Essay Question 1: Biblical Worldview

To me, worldview in general means the view or opinion that a person has to view the world or make judgment about life. It does not necessary need to be the same worldview, as different people have different thinking and opinion on every matter. It is mostly influenced by individual culture, religion, backgrounds and science study today. A biblical worldview on another hand is how an individual view the world or make judgment based on the word of God which is ‘The Bible’. In another word, biblical worldview is how a person’s view can be defined through scriptures. After reading Genesis 1-11, it is like a base for all biblical truth as it clearly states that God is the creator of all things. The scriptures define God as loving, kind and holy. By reading and understanding these scriptures, it changes some of our personal worldview and who God really is and what he portrays in the creation of the world before it even begun. Genesis 1–11 it teaches us regarding the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization.

Based on Genesis 1, God uses only 7 days to create the natural world. He showed us that we should work six days and rest on the seventh day like what he did when he was creating the earth. It only took him 6 days to complete and rested on the seventh day which is called ‘Sabbath Day’. The meaning behind Sabbath is rest which is seen in Genesis 2:2-3 which states, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” In the Bible, it is clearly states God did create the earth and was not by evolution as it states in Genesis 1:11, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.” Everything including plants, animals and humans produce after their own kind.

After reading Genesis 1-11, Genesis teaches us something about natural world. In Genesis 1, it states that in the beginning God created the universe which include the earth. God created light to separate light and dark into day and night on the first day of Creation. On the second day, God separate water and land. On the third day God created the seasons, days and years. He also created the Sun, the moon and the Star the next day. After that God created water creatures and birds and on the Sixth day he created land animals and made man in his own image. He named him Adam and was given power to rule over every creature on earth. He then informed him he may eat from every plant and every tree except for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. By using Adam as an example he showed us how God will provide for us anytime and anywhere. We just have to have faith and be an obedient child of God. If we believe that the Bible is true then we should allow this fact to shape our worldview physically, mentally and spiritually. Teaching about evolution, who we are, where we come from and what is the right way to treat others should be use the teaching in the Bible as guidelines. In the Bible, it states very clearly about all the things that we need to know during our time on earth and it show God’s love for his creation.

Regarding human identity, in Genesis 1:27 it states that “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” All of us are created in God’s image. It also teaches us that woman was created from man to serve as his companion. Genesis also teaches us that man biggest problem is sin. Sin will destroy a person just like what happen to Adam and Eve which lead to the fall of mankind today. This is very important for us to know when dealing with other people. It tell us to do everything here as we are doing it to God in his kingdom. So when a human is created in God’s image, we are serving God when we serve people and also we are loving God when we love people. Everything we do when it comes to people here is like we are doing it to God our Father.

Besides that, Genesis also teaches us about human relationships. Relationships plays a big part in life. It can be the biggest struggle or biggest joy. When he created Eve from Adam’s rib in Genesis 2:24 which states, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh”. Happiness can be seen marriage and relationships but then there comes a time of struggle when both Adam and Eve sin. When being questioned, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent not admitting their own mistakes or feel regretful about it which lead to the downfall of human nature. As humans, after the fall of Adam and Eve, we tend to blame anyone or anything for most of our shortcomings without feeling ashamed or regretful and never take the responsibility that one should but instead always try to find ways to get out of our consequences. Another example will be their son Cain who kills his brother Abel because of jealousy and this is what he says in Genesis 4:9, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In this chapters we see the pain caused in relationships that are broken and is not build on a solid ground during his upbringing as a child by Adam and Eve. We can find much happiness in relationships but at the same time we can also find pain if we do not know how to handle the situations well.

Lastly, the study on the book of Genesis also teaches us about civilization. The scripture teach us how civilization came about to be so diverse today. In Genesis 11:7-8 says, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So God scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” So this is why various culture, language, and race started to differ from one another and become what we see today.

In conclusion, the book of Genesis has matured and changed my personal worldview of the world by teaching me that even from the beginning before everything God’s grace was already present. Genesis also allow me to disprove the belief of the Big Bang Theory study. Although personally, I still hold on to some superstition belief but I believe if I were to understand more about word of God all this belief would actually disappear later on. Once again Genesis really showed us how God truly has everything thought out well advance for us before we even became human. All one needs to do is simply have faith in him and do according to what he ask us to do by using the Bible as our guidelines and also stay out of his way and let his plans he had for us to happen. At times due to our stubbornness, and the true nature of Sin itself we complicate life which is actually very simple. We tend to complicate things but in reality it is actually not that complex at all but rather simple. By studying and understand the book of Genesis 1-11, it really helps me to understand better of the process of creationism and also changed my view on certain things and make me have a better understanding on what a biblical worldview really is.