Change is possible
Now, how can a positive and good worldview, image of God and image of man be cultivated and maintained? If these three things are always interrelated, and one influences the other, can we use them to form our worldview, image of God and image of man, for example?
Yes, we can. We can align. We can expand our horizons or ground our hearts in reliable things. Perhaps we choose to do as the Psalm poet writes:
“Happy the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked, who does not tread the path of sinners, who does not sit in the company of scoffers, but delights in the law of the LORD and ponders his law day and night! He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, and his leaf fadeth not; all that he doeth he prospereth.”
Psalm 1:1-3
Whoever behaves similarly will bear his fruit in his time – this is a promise from a clear direction. Bringing forth fruit! Not because it was strained to do so, but because the right steps were taken to do so. The tree was transplanted by water streams, thus constantly receives water and will – quite naturally – bear fruit in due time. Or if I describe it in other words: If you move, you move something. Whoever sets out on the path creates the prerequisite for being able to arrive somewhere else.
“Bearing fruit” in the sense of the Bible is a consequence. If I want to see fruit in my life, I can create the conditions for it. If I set a different course in my understanding of God, in my world view and image of God, then I can create the conditions for a (healthy) change. Change is possible.
Set out on the road
Some claim that it is crisis situations that “drive people to faith.” Not infrequently, this is pejoratively portrayed as “weakness.” I rather think it is something else. Many people (myself first) will only start on the path when there is pressure to suffer. It is out of the necessity of life that some questions are asked only until in consequence. When suffering is greater than comfort, you get moving. Those who set out to change things are not always driven by curiosity.
Questions or concepts that are not answered in my ancestral environment may push me to seek resolution and redemption elsewhere. Thus, some people find Christ, while others are driven away from known Christianity by too many unanswered questions. Both directions want to be considered. Movement takes place, but the direction can be opposite. There are Muslims who become Christian and Christians who become Muslim. Buddhists become Christian, just as Muslims, Christians, Jews become atheists. All these changes also exist in the opposite direction. Whoever sets out on the path, wants to make a conversion, lives out his own vitality first of all and answers his humanity. “Being human” also includes adaptation and change. This is a fundamentally positive statement and a sharp contrast to all rigid worldviews, whether Muslim, Christian, or atheist.
We orient ourselves to the people around us. We are guided by encounters, relationships, experiences. Out of our relationships come our greatest joys and our greatest hardships. The people in our lives shape our understanding of the world, of human beings, as well as our image of God. Here, too, things can always be changed. New relationships shed new light on the wounds of old relationships. Old relationships are healed by new relationships. Those who embark on the journey will often experience this through and in new relationships.
A new orientation
Our personal view of this world is related to this. Our world view, image of God and image of man are shaped in many ways. Whatever our understanding, it can be the start of a departure. Only when we set out to change something can we sense whether change is easy or difficult. The biggest obstacle I have felt even with these changes is the lack of comparison. If I am looking for a healthy human image, who is talking about it? If I want to test whether there is a living God, who has heard about it? Below are a few personal experiences.
Again and again I have experienced that by reading the Bible I came into contact with these missing experiences. I learned new connections because I learned about those connections in the Bible. I added to, changed and corrected my image of God. This was possible because many people in the Bible told of their experiences with this God. These reports were always real, realistic and comprehensible to me. They encouraged me to set out on my journey.
My view of the world, my view of God and my view of man have been allowed to change through reading the Bible. Once upon a time, I was able to find a living faith and trust. Later, through the same Bible, I have been able to separate myself from overly narrow-minded views – and replace them with far better biblical concepts. Often it was necessity that drove me to it. Adversity has not led to a departure from faith or challenged my trust in God, but adversity has led to a re-examination of my own views and the Bible. I learned to distinguish between the Bible and its interpretation, as well as between Christians and their God (as a dear brother in the faith once remarked, “The boss is all right, but the ground staff …”).
In the course of these disputes, which are still going on, my world view, image of God and image of man were adapted again and again. I was allowed to take the decisive impulses directly from the Bible or always test them against it. I find this to be one of the strongest arguments for the Bible to this day. It is realistic in its description of human trials and tribulations, hopes and possibilities. It has proven to be reliable. Therefore, I can also recognize God’s Word in it, accept His statements – even those that go beyond my own experience.
World view, image of God and image of man
When I look at the click-through rates of this website, most of the clicks are on hot theological topics. Posts like this one get far less attention. The clarification of theological questions seems to be urgent for many. For many years, they were for me, too. Today, these topics are still very important to me. It doesn’t stop there, though. Those who clarify theological issues thus take a first step toward a new worldview, image of God and image of man.
If clarification takes place, then this lays the foundation for a better and new understanding. One enters a process in which the previous thoughts light up in a new context. Perhaps the old thoughts can be examined for the first time, reclassified, supplemented or even replaced. This is a process that many people go through alone. It is the personal questions that push for more clarity and answers. But it would be important to share these thoughts again and again with others and to check them mutually. Spiritual wisdom starts there.
This website aims to offer more than direct clarification of Bible passages. While these are essential, there is far more to consider for a healthy faith. The examination of the Bible needs to be understood in the context of one’s own life, and sometimes also reconsidered in contrast to previous views. Deepening and differentiation go hand in hand. A learning culture based on openness is needed. Why I call this? I have often experienced it quite differently.
Change is possible. It presupposes that we set out on our journey. This allows a new orientation, and will help us to work out a positive and good worldview, human image and image of God.
“I will exult and rejoice in your mercy, that you have looked upon my affliction, that you have known the afflictions of my soul, that you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy, but have set my feet upon broad places!”
Psalm 31:8-9
