It seems that worldview defense is part and parcel of every human's life. God gave us intellect and free will when He created us in his image and we use them to generate our own individual worldviews. Sin is always present and some worldviews are wrong and need to be changed, while others are right and need to be stoutly defended, even at risk of conflict.
Humility is a good word to use to use when confronting the problem of "worldview defense". It is also a strong word -- it describes a hierarchical relationship which, by definition, defines a superior and an inferior status. To adopt a position of humility, a lesser status needs to be accepted. To accept humility implies taking on a mission assigned by the superior (sub-mission), following the lead of the superior (sub-ordination) and the lesser serving the greater (sub-servience). Ugh!
Christianity teaches us that toward God, we are all absolutely humble, since He created us. That means in turn that our humility toward other created beings is a relatively humility. When the bank president seeks medical advice from a doctor, the president is relatively humbled, but when the doctor wants a loan, the doctor assumes a mantle of humility. Thus, I prefer another, not-so-strong word, "modesty" when I refer to my relationship with other people and reserve the word "humility" to express my relationship with God.
Another reason I like the word humility is that God has given us vast but not unlimited potential. Proper humility evaluates what I am and am not capable of. I should neither be fearful of acting on my rightful gifts and skills nor arrogantly claim gifts and skills that I don't possess. For what it is worth, in my experience, the number of beliefs that I need to dogmatically hold have diminished while those that remain become ever more important to defend.
Only perfect humility can perfectly stop conflict and violence. Given our imperfect state, however, we are obligated to humbly serve God and modestly interact with my human brothers and sisters. After all, there is good and bad in the world and our task is to defend the good and challenge the bad. Adopting the Christian world-view, I think, works very nicely right alongside psychology to manage these challenges.
We all have a worldview; when and how vigorously do I defend it? I wish to be neither a doormat nor a tyrant, but a humble servant of God.
I have really loved this series… I grew up with the worldview defense mindset, spent a number of years in the doubting to stay open mindset, and more recently have begun to see the depth of God’s love for us and my own complicity in Sin. Humility is a lifelong pursuit for me, but I see the fruit in my own life and find it compelling.
It seems that worldview defense is part and parcel of every human's life. God gave us intellect and free will when He created us in his image and we use them to generate our own individual worldviews. Sin is always present and some worldviews are wrong and need to be changed, while others are right and need to be stoutly defended, even at risk of conflict.
Humility is a good word to use to use when confronting the problem of "worldview defense". It is also a strong word -- it describes a hierarchical relationship which, by definition, defines a superior and an inferior status. To adopt a position of humility, a lesser status needs to be accepted. To accept humility implies taking on a mission assigned by the superior (sub-mission), following the lead of the superior (sub-ordination) and the lesser serving the greater (sub-servience). Ugh!
Christianity teaches us that toward God, we are all absolutely humble, since He created us. That means in turn that our humility toward other created beings is a relatively humility. When the bank president seeks medical advice from a doctor, the president is relatively humbled, but when the doctor wants a loan, the doctor assumes a mantle of humility. Thus, I prefer another, not-so-strong word, "modesty" when I refer to my relationship with other people and reserve the word "humility" to express my relationship with God.
Another reason I like the word humility is that God has given us vast but not unlimited potential. Proper humility evaluates what I am and am not capable of. I should neither be fearful of acting on my rightful gifts and skills nor arrogantly claim gifts and skills that I don't possess. For what it is worth, in my experience, the number of beliefs that I need to dogmatically hold have diminished while those that remain become ever more important to defend.
Only perfect humility can perfectly stop conflict and violence. Given our imperfect state, however, we are obligated to humbly serve God and modestly interact with my human brothers and sisters. After all, there is good and bad in the world and our task is to defend the good and challenge the bad. Adopting the Christian world-view, I think, works very nicely right alongside psychology to manage these challenges.
We all have a worldview; when and how vigorously do I defend it? I wish to be neither a doormat nor a tyrant, but a humble servant of God.
I have really loved this series… I grew up with the worldview defense mindset, spent a number of years in the doubting to stay open mindset, and more recently have begun to see the depth of God’s love for us and my own complicity in Sin. Humility is a lifelong pursuit for me, but I see the fruit in my own life and find it compelling.