We all make choices in life. We choose our educational paths, our careers, our spouses, and what kind of beer we like with Mexican food. We also choose what we believe about three very important issues and how they relate to one another - God, the world, and the self. You can call these three things a worldview, a personal philsophy, a belief system, or a religion - it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, no matter what you call it, we all make choices about what we believe about God, the world, and the self... And of all the choices we make in life, surely this choice is the most interesting and important.
As a young boy I recognized that there were choices to be made around these questions - is there a God? What is God like? Are God and the world ultimately coterminous with one another? Am I a product of evolution directed by a god-force / energy of some type? Is there such a thing as evil or is that just an illusion created by my small human minds? If there is evil, does that mean there must also be justice? Are all religions really the same at their "essence?" How do we evaluate the truth claims of Jesus Christ versus anyone else? And so on...
As I wrestled with these things and considered and dabbled with options like atheism, agnosticism, pluralism, etc., I came out of the process a convinced and committed Christian. When I weighed it all in the balance only Biblical Christianity pulled together the disparate pieces of myself, the world, and God in a way that resonated intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally - and was practicable in the world and with others...
- The Nature of the World & Self: Christianity alone explains the "oneness" and "manyness" of the world and the self by virtue of the God Who is One & Many in Himself. This is so huge, it cannot be overstated. The world and the self are both discrete and are comprised of many pieces / parts within themselves, but those pieces / parts and the world / self live in a beautiful UNITY OF PLURALITY. The world and mankind are not a monolithic unity on the one hand (unitarianism / pantheism), but are not mere chaos on the other hand (polytheism / materialism). The world and mankind both reflect the Trinitarian God of Scripture Who made them. The heavens declare the glory of God, and men are truly made in His (Triune) image because we seek union and communion with each other and Him. No other belief system or religion can explain these realities in a remotely satisfactory way.
- The Dynamics of the World: Christianity alone can acknowledge and handle the realities of evil, righteousness, sin, justice, and mercy in the world. Without the inter-personal Triune God of love Who exists as three Persons in eternal harmony, evil and righteousness are simply arbitrary designations - either in the mind of a god or the mind of men. Righteousness, goodness, love all reflect who God is in Himself - in His Trinity. Evil, sin, and hate are all rebellions against this community of Persons - and are therefore not arbitrary. The minute you lose the Triune God of the Bible, evil and righteousness are at best relative - and we all know deep down that this won't do. Sartre can say that there is no moral difference between helping an old lady with her groceries cross the street and putting a bullet in her head, but we all know this is WRONG. We can say that morals are all up to cultures or individuals, but we know the Nazi's were EVIL, and we know that murder is never GOOD. These realities aren't arbitrary dynamics of a life-force in the ether, they exist because of the Triune God of love.
- The Dynamics of Self: Christianity alone explains why I am a mess and why other people are a mess. I'm not as bad as I could be, and neither are you, but let's face it - there's a problem here. I'm selfish. I have a soul that is prepared to live forever, but my body is going to die. People kill, maim, and hurt each other for stupid reasons. Something is wrong! The problem isn't that we haven't figured out the perfect democratic system yet! It isn't that we haven't reached nirvana. The problem is that we are sinners - we have become guilty and corrupted by evil because our parents, Adam & Eve, decided to rebel against their Father. It sounds incredible, and many may think I am naive, but I totally believe this - my problem... our problem is sin, and we sin because the first man and woman God created rebelled. What other explanation is there?
- The Restoration of World & Self: Christianity alone provides the solution to the brokenness of the world and the self. The world is lovely - and mankind is amazing, but we are badly broken. We need mending - we need God to reconcile us to Himself and one another. He has done this - not by telling us to fix our problems, but by sacrificing Himself - giving Himself for our sakes. Justice is done, mercy is extended, evil is vanquished, and community is restored - in His suffering and in His new resurrection life.
Someone might read all of this and say, "But, Brett, please. Are you telling me that the the God of the Bible is the ONLY way?" My answer to this is simple - "What other legitimate way is there?" We're all turning somewhere for answers - either to ourselves, someone else, something else - whatever. As for me, I'm turning to the God Who has revealed Himself in the world, in my conscience, in 2000+ years of historical records, and in Jesus Christ. I make no apologies for that. There's no better place to go!
So let me ask you - where will you go for answers to questions about God, the world, and the self? You have a choice to make...
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