Journal 3

Chris Donaldson
Week 3
Practical Principles from the Bible. That we would learn how to make our life a ministry and have correct worldview, or lens with which to view God’s Kingdom.

We focused on learning about Animism/New Age, Secular Humanism in comparison to Biblical Christianity. We spent time learning about the history of each and we learned about the different parts of the world where each one of these worldviews is found. In learning about these different worldviews I was reminded again that worldview is foundational to cultural values. I was exposed to different cultural tendencies and found that nations founded upon biblical worldview were generally more successful. This is due to the values that Christianity invokes in culture such as the “Protestant work ethic”, which was revived during the reformation. God told Adam and Eve to work His world and to care for it (Genesis 2), and He gave us His desire for growth (Genesis 9). This helped me to get rid of some of my own enculturation and misconceptions about God’s will.
Secular Humanism values that our world is going to be overpopulated and that everything is going downhill, when in reality God wanted us to fill our earth and subdue it, and there is still plenty of land to use. ☺
While working on understanding worldview and cultural value I learned from students from Indonesia and India. They both spoke about an unhealthy fear of God being prevalent throughout their cultures. Where as in western culture we have a tendency to not fear God enough. In learning about Biblical Christianity we learned about the importance of understanding God’s ability to work in any vocation and found practical scripture to study for our different lifelong vocations (Proverbs 16:3). I studied some verses that had to do with business (Proverbs 11: 24-25, 16: 3, 21: 20, 22: 16 and 22; Exodus 22: 22-27).
My word for the week was roots, or foundation. I was reminded that Christ is what we must base our foundation upon. As Chris educated us I realized more about what I was still lacking in my foundational beliefs about the Lord. To build and become a man of God I must face the fact that I am materialistic, self-reliant, and not always grounded in Scripture. Roots are the foundational beliefs, the trunk includes the values, branches show the behavior and the fruit is consequence. Can use this for understanding Scripture for example, how we looked at the verses in Romans and connected the different things with the appropriate part of the “tree”. This word applies to the nature and character of God because He is our foundation and the more we believe in Him the farther our “trunk” can go up in the air, so to speak, our actions can be filled with truth, or can be effective. I must always stand upon Christ.
Phillipians 4:8, “Finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
This is how we make our roots.
I will always try to test and approve my thoughts with the will of God.
• What are my roots Lord? Please help me to find them and make them appropriate for your glory.
• Lord help me not to align your truths with my own worldview, please grant me FREEDOM from my own lens, or constricting view of you.