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.
c c c c c c 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 c c c c c c c c c
c c c c c of integration. Cascade Books.
Baehr, J. S. (2017). Intellectual virtues and education: Essays in applied virtue
epistemology. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
