The term worldview involves the all-round comprehension of the world from a certain point of view. In turn, Christian worldview appears to be the all-round comprehension of the world from the Christian point of view. Our worldview represents the big image, the harmony comprising all worldly notions and concepts. Worldview is a means of understanding the reality. Moreover, it serves as the basis for daily decisions, and therefore appears to be of great importance.
In this way, a worldview is a philosophical system that aims at explaining the interconnection and interplay of the facts permeating the surrounding world. As a matter of fact, a worldview resembles a puzzle, the components of which should compose a complete image. Likewise, a worldview can be described as magnifying glass via which we perceive the world. Therefore, it is essential for us to know which of the worldviews imposed on us is true, since our worldview determines our life concepts that, in turn, determine the degree of how we appreciate life.
Just as an apple lying on a table can be seen by several people, a biologist classifies it, an artist sees the beauty of life in it and depicts it in his pictures. A gardener sees property and inventories it. A child will just see it and eat it. That is, the way we consider any situation is dependent on the way how we consider the world in aggregate. Every worldview, including the Christian one, attempts to give answers to the following questions:
where do we come from and why we are here?
what is wrong with this world?
how can people change it?
Today's position of dominant worldview is occupied by naturalism, which answers these question in the following ways: we are the result of the nature's random actions deprived of any certain aim; we do not appreciate the nature as we should; we are able to save this world via ecology and safety. Naturalistic worldview gives birth to many connected philosophical schools like moral relativism, existentialism, pragmatism, and utopianism.
On the other hand, Christian worldview provides us the answers to these questions basing on the Bible: we are God's creations destined to rule the world and communicate with God (Genesis, 1:27-28; 2:15), we have sinned against God and exposed this world to the curse (Genesis 3); God himself redeemed the world via the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ (Genesis 3:15; Luke 19:10), and God will once restore his creation to the former ideal state (Isaiah 65:17-25). Christian worldview leads us to the belief in moral absolutes, wonders, human merit, and the possibility of being redeemed.
With that, it is crucial to remember that Christian worldview is comprehensive. It influences every sphere of life including finance, morale, politics, and art. The true Christianity is more than just a set of notions for use in church. The Christianity depicted in the Bible is a worldview per se. The Bible never distinguishes religious life from the secular one - there exists only a Christian life. Jesus claimed himself as "I am the way, and the truth and, the life", and thus he became our worldview (John 14:6).
The teachings brought on Earth by Jesus Christ are reflected for people in the form of the descriptions in Gospels, his dialogues with his disciples and with other people, his references to Heavenly Father, the descriptions of his actions and created wonders, as well as in the form of written scriptures of his adherents depicting information they received from Jesus himself, the prophecies of Heavenly Father, and their own beliefs. In aggregate, these scriptures are more than enough, though not all of them were included in the New Testament.
Unlike the antique philosophy, however, Christianity lacks some degree of diversity. Throughout is history, Christianity introduced a single world picture, though it is hard to say that every Christian adherents share the same world picture. Nonetheless, this cannot be called the disadvantage of Christian worldview. Christianity is a religion, not a philosophy, and it would be ridiculous if Christianity changed its established foundations.
Indeed, Christian worldview is the result of a long historical development. Even if we agree that it had already been included in the Christian holy books, it cannot be denied that it took lots of time and effort to introduce Christian worldview to masses and endow it with the universal character. Besides, the diversity of Christian heresies proves the fact that the Holy Bible allows the existence of various and often controversial interpretations, whereupon it cannot be said that Christian worldview stems from its original sources in the same way.
The Holy Bible consists of the books of the Old and New Testaments. Christians inherited the books of the Old Testament from Jews, with the books of the New Testament written independently. The core content of the Old Testament depicts the creation of the world and the history of Jewish people. The main content of the New Testament describes the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The life and teachings of Christ are most completely depicted in the Gospel. With that, the structure of the New Testament was composed during a long and meticulous selection that finished only by the end of the 2nd century. Having been formed, Christian worldview proclaimed itself in the Symbol of Faith. This is a set of Christian doctrines that were proclaimed indisputably true and obligatory for every Christian. The Symbol of Faith consists of 12 doctrines and was affirmed on the First and Second Ecumenical Councils.
Furthermore, Christian worldview describes God as not just the creator, but also as the divine providence. Providence is understood by Christians as the actions of God in the world, and his interference with it. God's providence is manifested in three ways: by preserving, controlling, and helping. In the first case, God saves his creations to further existence, in the second one he directs us to certain goals, in the third one he helps us do good. The first two cases are peculiar for every living creature, the last one is prescribed to intelligent beings, but not everyone, and solely the ones who chose good at their own will. Christian worldview evidences that God helps those who chose good and do it, and connives at those who advocate evil purposes. On the whole, without God's actions the world simply would be able to neither exist nor remain in the state of harmony. Consequently, God appears not only the starting point of genesis, but also the starting point of harmony in this world.
Christian philosophy also introduces the principle of monotheism. Though escaping Judaism, Christianity inherited the idea of God's uniqueness, however, Christian monotheism differs greatly from the Jewish one. In Judaism, God is unique without any reservations. On the contrary, Christianity depicts God as a triune essence, having three faces: Heavenly Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Together, the faces of our God constitute the Holy Trinity that is proclaimed to be coessential and inseparable. Coessentiality involves that all the three faces share the same divine essence, and differ only in the way of existence: Heavenly Father is unborn, the Son is born, and the Holy Spirit is emanating. In other words, each of the Trinity's faces has its own existence, but does not have its own essence. The three faces share strictly the same essence, whereupon each of them is our God.
The inseparability of the Trinity signifies that any action of God is a unified action of all the three faces. Any actions emanates from the Father, is conducted through the Son, and is shined via the Holy Spirit. Consequently, it is impossible to consider Christian God as if the world's creator was just the Father. On the contrary, the Son and Spirit also contribute to the creation, and always invent something new. The personal existence of the Trinity's faces does not mean that they represent a separate and independent existence. Conversely, though people are united in terms of sharing the same human nature, they differ in far more aspects: every person has both a private and an independent life. That is why God is one, while people are many.
The Gospel demonstrates how Jesus teaches his disciples with a new worldview. Jesus let them known that the Kingdom declared by him was far greater than they could ever image, and also contradicted their own concepts in many ways. Apparently, by preaching good news regarding the resurrected King in the Acts of the Apostles, they spoke not about the same King they had imagined in the beginning of Christ's service. In his message to Romans, Paul urges Christians to change their worldview. As stated by the Apostle, the war itself that absorbed Romans was conducted on the playground of images. Considering Christian worldview, everyone should ask himself whether he catches any mediation and obedience to Christ, and whether his motives are true. If so, our motives will not protect us from difficulties, but will help us comprehend the world and see why we really have the hope for the future. As once stated by C. S. Lewis, it is crucial to believe in Christianity the same way we believe in the sun - not just because we see it, but because we see all the rest in its light (Purtill, 1981, pp. 7-10).
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References
Purtill, R. L. (1981). C.S. Lewis's Case for the Christian Faith (pp. 7-10). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
