WORLD AND LIFE VIEW

Seeing this World

The Principle and Practices of Reformed Education Class
Alisha Joy Rus 8/27/2011

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and He will show them His covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out to the net. These two verses as recorded in Psalm 25: 14 & 15 help shed light on my worldview, helping to indicate how and why I hold to certain beliefs. In short, my worldview is my set of beliefs through which I see the realities of this world. These beliefs are given me by the Holy Spirit through His own personal work in my heart, creation, and soundly his word; He has given me eyes of faith, and through these eyes I view the questions of the world. What are these questions about the world? I have chosen to outline my paper using James Sires eight main questions in his book, The Universe Next Door. The first question is, What is prime reality---the really real? This is the fundamental question, meaning the rest of the specific answers to all the broad questions involving the world will fall based on this answer. God is real. This seemingly simple profession is full of a need for description. He is the only God, One who rightfully demands praise. God is filled with perfect attributes and His many names reflect His character. He is Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, King of Kings, Shepherd, Jehovah, the Alpha and Omega, Author and Finisher of our faith, and many other names. Out of these names the attributes flow such as holy, perfect, immutable, love, sovereign, righteous, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and supremely good. He shows these attributes present in His Trinity: one being and three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.1 God reveals Himself divinely through His creation and His word, which explains Sires second main question, What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us? Genesis 1 reveals all He has created, how, and why. By His own words He created all of the
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Hanko, Ronald. Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer of Reformed Doctrine. 2004th ed. N.p.: Reformed Free Publishing Association, n.d. 38-50. Print.

earth and universe into existence out of nothing and continues to maintain it. After discovering the names and attributes of God throughout the scripture it is impossible not to give honor to God by calling Him a God of order. Before the beginning of time He magnificently planned this creation, its history, and restoration through a new creation of heaven and earth to come. Sire makes excellent reference to Isaiah 45: 18-19 which cannot be shortened because it greatly summarizes this second question of my worldview. Here Isaiah writes, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he that established it, he created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, See ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. The Creator has created all from nothing, apart from Himself, and maintains it continually in order. Not only has He predestined and planned all things accordingly, but we are able to see signs of orderliness such as the rising and setting of the sun. The history of the external reality now is leading the events paving the way for a new earth and heaven, with all in perfection. Man is Gods finest creature which is witnessed in Genesis 1:27 where it is written, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Creation of man was a twofold act, first He formed man out of dust and then He breathed life into man. This demonstrates that God considers us superior and responsible for the things on His earth. We were decided in His Trinity to be made in His image. This means that before the fall we received some of His attributes such as righteousness, holiness, and true knowledge of God. Since the fall into sin, we no longer can use these attributes perfectly. We lost these attributes through our representative head, Adam, and became slaves to the devil, to whom our human nature inclines. However, since Gods elect have been redeemed by grace

through the death of Christ on the cross, paying for our debts, we are now capable of seeing and choosing right from wrong. Not until perfection will Gods attributes be fully perfected in us again. Thus, I believe we should view the world with this goal in mind: How do I enhance Gods attributes in myself for the better glorifying of His name? Each man is placed on this earth for a reason and purpose. As Professor Dykstra once said in a sermon, Our places here on earth are designed specifically by Christ to make way for our place or service in heaven. Our walk on life is preparing us for heaven. God has made each one of us unique and with different personalities; so that we may all contribute for the good of His kingdom. His saints together form a body, with Christ as the head. Each member serves one another, ultimately then when serving each other they are serving God. So although man is imperfect, because I have Christs cleansing blood in my heart I view it my duty to search out ways in this world to serve the church and view all men as divinely designed and responsible for the earth.2 When God created man, He created man by breathing in his nostrils, giving him a soul. When a human being dies, this soul continues on to either eternal damnation or eternal righteousness. God has predestinated before time where each persons soul will go which is based on His will. After all He is the Potter, and we are but clay. Eternal damnation refers to hell, where the reprobate and those whom God does hate will spend the rest of eternity. Eternal righteousness refers to heaven, a place of eternal glory. It is a place we know not many details, for it is a place surpasses our human comprehension of glory and beauty. It is a believers home, therefore as I await for it I am but a pilgrim sojourning this earth. I seek to remember that my glory awaits and materials do not come with me, rather there are greater riches in heaven. Christ
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I. Corinthians 12:12-23
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dwells here with His angels preparing each one of His elects special place and duty.3 At the exact time that a person is needed in Heaven, He gathers that saint home. He takes his or her soul to be with Him. Its one of great comfort and hope for Christs believers to know that He has our souls safely in His hand and will never let one of those souls fall away. Christ also promises to unite the body and the soul on His final day when He returns in judgment. Before this happens, the body and soul are separated by death. The body remains in the ground on earth while the soul journeys with Christ to heaven. There is no purgatory or limbo; Christ has known our destination before time.4 How am I able to know any of these things or anything at all? By a blessed miracle, God has revealed His works to us through revelation. This is a miracle because not only are we sinful creatures who by nature are prone against Him, but He is magnificent beyond our understanding. Yet, in His Trinity through His grace He has revealed Himself to us. In the Old Testament this was done directly through visions, angels, dreams, or direct conversation with God (such as Moses and the burning bush). He continues to reveal Himself through ones conscience and in two main ways: creation and His word. The Belgic Confession refers to creation as a most elegant book .5 All men are without excuse for serving God because He has made Himself known throughout all of nature and His creation. He has also made Himself known through scripture, His infallible word. It is of grace that He has given me His word in human language so that I can understand. All men have been born with the ability to know right from wrong. Man, after all, was made in the very image of God. God is good and in the very beginning past on perfection to
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John 14:3 Ephesians 1:5 &11 5 Belgic Confession, Article 2

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man. In the very beginning, man was able to see the antithesis, which is the ability to see and chose between good and evil. The tree of life represented good and the tree of knowledge of good and evil represented evil. God forbade Adam from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 6By eating of the tree of life Adam and Eve would be obeying God and not going against him. However, they fell into sin and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil after being tempted by the devil. As a result, man has fell and became totally depraved. By nature then, man was dead in sin and prone to it. Only because of Christs redemptive blood can Gods elect fight against this human nature and seek after Gods will. So, the antithesis continues today. Constantly Christians are in a battle to say yes to God and no to the things of this world. We are called to be live and walk in this world, but to not participate in the sinful things of the world. What is the purpose of human history? All of creation, from beginning to end has the purpose of bringing glory to its Creator, God. He has predestined all of mans history for His glory. It is our task as His servants to use our every effort to glorify His name in our entire walk. One of the greatest ways God has glorified Himself was through Christs coming; His own Son redeeming His chosen remnant. He continues this glory through His work in human history in bringing about Christs second coming. Because of Christs coming and redeeming us we live out of grace and must serve in thankfulness. Our good works do not earn us salvation, but rather we obey God and live godly lives out of thankfulness to Him for His mercy on us in providing us freely with our salvation. In what ways do we show this thankfulness? Christ summarizes Gods commandments by saying, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

Genesis 3:3
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And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.7 Loving God consists of knowing Him, which is a lifelong task, one of great and willful dedication. This includes daily searching His word in devotions, learning doctrines, prayer, and fellowship with believers in His church which is closest to His word. Through answering multiple questions, I have also answered many of my core commitments. Im a Christian, a follower of Christ. This is a humbling act of servitude to Him to embrace such a life style. My life should reflect being dedicated to Him through living a Christian walk, following His testimony. It is a life of thankfulness, knowing that out of His sheer mercy I have been chosen by Him as an elect saint. As I walk this earth then I must be a godly example to all around me, because I know not who else is His. I consider myself His tool, possibly being His instrument to call one of His elect. I will seek to reflect this worldview in my future classroom when I am a teacher. I consider this a blessed opportunity to live my worldview in light of so many young learners. Its also a great responsibility. Living my worldview must consistently be in check, as it may influence these learners. Its my responsibility to help rear them in their education with godly foundations. As I continue learning more about my Reformed worldview, Im educating myself on important aspects of God which I will teach onto Covenant children. Im helping them learn their worldviews. Its extremely necessary to make sure Im feeding them with the essential elements. There are numerous, everyday situations which serve as perfect ways to implement knowledge of God. Through science courses, I can help them build the proper view of the beginning, which is through a six day creation and not evolution. Through history, my students and I can examine His handiwork and preservation of His saints throughout time. The list
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Mark 12:29-31
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doesnt end. My goal in my classroom is to help teach my students how to place and keep on the armor of God, helping them live in this world but rejecting the sinful things of it.8 As I continue sojourning this life, through my education and in my future teaching, I am constantly being reminded of Gods grace and seek to share this with the world surrounding. Although this is an imperfect task on my part, I continue seeking living a Reformed lifestyle because I'm a redeemed child of God. It is His will that I, a covenant child, serve him in body, mind, and soul and reflect this example through my worldview. Let this verse influence our every answer regarding this life: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 9

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Ephesians 6 II. Timothy 3:17

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