Foundational issues in Christian spirituality and ethics are essential to understanding one’s worldview. The purpose of this assignment is to explore my worldview as a Christian by elaborating my understanding of ultimate reality, nature of the universe, human being, knowledge, basis of ethics, and purpose of existence.
According to Bogue and Hogan (2020), ultimate reality refers to the highest authority. In my Christian view, the ultimate reality is God. He is Supreme, Almighty, and creator of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible. God is the unique source of all reality. He is supernatural. God is described as omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent (Bogue & Hogan, 2020). Consequently, we Christians believe that God, who exists as the trinity, created the world and was pleased with His creation. Additionally, God is the source of morality. For instance, He commanded man, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). God also demonstrates His supremacy through various miracles and powerful signs that are well documented in both the old and the new testaments of the Bible.
As a Christian, the universe was created by God, who rules over it. It is composed of both physical and spiritual worlds. Human beings have been given power over the physical world to be fruitful and multiply and explore the resources within the physical world. However, the spiritual world involves an interaction of the spirit of God and the spirits of human souls. As a result, human beings can communicate to God spiritually through prayer. The existence of the spiritual world is demonstrated by Christ himself when he teaches his disciples to pray, and He is also seen interceding on behalf of us.
As Christian, human beings are part of God’s creation and were made on the last day of creation. They are superior to other creatures, for they were made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). Similarly, as human beings, we are blessed by the Almighty. But unlike God, human beings have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Roman 3:23). The sinful nature of human beings is also depicted during the call of Moses when God orders him to remove his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground. However, God forgives us whenever we repent. Given the valuable nature of human beings as the image of God, human life must be respected and protected at all costs (Baumeister & Bushman, 2020). Likewise, human beings must be treated with dignity and love. Finally, God values his creation. For instance, God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ.
Knowledge is the sum of what is known. As Christians, knowledge is a gift from God. God (1 Corinthians 12:8). Additionally, Christians regard scientific knowledge as a consequence of the utilization of power that was given to them by God. Therefore, human beings must utilize knowledge as a service to humanity (Cuellar De la Cruz & Robinson, 2017). The Bible remains the main source of Christian knowledge. Christians also acknowledge the limited nature of human knowledge and its hindrance by sin. Finally, Christians can pray to God to obtain knowledge through faith since knowledge is directly connected to God’s revelatory acts.
Ethics refers to moral principles that govern an individual’s behavior. It encompasses systematizing, defending, and recommending the concepts of right and wrong behavior (Stanley et al., 2018). From a Christian point of view, God is the basis of morality. This is evidenced by the mentioning of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the creation stories. Following the fall of mankind, human beings became aware of good and evil with an obligation to do good as evil doings are punishable. Subsequently, Christian ethics involves living a life pleasing to God that is guided by Christian scriptures and traditions. For instance, God issues commandments to the Israelites through Moses, which were to be followed, and these are later summarized into the two greatest commandments by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Consequently, Christians rely on the Bible, a book penned down by human beings supernaturally inspired by God, as the most authoritative source of Christian morals and ethics.
The sole purpose of existence for Christians is to worship God and enjoy a relat
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