in a whole new way. By asking Him to teach me, my circumstances take on a relevance beyond myself. They possess a significant reality far bigger than the only one I see if I remain self-focused.
The Creator's perspective includes all of history, science, mathematics, psychology, logic, and the fine arts among so many other things. A person can spend a lifetime learning at the feet of Jesus and never begin to plumb the depths of His knowledge.
That’s not even remotely similar to the way the media and many people portray the “idiocy” of Christ followers. Kenneth Richard Samples book, A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test, explains the importance of logic and reason in testing any belief system.
According to Samples, a viable worldview must prove:
- coherent
- balanced
- able to explain the facts of reality (explanatory power) and include a broad range (scope) within that explanation.
- able to correspond with well-established, empirical facts and with a person’s experiences
- verifiable
- pragmatic (promoting “relevant, practical, and workable results”)
- able to “address the internal needs of humanity” (the existential test)
- “supported by multiple lines of converging evidence that together add increasing support for its truth-claims and extend the breadth of its explanatory power”
- competitive (being able to successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas)
Each of these nine tests appeals to the intellect.
According to a biblical worldview, human beings are made in the Creator's image. It took a Mastermind to make all creation. Though fear sometimes includes physical and/or emotional components, finding something more important than our fear requires the use of our minds.
Running my life based on the feelings that came from my perceptions once caused me to make many poor choices. A simple train illustration helped set my new operating system in motion. That's tomorrow's topic.
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