Tuesday: The Biblical Worldview
As said in the introduction, none of us view the world from a neutral position. For example, an atheist looks at a rainbow in the sky and sees nothing but a natural phenomenon. It has no meaning other than that which humans decide to give it.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
In contrast, someone eyeing it from a biblical worldview sees not just the natural phenomenon, the water and light interacting, but also a reaffirmation of God’s promise not to destroy the world again by water (Genesis 9:13-16). “How great the condescension of God and His compassion for His erring creatures in thus placing the beautiful rainbow in the clouds as a token of His covenant with men … . It was God’s purpose that as the children of after generations should ask the meaning of the glorious arch which spans the heavens, their parents should repeat the story of the Flood, and tell them that the Most High had bended the bow and placed it in the clouds as an assurance that the waters should never again overflow the earth.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 106.
For Seventh-day Adventists, the Bible remains the foundational text of our faith. It teaches the worldview, the “filter,” by which we are to see and understand the world, which can be a very daunting and complicated place. Scripture creates the template to help us better understand the reality we find ourselves in, which we are part of, and are often confused and befuddled by it.
What truths are found in the following texts that can better help us understand the reality we exist in? Ephesians 6:12; Mark 13:7; Romans 5:8; Romans 8:28; Eccles. 9:5; Revelation 20.5-6.
As Seventh-day Adventists, we must firmly adhere to the teachings of the Bible, for this is God’s revealed truth to humans, explaining for us many things about the world that we would otherwise not know or understand. Hence, all Christian education must be rooted and grounded in the Word of God, and any teaching contrary to it must be rejected.
| What are some teachings of the Bible that contradict other beliefs that people hold? What should this difference teach us about how important it is that we adhere faithfully to the Word of God? |
(26)
Truths about our reality.
When I see the beautiful rainbow in the heavens it also reminds me that Jesus, by His death on the cross, has defeated the prince of the air and Jesus has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and provided us with spiritual armour so we are able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
This is important for me to know and share as I live in South Africa and there are still many who are involved with evil spirits.
John 12:27-33, Col 1:13, Eph 1:18-21, Eph 6:10-17
I use filters in photography. Typically a filter is used to change the mix of light that reaches the sensor (or film, if you have a long memory) We used to use a red filter in black and white photography where we wanted to emphasize clouds. Nowadays, a lot of people use a polarising filter to make the colours more vibrant and to reduce glare. Some filters are used to introduce special effects like star highlights or rainbows. If you know what you are doing you can make a spectacular photograph using the right filter. There is one filter that a lot of people put on their lenses that has virtually no effect at all. The UV filter was supposed to filter out ultraviolet light from reaching film but most lenses do a pretty good job of that anyway. The main reason a UV filter is used now is to simply protect the lens from being damaged or scratched. While it does not do much, it has to be optically perfect so that it does not change the light reaching the sensor, while still doing its protection.
There are a couple of lessons in this we can apply to today's lesson. Firstly, we are invited to see the world through the filter of the Bible. While that is a really good idea, there are many people who claim they are using the Bible while at the same time are seeing though a very distorted interpretation of the Bible.
Secondly, we are the filter through which others will often see God. I wonder if we are like the UV filter passing a clear unchanged image, or are we introducing changes and colour-shifts in the light we transmit.
These two filtration effects are connected and it is worth thinking about the role we, and the Bible, have in this transmission process.
I may be the only Bible that someone will ever get to read for them to know God and lean on his promises. Firstly, I am the Bible to my growing children. Secondly I am a filter to others whom I live with and work with.
My children have been bold enough to tell me if I have gone contrary to what I have taught them or the Bible teachings. Thank God they are able to tell me. I am worried about the hundreds I may have misled because my UV filter hasn't passed a clear image.
Another great object lesson. Thanks Maurice! Tammy
I grew up with the impression that virtually every word of the Bible had essentially been dictated by God. Or at the very least that Holy Spirit had been the 'editor' of the Bible. And I was under the impression that the English translation was as accurate as if the Bible had originally been written in English. Naturally, I also grew up with the impression that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the angels are Anglo-Saxon!
I have since come to realise that the majority of the Bible reflects the journeying of human's efforts to understand God and reality. Yes, the Holy Spirit has guided their development, but not to the extent that such development is totally free of human bias - which at times means misperception if we are not careful to recognise such. Thus, the Bible is subject to human filtering.
God could have given us the Bible as a fully dictated and 'published' work. But He compassionately chose to involve humans in the process and product, even though doing so comes with increased risk of some degree of misportrayal of God and misunderstanding of reality at times if this factor is not taken into account.
Fortunately we have the record of the life and teachings of Jesus - the most accurate reflection and representation of God and how reality works (see Hebrews 1:1-3).
Jesus life and teachings are the benchmark filter by which to compare other Bible writer's reflections regarding the nature and character of God and of reality. This is one key dimension that will help us gain a more accurate Biblical worldview.
If I don't use the right filter when I read the bible, using the bible, I can say God does not listen to sinners.
Bible is to searched and studied. Most importantly we must surrender to the Spirit of God. Then only we will receive the perspectives of the author.
Phil- I agreed with some of the things you said that is why the bible, like no other book is a 'living book.' When we read it, there is a force behind it to change our lives from 'bad' to 'good'. Some people use it for 'good' and for 'bad'. Satan and his angels also believe the bible James 2:19, while some human does not believe the bible. But believing is one thing, we need more that believing to survive the onslaught of Satan, we need the protection of God. Eph 6:10-20.
It is a personal connection we must have with God- Coming to the garden alone. And he walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.
There was a time the bible was chained to the pew and only some could read it. There was another time the bibles were burnt in the streets in heaps. There was another time when the slave masters used the bible to prove slavery was of God and humans because of the color of the skin and hair were of a lower class or the descendants of monkeys.
The bible went through a lot but it had stood its test and survived for thousands of years.
I also realized the bible can 'speak' for itself, it can't lie or die.
Hi Phil, could you explain further what you mean by "human bias", or at least how you believe it affects the messages from God. Also, if it is what I think you are saying, which would be to render the truth difficult to see, then how would it be an act of "compassion" that God would have His communications to us be subject to a fallen human bias?
Also, what type of "human filtering" are you suggesting? How would one apply that in their study of scripture? Just so I understand what you are saying, or not saying.
I am unsure how to reply as I may be misunderstanding the points you are making.
Thank you.
Hi Robert
I suspect from what you written that you are not misunderstanding the points I am making so feel free to go ahead and reply as I am interested to see your perspective...
We are so blessed to have such a clear picture of the character of God the Father and God the Son in the gospels.
I would say that the holy men of God revealed something of their character when they wrote the Scripture. However I believe it is going a bit far to say their writing can show bias that leads to misportrayal of God and misunderstanding of reality
Peter is quite clear that
I don't believe the Holy Spirit would have allowed such bias to exist, that would have to be corrected later, after all the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.
In addition Paul said
If we can't rely on the Scriptures, provided we compare Scripture with Scripture, then we are lost in a sea of confusion.
We were created perfect, but we decided otherwise. We chose (through our fathers too) our own path and it was the path of death. Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves! He died for us while we never deserved. He is the One to be praised, forever!
Can someone tell me why the rainbow is curved? I am 88 now but I never heard anyone suggest that it is evidence that we do not live on a flat world.
I can do the maths for you Nic, but it’s a bit hard to type the formulas in. Essentially the circular rainbow pattern is the result of the properties of light and the way light is reflected and refracted through droplets of water. The rays of light from the sun enters all the droplets of water in parallel and are reflected and refracted. The colours appear because the different colours of light are refracted slightly differently. All the light that enters your eye is refracted by the same angle, thus creating the circular effect. Each observer sees a different rainbow. A diagram would help explain it a bit better.
I did not know that each person sees a different rainbow, that's fascinating to me. It reminds me of how we each see God differently, yet He is the same God just as it is the same rainbow.
Thank you Maurice for the explanation. You said: "Essentially the circular rainbow pattern is the result of the properties of light and the way light is reflected and refracted through droplets of water."
Does this mean that the fact that our planet is round has nothing to do with the curvature of the rainbow? How about the fact that those droplets of water are round?
I am not interested in a mathematical formula which I would have a hard time understanding. I hope there is a simple answer that I can comprehend.
The angle between the incident and emergent rays from a water droplet for the primary rainbow is about 42 degrees. Essentially that means that if you draw a line perpendicular to the lens of your eye, raindrops that are positioned at 21 degrees (half the total angle) will be the ones that produce the rainbow. Droplets that fall into those conditions are essentially positioned along the sides of a cone with a slant angle of 21 degrees. The curvature of the rainbow is really a combination of optics of our line of vision and the droplets of water and has nothing to do with the curvature of the earth. The same effect would occur wherever we have water droplets, light, and observers. (If I get time I will draw a diagram and add it in here)
Thanks again, Maurice. You said: " The curvature of the rainbow is really a combination of optics of our line of vision and the droplets of water and has nothing to do with the curvature of the earth."
Is it wrong then to attribute the curvature of the rainbow partly to the curvature of the water droplets?
The angle itself is partly related to the spherical shape of the water droplets but even if they were little cubes the angle would change slightly but we would still see a curved rainbow.
Can someone tell me why the rainbow is curved?
Because this is the way God made rainbows. He had innumerable options and He chose this one.
Light in linear in its travel, and refraction is determined by position/proximity with a constant radius(40-42 degrees from view point), and with the sun being a point light source, that radius will be demonstrated as a perfect circle. It is broken up most of the time by the ground/trees/mountains/etc. Whether near or far, refraction will be 42 degrees. If there is a second, it will be around 50-53 degrees.
Once I was riding my motorcycle home in the rain(wearing a rain suit) and the sun was directly behind me at about 45 degrees, and the rainbow before me made a perfect circle that ended up between me and the handlebars. It was amazing to see as it led before me until I turned and headed right with the sun now on my right and the rainbow to my left. The only other time I've seen a perfect circle was while flying.
You may see this also demonstrated while spraying water from a hose with the sun low behind you. Wherever you see a rainbow, you are between the sun and the bow. Perhaps most know this.
In the Bible, our Holy Scripture, we read about God and God revealing Himself by His Holy Spirit to teach us His Truth; it is a very special bookTrying to find the words related to today’s comments took quite a bit longer than usually. What finally crystalized in my mind was – do not quench the Spirit! How does this fit with the lesson topic – The Biblical Worldview?
Quoting the question from today’s lesson: ”What should this difference teach us about how important it is that we adhere faithfully to the Word of God?” I want to change it to say: ‘that we adhere faithfully to the *Spirit of the Word of God*.
Our biblical worldview is formed by two teachers – one, the mind(self) who reads the text, the other who interprets the text. What we understand after we read it is that which forms our worldview.
If formed by the mind of ‘self’ only, it remains limited to its own understanding; if formed by God’s Holy Spirit(revealed), it gives spiritual understanding, which is the mind of Christ. 1Cor.2:10-16; Phil.2:5-8.
Our worldview is formed by faith in our heavenly Father and His Son who has come to safe the lost, which, when believed, benefits us first and foremost spiritually. In my worldview, all that matters is spiritually based.
Thess.5:1-28 – Paul speaks to the brethren at Thessalonica specifically, but it is applicable to the Church. He exhorts to be ready: (v.2) “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (v.8) “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”
Thess.5:16-22; Paul exhorts us to love one another in ways that are guided by the Spirit. (v.19) He says: “Quench not the Spirit”.
The word Spirit is capitalized. It is the presence of the heavenly Comforter which has to define the Christian worldview. If we do not make sure to receive all our spiritual understanding regarding what it means to be a Christian from Him, we retain the lens called “self” which distorts ALL our ‘seeing’(understanding).
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Cor 7:1
The Biblical Worldview
When I got married many, many years ago I was given a wedding band. The wedding band is not the marriage but is a token of the marriage. The band signified that I wholly 'belong' to another man in marriage. Or/and that I am already taken and no other man can claim me. Or/and that my heart is at a place where the Lord had joined two hearts to became one in marriage.
I was also given a marriage certificate/a piece of legal document that signified the same. Neither the band nor the piece of legal paper is the marriage.
According to the dictionary Marriage definition- A legally and socially sanction union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribed the rights and duties of the partners.
Marriage was ordained by God. A covenant relationship between two that is suppose to last forever while the two is alive on this earth.
In Genesis we first came across the rainbow- similar to the token of marriage is the token of the rainbow. After the flood God established a covenant with man and for perpetual generations with the use of the rainbow. The rainbow is not the covenant but represents and points to the covenant of what God said to Noah after the flood. Gen 9:11-17. He will not destroy the earth and its inhabitants by water anymore.
Many see the rainbow differently(worldview). I see seven colors of the rainbow and what the seven colors means to me, means differently to others.
Solution- my worldview as a Christian should be that of the biblical view. I should always be depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance.
What I have done- Encourage others to read and study the bible for themselves. Explain the rainbow and its colors. Allow then to form their own conclusion. Show love to people who do not have my worldview.
Lynn, I love your solution. The problem is that we see the rainbow as the covenant when it should be seen as a symbol/even metaphor of the covenant. The rainbow was going to appear regardless because of the law of light and water.
Thanks, Maurice!