My Worldview

According to Bernley, ethics is concerned with the knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge is independent from what religion argues about good and evil. The knowledge of ourselves and the knowledge of God are the central components of our view of the world around us. Our knowledge of good and evil is defined by the both self knowledge and the knowledge of God. The three components that make up my worldview are God, Ethics and Knowledge, because they shaped my thoughts, experiences, education and life decisions.

Despite the fact that I am living in a non-Christian world, I have a Christian worldview. As Mander argues that 'the three components (God, ethics and knowledge) combine to for my belief system which makes a real person in you'. This is also important in making reasonable decisions in life and they help shape the thoughts in life. The human view on God and religion depends on the knowledge of God and nature. God to me is all knowing, all loving, kindhearted, and just God. I do not see God from the human perspective, but as a divine supernatural power that controls the world, (Mander, 2001).

Christian worldview is based on faith more than knowledge. Faith calls for believing in God's commandments and doing what is ethical as provided by the commandments. According to ethics, the knowledge of the good and evil requires reasoning and making decision on whether doing something is right or wrong. But faith requires doing what god requires without question. As a Christian, I believe God has given us that right ethics and whether we choose to follow it or not, it remains that God is right and just. For example, God commanded us to love each other as you love yourself. Why then do we cheat someone? Ethics condemns cheating and our knowledge tells us that it is wrong to cheat. All these three components seem to converge at this point, (welma, 2006).

Since the beginning of this course, I have adopted a wider perspective of the worldview which strikes a balance between the Christian world view and philosophical worldview. This is because the two converge at the point. The knowledge of God calls for obeying the will of God. The question, "can we be good without God", can be asked. This questions whether we can rely on ethics alone in order to be good. Ethics can be acquired without direct knowledge of God and salvation. The basic truth of moral life prohibits against stealing, telling lies, killing innocent person and these truths can be understood without the knowledge of God. All these can be known without the revelation from God.

In completing this exercise, the challenge was trying to compare the Christian worldview and the philosophical worldview with my personal worldview since my personal view blends the earlier two views. The present society does not have clear cut set of universal ethics that can be compared with the Christian ethics outline by the Ten Commandments, (welma, 2006).