Growing up, my parents were missionaries and Christianity was a large
part of my life due to my parents’ occupation. With Christianity being the
focal point of their work as missionaries, their Christian beliefs were
integrated into all areas of life. I quickly learned to view things from both
a Scriptural perspective and a scientific perspective. In school I furthered
learned to take scientific knowledge and Christian beliefs and to compare
and contrast each to form my own beliefs. In this sense, I was taught
liberal openness from an early age. In Entwistle’s summary of chapter two
he begins by asking if science and Christianity are enemies or allies. He
proceeds to explain that historically science and Christianity have been
both enemies and allies at various times (Entwistle, 2015 p.36). In my
personal belief, science has only strengthened my Christian faith. Science
can prove that miracles that occurred in the Bible and those that are
occurring today are truly miracles. When science is unable to explain how
something can logically happen the only conclusion is that it was of the
Lord.
/////////// By interacting with many people from various religious
backgrounds I was able to develop my intellectual courage as many of my
friends were not Christians and I learned to listen to their views and be
challenged by their beliefs. According to Baehr, open-mindedness is
characterized by fully considering an opinion or perspective that you
initially disagree with (Baehr, 2017). In order to do this intellectual
courage is required. This act of open-mindedness can help to strengthen
one’s personal view. This is done by learning more about why they don’t
agree with other views. This situation also helped to develop intellectual
perseverance as my own beliefs were constantly being challenge and I
had to defend my faith. In order to defend my faith well, I needed to
constantly be growing and learning more by pursuing more knowledge
from the Bible. According to Entwistle, the antonym of perseverance in
this situation would be procrastination or sloth (Entwistle, 2015 p.103)
References
Entwistle, D. N. (2015)./Integrative approaches to psychology nd
Christianity: An introduction to worldview issues, philosophical
foundations, and models of integration. Cascade Books.
Baehr, J. S. (2017)./Intellectual virtues and education: Essays in applied
virtue epistemology. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
