Thought for Today

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,  

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  

Mark 3:35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

“worldview: a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific standpoint   called also weltanschauung” (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

During our Bible Study last night, we discussed Mark 14:53-65. As we talked about the actions of the high priest, the chief priests, the elders and the scribes as they confronted Jesus following his arrest, we puzzled over the evident hatred of those leaders. Ultimately, the question arose of why the collective spiritual leadership of Judaism felt such visceral misogyny for a rabbi who preached love. Why did Jesus’ words, e.g., “Luke 10:27 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself" motivate them to violate almost every concept of justice and fairness in their own judicial system?  

As we talked, I remembered a course I took in seminary titled “Christian Worldview.” Before I took that class, I had never encountered the word ‘worldview.’ The basic definition above seems simple enough. Worldview simply means ‘how we view the world.’ It is not until one contemplates that idea that you can begin to understand the implications of one’s worldview. Those verses above are a few of the basic biblical verses that form my own worldview. My personal worldview is generally aligned with a western European, Christian understanding of Creation.

Is my worldview identical to or even consistent with that of those priests, elders and scribes in Judea during the 1st century? My worldview is the end result of 2025 years of Christian thought, primarily evolved in western Europe and North America. I view Creation through lenses ground in the initial expansion of Christianity into Europe, the Protestant Reformation, the colonization of North and South America, WWI, WWII and all of the historical events, wars, philosophies and technologies evolved in that geographical arena for 2025 years.

The worldview of those priests, elders and scribes were not aware of any of those things. Their worldview evolved from their own history as a people, from the events in the Old Testament, from the multitudes of tractates and commentaries written over the thousands of years of their past. How could their worldview, despite being a part of the basis for my own, possibly be the same as my own?

Hopefully, as you ponder that question, another arises in your mind. Ours is a nation of immigrants. There are Americans who have descended from every part of our globe, every ethnicity known to man. How can all of their worldviews be the same as my own? Even for those Americans of my own generation, if they began from a different initial perspective, how could their worldview be the same as mine?

Part of the great divide we see in our own nation arises from the multiplicity of worldviews trying to co-exist in a single nation. America is a country of atheists, agnostics, Christians, Moslems, Jews, and believers of every other religion and philosophy known to mankind. We may all agree that the area of a circle equals a constant times the radius squared, but how could we ever agree on why that is true? I believe it is true because that is the way God created Creation. An atheist might well believe it to be true simply because reality cannot be any other way. And if we cannot agree on the fundamental basis for reality, how can we ever agree on concepts like truth and justice?

How are we to all live together peaceably in a pluralistic society? Where are we to find the common ground to build a strong and safe nation? I believe that we need to talk to each other, to openly discuss our differences without all the jingoism and emotionally charged rhetoric so often employed. If we don’t openly, honestly and peacefully discuss, how can we ever end the violence and the divide? Maybe, just maybe, in such discussions, we would find that our different worldviews are not as different as we believe.

Stay safe, listen to each other, trust God,

Pastor Ray