Benchmark - Gospel Essentials

Name: Sarah McDonald

Course: CWV101

Date: October 9, 2017

Instructor: Dr. Jeff Jibben

Benchmark - Gospel Essentials

Out of all the types of worldviews, the Christian worldview stands apart from the others. The Christian worldview is the only worldview that gives you a set of commands on how you should live your life from the beginning to the end. If you are not the type of person who believes in this way of thinking then you do not know what the true character of God is. He is the one who combines all ages into one solitary goal. This is what makes prophecy such an essential element of Christianity. As Christians we have always believed in a deity, we have also always believed that God was our maker, who had a plan for what he wanted from humans. God has even given us indications as to what his plan was for mankind, as well as what type of things we can expect to happen in the future.

God

Imagine that there is someone out there who has unconditional love for you, who never leaves your side, no matter what you do or how horrible of a person you are. To Christians, that someone is God. Throughout the bible we read verses that help us to see the true character of God. Some of those characteristics include loving, kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Other attributes reveal God's transcendence, that he is eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable, and incomprehensible (lecture 2). Because he existed before his creation, God is sovereign, which means he has supreme authority and absolute power over everything. For Christians, God is the ultimate reality. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 4:1-3 ESV).

Humanity

It is our human nature that makes us human. We as humans are much different from all the other creations of God because we were given the ability to think, reason, and feel. We learned in Genesis 1 and 2 that human beings were created in God’s image. We were made in the image of God, and therefore we acquired some of his characteristics. God loved all of his people, and that makes us able to love one another. God first created Adam, but he knew that it was not good for man to be alone so he created Eve out of the rib of Adam (Genesis 2:21-23 ESV). The purpose of God creating humanity was for us to rule over his creation. He also wanted us to be fruitful and multiply. The fall of humanity was the cause of all human problems. Adam and Eve disobeyed God when he told them not to eat from the tree of knowledge, which caused there to be sin, pain, and suffering. It is because of this act by Adam and Eve that every human is born with a sinful nature. Everyone sins and this is why there is a great deal wrong with the world (Shuster 2013).

 Jesus

The only man to ever have two natures is Jesus. He walked the earth, but he was not like the average man.  Jesus is the son of God, and because of that he was fully man and fully God. Jesus said that he did not come to earth to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28 NIV). Jesus is the second person in the Trinity, and God is all three. Jesus was created by God to spread the word about the gospel. Jesus did this, and many other things for humans. Ultimately, Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected so that humans could receive redemption from their sins. Jesus and his works are extremely important to the Christian worldview. The fact that Jesus died on the cross is significant to Christians because it gives us the opportunity to enter heaven and spend eternity with God. 

Restoration

The Christian worldview claims that the answer to all of humanity’s problems is just one thing, Jesus. The problem is we sin, and we are bound by that sin. The only way we can ever truly escape our sin, is through Jesus. He is our salvation. As Christians we have to have faith in Jesus, and in what he did for us on the cross. We need to believe that Jesus is who he said he is, and that he died on the cross to save us from sin and give us life. “Those who hold to a Christian worldview look forward to the divine promise of God and his kingdom” (Hiles and Smith 2014). By fully relying on God we are able to transform not only ourselves, but society as well. We must give ourselves up to God, just like the disciples did, and allow him to work through us. All will be transformed, and restored, when the divine kingdom comes.

Analysis

Jesus is considered important to the Christian worldview because he died in order for us to be redeemed for our sins. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 NIV). God could not accept humans into his kingdom due to their sinful state. Redemption was served for humans when Jesus died on the cross for them. After that God allowed them to enter into his holy kingdom. Despite the unconditional love and forgiveness that God gives us, there is still a gap between what we as Christians desire to uphold and the ability of being able to live up to such high morals. Being able to uphold the Christian belief involves being loving, kind and compassionate to others, just as God does for us. Christianity influences the behavior of those who believe in it, by teaching us to treat others the way God intendeds for us to.