Worldview Analysis and Personal Inventory

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Practicing Dignity An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision-Making in Health Care

Third Edition

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Practicing Dignity: An Introduction to Christian Values and Decision-Making in Health Care (Third Edition)

Editors: Manuel Cota Jr. and Valerie J. De La Torre

Production Editor: Alexis DiVincenzo

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Author Biographies

David W. Bogue

David W. Bogue holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Houston and Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. Bogue has served as a hospital, hospice, and community trauma chaplain. He has pastored congregations in three states for more than 25 years. Bogue has taught doctoral students pastoral and personal ethics, Christian counseling, conflict mediation and resolution, communication, and ministry in institutional settings. He also has experience instructing nursing students in spiritual and ethical decision- making in a health care setting for Grand Canyon University. Bogue resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, Cathie.

Manny Cota Jr.

Manny Cota Jr. is an Arizona native and grew up on the border in Nogales, Arizona. He completed his Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Biola University and subsequently spent 2 years at the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University where he completed his Master of Arts in Bioethics. He taught philosophy, theology, and bioethics in Phoenix since 2012 at several different colleges and universities, including GCU, before starting at GCU as a full-time faculty member in 2015. Currently, he is writing toward a PhD in the area of philosophy of science and bioethics at the Free University of Amsterdam. He resides with his wife, Kendra, and son, Moses, in Glendale, Arizona.

Valerie J. De La Torre

Valerie J. De La Torre was born in California, but considers herself an Arizona native, as she grew up in Miami, Arizona. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Music Education at Grand Canyon College, earned her Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, and her doctorate in Formational Counseling at Ashland Theological Seminary. Valerie serves as online full-time faculty for GCU's College of Theology where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. She also serves as the Program Standards and Evaluation Committee Course Lead, which oversees courses containing theological principles and guidance in the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions (CONHCP). She resides in Miami, Arizona, where she serves as stated supply pastor at Divine Grace Presbyterian Church.

Keith A. Evans

Keith A. Evans holds a Bachelor of Science of General Studies from the State University of New York, a Master of Divinity with Chaplaincy Concentration from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, a Doctor of Chiropractic from Parker College Chiropractic, and a Doctor of Ministry with Theology and Pastoral Counseling

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Concentration from Temple Baptist Seminary of Piedmont International University. Evans’s doctoral ministry project focused on enhancing workplace spirituality within a hospital setting. Evans is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and ecclesiastically endorsed for health care chaplaincy by Texas Baptists. Evans has worked in health care for 35 years. Evans ran a multidoctor chiropractic clinic for 20 years prior to going into full-time ministry. He is currently a board-certified professional chaplain and has served on several hospital bioethics committees. Evans has written on effective ways to administer spiritual care within health care settings with a focus upon understanding spiritual needs assessments. He is currently the Director of Pastoral Care for St. Luke's Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and serves as its Ethics Committee Co-Chair. Evans is a senior adjunct faculty member for Grand Canyon University's College of Theology. Evans resides in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife, Cyndi.

Paul J. Hoehner

Dr. Paul J. Hoehner is a board-certified cardiovascular and critical care anesthesiologist currently on staff with the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and is a Visiting Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in New Hampshire. He has held numerous academic appointments both in clinical anesthesiology as well as theology, ethics, and church history. Hoehner obtained his BA and MD degrees from The Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a PhD in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the Christian Medical & Dental Association and serves on their National Medical Ethics Advisory Committee. He is currently studying at Reformed Episcopal Seminary and is ordinand in the Anglican Church of North America. Hoehner and his wife, Sheryl, currently reside part-time outside of Washington, D.C. and part-time in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Michael Hogan

Michael Hogan holds a Bachelor of Science in Biblical Studies from Arizona Christian University, a Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Biola University, and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from University of Arkansas. Currently, Hogan is in the latter stages of his doctoral degree pursuing a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Arkansas. Hogan specializes in foundational questions regarding ethics. Hogan resides in Springdale, Arkansas with his wife, Victoria.

Nathan H. White

Rev. Dr. Nathan H. White holds a PhD in Applied Theology from Durham University, a Master of Divinity from Beeson Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College. He is the executive director of the Institute for Faith and Resilience and has ministered both in parishes and as a chaplain in various capacities, including in the military. White has published with Oxford University Press, Springer Science, and Routledge. His research interests include theological anthropology, the integration of science and theology, and human resilience to adversity. Nathan resides in Lafayette,

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Louisiana, with his wife, Caroline, who is a family nurse practitioner, and their children.

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1. Foundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and Ethics

Without a biblical worldview, all the great teaching goes in one ear and out the other: There are no intellectual

pegs … in the individual to hang these truths on. So they just pass through. They don't stick. They don't make a

difference [in how humans interpret existence and order their lives]. George Barna (as cited in Colson & Pearcey,

1999)

By David W. Bogue, Manny Cota Jr., Valerie De La Torre, and Michael Hogan

Essential Questions

What difference does your worldview make in daily life and in how you perceive your future?

What is the definition of spirituality from a Christian perspective? How does this compare to your own definition of spirituality?

How would you categorize your worldview: atheism, pantheism, or theism?

After reading this chapter, does your current worldview pass the three tests (coherence, correspondence, and practical)? If not, what might you need to change?

How does ethics influence one's worldview?

Does right or wrong depend on individual subjective opinions, or is it about something deeper?

How does ethics relate to medicine and health care?

Can one know what is right or wrong, or is it just what one is feeling in the moment?

Introduction The world is complex and sometimes confusing. Information is created and disseminated at a rate no one can completely comprehend. It is like trying to drink from a fire hose. Ethical dilemmas clamor for resolution. How can one make decisions that are right and morally good, beneficial and not harmful? How does one make sense of this fast-moving world's experiences and events?

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Medical practitioners make decisions every day that are laden with moral and ethical importance. Patients' lives may be at stake, such as the elderly whose last days are near, children who are born with severe disabilities, the unborn and their anguish-filled mothers, and people who suffer from chronic pain or mental illnesses. Ethical questions abound, such as is euthanasia a morally acceptable choice? If not, then why not? If yes, then on what basis? Is it ethical to remove lifesaving treatment from a dying patient and administer palliative care if needed? Is abortion a moral and ethical option, and if so, what limits, if any, should be imposed? Medical professionals at all levels of

decision-making face these dilemmas regularly. How are nurses, with direct access to patients' needs, to decide what is right and wrong? How one answers these questions matter in all areas of life. Professional morals cannot be separated from personal conduct. The importance of having a foundation and a framework from which to make true and good ethical decisions in both one’s personal and professional lives is the reason for ethical and spiritual decision-making in health care.

This chapter will help nurses think through how they view and interpret the world and the events and experiences of life. Nurses will come to understand how to answer ethical questions and address patients, families, and others when crises arise.

What Is a Worldview? A worldview is a point of view for understanding one's personal experiences and the events of societies and history (Vidal, 2008). Every person who has ideas about what reality is and how to interpret the experiences of the world is operating out of a worldview. This is true whether the person understands his or her worldview or not; everyone

has one (Taves, Asprem, & Ihm, 2018).

Think of the lens of a camera: a photographer places the lens against his or her eye and views the world through the lens. The photographer assigns meaning to what the lens reveals. A worldview is not a physical lens but, rather, a philosophical and

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intellectual lens though which a person sees and interprets everything one encounters. It helps a person accumulate and interpret how human beings gain knowledge, the area of study known as epistemology, and what one knows to be true about the world, others, and oneself. Worldview determines what one does and does not value and find meaningful in life.

A worldview includes underlying, often unconscious, assumptions about reality that a person holds. These assumptions inform how a person determines what thoughts and actions are morally right and wrong. They also influence whether a person has positive or negative thoughts about the future. Sandy Gibson (2011) conducted a study on male prisoners of various ages and discovered that internally held worldview assumptions informed how they viewed both their present circumstances and future possibilities. To put it simply, worldview will influence one's sense of hopefulness or lack thereof.

Why do some people look forward to the future, while others do not? Such worldview assumptions are shaped over a lifetime (Gibson, 2011) and may be additionally influenced by adult experience, such as religious experiences or traumatic events. Other studies (e.g., Edmonson, Chaudoir, Mills, Park, & Bartkowiak, 2011) demonstrate that trauma can play a significant role in worldview formation. When a person cannot integrate a traumatic event in his or her worldview, then posttraumatic stress disorder may occur, which can change the person's ability to handle daily activities and shape how the person interprets events and assigns meaning to experiences (Edmonson et. al., 2011). According to Clément Vidal (2008), those who possess coherent, practical, and consistent worldviews tend to experience less stress, are more open to encountering others in the world, and have a greater sense of trust and hope (Vidal, 2008).

When it comes to working directly with patients, the first questions to ask include:

What is a worldview?

What is my worldview?

How does my worldview shape my spirituality?

The next questions often include:

How do the three major worldviews, atheism, pantheism, and theism, see the world?

How can one determine one's worldview using the six basic worldview questions?

How is one to test one's worldview for coherence, practicality, and correspondence?

What is the basic Christian view of the world (i.e., the Christian worldview)?

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What is the foundational meaning of the biblical narrative, which is the heart of the Christian worldview?

Following these initial questions, one must further ask, what are ethics, in general, and what is the basis of Christian ethics portrayed in the biblical narrative? What is the Christian moral order in the practice of medicine, and how does the resurrection of Jesus Christ inform this unique moral order in a holistic manner? These, and many other concepts, will provide valuable tools, in the form of understanding worldviews and ethics, to enrich and bring clarity to one's life and to benefit patients who need thoughtful, ethically informed medical practitioners to assist them.

Hence, it is important to think through and hold a worldview that is clear, consistent, and matches reality. Worldviews come under two broad categories: religious and nonreligious. This text has further divided those two worldview categories into three: atheism, pantheism, and theism. Most people hold worldviews compatible with these three.

Atheism

The word atheism comes from two words: A, which means "lack of" or "no," and theism, which means "god." The simple rendering of the word is "no god." Atheism is a philosophical worldview, the central feature of which is a lack of belief in a deity. Atheists come from a variety of backgrounds and may hold divergent views from one another; they do not always agree with each other in the areas of politics, ethics, and cultural issues (American Atheists, n.d.a). For example, the atheist response to religion is not unified. Some atheists are indifferent to religion and are not disturbed that others believe in a deity. Others are adamant and assert the nonexistence of a god (Coleman, Hood, & Streib, 2018) and make it a cause to disprove the existence of god. According to the American Atheists (n.d.a), "The only common thread that ties all atheists together is a lack of belief in gods" (para. 13).

Some atheists claim that their worldview is not a belief system or religion. They state, "If Atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby" (American Atheists, n.d.a, para. 3); however, Coleman et al. (2018) disagree with this assessment because a belief system is a part of every worldview. It simply means that a person has particular beliefs about the world, meaning that believing that there is no god is a belief about the world. Beliefs shape how a person assigns meaning to the world and the events of life. In the atheistic worldview, there is no god. The belief that no deity exists is, in fact, a lens for viewing the world, and it shapes how atheists interpret life events (Coleman et al., 2018).

Looking at the world through the lens of a godless existence, atheists believe that the material world is all that exists; there are no outside forces or entities influencing the world. Whereas Christians hold that a personal God created everything that exists, atheists believe that the world came into existence as a result of natural forces alone. If there is no god, then there is no creator. If there is no creator, then how did the universe come into existence? To answer this question, atheists hold to the concept

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of naturalism, which states that the physical universe is the entirety of existence (reality); therefore, only what can be discovered through the empirical sciences can be called truth.

Atheism holds that there is no life beyond the physical world. This means that atheists believe that humans themselves invent morals and ethics, thus determining what is right and wrong. There is no god to reveal and teach right from wrong. For example, Caldwell-Harris (as cited in Coleman et al., 2018) says, "Without belief in any divine authority, atheists are more likely to view morality and meaning in life as self- constructed" (p. 204). Atheists look to culture and human reason, including science, to construct a moral and ethical framework; therefore, unlike theists, who look to a deity to learn about right and wrong, good and bad, atheists look to themselves to create such values and virtues. Humans, then, are responsible only to themselves. Ancient philosopher Protagoras reflects this perspective in his still famous phrase, "Man is the measure of all things" (Taylor & Lee, 2015, para. 4). If human beings are the highest authority (the measure of all things), then humanity must create its own morals and values, which the atheistic worldview, in fact, advocates (Coleman et. al., 2018). This leads to the charge against the atheist worldview of moral relativism. Moral relativism holds that no truth applies to all people. This view claims that truth is created from one's circumstances and culture; therefore, what is true varies across cultures and groups.

Moral relativism states that one group may not be qualified to judge the ideas of another group because the first group has not experienced life in the same way as the group they are judging. This view becomes problematic, for example, when dealing with issues of life and death. If one group or culture believes that it is right to murder people of different ethnicities or religions, then those who hold to moral relativism have no ground to argue that this kind of action is genuinely wrong. Because that particular culture believes murder is right, that belief is true relative to them. Because there are no broader standards by which to judge besides that which is relative, moral relativism is, on its face, a dangerous view to hold (Davis, 2016).

Many atheists deny that their worldview leads to moral relativism, asserting that their worldview possesses the foundation for objective morality. Objective morality refers to moral codes that apply to all people in all times and places, regardless of culture or religion. The website for the Atheist Alliance International (n.d.) states, "there are objective moral truths that can be discovered using reason (and science), and the process does not require belief in a god" (para. 20). Arguably, the assertion that God is not needed for the existence of an objective morality is hard to maintain.

If humans formulate their own morality, then humans are free to change what is right and wrong as they wish, which is arguably the logical outcome of the atheist worldview. And if humans are free to change what is right and wrong, then oppression of an unwanted minority group in a culture can be justified by those in the majority. For example, if a religious or ethnic group that makes up the majority of a population decides to rid their society of a minority religious or ethnic group, then on what grounds can one say that this is wrong? Humans decide based on their own subjective preferences and nothing deeper. Consider the oppression people endured

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in Germany under the Nazi regime, the African nation of Uganda under Idi Amin, or the North Korean nation under Kim Jong Un because human beings determined what is right and wrong without the guidance of God.

This demonstrates the importance of one's worldview when considering human value. Christians believe that every human is made in the image of God, which causes human individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, to possess innate dignity and worth. These unique traits of dignity and value are given by God, and they cannot be removed. When there is no outside authority (i.e., God) who assigns human beings' their value, then assigning human worth is left to other persons.

Although atheists might claim to assign value based on science, there is not an actual basis to do so. Science is limited to claims about what may be tested using empirical methods. Values cannot be tested using scientific instruments or mathematics. Atheistic attributions of value work well when those who make such assignments are good and a positive influence on individuals and societies. It has had tragic consequences when leaders are tyrants who rule their people with absolute power. When human worth is assigned by God, it cannot be taken away. When it is assigned by human authorities, it is never secure.

Pantheism

Pantheism is a family of worldviews that focuses on the intertwining of god and nature. The word pantheism is a composite of two Greek words: pan, which means "all," and theism, from the Greek theos, which means "god." The intent here is to say that god and nature are one and the same. In other words, nature is god (Drees, 2017). According to pantheism, mountains, trees, rivers, and anything one may encounter in nature are deities.

In the pantheistic worldview, god is nature, such that god’s action is simply the natural operations of nature. This means that because nature is malleable, god is also malleable. As nature changes, god also changes. As nature progresses and evolves, god also progresses and evolves. This means that god is incomplete and still growing. One outcome of this view is that god cannot ensure a particular future, either good or evil. The world might end in a perfect paradise, in a fiery disaster, or in a quiet, slow death as its energy dissipates. In the end, one is left with the full responsibility to make the future turn out right based on personal belief.

Likewise, god may sympathize with human suffering, but god is unable to intervene and relieve that suffering. In the pantheistic worldview, god is loving but is not all powerful. Although morals and ethics and right and wrong may come from god, because god is constantly in flux, as is nature, notions of right and wrong will also change over time. With the evolution of nature and the accompanying evolution of god, what was once immoral may become moral. Pantheism is not consistent with a Christian biblical worldview, which holds that God is transcendent and not

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enmeshed with creation. God is sovereign and omnipotent. God does not change, nor do God's commandments.

Theism

Theism is a worldview that focuses on the existence of a knowable, personal deity to whom humans are accountable and with whom they may have a relationship. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are examples of theistic religions. God is perfect in essence and morality. God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, all-good, and eternal (Swinburne, 2016). God is not in process but is complete in himself. God is in no way limited, unlike the view of god in the pantheistic worldview. God is outside of time-bound creation, although he exercises providential authority and guidance over all things and creatures he has made. This separateness from the creation is called God's transcendence (Pinto, 2018).

As Creator, God is never to be confused with what he has created. God's sovereign rule of the universe and all creatures in it comes from the mind and person of God, which is distinct from what God created. Christians look to the Bible to understand the attributes of God, in which there are numerous supporting passages that speak to God's independence from the creation, including his independence from human beings. First Chronicles 29:11 (English Standard Version) states, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty … Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all [emphasis added].” Psalm 8:1 says, "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens [emphasis added].” In Isaiah 55:8, God speaks to the people of Israel, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways." While God may reveal himself through creation—"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of this hands" (Psalm 19:1)—God is not to be confused with nature.

Nevertheless, this generic form of theism requires more information. The views of the nature and character of God in theism are different from religion to religion. William Drees (2017) is right to state that the generic concept of God does not offer much practical or spiritual help unless God is described. Theism believes in only one God, and a Judeo-Christian understanding of God is that God is personal, transcendent, and love.

Islam also believes in one god, but this god does not have a son and did not come to sacrifice himself for the sins of the people. The god of Islam, known as Allah (the Arabic word for God), is not known as a god of love nor is he known as Father. Both are distinctive descriptions of God as a person in the Bible. Muslim theology emphasizes obedience of human beings to gain Allah's favor. There is no emphasis on Allah's love and grace as a free gift. The Qur’an, the Islamic sacred text, does not explicitly promise individual salvation. Rather, Allah sent prophets, the foremost and final of which was Mohammed, and the Qur’an to teach his followers obedience and proper worship (Schirrmacher, 2012).

The Christian faith is described far differently. Christians believe that God is one, and this is similar to the Islamic understanding of god; however, Christians believe that God has revealed himself through both the created world and the Bible, which contains both the Old and New Testaments. God brings individual salvation through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus, on the cross. Through the incarnation of his Son and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God revealed his triune nature. The above description demonstrates the need, as theists, to define and describe the specific attributes and teachings of one's God. This text will focus on the Christian understanding of God.

The transcendence of God evokes awe and worship from God's people. As Christians worship God, they can experience an uplift of spirit and sense the wonder of the transcendent God (Sproul, 2012). Christians believe they can approach God with the deepest respect and stand in awe of His holiness and majesty because God is both the Creator of life and complete essence of love. Christians know God through the experience of holy and redeeming love in relationship with the spiritual presence of God. The opening paragraph of the Nicene Creed (325 AD) speaks of the Christian view of God: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible” (Schaff, 1998, p. 27).

Although God is separate from the world, the world relies upon God for all of life. God is intimately involved with the world, and God's Son, Jesus, holds the universe together with the power of his word (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3). This close involvement of God is known as God's immanence, meaning that God has come near in order to save his people who have fallen into sin and death. God's immanence is demonstrated throughout the Bible, when God communicated directly to human beings, such as Adam and Eve (Genesis 1–3), Abraham (Genesis 17), and Moses (Exodus 3). The central example of God's immanence is seen in the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus is God come in a human nature and form. In this way, God enters fully into the broken world of humanity.

At this point, a more in-depth study of the Christian worldview will provide a fuller understanding of how Christians view the world and find meaning in the events of life.

The Foundations of Christian Spirituality The Christian worldview is founded upon certain ideas about God and humankind. This chapter will examine each of these ideas briefly.

The Trinity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion. Adherents look to what is called the Shema, the Hebrew word for "listen" or "hear," based on the first word in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." This is considered to be the central monotheistic declaration of the Bible. This is the clarion call of both Judaism and Christianity. For Christians, there is only one God, the God revealed in the Bible.

In ancient Israel, the monotheistic declaration stood against the polytheistic religions in the ancient Near East.

Christians believe in this same God, but over time and through the study of the Bible, they came to comprehend the one God as three distinct persons known as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: God in three persons. Through the incarnation of his Son, God revealed his triune nature, and by God sending the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Trinity are made evident. Theologian Wayne Grudem (1994) explains that each of these three statements is true and essential to a Christian understanding of God:

1. God is three persons.

2. Each person is fully God.

3. There is one God.

Christians describe God as one essence in three persons, not gods.

An essence is an entity about which something can be said. A person is a distinct bearer of an essence. Applied to the Trinity, it means that Father, Son, and the Spirit are distinct persons, each with his own personal attributes, while each share equally the attributes of deity (i.e., the divine essence). (Horton, 2011, p. 97)

The Nature of Jesus Christians believe that Jesus is both the Son of God and fully God at the same time. This understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ is described in more detail in the Nicene Creed from 325 A.D.:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. (Schaff, 1998, p. 27–28)

Note: The word “catholic” with a lower case "c" does not mean the Roman Catholic Church but the universal Christian church as a whole.

Simply put, the Nicene Creed describes the unity of the three persons of the Trinity. It describes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as coequal with one another. It also defines the nature of the Son, Jesus Christ, as possessing both fully human and fully divine attributes. These attributes cannot be separated. They are both always a part of who Jesus is.

Michael Reeves (2012) uses the Gospel of John as an example of trinitarian unity:

John wrote his gospel, he tells us, so states, "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). But even that most basic call to believe in the Son of God is an invitation to a Trinitarian faith. Jesus is described as the Son of God. God is his Father. And he is the Christ, the one anointed with the Spirit. When you start with the Jesus of the Bible, it is a triune God that you get. (p. 37)

The person of Christ is known as the second person in this unity of persons, within what is also called the Godhead. Jesus is described as the "word made flesh" (John 1:14)—that is, God's active voice that brought all of creation into existence from the beginning of time. Jesus had always existed as the second person of the Trinity having no beginning or end; however, he was known as the Christ, which is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, until his incarnation. The incarnation was when Jesus the Christ was introduced into the world, to save the world, allowing God full access to all peoples who would believe.

The Christian understanding of the Trinity, then, is the basic doctrine for the Christian faith (Horton, 2011). From this understanding of God comes the Christian view of how the Trinity exists and interacts with human beings through the person of Christ in both an individual and corporate experience. Now, consider how God reveals himself through the Christian sacred text: the Bible.

Christian Scripture

The Scriptures of the Christian worldview are called the Bible. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, comprised of the Old Testament and New Testament. Christians view the Scriptures as the sacred Word of God, a special means by which God has revealed himself to the world. The Scriptures bear witness to God's creation of the world, the fall of humanity through sin, the redemption of sinful humans through Christ, and the restoration of all things to come in Christ.

In the Scriptures, a true, but not exhaustive, picture of God is found. Throughout the Bible, the attributes of God, the great works of God, and the commands and love of God can be learned. One can learn what God loves and what he does not love. Knowledge about God's Son, Jesus, and his work on behalf of humanity, as well as the power and work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in the lives of people is given. Knowing this, God's Word is sufficient for the Christian believer, bringing hope when facing all challenges, including evil and suffering in the world.

Christians believe that God inspired human authors to write both for their own time and historical setting and, in some cases, for future generations. The Scriptures are the most authoritative source from which Christian morals and ethics can be learned (Horton, 2011). According to 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." The Bible serves as the primary authority and representative of God's Word and will (Horton, 2011).

The Christian Biblical Narrative

Creation

Christian believers who believe in the Bible as God's Word believe that God created the universe ex nihilo (from the Latin meaning "out of nothing"), meaning God did not use already existing materials to bring the creation into existence. Genesis 1–2 describe the events of creation (Grudem, 1994).

God created the universe to display his glory. The created world is of such magnificence and complexity that human observers stand in awe of what God has made. A sense of the grandeur of God, his power and creativity, is seen in creation. Creation also gives a sense of how worthy God is of worship and grati